"First, [the rider] has to be ambitious. Mentally, he has to be well balanced and consistent. He has to be tougher on himself than on the horse. If he gets after the horse too much, he will not get far. One must really be able to push oneself harder than one ever pushes a horse. Then, success will follow…" ~ Ernst Hoyos
"Having a horse with crazy gaits and an eagerness to please at 5 years old is freaking me out because I’m really feeling the weight of the responsibility to not push too hard, too fast." ~ Lauren Sprieser
This is something every rider should be thinking about!
Try giving yourself something positive to do with your eyes when jumping. Watch the top of the jump until your horse's head blocks your view of it, and then look up at the next jump. If you are following that plan at every jump, you will never be looking down. And you will also be more likely to let your horse do the jumping.
Think of keeping your shoulders aligned with your horse's shoulders (or where you want them to be), and your hips aligned with your horse's hips (or where you want them to be.) This is especially important to think about during lateral work.
Horses become incapable of learning when they go past a certain level of fear, anxiety, or stress. This means that if you keep hammering away at the horse, trying to teach them something when they are currently overwhelmed with stress, it will not work.
The only thing that you will be able to teach them by putting more pressure on them while they are in that condition is that their job is not enjoyable, and that you cannot be trusted.
Yet I often see people handling and riding horses who appear to be giving very little thought to where their horse's current level of stress is at. If the horse is not behaving or performing correctly, they keep adding more and more pressure on the horse to attempt to force it to do what they want.
In scenarios like this, the results will be FAR more successful if the human is able to monitor the horse's stress levels, and make an attempt to lower those levels before adding more pressure. (Click on Article Title above to read full article)
"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
"It is only when the horse is tense that he puts his front leg out way in front of himself, and then brings it back. He never does it when he is relaxed, and the rules say that the horse has to be relaxed. Some people may think this trot looks nicer, but it is not correct." ~ Georg Theodorescu
A seemingly minor issue where you can gain or lose points in a test (or just make the judge crazy) is how you make your transitions in and out of the halt.
Let's begin with Intro and Training Level rides where the directive permits transitions between trot and halt "through the walk." In these cases it is not mandatory to make walk steps, but doing so allows the transition to be more fluid and less abrupt, hopefully with the horse staying in front of your leg. Having said that, it does not mean endless strolling or meandering into an eventual stop. A good number of walk steps might be two or three, but they should be attentive and marching and not a listless trickle as the horse runs out of gas and finally stands still. (Click on Blog Title above to read full entry)
"A good rider can hear his horse speak to him, a great rider can hear his horse whisper, but a bad rider won't hear his horse even if it screams at him." ~ Unknown
"Dressage is not just a sport. Yes, a part of it is about competing, and trying to come in first. But dressage is only beautiful when it is done well, when the rider and horse dance in harmony. If a rider has not reached that stage with his horse, he should stay home. He should not perform in public." ~ Georg Theodorescu
Your outside leg is a very important ingredient in your bending aids. And many riders seem to forget all about it! Don't forget to keep it down, back, and close to your horse's side.
Did you know that your spine doesn't end at your neck?? It goes all the way up into your head! So when a rider looks down, or juts their head and chin forward, they are compromising that stretched up, vertical spine.
"The rider must listen into the horse, in order to judge when the moment for an aid has come, which aid is needed and how intense it must be. He must know how to create or wait for the right circumstances, to prepare the horse." ~ Gustav von Dreyhausen
If you learn the whys behind each aid or exercise used in each specific circumstance, you will become a more educated rider with a greater ability to be productive. If your instructor doesn’t tell you why, ask!
On riding your horse in a round frame: "If you have the body, you have the head - if you have the head you don't (necessarily) have the body." ~ Jack LeGoff
Always think about the depth of the water when deciding how fast to approach and negotiate a water obstacle. Riding too fast in deep water can easily cause the horse to lose his balance or even fall.
Think about "collection" when asking for a trot or canter extension, so that you remember to keep the rein connection and think about being more up in front, instead of down and out. This will help you to create a more uphill frame with more true hind leg engagement.
Never rush a horse into a complex of jumps that might be hard for him to understand quickly. The more complicated the combination, or the greener the horse, the more time you need to give them to assess the situation clearly.
"Today, people learn to compete before they learn to ride, and that makes it difficult for them to be truly competitive and to progress to other levels." ~ Jack Le Goff
From Facebook fan Joan Childs ~ "Your hands must be free in order to use them effectively. You can not pull, push, follow, open or close your reins if they are busy being a source of your balance."
"Don't try to see a distance, your horse has a pair of eyes and you need to let him use them. The more you do in front of a fence the more you will distract them." ~ Chris Bartle
Even if the rider has all of their body parts generally in the right place, they will feel out of balance and out of "sync" with their horse's movement when the shock absorbing joints in their hips and legs are locked and rigid.
"You should recognize that your equine partner has an eye of its own when jumping and allow a good horse to have some role in the decision making process." ~ Frank Chapot
A little trick for those of you who need to be more stable with your outside rein connection, and your outside hand in general, is to try the temporary exercise of holding onto your saddle pad with the fingers of your outside hand. Stabilizing your outside hand in this way will also help you to learn to better use your body, rather than your hands, to turn your horse.
Too much use of the inside rein will almost always make a horse fight. If your horse is fighting with you in any situation, check that you are not hanging on the inside rein unconsciously.
"Dressage is not an easy sport, there are so many variations, but the reaction to your leg, and straightness, are so important. You just don’t see top Grand Prix riders kicking or straining for a result. Don’t tease him, tap there so quick he doesn’t know it is coming. Everything in a horse’s life should be black and white, not grey." ~ Debbie McDonald
The most energy efficient way for a horse to gallop cross country is to gallop in balance, so that very little adjustments are necessary in front of the fences. If you could gallop in such a way that a fence could drop from the sky and land in front of you when you are just 3 or 4 strides away, and you could jump it well - then you will be giving your horse the best chance to finish the course with plenty of gas in the tank.
