Whenever you have an awkward fence on course, more often than not you were losing some quality of your canter on the approach. Keep the quality of the canter the same, and all of the jumps on your course will ride in a similar manner.
No matter if my father was training a very young horse, an eventer or a high-performance dressage horse, his training was always based on three principles:
"One of the goals of dressage is to recreate the natural beauty of the horse’s gaits under the rider, so that the horse moves as beautifully under the weight of the rider as he does at liberty. In order to achieve this, the swinging of the horse’s back has to pass through the seat of the rider undiminished. The back has to be able to rise and fall with the same ease, regardless of the rider’s presence. If the rider merely sits passively, his weight alone can sometimes be enough to diminish the freedom of movement of the horse’s back. In these moments, the rider has to enhance the upswing of the horse’s back with an active contraction of his abdominal muscles, which helps the rider’s pelvis to swing more forward-upward, without tilting forward, however." ~ Thomas Ritter
The more impulsion you have at any given moment, the more submission you need. And submission is not the same thing as subservience. Submission is the willingness of the horse to follow your instructions.
"Through the energy of impulsion mobilized from within himself, the horse is now prepared, in his physique & emotional attentiveness, to respond instantly to the slightest indications to change his tempo, posture, direction or gait." ~ Waldemar Seunig
Horses can easily begin to think that walk time is "break" time if you are not careful. If you want to ensure that you get good scores on your walk work, you have to convince your horse otherwise in your daily work.
Every time you begin a Dressage test at a show, make sure you think about making a good first impression with a forward, confident center line, and a smile for the judge!
Keeping your elbows close to your sides will help your horse to feel your seat aids through the reins. It will also help you to use your core properly.
"Often one hears riders in whatever discipline say that their aim is to bring the horse to a certain level or to place highly at certain shows. These goals are absolutely legitimate, but we must not forget that they are only a byproduct of what should be our highest of aims: To make our horses more beautiful and keep them healthy through their training." ~ Ingrid Klimke
If your upper body is leaning to the inside as you try to bend your horse on a circle or through a turn, you will likely find that your horse won’t bend very well. This is because your leaning to the inside causes your horse to also lean to the inside, rather than to bend nicely around your inside leg.
"I think the rider's attitude in the ring is transposed to the horse's attitude. The difference between the good riders and good trips versus the outstanding trips are in large measure the positive attitude and inspiration that one shows to the judge and the way one tackles the problems of the course in riding the horse." ~ Michael Page
"Rhythm is the result of the horse being able to move under the rider in a way that is supple, loose, and without any tension or constraint." ~ Miguel Tavora
"Is the rider able to ride all the movements with a long rein, long with contact, then as long as possible? It is possible to ride piaffe on a long rein when the rider rides 100% with a balanced body, and the horse is on his aids." ~ Christoph Hess
If your horse doesn't want to be straight in his body, you can best improve him by exaggerating the opposite of whatever tendency he has. For example, if he likes to over bend his neck to the left and carry his haunches to the left as so many horses do - regularly ask for flexion and bend through the body to the right (no matter which direction you are going.)
What extra visual challenges does this jump into water present to the horse? How could you best ride this fence to help your horse to remain safely focused on the top rail? (Click on Discussion Title above to read or join in on this educational discussion)
"The relaxing of the legs & the hands of the rider is the proof of the real collection. And the collection is the poetry of the impulsion." ~ Nuno Oliveira
To encourage your horse move fully through his body, as well as giving him the confidence to truly think forward, you must make sure your hips and lower back are 100% moving with his motion. The bigger your horse moves, themoreyou must move your hips.
Remember that your horse is always learning based on how you react to his actions and responses. Be careful that you are only teaching him things that you actually want him to learn.
Don't make the mistake of "skipping" rising trot just because your horse is comfortable with you sitting the trot. Rising trot can be a great way to encourage more back movement and swing within the trot, for horses at any level.
Gridwork and gymnastic lines are meant to teach the horse to better solve problems when jumping. They develop the horse's "eye" for jumping, as well as his mental focusing skills, timing, and judgement. And of course to be more clever with his footwork. Make sure you leave your horse alone through the gymnastic lines as much as possible, to let him learn from the specific exercises you have set up. Your job is to get into the grid correctly - straight and balanced, with the right amount of impulsion for the specific question. And then leave him alone to let him do his job!
If you don’t ride and train in such a way that your horse learns to listen to your seat, you will usually find that you have to use a lot more hand to get things done.
Horses need to be moving with a supple and relaxed back to have true impulsion. If the body is not relaxed and supple, any forward energy is just running.
Feel your horse's rhythm with your whole body when riding. Whether you are doing Dressage, jumping, galloping cross country, or just enjoying a relaxing trail ride, the more you can be in sync with your horse's rhythm, the more harmony you will find.
Let your aids breathe. By that I mean two things. While giving any aid, keep breathing. And for the aid itself, make sure you are able to keep it supple so that it can go with the horse's motion while being applied. Aids of any kind always work best when given within the rhythm of the horse's stride as well.
As an Eventer, it is smart to do some of your canter flatwork at the gallop, to teach your horse that the extra speed of the gallop is not an excuse to be wild or disobedient.
A guy came down my center line some years ago all decked out in his top hat on a Friesian exuding cadence and displaying a high, arched Second Level frame. He then proceeded to ride a very elegant Intro test which garnered something like 80%.
My obvious question after his final salute was, "So what are you doing in this class anyway?"
He replied, "Well his canter isn’t quite perfect yet."
