To be the most successful when dealing with horses, you need to be a fair, calm, and confident "herd leader" to them, whether in the saddle or on the ground.
"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
It can be more difficult for a rider to improve their jumping when they only have one horse to ride. Since it is not usually a good idea to jump a horse more than a few times a week, it is smart to take advantage of the many ground pole exercises available to practice the many skills that produce good jumping.
From Facebook fan Jennifer Stankiewicz ~ "When your horse loses his 'go', try sitting lighter, not deeper. I find on my mare, when I'm loosing impulsion, I'm gripping or riding too deep and when I just relax my legs and drape them and use my hips more, my horse goes forward. Sometimes that means standing for a split second and readjusting my seat to get lighter but it works!"
"The horse will work out the distance if the line looks sensible to him, so ride a good line, in balance, and don't try to overly manage the stride length." ~ Chris Bartle
If your horse is not honestly in front of your leg, every single movement will be negatively effected. And things like "throughness" and collection will never happen for you.
Varying the degree of your half pass can improve your horse’s suppleness from all angles, as well as increasing his responsiveness to your aids within the movement. In other words, while going in half pass across the diagonal, half halt, and do a few strides with a steeper angle (more sideways than forward), then go forward again.
"The horse must perform from joy, not subservience. Praising a horse frequently with voice, a gentle pat, or relaxing the reins is very important to keep the horse interested and willing." ~ Klaus Balkenhol
Some horses find it easier to make a smooth transition into canter from the walk rather than the trot. If you have a horse like this, it's ok to practice mostly walk to canter transitions at home for a while (even though lower level horses always go from trot to canter in the Dressage tests.) With repetition of quality walk to canter transitions, the horse will become stronger and better balanced in both walk to canter and trot to canter.
"I often tell my students that the outside rein is like the vinyl wall of an above-ground pool; elastic, stretchy and flexible, but enough of a boundary to keep the 'water in the pool.'" ~ Elise Vandover
"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 better my dressage transitions are, the better the thoroughness, it means the horse can go from very fast, to very balanced and collected on the hindquarters, energy from behind, through – no argument with the bit – because the transition is through and fine, the horse can focus on the jump." ~ Ingrid Klimke
From Facebook fan Joan Dunlap ~ "You must conquer your own fears, lack of knowledge and short-comings before you can even start to help your horse with theirs."
It takes an experienced instructor to know whether a rider who has lost their confidence needs to move back to smaller jumps and more simple exercises, or if that rider instead needs to be shown the exact techniques that are going to fix their problem, and then pushed hard, so they can see how easily they really CAN do it.
"Do your warm up trot sets with shorter stirrups in a two point instead of posting. If you listen closely, you can hear me laughing… most of us cannot trot in two point for three five minute sets, much less stay there for our conditioning sets. Even though you will probably fail, stick with it. Make a project of your fitness while you condition your horse." ~ Jimmy Wofford
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.
Many riders think too much about stopping in downward transitions... meaning they won't be truly riding forward. This will likely cause the horse to brace against the hand, and/or to lose the activity of the hind legs. Instead, try thinking of changing gears without losing any of the energy and activity in the hind legs.
To help keep your horse uphill when spiraling in on a circle, imagine that you are going up a spiral staircase. With each stride inward on the spiral, grow taller and think about going up an imaginary step.
Always keep in mind that you need to engage your horse's brain to get him to truly think forward. Your goal should not be to merely get his feet moving, but to ignite the area of his brain that makes him decide to want to move forward. Only when your horse really wants to go forward do you truly have a forward horse... no matter how fast you are actually traveling.
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.)
If you are riding any transition on a curve, do not forget to maintain your inside bend and flexion throughout the transition. This will help you to keep the horse straight (aligned to the curve), balanced, and connected.
When your horse is not being as responsive as you'd like, pushing harder is never the answer. In fact, that only makes the problem worse. Instead, go back a step and remind/re-educate your horse about being hot to the leg aids.
Many horses actually like and do well with a little bit of rein contact throughout the jumping effort. But there are some that are so sensitive, that any amount of feel of their mouth at the top of the jumping arc will cause them to either jump with their nose tucked to their chest, or try to fight the rider’s hand in the air. Both of which will ruin the quality of the horse’s jump.
"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
The more spirit the horse has, the more difficult he may be to train. But once you have developed a good partnership with the horse, this same spirit will make him a tremendous competitor, who will fight for you when the chips are down.
Pay attention to exactly how you release your aid after your horse responds. The key is to relax and release the aid in a smooth and subtle manner, with finesse.
From Facebook fan Deena Cahill ~ "If your horse is really tense when riding him, try riding while having a short conversation about happy things with someone else. You will be surprised how relaxed your horse becomes when your body naturally relaxes!"
"Look for a genuine coach with real coaching skills rather than a rider who may know how to do something, but not how to teach it. Also, find someone who has solid experience of working with riders of your level." ~ William Micklem
"The hind legs are brought far enough underneath the center of gravity by the rider’s legs, where they are gradually burdened with more of the combined weight of horse and rider for brief moments, which flexes their joints more. Like coiled springs, they push off with much greater elasticity afterwards than unflexed hind legs. This energetic, springy forward swinging creates a very characteristic feeling in the seat (you feel the work of the hind legs as well as the swinging of the back that it creates very clearly, yet pleasantly), which is typical for a gait with impulsion, and which signals to the experienced rider: „Now he is moving!“ He despises, on the other hand, a wishy-washy, unclear trot feeling under the saddle which is caused by dragging hind legs that hardly push off and consequently don’t make the back swing – whereas others seem to love it. De gustibus … No, this is not a matter of taste. One is correct, the other one is wrong! Thrust may be there naturally, but impulsion must be worked out - or better: into – the horse by cultivating the thrust." ~ Alfred Knopfhart
"Before starting the work of teaching the flying changes, the quality of the canter should be well established. The horse should be thinking forward, should accept the slowing and collecting aids and should be laterally submissive. The horse should be straight in the canter." ~ Chris Bartle
