Denise O'Reilly & The Dressage Secret

18/09/2025

31/08/2025

Such great fun working with these two! Rebekah is so disciplined as she fits training several horses a day into her hectic horsey life.

28/08/2025

I'm getting to ride CJ quite a bit at the moment, whilst his real Mum is off for a week.
Stef Eardley wanted us to work on something that would help her too, especially with his engagement and balance.
So today we use an exercise that we have nicknamed 'crab - walking' (so much more fun than the fancy names!) to begin the idea of some Special Little Steps.
I was letting him out in front too much, but still, I loved the feeling when we got it!
Good boy CJ, he was very proud of himself. ❤️

13/08/2025

This...is riding. Absorb every word. It will transform not just your journey, but your destination

The Art of Producing the High-Level Horse

In today’s world, where goals are king, results are worshipped, and egos often take the reins, we’ve lost touch with something essential: the art of the journey. The quiet, thoughtful process of developing a horse, not just for performance, but for partnership.

Too often, the pursuit of high-level training becomes a checklist of movements, an external badge of status. Grand Prix as the pinnacle. Piaffe, passage, pirouette all proof of success. But we rarely stop to ask: Success by whose measure? And at what cost?

Because if a horse’s well-being were truly at the centre of our goals and not just a footnote in our mission statements our training would look radically different. It would move slower. It would feel softer. It would sound quieter. And it would be far more beautiful.

Producing a high-level horse is not about simply teaching them the movements required on a score sheet. It’s about cultivating a horse who is sound in body, stable in mind, and joyful in spirit. It’s about shaping one who offers those movements willingly, expressively, even playfully. Not as a result of pressure, punishment, or the clever placement of aids that corner them into compliance but from a place of physical readiness and emotional trust.

And this……….this is where the art comes in!

Imagine dressage as a painting. Each training session is a brushstroke, delicate, deliberate, layered. The impatient artist might throw out the canvas at the first mistake. But the true artist? They work with the paint, blend it, adjust it, stay curious. They know that beauty often lives in the imperfection, in the subtle corrections, in the layers of time and care.

The same is to be said in riding: the art lies not in domination, but in dialogue. Every stride, every transition, every still moment is part of an evolving composition. The rider’s aids are not commands but questions; the horse’s responses are not obedience but answers. Together, you create something greater than the sum of its parts.

The highest levels of dressage are not the goal. They are the byproduct of a thousand conversations, a thousand small moments where the rider listens, adjusts, supports, and receives. When done well, Grand Prix is not a performance. It is the horse’s voice, amplified through movement.

To produce a horse to that level is to understand that their body is not a tool, but a home. Their mind, not a machine, but a mirror. Their spirit, not a resource, but a companion.

This is not just training a horse
It is stewardship.
It is art
And it begins not with ambition,
but with reverence.

03/08/2025

Did you know that 'bending the horse around your inside leg' is only physically possible for the horse if their front legs / shoulders have stepped out onto the circle / bend line first.
The feeling the rider gets then is that a groove 'appears' by the girth, that your inside leg can 'squish' into, creating a softening and 'rolling through' (to the outside) of the horse's ribcage, giving the feeling of a uniform bend.
In today's lesson with Pru and Baby, one of our lovely TDS horses, they learned this together.
The 2 stills are the start of the lesson and the end.

01/08/2025

Nurturing young talent has to be one of the most rewarding things in my career.
I have been coaching Gracie Stanbrook for about a year now - and boy, is she talented!
At just 14 years old, she rides with such empathy and feel, and she works so hard for her success.
Super proud of this pair!

27/07/2025

I still can't jump off, because my arm can't fully stretch up after the shoulder surgery...so my gorgeous Coco helps me out by reversing into the ramp space. The 'shhh' sound means 'step back' and this means less reliance (soon to be no reliance) on the rein.
He has learned that his shoulder needs to be close to the ramp so I can get off.
And he loves the 'good boy' that goes with it!

19/07/2025

This is an honest post, and really from the heart.
If I can encourage just one person reading this to never give up doing what they love, it will be worth me 'baring all' (well, maybe not quite all!)
It has been a very long road after my fall in April 2024, and then surgery to repair my rotator cuff (shoulder) in February 2025.
The physical stuff heals, and with physio and gym work, strength is slowly returning.
What is way harder is the emotional / mental side of how we deal with trauma and yes, not a little fear.
I am 62 this year, and have survived many falls, breaks, surgeries and all that.
I have ridden (and coped with) many young horses, one or two bolters (not fun), one 17.3hh who was a persistent rearer (even less fun and more vertigo), and numerous spooky or bucking horses.
I say I coped.
Sort of.
No-one really likes that stuff do they? (surely?)
In all honesty, I always wish that I had known then what I know now. Especially in terms of the groundwork.
I could have saved the NHS thousands!
I might also have preserved a few more shreds of what little bravery I started with - which probably wasn't much.
I have never been gung-ho.
I have always been cautious, careful and have stacked the odds in my favour.
Looking back over some of my more difficult horses, I can certainly recall feeling sick with nerves before getting on, but doing it anyway, and yet still somehow getting off feeling that I had failed.
Because we all know when we are riding 'on our back foot'.
We all know when we feel that sense of relief that we haven't died during the ride....
Sometimes these feelings are totally logical.
Maybe the horse hasn't been ridden all week, or we have 40mph winds or sideways hail - and sometimes it is completely without reason.
Just a feeling that you can't shake. A nagging inner voice telling you that something is going to happen today.
It doesn't seem to matter if there is any basis to this feeling.
Or if logically you know you can cope with the odd little spook.
You see, your brain (your amygdala to be precise) has saved up all your previous 'incidents' and it's job is to tell you that your fear will keep you safe.
Just leave that ride for today.
Maybe you should lunge.
A day off won't hurt....and so on.
My emotions, fear, and self- doubt nearly got the better of me so many times getting back on Coco.
And I have a 'get out of jail free' card (otherwise known as Clare Atkins who will always jump on for me).
Sooo strong was the feeling that I should quit.
Stay safe.
Don't risk another fall.
It's not worth feeling like this over.....
Except actually, it is.
It really really is. Because without horses, without riding, I honestly don't know what I'm doing here - or what my purpose is.
So I asked for help, and found BWRT (Brain working recursive therapy) and the very wonderful Kate Osmaston, who has opened up a world of possibilities for me that I thought had gone for good.
This therapy is a little 'left field' BUT does not make you relive past traumas.
It's surprisingly quick, and very very liberating.
Last Tuesday, Kate was passing my yard, and having never met her in person, but feeling a strong connection with her from the start, we had an amazing couple of hours together.
Healing is possible, inside and out.
Keep at it.
Hold tight to your dreams and happy horse time.

04/07/2025

Great day teaching out and about yesterday in Burton-on-Trent and surrounding areas. Lovely to see Gracie Stanbrook developing with her new mare, Winnie (all 17.1hh of her!) This new partnership are doing so well already, considering the 'jump up' from riding 14.2's.
Gracie, as usual, showed mature, intuitive riding, with skills well beyond her 14 years.
Made another new friend too with Natalie and Gracie's gorgeous little puppy!

14/06/2025

13/05/2025

What a pleasure coaching this one after her recent Regional success. Well done Danni Nicholson-Round!

10/05/2025

Thought I would share with you all my week in teaching...still no driving after my surgery so all at my home base.
Happy Sunny riding all!