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Too often I see riders asking their horses to be forward and in front of their leg, and they don't get the response they are looking for... yet they move on to the next thing they had planned anyway. Whether the next thing you plan to do is a jump or a dressage movement, your best bet would be to put that on hold for a moment, and really insist that your horse responds 100% to your leg. You won't get much else done without that quality.

Your weight or seat aid trumps your leg and hand aids at all times. So if you are unconsciously giving conflicting aids with your weight/seat and your legs or hands, your horse will usually not do exactly what you expect him to do.

"Concentrate on the transitions, forward and back, build the activity from behind. When you bring the horse slightly back, you still have to push her forward to the hand, you can keep riding as long as you can feel the hindlegs in your hand." ~ Susanne Miesner

"The reaction to the leg is everything. The ability to collect a horse from the seat and leg, not the hand, is quite an art." ~ Debbie McDonald

Many horses are quite responsive to their rider’s gentle voice. Don’t forget to take advantage of this when your horse is tense or distracted.

"There are many different schools of training – the one thing that is most important is the welfare of the horse, the one thing we must concentrate on is producing healthy and strong horses." ~ Emile Faurie

Good shoulder in work will improve the range of motion and sideways reach in your horse’s half pass work.

Make sure you understand the difference between energy and stored energy - it is the difference between speed and impulsion.

"When training a riding horse, the aim is to introduce natural gymnastic work. This is the way to ensure that his joints become more supple and his stamina and muscle tone improve. The horse’s way of going is totally dependent on his muscles and the contraction and relaxation of the different muscle groups are essential for strengthening them. Cavalletti work is very useful for this because it develops strength in particular muscles by asking the horse to move in a specific and controlled way." ~ Ingrid Klimke

It is quite easy to let a poor transition slide by when you are working on something other than the quality of your transitions at that moment. But that will lead to bad habits, and the loss of the gymnastic value of the transition. No matter what you are specifically working on, make every transition count!

"When you relax your arms and feel the reins softly you need to feel that your horse wants to step into the contact. If you do not then he is behind your leg and seat." ~ Yvonne Barteau

"The back is the bridge in the horse, and it can only be there if the hind leg is really working. The rider has to influence the hind legs to build that bridge, otherwise it is a horse in three pieces, back, front and you somewhere in the middle." ~ Francis Verbeek

One of the biggest keys to success is the rider's ability to differentiate between resisting and pulling on the reins.

A good horse will forgive you when you make a mistake - and expects you to do the same.

From member Sharon Fitzgerald ~ "Stopping on the third perfect response (if we are at least 20 minutes in) and getting off is a very effective training technique for solidifying work. Horses have near perfect memory. What I end on is often what I start with the next session. That sets the stage for progressive training. At this point, my horse knows I will vault off if he tries and succeeds at doing what is asked."

Take your time when riding transitions. Many riders seem to rush through them just to get them done. Be conscious of preparing for each one, and feeling all of the details while you are making the transition - being ready to abort the transition if things start to go wrong. 

When trying to improve the activity and engagement of your horse’s hind legs in downward transitions, think of a trot in place and dancing your way to the walk or halt.

A horse can turn lazy or become unresponsive to the aids within a single ride. It's up to YOU as his rider to make sure he is responsive to light aids!

If your horse struggles to maintain a consistent rhythm, think of using your breathing to help him stay regular. This is one reason why counting is so useful, as when you count, you will breathe in that rhythm.

"If he puts his head up, keep riding, don’t pull down, he’ll decide it’s not comfy up there…" ~ Debbie McDonald

"The back is the bridge, and the energy is going from the hind end and the hocks over the back through the neck and into the mouth, and then back again." ~ Ernst Hoyos

Turn on the forehand and leg yield can be used to teach the horse that the rider's leg can mean something other than, "Go forward." The horse must understand this concept in these very basic movements before you will find much success with any of the more complicated lateral movements. 

"I like to think of the tension in a Thoroughbred’s body as it seeks to learn the meaning of our aids as an intense desire to please us." ~ Steuart Pittman

What is Muscle Memory?

If you've ever worked on your posture or a set of aids for a movement on your horse, you've probably heard the words "muscle memory.” But what is this mysterious thing? Is it something real or just a part of dressage riders’ folklore? Can we do anything to make our learning more efficient, or should we be suspicious of "automatic" riding as less creative? (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)

"Most of the riders ride with their upper body very stiff – especially their shoulders. If the stomach is in balance and in the position it should be, the shoulders are allowed to relax, and should relax. You need to be loose in your shoulders. As long as the rider is breathing in the upper body he is going to be too tight, too cramped to get the horse to go forward from a relaxed seat. The rider learns to breathe in the lower stomach and everything will relax. The weight will come into the saddle and the horse moves away from the aid of the weight. But if a rider cramps in the upper body, he cramps everywhere and is effectively unable to ride his horse." ~ Ernst Hoyos

From Facebook fan Devan Cottrell ~ "When you think you need a half halt, try releasing first....then aha, there's your real half halt. Don't let the status quo be a heavy hand!"

"The basic techniques, or what they call basics, are more difficult than what comes later, this is the Trap of Dressage. Correct basics are more difficult than the piaffe and passage." ~ Conrad Schumacher

Riding in a position that puts you in perfect balance is obviously the best place to be much of the time. But there are plenty of times that it is better to be in a defensive balance, with your center of gravity slightly behind your horse’s center of gravity (meaning that you are slightly behind the motion), and slightly behind your own feet. There is never a productive reason to be ahead of the motion however.

Circles and basic lateral work offer the best opportunities to work on increasing the horse's understanding and acceptance of the rider's leg aids. 

"Beginners are not bad riders, they merely lack experience. The only truly bad riders are usually 'experienced' in the poorest sense of that word; those who blatantly and ignorantly bully their horses." - Egon von Neindorff

"Dressage is not an easy sport, there are so many variations, but the reaction to your leg, and straightness, are so important. You just don’t see top Grand Prix riders kicking or straining for a result. Don’t tease him, tap there so quick he doesn’t know it is coming. Everything in a horse’s life should be black and white, not grey." ~ Debbie McDonald

From member Jennifer Stankiewicz  ~ "When my trainer tells me to adjust my body parts, it's always with mentally including maintaining where my center of gravity is in my hips instead of just focusing on the body part I'm supposed to adjust."

Always remind yourself that the basic rule of riding is that energy is created with the legs, directed by the seat, and guided by the reins.

"If the horse is straight, not with the haunches in or out, it depends not on the neck, but on the body. The body is from the shoulder and that’s how you get the horses straight, you get both sides in the same length, that’s it." ~ Wolfram Wittig

"It was a really good lesson for me to learn that sometimes to go forward with training you have to go back and fill in the holes." - Katy Barlow

From Facebook fan Mikki Schattilly ~ "I have struggled with my right leg/side since I broke my ankle my trainer had me working on my hip position and my leg got better. It's not always where you think you have the issue that fixes it."

"It is easier for horses to relax their muscles when there is no hand in their mouth." ~ Stefan Wolff

You have to think about how you can get into your horse's head, to win him over to your side, rather than trying to muscle him around. Horses usually seek where they are most comfortable. Always keep that in mind.

Recently a friend and trainer Lesley Stevenson posted a question on her Facebook page asking how people recover from a bad ride. I loved reading the responses. Sharing ideas and experiences with each other is an essential part in maintaining our resilience in the face of challenge.  I also admired the wealth of knowledge, creativity and humor in everyone’s responses. As I read each comment, I started thinking about how the responses naturally fell into several categories which reflected the strategies for recovery recommended by sport psychology consultants. As a tribute to all the riders that responded to that post, I thought I would try to summarize those strategies here so we all might benefit. (Click on Blog Title above (in blue) to read full entry)