"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
"If you let your horse set the tempo - then they are in charge. If the rider sets the correct tempo then the horse - a herd animal - has a leader to trust and work with." ~ Peter Atkins
On being ridden with conflicting aids - "Some horses can cope while others develop serious behaviour problems. As riders and trainers, we don't always notice because horses don't yelp and scream, they just show conflict behaviour. As humans, we often interpret that as 'naughty' behaviour. Perhaps one day it will be part of every horseman's tool box to identify conflict behaviour in all its forms and see the horse as an entirely blameless participant in the training process." ~ Dr Andrew McLean
"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
When tacking up, always take the time to pull your saddle pads well up into the pommel of the saddle. The pressure of a tight saddle pad across the withers area can make a horse sore.
Your arm position determines your hand position to a large degree when riding. So you must address your arms as well when you want to improve your hands.
Horses that have a smooth and naturally balanced gallop stride often have longer careers in this sport. Keep that in mind when looking for an Eventing prospect.
Always challenge yourself to use as little hand as possible in riding any exercise. The more freedom your horse has up front, the more expressive his movement will be.
"When selecting a French Link snaffle ensure the middle link is not too long, and that the holes are big enough for the bit to move freely. This will ensure your horse is comfortable in the contact." ~ Robert Dover
"Have a high standard for giving aids in a really clear, correct way. If the aids are that obvious, that’s not dressage. Educate your horse so that he responds to gentle leg pressure." ~ Steffen Peters
"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.
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.
In the Dressage ring, you must look at each of the corners as your friend! Every corner is an opportunity to improve your horse's carriage and connection.
A tense horse is always stiff. And that stiffness prevents the horse from taking any real benefits from training. Always try to relax the horse's mind and muscles before advancing to any kind of serious training.
"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
Remember that even a COW can jump a 3 foot fence from a standstill... if it wants to. So never worry about whether or not your horse has enough scope to do lower level eventing or jumping. The bigger issue is whether or not you can keep him balanced at the canter.
With true impulsion, the horse has lots of forward energy, but the rider remains the driver. When the horse overpowers the rider and takes control, the horse is just running.
If you rely on your knee grip to keep you in the saddle when jumping, you will usually be one stumble, buck, or sideways spook away from becoming unseated. Sinking into your heels and keeping an even leg distribution on the horse will give you the most security over fences.
With very sensitive horses, you sometimes have to consciously "open" your seat, leg, and hand on the side you are trying to leg yield towards, so that they feel more invited to move in that direction.
"There is one principle that should never be abandoned when training a horse, namely, that the rider must learn to control himself before he can control his horse. This is the basic, most important principle to be preserved in equitation." ~ Alois Podhajsky
"May every rider strive for a better connection with his or her horse by observation, closer understanding and patient groundwork. It matters not what discipline is pursued, only that there be a perfectly balanced union between the two – man and horse – so that the two become one." ~ Frederic Pinon
"The seat and weight aids are supporting aids. They support either a leg or rein aid, or both. Don’t underestimate their significance though. They are important aids, especially in the fine tuning of advanced horses. The leg and rein aids will fail to achieve their full effectiveness without the support of weight and seat." ~ Christian Thiess
If your breastplate is fairly tight when your horse is standing still, you will be preventing your horse from being able to use his shoulders at all as he moves and jumps. Make sure there is enough room to put a fist between the middle of the breastplate and the horse, or a little less so for breastplates with elastic.
Dressage is natural for horses, but that does not mean it is always easy for them. Since we cannot explain to them why we are asking them to do things that require increased effort, and go against their natural instincts to do things in the easiest way possible - we must handle any inevitable resistances that might show up with patience in a quietly persistent manner.
Always pay attention to how you finish every single exercise that you ride. Letting yourself or your horse fall into a heap as you pull up only creates bad habits for both of you. Always finish with a proper transition into the walk.
With young or untrained horses who conformationally have a high set on neck (which is a good trait to have for a jumping or Dressage horse), you have to beparticularlycareful that you don’t work them in a frame that is too advanced for their strength level. It takes enormous strength in the horse’s lumbar back to carry a rider in a higher frame for any length of time. Ride for too long in a higher frame, and they will get sore in their lumbar back, and often resentful.
"Just as the sculptor at first chisels the future outlines of his work of art with powerful blows out of the crude block of stone, and then lets it develop in increasingly finer detail in all its beauty, the aids of the rider must also become more and more delicate in the course of the horse's education. Every rider should always keep this strictly in mind and especially avoid destroying with crude aids, out of impatience or other reasons, what he has built in his previous work." ~ Alois Podhajsky
A real collected gait should feel like a contained medium gait. Not just slower, with shorter strides - but with enough stored energy and contained power that you feel that all you have to do to get medium trot or canter is to release it.
"Riders are very often but mistakenly glad to see their horse arch his neck, regardless of how it is arched (whether too high or too low or behind the bit or stiff). Have you ever seen a horse with an arched but stiff neck, looking as though he were nailed to the bit? That kind of arch does not imply a horse on the bit." ~ Charles de Kunffy
"Sit on your pockets like you got a million bucks in there." ~ Unknown
Technically it isn't correct to be sitting all the way on your back pockets. This can, however, be a good thing for a rider who has a tendency to lean too far forward to think about doing!
"No complicated riding before the horses are going truly forward. In dressage, the difficulties are often created by a lack of good basic work (which is the foundation of the house.)" ~ Nuno Oliveira
"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
