Recent Articles in Tip/Quote of the Day!

"If your horse looks carefully at what they are jumping, is able to make small alterations when getting a little too close or far away from a fence, then produces an appropriate jumping effort and copes quickly with the unexpected slip or stumble, they can be said to have a ‘fifth leg.'" ~ William Micklem

"You can influence a horse but you're never really in control." ~ Chris Bartle

Most riders don't do nearly enough transitions in their daily work sessions.

It is a good idea to sit back every month or so and assess your training program and its current results. Be ready to add to or change your plan if you are not seeing results.

"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

"Don't try to see a distance, your horse has a pair of eyes and you need to let him use them. The more you do in front of a fence the more you will distract them." ~ Chris Bartle

Riders who get the best out of the sensitive type of horse are good at being tactful. 

Frequent quality transitions are the best way to confirm that your horse is listening equally to both the driving aids and the restraining aids.

"Contact doesn't only refer to the hands, reins, and bit, but to the whole rider. A rider must give the horse contact through his entire seat. This means that his legs must lay gently against the horse's body, his seat must be balanced and supple, and his arms and hands must follow the horse's movement quietly and evenly. This create a smooth cycle of movement as the horse takes the rider with him. Only this then creates contact." ~ Klaus Balkenhol

The answer is really rarely "more leg," but rather to teach the horse to be more responsive to light leg aids.

"The inside rein must always be ready with a GOOD OFFER." ~ Reiner Klimke

Your horse can feel whether or not you have a strong, detailed plan of how to ride your jumping course or Dressage test. And he will gain confidence in you if he feels you are confident in your plan.

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.

The halt must come from the body of the rider, not the reins.

From Facebook fan Joan Dunlap ~ "Fix your position first... then the horse will adjust theirs."

It is possible to have contact without a real connection (in fact it is quite common, unfortunately), but a true connection always involves good contact. The connection involves the horse's entire body… with energy created in the horse's hind legs traveling through the horse's supple body, and into the rider's hands.

Excessive bend in the neck, whether lateral (to the side) or longitudinal (behind the vertical), disconnects the haunches from the rein aids and allows the horse to remain locked up in other parts of the body, such as the poll and hips.

Looseness and suppleness in the horse is demonstrated by full body movement and the maximization of the horse’s range of motion in the stride of each gait.

"The art of cross country is allowing your horse to gallop along in rhythm and jump out of his stride." ~ Andrew Hoy

If you tend to ride in a chair seat with your feet out in front of you, try to think about stretching up tall, so that your seat bones point straight down… and then think of bending your knees so that your seat bones point to your heels. Eventually you need to stretch your leg back more fully and starting from the hip, but this can be a good way for riders to start the process.

When your horse is messing about with his leads or tossing his head between jumps on course, don’t let it distract you from what is most important - his rhythm.

"Infinite repetitions of one and the same problematic movement are usually a sign of insecurity in the rider and serve no purpose other than self-satisfaction. The horse doesn't gain anything from it. It leads to an overwrought horse and causes muscle fatigue and nervousness. Here, a trainer must intervene and go back to easier exercises rider and horse have already mastered." ~ Klaus Balkenhol

Shoulder in is the single best secret weapon when it comes to improving the horse's walk.

The more a horse relaxes within a lateral movement, the more gymnastic value the exercise will have. 

The more stable you are able to keep your outside rein connection, the more quickly your horse will learn to accept it. Stable, yet elastic... like a bungee cord. 

Ask, insist (if necessary,) and then reward.

"It's the rider's job to make his horse sensitive enough to anticipate half halts, for it is the anticipation factor that makes horse and rider harmonious. The use of the horse's anticipation should work greatly to your advantage in daily training and in riding a dressage test. For example, most dressage movements follow the riding of a corner in the arena. When you ride a half halt before every corner throughout the course of a horse's life, he anticipates that he is going to be more balanced and uphill before, during and after every corner, and then the corner becomes the half halt. Because the horse's brain and body are already in harmony with the rider in the corner, all you have to do is concentrate on the movement that follows." ~ Oded Shimoni

You may need to "do whatever you need to do" to get things done sometimes in competition, but in practice you should aim to always do things the right way, with no shortcuts.

"Contact doesn't only refer to the hands, reins, and bit, but to the whole rider. A rider must give the horse contact through his entire seat. This means that his legs must lay gently against the horse's body, his seat must be balanced and supple, and his arms and hands must follow the horse's movement quietly and evenly. This create a smooth cycle of movement as the horse takes the rider with him. Only this then creates contact." ~ Klaus Balkenhol

From Facebook fan Clarissa Groesbeek ~ "Your job is to ride to the base of the fence, your horse's job is to jump it."

From Facebook fan Kathi Knox Hammond ~  "If I look AHEAD toward where I want to end up, and quit looking down and worrying about whether I have enough bend and am angled correctly, things kind of work together on their own. I finally 'get' that looking down kills energy."

If you merely practice your bad habits, you will wind up making the same mistakes perfectly.

Balance and rhythm go hand in hand. Focus on maintaining an even rhythm, as every time the rhythm changes, the balance changes.

You need to decide that, from this day on, your horse will respond to light aids. If you don't expect him to, and don’t give him the appropriate feedback, he probably won't ever be as attentive and responsive as you would like him to be.

"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

"Incorrect training is as if you buttoned a sweater wrong. In order to fix it you must unbutton it and start over again." ~ Reiner Klimke

No matter how balanced a horse is moving, he will never be in self carriage if he has a rider that is hanging on his mouth.

Riders who get the best out of the sensitive type of horse are good at being tactful.

"A good trainer on a Thoroughbred will spend lots of time reassuring the horse that all is well." ~ Steuart Pittman

Transitions act as a test of your connection. If the quality of your connection is lacking as you begin a transition, it will be particularly evident as you execute it.