Recent Articles

"If one induces the horse to assume that carriage which it would adopt of its own accord when displaying its beauty, then, one directs the horse to appear joyous and magnificent, proud and remarkable for having been ridden." ~ Xenophon

"Counter canter teaches the balance, and confirms the aids, and that balance means collection and self carriage." ~ Waldemar Seunig

A horse's energy flowing through a turn is similar to water flowing through a turn in a pipe or tunnel. Just as the outside wall of the tunnel is paramount to cause the water to move through the turn, a good connection on the outside rein is crucial to a successful turn when riding. 

Great advice for professional instructors: "You will teach and sometimes you will hate it. You will be tired, you will be disappointed, and you will be hot, cold, bored, and sometimes scared out of your wits by horses and riders experiencing "learning opportunities." New parents to the sport will question every move you make, and loyal clients on Saturday afternoon will leave your barn on Sunday night, and they will leave with their bill unpaid. Of course you will be greatly rewarded with more positive and immensely gratifying moments than you can ever imagine, and your life will be spent enjoying the fact that you do make a difference and you are around horses. Please stick with it. It is a noble and valuable profession." ~  Brian Sabo

"Infinite repetitions of one and the same problematic movement are usually a sign of insecurity in the rider and serve no purpose other than self-satisfaction. The horse doesn't gain anything from it. It leads to an overwrought horse and causes muscle fatigue and nervousness. Here, a trainer must intervene and go back to easier exercises rider and horse have already mastered." ~ Klaus Balkenhol

Lightness is not the looseness of the rein contact, it's the way the horse moves over the ground.

Everyone knows that we need our horses to be relaxed to perform well. But that starts with our own relaxation! A rider must be relaxed to give clear and precise aids to their horse, and to set the tone for the horse to be able to relax.

If you feel like you absolutely need to wear spurs when you ride, it would be a good idea to go back to the basics in your training to revisit the concept of your horse answering your feather light leg aids. EVERY horse can be taught this!

When your horse is more difficult going to the left because he wants to carry his body too "curled" to the left, (and therefore tends to fall through the outside shoulder when going that direction), this is often best addressed by schooling on the right rein, rather than the left. If you can do some good work with your horse's body fully bending around your right leg, you are stretching the tight left side of his body, which will help him to go straighter when travelling to the left.

A word about the double bridle: The curb bit should be a tool for increased refinement of the aids, not for applying a stronger force on the horse's mouth. If the double bridle is used because the rider can't otherwise ride their horse on the bit or because they can't control it, then neither the horse nor the rider are ready for the double bridle.

Don't forget to ride the last stride before every jump… Don't "jump ship" and freeze up on your horse just when he needs you the most.

"The distance between your ears and shoulders needs to be as big as possible." ~ Bettina Hoy

So keep your head tall, and your shoulders down and relaxed. 

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.

Spend enough time on the basics, such as straightness and suppleness, and the more difficult movements will fall into place naturally.

To make your leg longer in Dressage, think about letting your KNEES drop.

"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."  ~ Vince Lombardi

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. 

If you feel a need to push your horse towards the fence, then they are behind your leg. 

"Stretch [your horse]. And more stretching. It's good for him and he will like it." ~ Ingrid Klimke

The sign of a good rider is that their aids are so smooth & subtle that you can hardly see what they are doing.

Regularly ride lots of transitions to develop and improve your horse's balance, suppleness, obedience, hind leg engagement and strength.

A good halt is square because it was a good halt. Not because the rider has taught the horse the "trick" of squaring up after an unbalanced halt.

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!

"In the half pass you should feel that the outside hind leg is carrying the load forward." ~ Nuno Oliveira

"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.

"The horse's posture, his strength, his suppleness, influence very much the sensations that the bit creates in him." ~ Dupaty de Clam

"To ride a movement correctly, riders need to visualize themselves executing it flawlessly. If you can't see it, you can't create it." ~ Robert Dover

A horse and rider combination are not truly safe on cross country until they both know how to come forward to the base of the jumps.

"Only the best trainers should be allowed to ride in draw reins, but the best trainers know they do not need them." ~ Ingrid Klimke

When you have a good contact, your horse can feel your thoughts transmitted through the reins.

Stay quiet and let the exercise teach the horse.

"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.

A rider's hands can only be as good as the arms they belong to.

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

Nagging isn't giving the horse feedback, it is desensitizing him to the aids.

The most important part of the half halt is the give at the end of it.

"Every transition that you ride at home has to be a good one." ~ Charlotte Dujardin

"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

"It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."

"And why do we ask the horse to do two track work? To get his legs under him, and to get him listening to the aids." ~ Kyra Kyrklund

"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