Tip/Quote of the Day!

Overbending the neck is especially problematic in lateral work, as it causes the horse to displace their weight to the outside.

"A lot of riders think that will make their jumping better by jumping as many jumps as possible. They will go and get a jumping lesson, as opposed to a dressage lesson or doing some physical exercises to teach them body awareness skills, and probably the last would help them most." ~ Andrew Hoy

The basic rule of riding is that energy is created with the legs, directed by the rider's seat, and guided by the reins.

"Dressage is the art of putting one crooked body on top of another crooked body and making them both straight." ~ Richard Weis

"With the bend on the circles and in the travers, it is important to use as little inside rein as possible. If you need the inside rein, there is something wrong with the earlier work." ~ Christoph Hess

"If the horse is straight, not with the haunches in or out, it depends not on the neck, but on the body. The body is from the shoulder and that’s how you get the horses straight, you get both sides in the same length, that’s it." ~ Wolfram Wittig

You will never regret taking your time with training your horse. 

"Many people think, what is piaffe, piaffe is something the top riders do in Grand Prix – no, no, no, that is not right. Piaffe is something you use to train your horse, to make the horse more together and more balanced. You can start the piaffe right from the beginning, even with a five year old horse, you can start to do it in the hand on the ground, or also when you are riding, and that helps make the steps of the horse more controllable, and out of that you have a much more beautiful stride forward, and a much more beautiful stride sideways." ~ Rafael Soto

When Grand Prix show jumper Rodney Jenkins was asked whether or not he also rides on the flat, he responded with, "Well, yes ma'am, that's the only way to get from one jump to another." 

The balance and shape of your canter stride is what determines the kind of take off spot that develops. A long, strung out stride usually means either a long spot or a "chip". And a shorter, more balanced canter with the hind legs well under the body will generally either place you perfectly, or will allow your horse to safely "pat the ground" in the shorter spot.

The horse's poll relaxes naturally when his back muscles relax & swing, unless the rider is hanging rigidly on their mouth.

You cannot judge how "light" a horse is entirely by the feel of the reins. Many times riders are fooled into thinking they have found true lightness, when in fact the horse is just posing in a false frame.

"The volte is one of the most important movements you can ride. It is teaching the horse to bend in his ribcage, within his body, and then to maintain a rhythm – in the future this movement will become a half pass. We are working on control over the balance of the horse so that it is learning to maintain a rhythm." ~ Ernst Hoyos

Riders are often incorrectly told to lean back and against the reins when their horses get strong. Not only will this not work, but it will usually make the horse even heavier in their hands.

"Event horses need to learn to jump facing into crowds and other spooky things. At home, I have my horses jumping into banners on the fence line and other things to get them used to that idea." ~ William Fox Pitt

"It is true that when the training is slow, the progress is quick, when the training is quick, the progress is slow." ~ Unknown

Riders with short arms have to be especially careful to keep their elbows bent at all times.

The better the rider's seat, the more easily the horse can understand the rider's aids. So make working on developing and maintaining an independent seat a top priority!

As you finish jumping a course, ask yourself if you are finishing with the same pace that you started with. If the answer is no… the next question you need to ask yourself is which speed was better for your horse's jumping - the way you started, or the way you finished? Then make sure you use that information on the next course that you jump.

Always refresh the forward after any period of lateral work. 

Everyone talks about engaging the horse's inside hind leg... But the key to a good quality canter is sufficient engagement of the outside hind leg, as that is how each canter stride begins.

In addition to the suppling benefits, basic lateral work helps the horse to understand that the rider's leg creates engagement of the hind legs, rather than merely speed.

"Dressage is the art of putting one crooked body on top of another crooked body and making them both straight." ~ Richard Weis

"Riding forward to the jump is NOT accelerating to the jump. There is a difference." ~ William Fox Pitt

Don't let the quality of your transitions suffer in your effort to be accurate. While both are important, it is more important to perform good transitions, than to perform them exactly at the letter.

"Relaxation is first mental, then physical. A horse in pain or one who fears you will never relax his body." ~ Charles de Kunffy

With horses that like to curl their neck and become over bent, the rider needs to be careful not to get their reins too short. This will cause the horse to stay too short in the neck. Think of having longer arms that are always reaching towards the horse’s mouth.

We must not forget that the horses we ride today are descended from the ones who did NOT get eaten by the mountain lion at the water hole. In other words, it is perfectly normal for horses to be spooky.

Work on a horse and that horse will get better. Work on yourself as a rider, and ALL of your horses will get better.

"I'm not sure if it is chicken or egg, but the riders who sit in the middle of the movement, in the middle of their horse are the ones with the self carriage." ~ Chris Hector