What do we want from our horses over fences? Consistency and balance. If we as riders are more consistent and balanced with our own position as we ride a course, we make achieving that with the horse much easier.
"A significant portion of the art of dressage lies in your ability to differentiate between the positive tension of focused athletic effort, and the negative tension of resistance, fear, and anxiety." ~ Katherine Bateson Chandler
Horses that are truly moving with a relaxed and happily swinging back will not give you a feel of a "locked jaw" in your hands. Any resistance that you feel in your hand while riding ALWAYS starts in the horse's back.
When a horse is equally laterally supple in both directions, it will be evident in the ease of which you are able to perform changes of bend and direction.
Too much repetitive motion (of any one thing... trotting, cantering, circling, hills, jumping, leg yielding, etc) can easily cause fatigue, soreness, boredom, or a sour attitude. It is best to mix things up in your training.
"When introducing new questions make sure they are fair, but don’t over prepare the horse. Let him find out it’s an oxer/filler/bounce when he gets there. They need to learn to react and make quick decisions." ~ Eric Smiley
"All riders need very loose joints - loose hips, loose shoulders, loose elbows, loose knees, loose ankles. When I say loose I don’t mean uncontrollably loose, but they need to have a very good range of motion, and an absence of unwanted tension. A lot of riders when they are not comfortable in forward seat tend to grip with their knees, and tend to have a little stiffness in their ankles." ~ Tad Coffin
Both horses and riders ultimately learn from and cement behaviors through repetition. This is why you need to make sure that you are repeating things CORRECTLY.
Maintain your good score for your trot or canter lengthenings by performing a clear, precise, and active transition back to the working gait at the end of the lengthening.
Many times riders ride each stride to a jump, but then sort of "freeze" right when they get there. Usually this is because of nerves, or because the rider is worried about trying to make some preconceived takeoff spot happen.
Make sure you ride each stride, including the takeoff, and even over and across the jump if necessary. Don't "jump ship" and leave your horse feeling alone right when he needs you most.
If you want to develop a nicely shaped crest (the top of the neck muscling) on your horse, you have to make sure your horse is truly seeking the connection - reaching into the bit, rather than backing away from it.
"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
If you do all of your training on the exact same kind of footing, (i.e. either all firm ground, or all sand), you might be putting your horse at an increased risk of possible injury. Training on a variety of different surfaces will develop both the strength and the elasticity of tendons and ligaments, which will help to prevent injury.
"It’s important that the rider doesn’t disturb the horse – leaning this way or that – and that is the same with this pulling and pushing. You give a half halt, but half halt is not just pull back and then let go. First of all you have to push the horse into your contact, and while you do a half halt, the horse should not get tighter in the neck and not get slower in the hind legs. Actually we want to engage the hind legs. It’s something you have to work on all the time, and get to feel it. When you tell the rider, now this, now that, you are already too late. You have to practice this, so that the riders get to feel it themselves." ~ Monica Theodorescu
The half pass helps to develop the brilliance of the extended trot, by increasing hip and stifle flexibility and range of motion, and freeing up the horse's shoulders.
True lightness does not come from playing with the bit until the horse feels lighter in your hand. Only real hind leg engagement and lowering of the quarters will bring about the true lightness that you are looking for.
"You are connected with your seat to the horse’s back, connected with your legs to the horse’s body, and connection can only work if it goes through the whole horse and into the rider’s body, and from the rider’s body back to the whole horse." ~ Susanne Miesner
"I discovered that the horse is life itself, a metaphor; but also an example of life's mystery and unpredictability, of life's generosity and beauty, a worthy object if repeated and ever changing contemplation." ~ Jane Smiley
Both horses and riders ultimately learn from and cement behaviors through repetition. Make sure you are repeating things correctly to avoid cementing incorrect responses.
"A horse's energies are gathered up from behind and by yielding on the reins and giving him the room to step through to the center of gravity, the neck will shape to reflect the activities in the haunches. Trying to achieve collection by working on the horse's neck cuts the horse off in the front, confining him and preventing the hind legs from lifting, suspending and powerfully supporting the rider's balance." ~ 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!
Forward and speed are two different things. And balanced speed is not inherently dangerous. But if there is a fundamental problem in the horse or rider's basics, speed will make it more apparent.
"The main reason that I'm 150% behind mares is that they will give you 150% in return once they trust you. I think they will work harder for you, because once they learn to trust you they develop a bond with you that's completely unlike any other bond with any other rider. You become their person." ~ Rebecca Rigdon-Blake
"Young horses are like a blank slate. In my experience they naturally give you the right answers often, especially when you first start riding them." ~ Bridget Hay
"I think riders can very easily lose the ability to comfortably ride out in the open at more than a walk if they lock themselves into a dressage arena. I feel so strongly that the horses need to be allowed out of the arena from time to time." ~ Lauren Chumley
"All equestrians, if they last long enough, learn that riding in whatever form is a lifelong sport and art, an endeavor that is both familiar and new every time you take the horse out of his stall or pasture." ~ Jane Smiley
"You get that horse to really operate as if he's your legs and you can take that anywhere you want. You can dress up in any kind of clothes you like. You can be a jumper, dressage rider, trail rider, cowboy, anything." ~ Buck Brannaman
"Just as experience dictates to the ballet teacher the length of time necessary to train his students, so the horse, too, needs time to mature into a great four legged dancer." ~ Alois Podhajsky
"The goal of all dressage riding should be to bring the horse and rider together in harmony...a oneness of balance, purpose, and athletic expression." ~ Walter Zettl
"Far be it from me to force anyone into either chess or dressage, but if you choose to do so yourself, in my opinion there is only one way: follow the rules." ~ Lars von Trier
"The basic techniques, or what they call basics, are more difficult than what comes later – this is the Trap of Dressage. Correct basics are more difficult than the piaffe and passage." ~ Conrad Schumacher
