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Dressage Movements As Points On A Continuum

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Dressage Movements As Points On A Continuum

Many dressage riders view the movements in very absolute terms, based on the definitions in the FEI rule book. When someone rides a movement, like a shoulder-in for instance, it either fulfils these criteria or it doesn’t. In other words, it either IS a shoulder-in or it’s NOT. This is very much a judge’s viewpoint, which is valid in competitions and exhibitions. However, in training, I take a more fluid approach. I prefer to look at movements as points on a continuum because it’s unrealistic to expect a horse or a rider to be able to perform a perfect shoulder-in or half pass, the first time they try it. So, we as trainers and teachers have to build a road, or a staircase for the student to get from where they are to the finished product. This means we have to set priorities in the way we teach movements and approach the end goal in many small learning steps. If we aimed for perfection or demanded perfection at the first attempt, we would set the horse and the rider up for failure, stress, and frustration.
Setting priorities means ignoring certain imperfections for the time being because they have a lower priority than other aspects of the movement.

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Aids as Boundaries

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Aids as Boundaries

Aids are used for a variety of purposes. They are a means of communicating our intentions to the horse. They are sensors that feel the horse’s muscle tone and mood. We can use them as probes that follow the pathways of the horse’s bones and muscles to find any stiff, inflexible joints and muscles. And they can be used to frame the horse and create boundaries within which we want the horse to move.

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Investing In Yourself To Help Your Horse

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Investing In Yourself To Help Your Horse

You have probably all seen funny memes and jokes in which the horse has the best of everything - custom saddle, top notch farrier, regular massage, osteopath, chiropractor, you name it - while the rider wears old, worn out boots and breeches, and takes some ibuprofen to keep going. There is often a stark contrast between how well we take care of our horses and how much we neglect to take care of ourselves. Sometimes this probably has to do with the limited availability of funds. So we prioritise the horse over ourselves.

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Transitions Into Higher Gaits

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Transitions Into Higher Gaits

Transitions are always vulnerable to mistakes because the horse’s balance has to change from one gait to the next. The energy level is different in each gait. The necessary amount of core muscle engagement is different for both horse and rider. The movement is different. That’s why transitions are always prone to disturbances in the horse’s outline and rein contact. If the horse gets crooked or strung out, or if he loses balance, it will be reflected in the suppleness and the rein contact. Riding a smooth transition means managing all these different ingredients and helping the horse stay straight and in balance. That’s why so many riders and horses struggle with transitions.

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Tip: Walk it before you ride it [+ VIDEO]

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Tip: Walk it before you ride it [+ VIDEO]

It can be incredibly useful before you ride an exercise to get the lay of the land by walking the whole exercise on the ground. It's a common practice when memorizing dressage tests, but can be just as helpful when schooling. It lets you concentrate on what needs to happen through each phase of the exercise, to think about where the transitions are and where the hard parts may be for you or your horse so you can have more success in riding it.

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Tip: Why corners matter [+ VIDEO]

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Tip: Why corners matter [+ VIDEO]

The correctly ridden corner with its lateral bend forms the foundation for all bending work, i.e. all turns and lateral movements. The bend in the lateral movements is the same as in the corner. That’s why it is so important to create the best possible bend in the corner so that the lateral movement that follows on the long side or on the diagonal has the highest possible chance of success.

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Tip: Activate the Inside hind leg [+ VIDEO]

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Tip: Activate the Inside hind leg [+ VIDEO]

To keep your horse's energy level up and keep him lively when riding exercises which combine a number of patterns and movements, you can take advantage of your horse's reorganization of balance that occurs at the beginning of a new line (arena pattern) or change of direction. Activate the inside hind leg for a couple of strides with your inside leg or a vibration of the whip to ask the horse to pick it up a little sooner. Since he is busy rearranging his feet and his balance, he can't brace against you or use the ground against you, so the driving aid has a better chance of going through. Activating the inside hind leg in this manner allows you to enter the new line or movement with a little more power and emphasis on impulsion. Once you achieve this activation, you can become more passive for a few strides and, if necessary, repeat the request again, and if you change direction, you can activate and “speed up” the new inside hind leg.

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Tip: Turn like a compass [+ VIDEO]

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Tip: Turn like a compass [+ VIDEO]

In riding turns, many riders turn their heads and shoulders too far in the new direction, while their pelvis remains more or less straight. The horse, however, tends to follow the alignment of the rider’s pelvis. He will typically go where the belly button is pointing. If you want to leave the current line of travel by riding a turn, you have to indicate this by rotating your pelvis and pointing your belly button in the new direction.

Tip: Periodically video your Riding [+ VIDEO]

Tip: Periodically video your Riding [+ VIDEO]

It is really normal and common to get to a point where you feel like you aren’t making progress. You may even feel that you have slid backwards and things are getting worse. Our perspective can get so skewed. We are influenced by others we see around us. And we THINK we should be on a faster progress schedule. We THINK we aren’t making progress fast enough.

But here is the thing. Good work takes time. One of my old teachers used to always say. “Time and distance overcome the resistance.” We can take this to mean that it just takes time and really, steady work to really overcome the bigger issues.

It is about every day showing up and doing the work.
It is about paying attention to details.
It is about polishing, polishing, polishing.

But the problem with that is that when we are “down in the trenches” doing the day-to-day work, we tend to get hyper focused on the problem we are working through. And we tend to not see the progress we have made.

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Transitions Into Lower Gaits

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Transitions Into Lower Gaits

Down transitions are often more difficult for horses and riders than up transitions because horses tend to resist more against the half halts in down transitions than against the driving aids in up transitions.
For a good down transition, the combined weight of horse and rider needs to flow through the spine and through a specific leg into the ground, so that the horse can stay balanced, round, and light. If you ride a down transition into a hind leg - which is usually the case - this hind leg should fold its joints as it allows the half halt to go through. If there is any muscle blockage anywhere along the path between the bit and the hind leg joints, the horse will resist against the aids.

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