Always strive to keep the feeling that two thirds of the horse is in front of you. This means staying behind your horse's shoulders, and allowing the horse to have as long of a neck as possible. This allows the rider to have a greater amount of security, and gives the horse the best chance to stay in good balance.
"The greatest hindrance to driving the horse properly comes from riders stiffening their legs…. The horse cannot monitor tight legs as aids and will sour to the pressure, which he will interpret as a meaningless second girth." ~ Charles De Kunffy
"The forehand is not to be raised by the rider's hands ! This mania of trying to ride a horse with a 'Grand-prix neck', a horse who moves with Training level hindquarters, is abominable." ~ Charles de Kunffy
When you look down, your shoulders follow your eyes and begin to drop downward and forward. This makes it much more difficult for you to communicate correctly with your horse through your seat - often causing you to need to use your reins more than you should.
"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!" ~ Devan Cottrell
When doing movements like turn on the haunches, pirouettes, haunches in, and half pass, even the most experienced riders have to remind themselves to sit over their inside seat bone throughout the entire movement. Consciously thinking about stepping into the inside stirrup every couple of strides during these movements is necessary to avoid any tendency of the rider's weight slipping to the outside.
The old masters learned early on that riding accurate arena patterns is the key for improving a horse's balance and straightness. Always keep this in mind in your training.
"The rein connection should be like a solid handshake. Don’t have a wimpy handshake. You know what a bad feeling you get when someone gives you a creepy handshake, so don’t give that icky feeling to your horse." ~ William Fox Pitt
A strong back is necessary for the horse to be able to achieve and maintain self carriage and collection for any length of time under a rider. Make sure you don't ask for too much too soon. And be diligent and proactive about strength training and conditioning.
"Don't delude yourself into thinking that you have light, soft hands, if you ride with loose, almost dangling reins on a strung out horse. That can be done with insensitive hands as well. A soft hand requires the rider to feel whether the horse is softly on the bit, chewing, and whether it responds to a light pressure, in other words, whether it has an active mouth. If he rides with loose reins, the horse can have a dead mouth, which will only show up when you use the reins to stop or to shorten the strides, as it will either let you pull its nose onto its chest, or it will invert, and in both cases it will open its mouth." ~ Oskar M. Stensbeck
If you have a refusal at a cross country jump that offers an easier option, it can be a good idea to take the easier option on your next attempt. You are likely already out of contention with the 20 penalties, so don't try to be a hero, and instead make sure that your horse has a good, positive experience on the rest of the course by taking your time, and choosing the easier options if there are any. Adding more refusals can easily demoralize both horse and rider, causing a setback to their confidence for future events.
Think of your leg, seat, and rein aids as ways to communicate with your horse. You don't physically push or pull him anywhere, you give him subtle signals. And if he doesn't initially respond to your subtle signals, you need to teach him to - EVERY horse can learn to respond to light cues, if taught properly.
Remind yourself to breathe before and after every difficult exercise. Of course you need to breath while riding each exercise as well! But thinking about checking your breathing before and after is a good first step.
Riders can benefit SO much from discussions about their riding. Riding is as much cognitive as it is physical - both aspects need to be exercised to truly improve!
"When xc is ridden properly it doesn't look like show jumping. They need to stop teaching kids to count strides and start teaching them to use their eyes and their leg." ~ Jules Stiller
"Have you reminded yourself lately that horses are wonderful? No matter how haphazard or awkward our efforts, horses seem to figure out what we want them to do and happily do it." ~ Jimmy Wofford
"I've always believed that if you put in the work, the results will come. I don't do things half heartedly. Because I know if I do, then I can expect half hearted results." ~ Michael Jordan
"Good riders land over an obstacle, go the the next jump and make a good arrangement. Great riders land with their horses already arranged for the next obstacle." ~ Bill Steinkraus
"You see a lot of horses drifting over their fences. There is no such thing as the ideal horse – they all need help somewhere. That’s why the rider is there – to help the horse. You must use your aids to keep the horse from drifting. You must keep operating in the air. Don’t be a passenger, be a pilot. Don’t put your safety belt on as you take off and say – 'See you on the other side!'" ~Jack Le Goff
Never forget that the way the distance rides between two jumps changes as the fence height changes. The horse will land further into a line or combination when the jumps are larger, which makes the distance effectively shorter.
When you ride powerfully forward to the base of your jumps you allow your horse to jump in such a way that is actually the easiest and most natural for him. Building the horse's power right to the base of the jump means that he stresses his hocks less on the takeoff. The horse that is underpowered has to push that much harder to get over that jump. And being balanced with his hind legs well under him means less stress on his front legs on the landing side.
"Your horses are all capable of jumping more than they are asked to do at events and they should be. He has to jump a five foot, nice, well-made fence, if he cannot, he flies too low as far as I am concerned. I am not going to ride a low flier! It is one thing to jump a four foot fence fresh, it is quite another to jump the same fence at the end of a cross country and you come to a big fence at the end. If you don’t have a horse with enough scope, you are in deep trouble."~ Jack LeGoff
Always think of pushing your stomach towards your hands, rather than bringing your hands backwards towards your stomach to connect. And if you feel like you must bring your hands back to connect, your reins are too long.
From Facebook fan Sarah Feathers ~ "When your horse likes to run and/or buck before and after jumps, it is much better to 'hold' with your core than snatch your reins."
A running martingale that fits correctly does not come into play unless the horse tosses its head. It should not be used to keep the horse's head down.
You will spend much more time galloping than you will actually jumping when out on cross country. Learning how to gallop well on uneven terrain will help to keep your horse sound, as well as make for successful jumping.
When working with horses, always be mindful of the feedback you are giving your horse at any given time... whether intentional or accidental. When your horse misbehaves, make sure you don't give him an accidental reward by stopping to regroup (which to him is a rest and a reward.) Keep moving, get the horse to do something (anything) well, and THEN stop to regroup if you must.
A horse can become lazy or unresponsive to the aids within a single ride. It's up to YOU to make sure he remains responsive to light aids at all times.
Gridwork and gymnastic lines are meant to teach the horse to better solve problems when jumping. They develop the horse's "eye" for jumping, as well as his mental focusing skills, timing, and judgement. And of course to be more clever with his footwork. Make sure you leave your horse alone through the gymnastic lines as much as possible, to let him learn from the specific exercises you have set up. Your job is to get into the grid correctly - straight and balanced, with the right amount of impulsion for the specific question. And then leave him alone to let him do his job!
Did you know that horses push upward with their front feet to begin a jumping effort? That is why it is so important that you don't lean forward as the horse is trying to take off. Your weight leaning up the neck at this crucial moment hinders the horse's ability to raise the front end.
Just because you can't see your grass growing doesn't mean it's not. And the same can be said of your progress as a rider. Much of the time it is not noticeable until you stop and look back at where you came from.
"Is the rider able to ride all the movements with a long rein, long with contact, then as long as possible? It is possible to ride piaffe on a long rein when the rider rides 100% with a balanced body, and the horse is on his aids." ~ Christoph Hess
"You can’t ride rhythm into a horse – they have it – you can only ruin rhythm by bad riding. When you let them loose in the paddock, you see that they move well. When you ride, because there is an argument here or there to get the frame or whatever, you can get bridle resistance and that can create unevennesses, and the loss in the rhythm and the tempo. Only a totally submissive, loose horse can really show perfect rhythm." ~ Clemens Dierks
The very best riders are often not the best teachers... It all comes too naturally to them, so they often don't know how to help those who don't have their gift.
I find that many riders are using bits that are too big for their horse’s mouths. While certainly better than a bit that is too small, when a bit is too big there is too much movement of the bit sliding back and forth in the horse’s mouth. Horses want the bit to be still in their mouths, they don’t want it sliding left and right all the time.
"Limited understanding induces many novice riders to commit the worst possible fault, which is to interfere with the hands to produce a set head position. They manage to get the horse to flex at the poll, either by sliding the bit to and fro in the mouth (sawing), or by constantly closing and opening the fingers. Because of their preoccupation with the position of the head, their hands are never still. Constant fiddling with the reins achieves nothing more than an artificial arching of the neck. The parts behind the saddle, loins and hindquarters, escape the action of the reins and besides this, the continually busy hands interfere with the regularity of the motion of the limbs." ~ Udo Burger
