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NODA updates.
Our recognized shows, Dressage 2024/ Dressage 2024 Encore, have been rescheduled to August 17 & 18 which is within this year’s regional qualifying window! Please reach out to the show manager with any questions at [email protected]
The Sign Up Link will work on the electronic file https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ce09_RuQjO38LXA0KT4rZZBYeZtw4xg2/view?usp=drive_link
Updated calendar.
2024 Combined Test and Mini Trial Dates!
- April 27th Combined Test & Dressage Show
- May 25th Combined Test & Dressage Show
- June 22nd Combined Test & Dressage Show
- August 3rd Combined Test & Dressage Show
- September 28th Mini Trial & Dressage Show
Dressage will be indoors. If needed, we can set a second Dressage ring outside. All jumping will be outside. PM Hinckley Equestrian Center or Michelle Jarus for more details. All stabling requests to Michelle.
This preview has ended. In order to continue watching this lesson and access more great US Equestrian benefits, please join USEF today! Log In Join USEF Duncan F. Peters Mental Health for The Competition Horse Posted: January 2024 Length: 00:00 Share: About This Video Dr. Duncan F. Peters focuses on...
Notes from Day One -
Adequan/USDF FEI Trainers Conference
With Sabine Schut-Kery and Sven Rothenberger
Bonnie Canter & Vitalis, riding with Sabine
-use shallow leg yield in canter to get more lateral suppleness
-Think of collection, but don’t let him SLOW down
-Forward through elbows to hands in the corners, so he doesn’t feel blocked when you bring him back
-Discipline as a rider is that we do not do the job for the horse
-He must be sharper off the aids. “If you and I were talking, you would be yelling at me.”
-Sometimes it’s good to work in the walk, break it down even more for the horse. You can accomplish so much just in the walk.
-Envision in your mind, the collected canter you love. Don’t just canter around. Really insist on the best quality.
-This horse is not quite forward enough because he’s stiff. So we need to supple him, not chase him faster.
-Your inner leg must be long and BREATHING
Breathing means you’re not tight, clamping, or gripping – never get stuck in an aid.
-Teach him to push himself with the hind leg and not pull with the front leg.
-Every day you must have a high standard with your position – do not get drawn up in the heel or resistant in the arms and elbows
-Take lots of little breaks
-I don’t care if he walks (from Canter) this is a training opportunity – can I teach him something?
-Connection should be like a bungee chord. Even when you give, give in an elastic way.
-Keep the bit forward in the mouth, don’t pull the bit back to you.
-Make quality before you make things exact (like perfect placement of transitions or changes) because exact can come once there is consistent quality.
-Before I communicate, I must make the horse sharp. Like a chef, I can’t start to make a meal with a dull knife.
-A good position makes it so I can have quality aids.
Kelsey Dunlap & Heirendale, riding with Sabine
-Medium trot & when the neck comes up, ride a volte, so the volte keeps him supple, and you don’t have to pull him back.
-The neck is just a reflection of what you have behind the saddle.
-He must get comfortable with a challenge. A challenge cannot be a negative.
-Piaffe can be a little like a trick, but you have to connect in and out, so it goes THROUGH the body.
-You have to connect pushing power with carrying power.
-There’s a fine line between challenging and working on a subject and over-drilling. You can’t do too much because you’ll break their spirit and go beyond their physical strength. But you must stay in it long enough that they show an understanding.
-Leave the door open in front, but be there when he wants to run through the door.
-As a rider, you must have awareness of the rhythm, and don’t follow him when he runs off in a faulty rhythm.
-If you want the back up, you have to ride BOTH ends.
-Sven - he’s a big horse but not always the most coordinated. Don’t help him so much anymore. He must have more accountability for his own coordination.
Marjolein Geven & Sir Frederico, with Sabine
-Think of a bow and arrow. When you bring him back (draw the arrow back) he still has energy. So much potential energy.
-The canter to trot transition is so helpful. It can be hard with an FEI horse who has learned to come behind the rider. The horse must take the bit OUT and ROUND in order to do that trans well.
-Get OUT of him in the walk.
-Let the corner bring him back, not the hand.
-With a horse like this - raise the bar but have shorter sets. Really good quality for 29 mins is better than insisting on riding dor 45 mins.
Molly O'Brien & Fortunato H2O, with Sven
-The extended walk should be like walking in the forest with your dog- with energy and relaxation.
-Use the warm up to make an athlete out of your horse.
-What walk are you doing? It must either be an extended walk or a collected walk. If collected - short reins, neck up, weight on the hind legs. If extended- poll low, nose out, free in the shoulder.
-Activity IS dressage. In a few years, we don’t want a lazy duck.
-Sh in, he tilts on the R rein. You just get him to fill up the R. You have to make horses fill up the softer side.
-Everything you do, do it correctly. Don’t waste time doing a shoulder in for a 6.5.
-Quarter pirouettes are very good because it can be hard to get out of a pirouette. So you get to practice the first stride and last stride many times.
-When you have a horse this nice, you have the DUTY to concentrate and create good quality in all movements.
Kristen Stein & Karamba, with Sven
-The horse must get stronger in the core and more open through the chest. If they are tight in the neck, they will get narrow in front and tight with the front leg
-Flex him to soften him. If you want contact with 2 reins, keep him a little straighter in the neck.
-Transitions create better contact - more if they are too light and less if they are too strong.
-To be a dressage rider means a lifetime of criticism. 😂
-When there is a problem, next time you can’t come thinking there will be a problem. You stick to your program.
Tanya Rennie & Faldo, with Sabine
-The easiest part of the horse to move is the neck, then the hind leg, then the shoulder/front leg. The hardest are the ribs.
-The horses are sensitive enough to be fired up or relaxed by just your energy.
-In trot the rider must swing, but Tanya is swinging a little up in the knee and heel with each stride. There must be a swing down and in each stride.
-To get the midsection up you need both a front and a hind end. Allow the contact to be a place where they can balance *lightly*. Like if you were doing a deep lunge in a workout and you touched the wall with one finger, it is easier to balance than with no hands. But just one finger can create better balance, and just a light contact can help the horse.
-In extended walk, if he dunks his head down each stride, use your calves a bit to help keep the belly and back up. Don’t let him get slouchy and drop his sternum.
-In half pass R, he isn’t allowed to bring his R shoulder back. His chest must stay parallel to the short side. Exercise - trot on the diagonal totally straight, then haunches in but DONT let the shoulders turn.
-Don’t “ride” so much in the walk, because there’s no suspension. But you can’t be totally passive either.
-Transition to canter from walk - think UNDERNEATH you, not away from you.
-Just try it! The worst that can happen is it goes wrong. Then you can ask, WHAT went wrong?
-In the test, I want to have the walk score “for free,” so I have room to make mistakes in the harder stuff. But you must practice the walk!
-He pops the croup with the whip, so that’s the one time the leg must support the whip, instead of the other way round. The leg teaches him - no, you must push the leg under, not out.
Ended Ots & Lion King, with Sven
-In the beginning - rising trot, don’t lose activity and power. Not so passage-y. Horses lose power when too passage-y.
-Your inside tenseness - when you don’t like what he’s doing, you put that tension on him.
-Make him proud! Tell him, Look! You did it!! 👏
-Be smart - don’t ride a flying change from a tense canter. Then you make one problem on top of another.
-When he’s tense, don’t make yourself light in the saddle, sit into him to help relax the back.
-The more the horse is running away from you, the bigger you should sit. Don’t make yourself small when he’s tense.
-If we don’t get to relaxation before the working phase, he learns everything in tension.
-With these tense horses, take them out again in the afternoon for a walk in the fields, to show them that you are friends!
-Piaffe is not tenseness and pressure.
-How young to start half steps - not before 5, and then Sven likes to just play in hand, not thinking towards a real piaffe. You’re just teaching response and reaction.
-Sabine on training piaffe - I don’t get excited about piaffe, I get more excited about a really good trot - walk transition, because piaffe is in the transition.
JJ Tate & Romeo, with Sven
“The rider forms the horse.”
-The rider must paint a picture of what they want.
-In the GP, you only have one place to give a mark for quality of canter - directly after the passage. I wish there were more places to directly address quality, because it’s so important.
-For the training of the ones - do 2, then a few strides, then 2, a few strides, then 2. And soon you can do 5.
-Focus on improving the steadiness of the contact, not little moments of LRLR.
-Make it so the horse likes to work in the show frame, but don’t stay there forever.
-You are still doing too much to improve the contact. Trust your previous training that he can now stay steady.
If you are dealing with a mysterious issue or lameness…. This is basically a vet recommended checklist to review
Look at this post on Facebook https://www.24horsebehaviors.org/?fbclid=IwAR215MFx49TRGOv0eJFnw_WwueLuX69PEN68IcL5XJE8CcNWV_l4_5PavK8_aem_AeMlVZxcQRbNo8-EhC-8fYcVeEZqUthcQvl6_Z6FOtrJSxg7wWcLpZf6llcOhWpDVlo
“The question we asked was: can we determine, by looking at facial expressions and other behaviors, whether the horse has musculoskeletal pain?”– Dr. Sue Dyson The 24 Behaviors of the Ridden Horse in Pain: Shifting the Paradigm of How We See Lameness. The 24 Behaviors of the Ridden Horse in Pa...
To develop the horse symmetrically in body and limbs you can use gymnastic exercises.
*** CORNERSTONES ***
The core of the gymnastic exercises consists of the circle, shoulder-in and haunches-in. All the other exercises are derived from these cornerstones.
🐴 The circle is used to develop the Lateral bending of the body and spine, the Forward down tendency of the head and neck and the Stepping under the center of mass of the inside hind leg (LFS).
🐴 Once the inside hind leg can step under, this hind leg can also start to take weight. To do so we use the shoulder-in and counter-shoulder-in. These exercises are designed to school the hind leg in function of the inside hind leg. As a result of taking the weight, the horse will bend the inside hind leg more and free the outside shoulder.
🐴 Once the horse can bend the hind leg as an inside hind leg, we can also start to school the hind leg as an outside hind leg. To do so we use first the haunches-in (travers) and later on the renvers. In the renvers the horse can lean less against the wall/fence with his shoulder, so it's a bit more difficult than the travers, but as a result he really supports himself with his hind legs.
*** ALL EXERCISES ARE RELATED ***
All exercises relate to one another and differ slightly:
🐎 The only difference between shoulder-in and counter-shoulder in is the position of the fence/wall. The same applies to the haunches-in (travers) and the renvers, also there the only difference is the position of the wall.
🐎 The difference between shoulder-in and renvers is the bending in the spine, which is the opposite. In these exercises the same hind leg has the opposite function ('inside' in shoulder-in, 'outside' in renvers). The same applies to counter shoulder-in and the haunches in.
🐎 The half pass is 'just' a haunches-in over the diagonal, and the pirouette is 'just' a haunches-in on a small circle. Both half-pass and pirouette require support of both the inside as the outside hind leg. Therefore in both exercises the shoulders must lead to be able to keep the center of mass in front of the direction of the hind legs, only then both hind legs can support the weight. So both the half pass and pirouette also relate to the shoulder-in.
*** NUMBER OF TRACKS AND DEGREE OF BENDING ***
Now all exercises can be done on 3 or 4 tracks, or 2,5 tracks or 3,75 or 3,99 ;) and your horse can have more or less bend in his spine. Now there is no 'perfect' number and the exact degree doesn't matter. What matters in ST is that you choose the number of tracks and degree of bending where your horse can support his body and center of mass best with both hind legs. And that depends on the conformation of your horse: if he has a long back or a shorter one, if he has long legs, or shorter ones, if he has a long neck or a short one. So choose the degree of bending and number of tracks where your horse can move in optimal balance and with most quality.
*** HOW TO DEVELOP THESE EXERCISES? ***
First start the circle, then after a few training sessions add the shoulder-in, and the moment the the horse can do this exercise for 66,6% of quality, add the haunches-in. From there you can start practising the variations.
**** HOW TO DEVELOP THE HORSE EQUALLY? ***
To develop a horse equally in body and limbs all exercises need to be done to the right and to the left (or as they say in English: on the right rein and on the left rein).
When doing these exercises there will always be an 'easy' side and a difficult side. To develop the horse equally, do the 'difficult' side a bit more often and it's also an idea to start with the 'difficult' side and to end with the 'difficult side'.
The moment the horse starts to feel more equal, switch to train the exercises 50-50.
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Click here for more information:
Circle:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/circle
Shoulder-in:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/shoulder-in
Haunches-in:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/haunches-in
Renvers:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/renvers
Half pass:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/half-pass
Pirouette:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/pirouette
Lateral movements:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/lateral-movements
Ladder of exercises:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/a-logical-system-of-ever-increasing-exercises
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HOW TO GET THE JUDGE ON YOUR SIDE!
People often wonder what they can do to improve their scores, and get the judges to look for reasons to give points, and not hand them reasons to take points away, as they strive to show their equine partners.
Here are a few.
Show your horse at a level that you and your horse are proficient.
It does not matter if it is a new show season. If you have not done the work to prepare for a higher level, do not enter classes above where your horse can do all of the requirements somewhat comfortably.
Prepare.
Grooming training and preparing take months of practice and the judge knows what a well turned out and prepared horse and rider look like. That means every thing. Groomed to perfection, tack clean and conditioned, clothing clean and appropriate.
You and your horse should be fit enough for the warm up and the class plus 10-15 extra minutes. Meaning you or your horse should not be “so tired” that you use the walk portion of the test to catch your breath. The whole test needs to be ridden to the best of your collective abilities.
Smile and have empathy.
For your horse, the judge and the other competitors. Be a good sport. Don’t hog the warmup. I was at regionals in a crowded warmup recently with a young horse and I was on the rail and a rider came straight towards me not leaving enough room as she flew towards us and passed left to left in a medium canter. But her whip hit my horse in the face causing him to jump out of the ring and then be apprehensive about oncoming traffic. Leave room and keep an eye for green horses or riders when at the show.
A smile and a composed face do a lot to let the judge know that you are there to present your horse. You are there as his friend and leader first and a competitor second. Judges appreciate riders who know how much they can ask of their horse in the ring.
Ride accurately
If you do not ride the test precisely the judge has to believe that either you cannot steer through a correct pattern or your horse does not steer correctly. Don’t lose those points. Perfect practice makes perfect. Video yourself as often as you can find a way to do so and fix the big, then small problems until they disappear. An accurate test with a well turned out horse and rider who has a good attitude and empathy for the horse will get noticed and rewarded.
Watch and learn.
When you have a chance, watch tests of those better than you or classes you hope to prepare for. Watch the warm up, the ride, and then go check out the score and see if it matches your thoughts. Train your eye so you are not surprised by your scores.
Be courteous
To everyone. Show management, other competitors, well just everyone. Congratulate folks that do well, and mean it.
Everyone is on their own journey even those in your class. You may not know what it took for someone to even get to show so…. Be courteous.
Have fun.
Make up your mind ahead of time to have fun showing. Become part of a group at the show so you have a team to cheer you on and help if needed. Ask a trainer you know if you can stable with them if no one from your barn is going. Make friends have fun!
In the long run it is all about you and your horse. You want him on your side, ready to work for you and feeling good about his job. When that happens you have already won.
Happy Centerlines!
People come to me with horses that they want me to fix, or train, or make better. I can do that. I can put in the consistent work and I can make them stronger, better trained, or help fix behavioral issues. However, not enough horse owners consider that only they can be their own solution if they want to ride or handle their horses themselves.
It doesn't matter how well I do with the horse or that the horse is sent for training, if it's then expected that the horse is handed back over and will be perfect and continue to go that way for the owner, without the owner also training and putting in the time. They aren't machines. Put the time in. Be consistent. Develop as a rider and horseperson. I cannot come up with a lasting solution to "fix" a horse for an owner if they don't realize they themselves are both the problem and the solution.
We went to the Jessica von Bredow-Werndl demo today at the lovely Addington Equestrian hosted by Equestrian Management Agency
The event was really well run (and a great Christmas present from Judy Fw )
💫Wow wow wow 💫
Jessica is a European, World and Olympic champion, so we definitely had high hopes for her demo.
It is safe to say that the day exceeded all expectations, Jessica's passion and joyful approach shone through whilst working with very talented horses and riders.
I thought I might share a few of my key notes from the day (maybe not all 10 pages on my phone...)
Some of what Jessica said really resonated with me, some points were a refreshing reminder, and others took an entirely new angle/solution to things.
✅️The Young Horse - it's all about good experience, creating the happy athlete. Although at times it's easy to hang on with a young horse, lengthen the rein, slow down, praise the horse, and breathe.
✅️ Give them no reason to run away, give them a moment, and let them look around (especially mares!). Over excitment is a good thing, it shows the horse loves to move. It's better than kicking around trying to create energy. Allow the horse to gain self-confidence, give them space in the contact, don't fear mistakes. Don't suppress them in their natural energy. Influence their character in a positive way.
✅️Warm-up time should be as short as possible and as long as necessary. If teaching a new movement, teach it at the beginning of the session after the warm-up. They are more focused at that time.
✅️ Centre line then leg yield into shoulder in. This is Jessica's exercise for all horses as a warm-up. The leg yield helps relax the horse, and it allows you to get your leg on and wrap around the horse ready for communication.
✅️Don't always praise with hand. It can be a shake in mouth. Use voice for reassuring.
✅️ Walk breaks are super important. How do they give you everything if they don't get a break regularly. It also sets you up for competition, practising switching the horse on and off.
✅️Medium canter, use travers before collecting the canter to engage the inside hind leg within the canter. This helps with showing the horse HOW you want them to collect (e.g, hind leg under).
✅️When asking a question (e.g, canter balance), don't be afraid to let the horse make mistakes, make the correction, and carry on. Having a mistake is a learning process.
✅️Suppleness is found behind saddle, not in the neck.
✅️Only go as much forward as you can do without holding them in contact as young horses. Choose a tempo that you can give the rein. Let them find their own balance.
✅️If they have a joy to move, thats what a grand Prix horse needs.
✅️Long neck- short body. Younger horses need a slightly more lifted neck.
✅️Always feel responsible for the exercise, if it doesn't work, change it.
✅️It is easier to explain horses to 'jump' more under with the hid leg by SLOWING DOWN. Explaining HOW we want them to move (e.g hind leg under). Listen to the footfall of the hooves, if it's loud in front it is often an indication of an unbalanced way of going.
✅️Less is more!
✅️Look for the big picture when training, how should it look? what is needed to make it look like this? If you want to change something you have to do it consistently.
✅️Always train long line of half passes with shoulder in. It's the in and out that teaches them how to carry themselves.
✅️Travers through corners helps activate the hind end through the corner.
✅️The neck follows the ribcage. It's all about the ribcage.
✅️Warm up/cool down is an easy jog, not an expressive jog. It's a stretching out for the back. You must still want the hindleg from the first movement (e.g when you first move off). Don't let the horse run away from the hindlegs and then try and explain later that you want them on the hindlegs!
✅️Slow down!
✅️Tell them how great they are and they will become greater!
✅️Don't train extended trot- it happens when the balance in the collection is better.
✅️With the changes, ignore the mistakes, praise the correct ones. Riding a circle with changes on makes the horse supple and even both ways within the change. On the circle, move the body away from the direction of change to open the side of the body for the change.
✅️If the horse paddles out behind in piaffe, add the sideways. Piaffe in shoulder in and then out in shoulder in. Focus just on the transitions in and out, not the piaffe itself. It's ok to be tense in piaffe, stay in it, work through it, explain it! It's not stressful, use shoulder in. Sideways (shoulder in) is a door you open (a vent) to allow the energy to positively go somewhere. This helps the horses find the right solution. Piaffe from ground first is essential. Then ask for it sitting on the horse, but still with someone on ground.
✅️Get them infront of your seat!
✅️Don't focus on the horses weaknesses, look for their strengths and use them to improve the weaknesses.
✅️Within canter Pirouette, flex to outside to connect with the inside hind leg. Don't train whole pirouettes, train them HOW to use their body.
💫These are a few of my notes💫
I think it was very clear from the way Jessica presented herself, although she is world number 1, it is all about the journey training horses to Grand Prix.
To sign off Jessica wanted to remind us that...
It's great to have goals, big goals. But more importantly is the how...how we interact daily with horses, how we act with our horses as partners, how we train.
When you win a gold.. it's a few moments of a high. What stays with you is the journey, the horse who did everything for you. We want our horses to be excited and happy to see us, happy to move. This is what it's all about. It's about the love. The joy. Is about the journey and we are privileged to spend our time with them.
💫💫💫
Thank you to Road to hhe Horse for the invitation. Thank you to everyone else that is supporting this in some way. The number one question I’ve been asked in the past couple weeks is: “What’s your plan?” My plan is to talk to people, to learn from past participants, judges, and spectato...
Hunger= to have a desire, craving, or need Humility= the quality of having a modest or low view of one’s importance Have you ever had that feeling that you don’t belong? Maybe you walked into a par…
When I woke up today I was not expecting to ride in a clinic, much less with the absolutely amazing Jennifer Baumert! 😁 Jen was beyond generous with her time and feedback!
Thank you Colleen Chartier for the amazing opportunity to ride the Sweetest Meatball today. He was as expected, a good boy & tried his very best! (And huge thank you Gwen Eli for hauling, all your help and just being awesome support).
Beyond grateful to Kristi Woods-Foltz for organizing this fantastic clinic and ART dressage for hosting!
What a great Sunday ❤️
Sawyer attended the July Jumper show at Hinkley and walked away with a 2nd place and some great experience! ❤️ (And a Thank you is due to my sweet mom who attended the show to lend an extra hand)
With the show season starting to slow down a bit, I have a rare opening for 1-2 lesson spots. I travel locally (within 45 mins of Akron & Wadsworth). Please PM for further details and availability 😊
Just wanted to send a shout-out to Gwen and Her boy Thomas as we had a fabulous school today! Gwen has been so incredibly patient with this talented guy and it’s so rewarding to see the hard work pay off!
It’s always great to end an XC schooling session with a confident and almost cocky young horse! (And Yes Thomas - you won the baby horse Olympics ❤️😂). Great job team!!
“The basic techniques, or what they call the basics, are more difficult then what comes later. This is the trap of dressage. Correct basics are more difficult then the piaffe or passage.” -Conrad Schumacher
But what are the basics?
It depends who you ask.
If you ask a horseman, someone who spends their career putting a solid foundation on a horse they will give you one set of answers. If you ask a dressage professional, they will likely give you another sub-category of answers. And neither are necessarily wrong.
One is talking about the education of a grade school student, the other is likely talking about the education of a high school, or possibly even college level student.
They are both equally important, but one does come before another.
Everyone needs a grade school education no matter what their profession becomes, and many horses are missing a good grade school foundation before being educated in a highschool or college level conversations.
In my opinion, the basics are the ingredients; the fundamental and individual pieces that go into said movement, exercise, or issue. For me, the key to basics are isolations, understanding, and relaxation.
Everything is made up of something. So it’s always helpful to ask, what are the BASIC parts to the movement I am trying to achieve?
The basics of a horseman:
• Walk, trot, canter, on the buckle, the horse stays relaxed and can come down just off your seat.
• The horse understands how to follow the soft feel of a single rein.
• How to move to the side off each leg independently.
• Halt and back up with lightness.
• Find forward in all gaits softly and easily.
• Has excellent ground control of all its basic body parts in hand, and online.
• The horse is mentally and emotionally relaxed and confident in all these conversations and working environments.
I consider this a very brief overview of a grade school education that each horse should have before entering any discipline.
The dressage professional might talk about the training scale. (Despite some differences of opinion, its still a universally well known guideline for the sake of conversation).
#1 Rhythm/Relaxation
#2 Suppleness
#3 Contact
#4 Impulsion
#5 Straightness
#6 collection
The training scale is basic high-school guidelines, but still far from basics themselves. Each one of these categories has a large context of understanding, that is largely produced FROM a grade school education.
Here are some of the gradeschool basics that are required to produce the basics of the training scale.
#1 RELAXATION
• Can you put your horse on the buckle and walk, trot, canter in a relaxed consistent stretch, and come down off the seat alone?
• Can they hack out on a loose rein? Are they confident and comfortable in contact? In the environment you work in?
A horse who is responsive and relaxed is naturally rhythmic. A loss of rhythm or erratic rhythm is almost always a sign of tension, pain, or emotion. You can’t force rhythm, it is organic to relaxation.
#2 SUPPLENESS
• Does your horse understand isolations of the aids, in a relaxed yet responsive way?
• Can you pick up a single rein and your horse softly and easily follows the feel? Is their jaw clenched, grinding, or chomping?
• Can your horse yield softly to the leg on a loose rein and maintain a soft back?
• Can your horse easily follow the seat into lateral movements at the walk without holding anything in your hands?
• Does your horse maintain a stretch on a loose rein in all gaits?
• Can you pick up contact and there is no brace, tension, or change in throughness or rhythm of the gait?
#3 CONTACT
• What is the quality if your contact in all gaits and maneuvers? Is it heavy?
• Can you halt with just your seat at any given moment without brace in the hand?
• Can you reinback with ease and softness?
• If not, you’re likely using your contact for control instead of communication.
• What does your school halt look like? Can you talk to your horses balance at the halt, in all 4 feet?
• Is there always a quality stretch to the buckle that lives inside your contact at any given moment? If not, your likely holding your horse in inversion.
#4 IMPULSION
• How is your horses forward off the seat and leg on a loose rein?
• Is the leg or seat aid almost invisible to someone one the ground?
• How well does the horse engage in all gaits on a loose rein?
• How well does the horse maintain engagement, are you begging with the leg?
• Does the quality change when you pick up contact?
• Does the horse understand how to step up to hand with a hind leg and not brace in the jaw or rein? If not, slow down. Don't push a lack of understanding or ability into the hand.
#5 STRAIGHTNESS
The quality of the lateral maneuvers determine Straightness. Lateral maneuvers correct imbalances and release a horse into straightness if done correctly.
• Can all the lateral maneuvers be produced in balance, self carriage, and lightness at the WALK first? Does the balance, self carriage, or suppleness change in the trot?
#6 COLLECTION
• How is your halt? At any moment, from any gait? Was hand needed?
• How is your reinback?
If your horse is unable to do this well, no amount of half halts in the world will fix heaviness, collectability, or balance issues.
• How are your transitions?
MINDFULL transitions teach balance and collection, IF they are done well and off your center of gravity.
• Is your center of gravity connected to your horses center of gravity, through the seat alone?
If your contact gets heavy in transitions there is a loss of balance.
• If your horse struggles with engagement in collection go back to the basics in principles #3 and #4.
To understand basics there has to be a core understanding of how to ACHIEVE basic principles. The rest does (as annoying as it sounds) fall into place.
GYMNASTICISING movements in sequence is many times a COLLEGE level conversation.
Movements are only gymnaticized upon the self carriage, balance, and understanding of the maneuver.
Which is directly based on the quality of the gradeschool and highschool education.
It is a common approach to try and ride a horse excessively forward through a sequence of movements to gain improvement in a multitude of things.
But more times then not the horse isn’t educated enough for that level of conversation and it becomes a pushing, bracing, struggle of tension that lacks quality, understanding, relaxation, suppleness, balance, proper engagement, or biomechanics.
A horse cannot catch its balance, "come over its back", find relaxation, or understanding by being chased more and more forward, or if too many aids are talking at the same time. This approach breaks down the body and the mind.
It is amazing that taking the time to SLOW DOWN and teach the horse step by step, that in just a matter of days the horse can understand a lateral movement, position, or posture, and is able to carry themselves down a long side or in a figure with balance, lightness, and relaxation, simply because you took the time to break it down.
From that level of understanding it is then far easier to develop, build strength, or carrying power of that maneuver, posture, or balance point.
If the horse struggles as you progress (and they will) you simply slow down to clarify as needed.
The point is people are usually doing WAY to much to fix issues or produce results.
Have you asked your horse if they understand your aids in isolation first? You might be surprised what you find.
If you're getting stuck or struggling…..congratulations, your being called to a higher level, the master level of revisiting and polishing the basics. And you will keep getting called back, over and over.
Until one day, you may find that your basics effortlessly produced a glimmer of piaffe hiding under the surface, and you will be blown away because you didn’t even try… you just had really good basics.
And the best basic of all…..slow down.
Summit County, CO
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Had my 1st official XC schooling with Sawyer and could not be more proud of her brain, composure and try! Was it perfect - heck no! We are both works in progress, but I’m grateful for the journey with this girl. She’s just magic 🤍
Had my 1st official XC schooling with Sawyer and could not be more proud of her brain, composure and try! Was it perfect - heck no! We are both works in progress, but I’m grateful for the journey with this girl. She’s just magic 🤍
This girl is pure magic ❤️
Sawyer’s round of the day for 2nd place! Proud of this Spicey Little Mare ❤️
I am a little delayed In posting! But we are so incredibly proud of Kim Reeves’ RRP bound “Storm Peak” and his performance at the North East Showtime - NEST hunter jumper show! This show was Norman’s debut in the Jumper Ring and his first time showing at 2’3”. We are immensely proud of his effort as he got better with every round!  The video showcases his last and best round of the weekend (as the storm rolled in and the wind / rain started). Thank you again to the N.E.S.T. North East Showtime Series and Brave Horse Ohio for putting on such a wonderful show! We are grateful for the opportunity to get our horses in this great environment ahead of the Retired Racehorse Project! (Norman was lovingly rehomed from Northwinds Racing Stable & Club Lambs.)
RRP Team entry bound Storm Peak “Norman” making easy work of this Novice combination at beautiful Stone Gate Farm! Hard to believe this is his 2nd XC school! #Teamwork #RRP #questeventing
