Make sure you finish every ride or training session on a good note, so that you always put the horse away happy. That will set the stage for a more positive attitude in your next ride.
When your horse becomes crooked, they will automatically fall onto the forehand. Horses need to be straight to be able to carry their weight from behind.
So many riders think they are being kind when they don’t give their horses boundaries. But whether we are talking about handling, leading, loading in a trailer, lunging, or riding, horses ALWAYS do best when they have clear boundaries. You can leave your horse free to express themselves, but ONLY WITHIN the basic boundaries of respect and basic good behavior!
"It is not Dressage that is difficult, it is making it look easy that is difficult. Some horses are born with presence, while others you can train presence. Either way, Dressage is about improving the paces." ~ Carl Hester
"A horse with good footwork will rarely fall. A horse who is not given the chance to practice that footwork because he is always brought to the right spot will come big time unstuck when the s*** hits the fan and the fallible human on top gets it wrong." ~ Lucinda Green
"Riders use the spur instead of the calf of the leg. This is wrong. As trainers and judges, we need to encourage putting the horse in front of the leg, NOT the spur." ~ Christoph Hess
Think about keeping your head up and still throughout your horse's jumping motion to help keep your upper body more quietly poised. This keeps you safely out of your horse's way.
When riding a cross country course that runs through wooded areas, always keep in mind that you are never going quite as fast as you feel like you are when you are traveling in the woods. You may feel like the trees are whizzing by, and can be tempted to slow down. But if you slow down too much you may find it hard to make the time up on the more open areas of the course.
"As dressage riders, we require our spine to remain in a neutral position where all the vertebrae are evenly stacked, one upon the other. We need to maintain this dynamic balance as the horse moves under us." ~ Rebecca Ashton
When you are looking down you will have even more of a tendency to ride from your hands. Sitting up and looking up will help to remind you to ride from your seat.
To steady your horse between fences, many times it is sufficient to square your shoulders and stretch up your body in a poised way... opening up kind of like a sail on a sailboat.
"The best stretch can be achieved on a circle when you feel the horse is balanced laterally and longitudinally. Slowly allow the reins to lengthen and see if your horse will lengthen his neck forward and downward. This will feel like a clear release and you will be able to see how the neck fills out and gets wide when you look down." ~ Felicitas von Neumann-Cosel
"The relaxation of the mouth alone is not enough. It can be deceptive, because it does not necessarily lead to lightness. It has to be accompanied by the relaxation of the entire horse. When he relaxes the back, it will definitely have repercussions in the mouth." ~ Nuno Oliveira
"I like to think about making my body longer in the front to make me sit up instead of thinking 'shoulders back,' which can make you stiff." ~ Mary King
"A horse 'held in shape' by his rider is only posturing in a seemingly correct outline, usually for the benefit of the inexperienced observers." ~ Charles de Kunffy
"You need to produce a walk. So work at the walk as well as the trot and canter. Get a good feeling of the body working in the walk. The walk is a mirror of the training of the horse." ~ Christoph Hess
A horse that is well balanced, with the right amount of impulsion for the jump at hand, can comfortably leave the ground from just about any reasonable takeoff spot.
"Stay dedicated to the quality of the basic gaits - the suppleness and balance of the walk, trot and canter. Then as you cultivate the movements, those gaits improve." ~ Volker Brommann
"Your body follows your eyes. If you’re looking down that pulls your shoulders and torso down and forward as well, which could result in your feet and legs slipping back as well, and you possibly hitting the ground." ~ Tori Meinhart
The horse should always set the pace of the progression of both training and competing. Pushing a horse too hard, too soon will usually result in having to go back and start over.
If your horse struggles to maintain a consistent rhythm, think of using your breathing to help him stay regular. This is one reason why counting is so useful, as when you count in a rhythm, you will breathe in that rhythm.
A horse's energy flowing through a turn is similar to water flowing through a tunnel. Just as the outside wall of the tunnel is paramount to guide the water through the turn, a good connection on the outside rein is crucial to a successful turn on a horse.
When the horse carries more weight behind (engagement), there is more stored energy in the stride (impulsion.)
Therefore to develop more impulsion in your horse's gaits, you should not make him run faster, but do exercises which increase his engagement behind, like transitions.
"Remember, the conversation between you and your horse must never be dull or inert. It should be, 'Ask, receive, give. Ask, receive, give.' Ask with your body and legs; receive through your body into your hands; give primarily with the hands, but also with your body and legs, so that you can ask all over again, receive again and give again. The give is your thanks. If you don't give, you must ask harder the next time, and even harder after that, until you end up with a dead or resistant horse." - Sally Swift
"For me it is important that the horse is happy and you see it in the face, you see it in the tail, you see it in the swinging, you can listen, how the horse is breathing, these are the things that are important for a quality test." ~ Christoph Hess
