If you have short arms, you will have to be especially careful to make sure that you keep at least a little bend in your elbows at all times when riding. If your elbows become completely straight, you will lose your ability to follow your horse's movement with your hands.
When riding, always strive for the feeling that your horse is "short" behind the withers (because his hind legs are stepping deeply underneath his body), yet is "long" in front of the withers (with a neck that "telescopes" and reaches forward into the bit.) All "long" means the horse is likely strung out to some degree, and all "short" means the horse’s frame and stride are being cramped by the rider.
If you ask for too much angle in any lateral movement (more than your horse can handle at that moment,) you risk impeding the balance and fluency of the movement, which should be your top priorities.
"May every rider strive for a better connection with his or her horse by observation, closer understanding and patient groundwork. It matters not what discipline is pursued, only that there be a perfectly balanced union between the two – man and horse – so that the two become one." ~ Frederic Pinon
Always use both reins together to steer, especially when jumping. Using one rein only turns the horse's nose - but using both reins turn the horse at the shoulders, which means his body will more accurately follow your chosen line.
If you can keep your horse balanced as you gallop along between fences, you will have less "set up" work to do in front of the jumps. This means that you can be faster, smoother, and more efficient at the fences. Which will help to preserve your horse's energy on course, as well as his overall soundness.
Facebook fan Mo Jackson on teaching riders to maintain a consistent rein connection ~ "I try to teach this with pretending rider and horse are on the telephone. You are talking, oops no connection, talking again, oops no connection. This causes chaos in the horse's mind as he is trying to communicate, to be part of the conversation."
It is tempting to want to repeat something over and over when you feel like you are making some progress on a movement you have been struggling with. But it will be more productive to reward one good effort, give the horse a break, and move on to something else instead. When you come back to that exercise, your horse will remember that you did.
"If you want flawed results, go ahead and ask for collection before your horse is relaxed. This is a pretty certain way to produce a horse who needs his mouth strapped shut." ~ Jimmy Wofford
If you have truly done the right preparation for a medium or extended trot (or canter), you should need to do very little to actually ask for the movement. You should be able to simply allow it to happen… no mad kicking necessary.
"A lot of riders think that will make their jumping better by jumping as many jumps as possible. They will go and get a jumping lesson, as opposed to a dressage lesson or doing some physical exercises to teach them body awareness skills, and probably the last would help them most." ~ Andrew Hoy
To steady or rebalance your horse between jumps, many times it is sufficient to square your shoulders and stretch up your body in a poised way... opening up kind of like a sail on a sail boat.
The length of horse's neck and his length of stride are directly related. A short, restricted neck means a compromised stride, and a long neck that truly seeks the connection will allow the horse to move to his fullest potential.
"In the half halt that creates carrying power, we are asking the horse to slow down and carry more weight when his hind leg joints are closed and his hind foot is on the ground. The levade, in which the horse sits on his hindquarters, is the ultimate example of this kind of closing of the joints while carrying the weight." ~ George Williams
Sally Swift gives a good explanation about why the best riders are often not the best instructors: "Many of the great riders have the gift of natural balance and coordination so that they never have to question how to do anything with any part of their body. If they know what they want to do, their body will respond. Because of this innate coordination, they have not needed to know how one makes a leg move, or how one breathes, or how one balances. It just happens. Therefore it is usually difficult for them to explain to the rest of us less-coordinated mortals how to move some particular part of our bodies."
When training a young horse, you should be fairly single minded. Your main goal should be to build your horse's confidence in you, so that they think of you as a fair but strong leader.
Relax your aids as you ride by that scary spot. Many riders unconsciously hold or even clench instead. And this sends the horse the message that the scary spot really must be dangerous!
"After the horse has, for a certain period of time, been lunged in the appropriate way, it will not be very difficult to ride a twenty metre diameter circle." ~ Dr. Henri van Schaik
Lunging must be done absolutely correctly to attain this, or any other benefits really.
"One of the most important things when the horse is being naughty is that it does not feel that you are in a hurry. There was a hunter who would not go through a particular gate, and the owner tried every way possible to force him, and finally gave up and sold the horse. The new owner packed a lunch of sandwiches and something to drink, and rode to the gate, and waited until the horse wanted to go through it." ~ Kyra Kyrklund
If you don’t ride and train in such a way that your horse learns to listen to your seat, you will usually find that you have to use a lot more hand to get things done.
The horse usually tries to compensate for the lack of strength in his back and haunches by seeking support in the rider's hands. So if your horse does this, you might want to consider adding some strength training to your horse's regime.
"Adopt a classical position, resist all fads and gadgets, and ride the horse quietly and softly between the two straight lines of the stirrup leather and the elbow to the horse's mouth. It's simple. It's just not easy." ~ Jimmy Wofford
"The quality of the [rider's] seat determines whether we can even speak of 'riding', or whether the horse simply has to 'deal with' the load on his back." ~ Kurt Albrecht
"You need to have a good seat to be able to use a spur correctly. You should not use them unless your horse is in front of your leg. They are not to be used to get your horse forward." ~ Hazel Roberts
When you do a lengthening, whether in trot or canter, you should move up to your lengthening within a few strides. Then maintain that exact level of lengthening until the end of your line, where you take just a few strides to (clearly!) show your transition down.
Notice that the stiffest tree is the most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending in the wind. Think about how this concept applies to both horse and rider...
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.
Jimmy Wofford on galloping a horse: "Picture this: some 4 foot 11 waif of an apprentice jockey is living on 1000 calories a day to keep his weight down to 100 pounds so that he can make the weight in cheap claiming races. He canters happily down the track, talking with friends, standing in a two point - and all the while he is controlling 1,000 pounds of testosterone crazed stallion....and his hands are quietly fixed at the withers....and he is poised like a feather above his horse's back....and he is not kicking and pulling."
