Recent Articles

"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

"Don't take the tempo down without revving the engine." ~ Chris Bartle

"When working on your horse's balance, keep in mind that horses can't be balanced under unbalanced riders. We always need to begin with the education and balance of the rider." ~ Debbie Mcdonald

"Contact has to be just that, contact. People think 'oh this horse is very light I have nothing in my hand' – this is wrong because then you have no contact to his hind legs." ~ Jean Bemelmans

"Only when the horse is straight, the hind legs can be induced by correct collection to carry more weight and, correspondingly, be gymnasticized by increased flexion. This improves the balance and the suppleness, and it strengthens the haunches for the greater demands to the necessary degree." ~ Podhajsky

"A horse which doesn’t relax the mandibular and the tongue muscles cannot be entirely relaxed. That is why it is so important that the horse accepts the bit, and the sign of that is the actively and relaxed chewing." ~ Christian Thiess

"The purpose of dressage is to enhance our ability to control our horses; hopefully, after a long period of consistent training, our horses will calmly and generously place their forces at our disposal." ~ Jimmy Wofford

"Let the neck fall down, don’t pull it down, create a situation in which the horse wants to let go his body and relax his neck." ~ Johan Hamminga

The horse that wants to fall out on circles should work more often on a square figure than a circle, until the rider has better control of the outside of the horse's body.

Good, correct, and active stretching work helps to lift and engage the horse's back muscles. 

"Since the criteria of a correct seat are the same as the criteria of good posture in general, being constantly attentive to one’s bearing when standing or walking is excellent training. A correct vertical posture of the head and the trunk on horseback is not a special posture applicable only to riding." ~ Kurt Albrecht

Use the corner after the jump to get your horse back to you if necessary. Use the corner on the turn into the next jump to elevate the horse's front end.

When your horse stretches down, try not to follow him with your posture by rounding your shoulders and leaning forward. Because if you do, you will be encouraging him to fall onto the forehand. 

While the distance in between the jumps is a big deciding factor in the speed and length of stride that you should approach with... generally approaching a combination or complex off of a shorter, bouncier stride will give you more options.

"Push yourself away from your hands." ~ Stephen Clarke

The quality of your turn into the jump will greatly affect the quality of that jump.

Don't wait until the horse is doing something perfectly to reward. You must reward the horse when he begins to go in the right direction of the correct response, however slightly that may be.

Many riders place their saddles too far forward! Make sure that the solid parts of the saddle are behind the horse's shoulder, to allow for freedom of the shoulder.

Riders often tend to forget their outside leg in the equation of the bending aids. If you want to achieve true bend in the horse's ribcage, your outside leg must keep the hindquarters on the track.

"The goal of all dressage riding should be to bring the horse and rider together in harmony... a oneness of balance, purpose, and athletic expression." ~ Walter Zettl

"I want any rider approaching any jump to concentrate on rhythm. They should concentrate on HOW they get there, not where they get to." ~ Jimmy Wofford

Eventers need to make sure that the saddle that they use for cross country is truly suitable. The flap needs to be forward enough to give you room to easily push your feet out in front of you for security whenever necessary (such as galloping downhill, drop into water, deep mud on a downhill landing, etc.) 

The intensity of your half halt is about the strength of your seat and core, and the push into the connection... not the amount of pull on the reins. 

Horses want you to say what you mean, and to mean what you say, with both your aids and your body language. 

Proper hand position will help you to remain loose and supple in your arms. Deviating in any way from the perfect hand position will immediately cause your arm muscles to tighten.

A successful jump is more about the approach than the jumping effort itself.

"The inside rein must always be ready with a GOOD OFFER." ~ Reiner Klimke

"I do a lot of cavaletti work also with my dressage horses because then I can really make them active behind, over the back, stretching into your hand, and really supple in the back." ~ Ingrid Klimke

"Allow your horse the opportunity to use his neck more." ~ Reiner Klimke

The half pass helps to develop the brilliance of the medium and extended trot, by increasing hip and stifle flexibility, and freeing up the horse's shoulders.

Ride in counter flexion to correct over bending, on circles AND on straight lines, as needed. 

Always keep your spine stretched upward when riding. When you slump, your head and shoulders will become "heavy", and your horse will likely become heavy in your hands.

Sometimes you can make your circles better by not working on circles! Work on squares, 90 degree turns, and diagonal lines for a while, and maybe some nose to the wall leg yield. Then come back to your circles, after you have worked on better use of and response to your outside turning aids.