YOU are the one in charge of your riding. That means making sure that you have the right horse for you, and the right trainer. It also means that you stay motivated to work and train hard, pushing through the inevitable ups and downs of the sport. Others can help you, but ultimately the responsibility is yours.
"Natural ability is handy, but I’ve seen so many gifted riders amount to nothing because they weren’t hungry or determined enough. Someone with high ambitions, commitment and who is hard working is always going to stand out." ~ Boyd Martin
True bending from nose to tail requires that the horse understands all three of these things: how to move away from lateral leg pressure, how to move into the connecting outside rein, and the aids for inside flexion.
"Flexibility and self-carriage are the source of the horse's agility. Good turns, which develop its agility, are obtained only by making the horse flexible, putting it into balance, and thus giving it self-carriage. This involves not merely the lateral flexion of the entire spinal column but more so the flexibility of the hind legs. Only the latter enables the horse to perform quick and reliable turns under the rider, since the forehand is able to turn and change direction easily without danger for the health of its limbs only from the always secure support of the hindquarters." ~ Gustav Steinbrecht
To make diagonal lines and center lines accurate in the Dressage ring, imagine that there is a dotted line connecting the letters that make up that line. And plan your turns so that you can accurately get onto that line.
Always remember that your goal with your hand position should be to have a straight line from your elbow to the bit. Hands above that line (which I see far too often!) break the true connection. The horse may feel lighter, but will not be truly seeking the connection. Hands below that line will put painful pressure on the bars of the horse's mouth, which will cause him to either resist or back away from that pressure by curling and dropping behind the bit.
Mental limitations are often much more career limiting than physical limitations when it comes to riding. If things are difficult for you physically, don't give up! You will get there!
"Let us repeat that the two groups of muscles lying on either side of the spinal column which pulsate elastically rather than convulsively must work quite uniformly along a straight line and on a single track. If they do not do so, the horse becomes crooked, with its legs not carrying an equal load on both sides, and we get the impure gait in all its variants." ~ Waldemar Seunig
I always like to see horses jump into cross country complexes like coffins and sunken roads in a catlike way rather than jumping big. This means they are thinking ahead as well, and are preparing to do some good "footwork" between the jumps. Keep this in mind when approaching the first element of these kind of complexes. Maintain a supportive leg, but be careful to not override the first element or approach too fast.
Do you find that you have SO many different things that you need to work on and improve upon in your riding, that it is hard to keep track of them all?? You correct one issue, and move on to the next, only to find that you have now lost the progress that you made on the first one??
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. It is quite common for riders to have many or even all of these bad habits when riding on the flat - looking down, rounded shoulders, slumped posture, an incorrect pelvis position, an incorrect hand position, tense arms/shoulders, and hands that acts in a backward manner.
Since the human brain can only think about one distinct thought at a time, the way riders usually address these issues is to make one correction at a time. First they remind themselves to look up. Then to square and relax the shoulders. Next they think about their overall posture and alignment. And finally, the focus moves to their hands... They make whatever specific correction is necessary to put their hands in the right position, and then make an attempt to make those hands "forward thinking."
The problem is that by this point in their checklist, all of the earlier corrections may have already unraveled. Here is a trick that will help with this! (Click on Article Title above to read full article)
A horse has to be straight to have true impulsion. Any stored energy leaks out where the body is crooked, changing the energy in the stride from impulsion to merely forward momentum.
"A deep seated saddle can limit the freedom of your hips to really move with your horse and you may not even realize how much your saddle is limiting you. Try an old style dressage saddle and you might just be amazed with the difference." ~ Kelly Jennings
While it is important to have a plan when riding, you should always be ready to adapt that plan as necessary. Ultimately, you ride the horse and not the plan!
The concept of collection is often best introduced to the horse in the canter, as that is often the gait that the horse finds it easiest to learn how to "sit" more behind.
Riders should practice jumping corner jumps, skinny jumps, and arrowheads with an approach from every possible angle, as course designers are increasingly setting up situations where your preferred line may be not an option.
I'm working with a very talented jumper who keeps "ballooning" over his fences. Because of this trait, he misses distances, takes poles down, and pulls his rider forward after landing. Are there any exercises that you know of to help teach him? You were soo helpful with the last problem, that I was hoping you could help me with this. Thank you. (Pat)
Hi Pat!
This problem can have several different causes, so I could probably help you the most if you could send in a video of this happening. I do have some ideas for you that should help you even without a video though! Start by reading this article on the horse that jumps too high... (Click on Question Title above to read full answer)
"Feel the hindleg in your hand, a steady hand. Today we have this fashion for hand riding, don’t copy fashion, what is important, is correctness. You must have elasticity from your shoulder to the horse’s mouth, a straight line, a steady connection and elasticity of hand." ~ George Morris
"Suppleness means that the muscles contract and de-contract, and this has to go through the entire horse, it cannot be blocked in the middle of the back, and it also has to go through the rider." ~ Susanne Miesner
I see a few issues here, that are likely contributing to the fact that your horse isn't naturally engaging his hind legs and carrying more weight behind... (Click on Photo/Question Title above to read the rest of the answer, and the critique of this photo.)
Any issues you have at the canter are usually there at the walk too, but just don't bother you as much because you're not going very fast. And it's easier to fix things at the walk.
"The most repeated mistake is the riders' weight taking off before the horse and often with catastrophic results - The rider that learns to look after the Engine, Line and Balance of his horse on the Approach and allows his horse to make the decisions about where he takes off, repeatedly puts in a smooth and confident performance" ~ Lucinda Green
"The absence of a correction is not a reward to a horse. The only thing that is a reward is 'good girl' or a pat on the neck or giving them a sugar. You can’t train a seal without fish." ~ Robert Dover
"The more soft and gentle my aids are on cross country the better, then I can really speed up, slow down, turn – a balanced turn – have my horse absolutely under the centre of gravity. That’s what I need in a pirouette, and that’s what I need in a line of fences, where you have a narrow one uphill, down two strides, turn, there the horse must be in balance." ~ Ingrid Klimke
The horse's loin area (behind the saddle) is loosened and suppled with each good lateral step behind. Just one reason of many why lateral steps are a very important part of training horses.
Practicing movements incorrectly will create an ingrained habit in both horse and rider that can be hard to break at a later date. Make sure you have eyes on the ground (whether that is in person, or virtually through online coaching) to make sure you are on the right track.
With any related distance when jumping, make any needed adjustment early on in the line, and then focus on riding the rhythm and quality of the canter, while patiently waiting for the jump to "come to you."
Is there any chance you can tell me how to fix this obnoxious habit, and perhaps what might be causing it? I have a hard time keeping my right hand closed, and even though my reins are the same length (they’re laced, so I can count the lacing on each side), my right one inevitably feels too long, and my arm gets stupid.
"And here I say to parents, and especially to wealthy parents, Don't give your son money. As far as you can afford it, give him horses. No one ever came to grief, except honorable grief, through riding horses. No hour of life is lost that is spent in the saddle." ~ Winston Churchill
"You want [the horse] to relax in halt but as soon as you put your leg on, switch on and go forward. When he goes into trot, just give him one more touch with your leg to let him know you really want him to go forward. When you are going forward and coming back, ask yourself was it the reaction I wanted? If you are doing it halfways, then you are always compromising with him." ~ Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein
"So many riders think only about the physical aspects of training and I hear too many times from riders, ‘well my horse just needs to get stronger’. I ask myself constantly what about the mental part? My idea is that the physical part is 25 per cent and the mental part 75 per cent and I find myself asking each and every day, did my horse really understand what I was asking for?" ~ Steffen Peters
