Katie Erpel Dressage

11/25/2024

Samantha Lee taking a lesson on Zorro de la Noche yesterday! 🙌

I have to brag because she’s never ridden an Andalusian nor flying changes, and she just did everything I told her to do, and looked amazing doing it!

It’s always a treat for me to put my students on my training horses to see if I can plug them in. As well as it’s truly a test of my work to see if my training is on the right course, and that my horses are easy for green Dressage riders!

Zorro has been back for a 1.5 month “tune-up” after going home to his mom for 6 months. Right before he left, I trained the changes on him and debuted a green Third Level. So the fact that he comes back, and then can teach a schoolmaster lesson and easily do changes for someone that has never done changes, makes me so incredibly happy as a coach and a trainer 🙌

Thank you Tina Sportschuetz for sharing your amazing boy with us, he is truly so special 💜🦄

Great riding Sam, onward and upward! ⭐️

̃ol

11/21/2024

Proud Trainer Moment Today ⭐️
Student, DiAnna and her 4 y.o. PRE, Olympia🦄
DiAnna has been committed to learning the basics herself, as well as keeping Olympia in training to be developed. It’s so rewarding to see when the dedication pays off - the young horse and new Dressage rider find their groove & harmony together 💜
Onward and upward 🙌

11/20/2024

Dressage is truly all about the journey!

So rewarding to see coming 4 year old Phoebe (Levander’s full sister ❤️) and her mom, Kelsey doing such a great job re-starting her after I lightly started her under saddle this summer! Such a lovely, elegant mare, can’t wait to watch these two develop further 🥰

Onward and upward ! 🙌

11/20/2024

And that is the Art of Riding, why you must feel what is happening behind the saddle so that you ride the horse back to front - when the haunches lower, the back rounds, withers lift, and neck telescopes out to the bit with elasticity 🙌

10/26/2024

👏

“INSIDE LEG TO OUTSIDE REIN.” 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

I’m sure every equestrian in the world (who has had lessons / watched lessons) has heard these words howled from across the arena at some point in their lives…

Although it is well intentioned advice, in many cases it can create further problems which serve to be quite a road block for progression amongst horses and riders…

Whilst being able to execute these aids effectively DOES have a beautiful influence on a horses way of going… In order to execute these aids effectively and have a positive effect on the horses way of moving, the horse has to firstly understand quite a number of steps and the rider has to have the skill to deliver aids independantly…

A lack of the above, is the reason this advice so often fails and instead ends up leaving a bunch of frustrated, perplexed riders and equally frustrated horses who are uncomfortable in their bodies 😣😤.

So in terms of the horses understanding, let’s take a deeper dive into some ingredients that are necessary to have in place BEFORE truly riding from inside leg to outside rein is a possibility…

1️⃣ A horse should have an understanding of basic foundational yields. They should be able to both move the hind end and the shoulders a few steps laterally in response to your leg going on. They should not feel ‘stuck’ on anyone of their legs. Developing these yields will enable you to talk to each hind leg and each foreleg in isolation. The forequarter yields enable you to develop the feel and understanding to move the horses outside shoulder off of your outside aids and the hindquarter yields develop the understanding to influence the inside hind from your inside aids. Eventually you should aim to be able to do these yields with the smallest of changes in your body and with a clear slack in the reins.

If you can currently put your leg on in a number of ways and the ONLY response you get from your horse is to move forwards, then you really need to spend time teaching / revisiting these forequarter and hindquarter yields in order for him to start understanding a more lateral response to the leg.

2️⃣ Being able to yield to rein pressure. So whether you ride bitless, in a snaffle, a rope halter or something else, you should be able to pick up each rein individually and have your horse bending and softening through their entire neck, poll and jaw to the left and the right. Make sure you can do this from a standstill first and that you are not having to use force to hold them in the bend… Release when they release… Progress onto asking for a few strides in walk until eventually you can have your horse bending softly to the inside rein down a whole long side. Make sure you can do this with outside bend to. Finally progress to the trot.

3️⃣ Now the horse has an understanding of the above, you can now use your inner rein, leg and seat aids to achieve a correct inside bend and to move the horse off of your inside aids in order to create lateral flexion throughout the horses body.. At this point if the steps have been done correctly there should be no brace, resistance or blockages in the horses body.. The horse should begin to feel looser and more relaxed, seeking the rein down and out… All those good things. It should feel very nice for both you and the horse. You should not feel as though you need to ‘hold’ the horse into this position or micromanage him/her to stay there. He/she seeks this position because they learn it feels good, therefore it is self reinforcing!

At this point you can begin to take more slack out of the outside rein, until you can begin to feel a soft, elastic connection to the outside of his body… It should not feel restrictive.. You should not come back with your outside hand as the outside of his body needs to lengthen in order for energy to flow smoothly… If you loose energy through the outside shoulder, the skills you developed with the shoulder yields, will allow you to communicate to and shift the balance of the outside shoulder.

Once everything comes together, It should just feel as though you are simply moving the energy off of your inside aids, feeling it being met into your outside rein and then allowing that feeling to flow through into the forwards movement. You can test your ‘inside leg to outside rein connection’ by regularly giving the inside rein. If you have done all the steps correctly, the horse should remain bent laterally around your inside leg when you give on this rein.

👆🏼THIS is the true definition of riding ‘inside leg to outside rein.’

At this point you can use exercises and school figures such as spiralling in and out to further improve inside hind leg engagement and inside leg to outside rein connection.

I can’t stress enough, the outcome of the above coming together is a horse that feels soft, loose, swinging through his entire body, his steps will feel rhythmical, his back will feel lifted, he will be seeking the rein down and OUT and it will feel enjoyable and effortless for BOTH of you. If you have not achieved this feeling you need to retrace your steps and figure out what ingredient(s) are missing!

It might sound complicated, but when you break each component down individually and work on truly achieving one thing at a time, everything begins to slot together and make sense.

Attempting to ride “inside leg to outside rein” before the above has been established is like trying to bake a cake, but you don’t have any flour, you don’t have any butter nor any sugar 🤷🏻‍♀️… How can you be surprised the cake has turned out rubbish!?

10/21/2024

⭐️ Training & Consignment Stall Available ⭐️

USDF Bronze and Silver Medalist (on self-trained horse), Katie, offers an empathetic and methodical approach to Dressage training and a lifetime of experience with all dispositions, breeds, sizes, and ages of horses from starting under saddle to developing to the Upper Levels.

🔹Dressage training to develop your horse to the next level, have a refresher course, season your horse to the show ring, combine with lessons for you to continue learning or to help market your horse to find their perfect home.

🔹Katie has also trained numerous horses to instill a thorough Dressage foundation and understanding for the horse, then transition their riders back in a methodical lesson program to create a more harmonious relationship between horse and rider. She has also helped numerous students earn their Bronze Medal and work towards their Silver.

🔹Stall available at quaint farm on the Windsor/Williston line conveniently located off of 78 just 15 minutes from Downtown Aiken and less than 30 minutes to all of the show venues.

🔹We offer a boutique experience, where your horse is treated as one of our own, quaint environment, yet with high quality, personalized care.

- Specialized Feeding Program
- 20x60m arena with GGT and mirrors
- lndividual stall and paddock with safe, no-climb fence and Electrobraid (in and outs available)
- Large 5 acre Grass Schooling Field with Cavalettis
- Owners live on premises and oversee all daily care.

Small Sample Portfolio of a few of Katie’s Training and Sale Horses through the years 🦄

Call or text 3057785336 for more information!

̃ola

10/11/2024

My friend, Zorro de la Noche, back for a refresher 💃 And Beowulf, finding his hind legs, learning half steps and all his new trot gears today - having too much fun with him ⭐️ 💪🏼

10/06/2024

There’s a difference between a rider and a trainer. I’m not talking about the difference between an AA and a Pro. A “rider” is someone who rides the horse, doing what the horse already knows. Certainly you can be a good rider or not so good. And you can even be a Grand Prix “rider.” And that’s nothing to sneeze at! Learning to be a really good rider is a huge accomplishment. You keep the horse where they are in their training. Hopefully through good riding you keep them fit, happy, confident, keep their minds and bodies sound. All wonderful things.

A “trainer” is different, though. A trainer is able to assess a horse, and come up with a path to improve the way the horse goes and then hopefully teach the horse new things. A trainer needs a very inquisitive mind, needs to be bold enough to push the envelope sometimes, and needs enough grit to work through the inevitable mistakes that will arise. Mistakes are no fun, especially when you’re on a 1200 lb animal, who might tell you that you made a big one 😳 But there’s no learning without mistakes. And as a trainer - that’s your job. Your horse is going to have to learn new things from you. New movements, yes, but also new concepts (that we often call “the basics”) that really change the way they use their body.

Are people just naturally “riders” or “trainers?” Sometimes. I’ve met some young kids who just intuitively wanted to train their horse, and not just ride him. But I’ve also met plenty of people who were “riders” and over time became very effective “trainers.”

Want to be more of a trainer? Learn to assess a horse’s strengths and weaknesses. Learn when to push and when to just cruise for a while. What do you do when you run into a problem that’s tricky or one you didn’t expect? All of these can be learned, mostly from horses who will teach you but hopefully from an educated and patient trainer who has run into whatever problem you’re having many times before. That’s why great trainers still work with another trainer themselves. Always more to learn. Always a new problem to solve, and no single person has all the answers. I’m so grateful to all the trainers who helped and are still helping me learn!!

08/16/2024

Proud Coach ⭐️
Congratulations to Heather and Marissa for earning their last qualifying scores for Third Level USDF Regionals 🎉💜🦄