The Dressage Formula

01/17/2024

🥳👏

12/19/2023

We are SO excited to be giving away our Flagship Course to a couple lucky competitors! 🎁

…one lucky entry from each December and January will be named as winners of this prize! Dressage Online will randomly draw from all entries received each month so be sure to get your December end of month test in if you missed the mid-month deadline!🎄

Dressage Online ambassador Daphne Haagmans created the online learning series “The Dressage Formula” featuring her flagship course “The Comprehensive Study of the Correct Dressage Seat, Leg and Weight Aids” to help riders achieve greater training success, harmony with their horse and invisible aids. Daphne teaches these essential concepts in a way that benefits all levels of riders in all disciplines. We think it is a perfect fit with the Dressage Online series! Good luck to all competitors! 🤞

11/01/2023

Good luck to all competitors!

10/25/2023

Have you tried it yet?

10/19/2023

Proper alignment, elasticity and suppleness through the hand and wrist is important to the essential bit to elbow line. The hand simply connects the bit to the elbow so ensure you are not creating extra tension in that area through improper alignment - which can often happen while carrying a whip incorrectly, especially one in poor “balance”.

We’ve provided a link to our YouTube video on this topic in here –

https://youtu.be/YWKOTlWG6n4?si=FN4bkZxB-giaCYKI

10/18/2023

Prepping for another entry!! Entries close mid and end of each month - lots of opportunity to compete!! Be sure to use coupon code: DHBAOctober23 for 10% off your first entry. Give it a try!!!
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10/15/2023

Do you make the most of your practice rides in between lessons? Do you sometimes struggle to keep the same motivation and discipline when riding on your own?

✅Having a plan can make all the difference!

✅Participating in online dressage shows can be a great motivator and can help you stay on track when riding alone by giving you something specific to work on.

Dressage Online Oulton Hall Dressage Inc.

10/05/2023

Bri is looking over Daphne’s notes so she can be the perfect model for today’s filming! She’s just that kind of horse. 🦄👩‍🎓🍎🍏🥕
We’ve got some new training tips heading your way soon!

09/18/2023

Have you tried competing in virtual dressage shows 🏆 It’s a great way to improve your test riding skills without even leaving the farm!! Dressage Online runs shows with deadlines at the middle and end of each month. Here is the list of tests to be ridden for End of September show. It’s so easy to do!! First time competing??? Be sure to use coupon code: DHBASEPTEMEBR23 for a 10% discount on your entry fee. Or, like and share this post to enter our Giveaway for FREE entry fee - context ends September 23.

09/15/2023

Who wants to win a free entry?!?!?!

09/14/2023

I am thrilled to announce my appointment as brand ambassador for Dressage Online to celebrate I will be giving away a FREE End of September class entry! 🎁

My students all know that I have become a big fan of online dressage “shows”. From a trainer/coach point of view, having students participate in these competitions proved very useful and involved the same type of prep as for live shows and also brought about the same pressure for horse and rider without leaving home. It gives solid goals (especially during the long and cold Canadian winter) and resulted in great progress over the few shows with horse and rider gaining show ring confidence and skills with each test completed.

I love the variety of tests offered by Dressage Online (many in the 20x40m ring size) and have been duly impressed with the swift turnaround time of results and scores and the quality level of judging!

Competing in the series is accessible for all riders. All you need is a “marked out” ring (improvising is fine!), correct and well-fitting gear for horse and rider (show clothes and braiding optional), a smartphone and “cameraman” (anyone can do it!). Entering and submitting your test (via WhatsApp, YouTube or email) is a simple and streamlined process even for the most technologically challenged.

❓Ready to give it a go?!?! I will be giving away one FREE entry to the September End of Month competition. Simply make sure you are following me at both Oulton Hall Dressage Inc. and The Dressage Formula as well as Dressage Online and then share this post – we will pick a random winner and announce on September 23.

So head over to www.dressageonline.org and chose your first class and start practising! Closing date for this show is the end of September. And if you didn’t win the free entry – don’t worry, use the code DHBASEPTEMBER23 for 10% off their already fantastic prices). This code is applies to any new horse/rider entry.

Happy riding!
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09/04/2023

Have you watched our free course excerpt on what we call the "golden rule" of rotational alignment yet? 🤔

Go to our YouTube channel and find the free excerpt there along with more helpful videos.

https://youtu.be/195Vl8mUrfc?si=vo7sIY4gZ8pATRMF

Subscribe to our channel and never miss a new video.

Happy riding!

09/02/2023

🎬 “It’s “showtime”! 📸

08/24/2023

Determining proper saddle fit is a multi-step process. We have already highlighting the following;
Step 1- Palpating horse to check for any sensitivities or soreness
Step 2- Wither measurement tracing to determine appropriate saddle tree width
Now presenting
Step 3- Tree point angles
Emphasizing how tree point angle is just as important to proper saddle fit as tree width. In conjunction with the wither tracing, assessing how the tree points sit behind the horse’s shoulder blade is critical. Equestrian Imports Oulton Hall Dressage Inc.

08/10/2023

You have questions, we have answers! 🙋‍♀️

Swipe through to learn more about The Dressage Formula and our Flagship Course.

07/30/2023

Saddle placement is key. Even the best fitting saddle will cause problems for the horse and rider if it’s not placed correctly. Are you confident your saddle placement is correct?
Equestrian Imports Oulton Hall Dressage Inc.The Dressage Formula

07/25/2023

Precision and accuracy matters in dressage. 🎯

Maximize your scores by thoroughly familiarizing yourself with the dimensions of the Dressage Arena.

Inaccurately ridden circles, corners and centerlines due to careless geometry is costly to test scores and avoidable with proper study. 👩‍🎓

Join our email list by visiting www.thedressageformula.com or clicking the

07/20/2023

Checking our horses back should be done regularly for early intervention of possible issues. It’s an easy procedure and Ann Forrest of Equestrian Imports showed us a simple and complete routine that can be used as part of our grooming regime. 🍎👍
Oulton Hall Dressage Inc.

05/26/2023

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Developing Empathy

Frustrated by your horse? Try this---

Go for a run. Yes, you, human rider. Intersperse your run with sets of push-ups. See how long it takes before you lose athletic buoyancy, before you “just can’t.”

Fatigue in a horse, which is pretty much the same thing that you just felt, creates leaning, tripping, stumbling, slow reactions, poor coordination, lugging on the hand, all sorts of what you may be mistaking for “bad behavior.”

The tired horse will feel just like a “disobedient” horse. And then what will happen to that horse if the rider doesn’t tune into the horse’s fatigue? You know exactly what will happen to the horse. It will get drilled on. Drilled on just when the exact opposite should happen.

Trainers who lack the ability to sense what the horse is going through are among the worst drillers, and they create tense, scared, resistant horses, and they then do something even worse, they blame the horse.

Change your mind set. Think how YOU would feel if you had gotten beyond your limits and then got ground on and punished to fix your bad behavior.

You think I’m kidding? You think this isn’t going to happen today, all across the world where people ride and drive horses? That unfit for the task horses won’t be cranked and pressured? Dream on.

The best thing that you can do if your goal is to become a competent trainer is to constantly be aware of your own frustration meter. And stop before you create damage, physical and emotional injury and distress. Get a little and end on that. If even a little seems elusive, DO NOT GRIND. Go walk, try again tomorrow. Don’t add fear and anxiety to the training process.

I will say this one more time---“Don’t add fear and anxiety to the training process.”

Why am I saying this so often? Because if I had learned this decades sooner, I would have been a far better trainer and horse person---That’s why. Learn, if you are capable of doing so, from the mistakes that others have made. Do not drill your horse.

05/18/2023

Accepted at the Horse Inspection today - ready to start competing at Andy’s first International CDI tomorrow!!!
Thanks to for the great outfit and bridle today!!

05/01/2023

🤩🤩

It’s time 🎉 Entries are open for our first show of the year! Join us June 16-18 at Caledon Equestrian Park. Entries can be completed at www.competeeasy.com or by downloading the Compete Easy app.

04/30/2023

FEI show by morning; turn out in the rain with my friend by noon. ☺️

We believe turn out is so important for our horses; everyday, any weather.

Horses are made to be horses. 🐴❤️🌧️

10/02/2022

It was gorgeous day for a fall clinic!🍂
Great work done by our riders Mason, Shannon, Amanda and Michael whose horses were all superstars. Rhythm, balance, suppleness were common themes as well as , self awareness, , and so many of the fundamentals of Daphne’s flagship course were covered today…the building blocks for riding success!

10/02/2022

It was gorgeous day for a fall clinic! 🍂
Great work done by our riders: Mason, Shannon, Amanda and Michael whose horses were all superstars. Rhythm, balance, suppleness were common themes as well as , self awareness, , and so many of the fundamentals of Daphne’s flagship course were covered today…the building blocks for riding success!

06/26/2022

This ⤵️

It is almost impossible to learn dressage-based concepts without first knowing what the various terms mean, words and phrases like “engagement,” “on the aids,” “inside leg to outside rein,” “over the back and through.”

We don’t teach kids to read before they learn the alphabet, or to do math problems before they know the numbers. And yet all over the world there are riders and drivers diligently taking dressage lessons who couldn’t correctly define “engagement” if they would win a vacation to Cancun by doing so.

There is a word for the so often missing link.
E-D-U-C-A-T-I-O-N

So many riders don’t read. They don’t study. They hear these words and phrases, even in lessons, without taking the time or making the effort to actually figure out what they mean.

If we were told, “If you bring me a totlefrat, I will give you a million dollars,” the most logical first question would be---“What is a totlefrat?”

How can we learn it before we know what “it” is?

06/06/2022

👍👏🐴☀️

Huge thank you to and all the show sponsors for a fabulous start to their series of summer shows. Great competition with awesome prizes and super shopping !!And the weather could not have been better!!!