Tip/Quote of the Day # 353If your horse is spooky, be careful to make sure he never feels punished for spooking or getting tense. If you get mad, pull, kick, or do anything else that can be perceived as a punishment, the anxiety that will be created will usually make your problem worse.Tip/Quote of the Day # 352The faster you are going, the more you must generally think of maintaining a contact with your horse's mouth on the takeoff of a jump.Tip/Quote of the Day # 351Be careful not to sit the trot too early on in a ride. Doing so before the horse is fully warmed up and truly moving through his topline can often be detrimental, as the horse is more likely to stay stiff and tight in his back.Tip/Quote of the Day # 350It may seem like you only need to think about a formal conditioning schedule at the upper levels, but every horse at every level will benefit from a balanced and well thought out conditioning schedule.Tip/Quote of the Day # 349From Facebook fan Nicole Cotten Ackerman ~ "I work with a lot if lower level eventers, and I tell them that when you are in the 20x40 ring you must stay bent all of the time because there's so little space between riding a corner or a circle. The bend will automatically quiet the horses' impulsion, so plan to go forward throughout the entire test. This will keep the horse connected and keep the test from "deflating"."Tip/Quote of the Day # 348To sit the trot or canter well, you must think about letting your hips be moved by the horse's motion.Tip/Quote of the Day # 347"Only the best trainers should be allowed to ride in draw reins, but the best trainers know they do not need them." ~ Ingrid KlimkeTip/Quote of the Day # 346Your horse's stride can only be as long as his neck is long. So try not to shorten the neck, but rather look for the feeling that your horse is reaching forward into your connection with his head and neck.Tip/Quote of the Day # 345The use of "half steps" in your training can be very beneficial, as it can help the horse to understand the idea of engagement without increasing speed. Tip/Quote of the Day # 344Position your horse in a slight shoulder fore before every movement or transition, to help him engage his inside hind leg and really step through from behind. Tip/Quote of the Day # 343Riding on undulating ground really helps to develop a rider's seat and balance - and of course, the horse's balance as well!Tip/Quote of the Day # 342The more contact you hold on your horse's mouth between jumps (or indeed on the flat), the more work you may have to do to half halt or stop. Try to be as light as possible, so that when you do ask for something, your horse will hear you.Tip/Quote of the Day # 341Sometimes do your flatwork in your jumping length stirrups, and mostly up off of your horse's back. It is harder to be as effective on the flat this way, but only by working on it will you get better at it.Tip/Quote of the Day # 340If you learn the *whys* behind each aid or exercise used in each specific circumstance, you will become a more educated rider with a greater ability to be productive.Tip/Quote of the Day # 339"To understand the extent of damage caused by overbending, think of a horse’s “broken” neck as of a garden hose slashed between faucet and nozzle. Like the stream of water, the impulsion can no longer reach your hand in full. Proper head position is determined by its elevation and the direct flexion at the poll which must remain the highest point of the neck. This elevation must be such that the bars, which we subjected to the action of the bit, are situated at a horizontal passing at about the upper third of the chest. By such a head carriage, the horse’s mass in its entirety is affected by the rider’s hand, however light its action, and the head in turn receives the slightest forward shift of the horse’s weight." ~ Jean FroissartTip/Quote of the Day # 338"What to do with a mistake - recognize it, admit it, learn from it, and then forget about it." ~ Dean SmithTip/Quote of the Day # 337Make your gridwork more challenging by setting it up across the short side of the arena. This means you will be able to practice shorter approaches, and your horse will have to learn to process information and think more quickly. Tip/Quote of the Day # 336“Look for a genuine coach with real coaching skills rather than a rider who may know how to do something, but not how to teach it. Also, find someone who has solid experience of working with riders of your level." ~ William MicklemTip/Quote of the Day # 335
"A rider must never put his own ambitions above the horse's needs." ~ Klaus Balkenhol
Tip/Quote of the Day # 334"Ninety-nine percent of problems riders have with horses are actually problems with the basics." ~ Christopher Hess
It may look like a more specific or detailed problem, but it can usually be traced back to a hole in the basics.Tip/Quote of the Day # 333The sign of a good rider is that their aids are so subtle and smooth that you can hardly see what they are doing. Tip/Quote of the Day # 332It is wise to remain slightly seated on the takeoff of a ditch.Tip/Quote of the Day # 331Whether on or off the horse, the lower you center of gravity is, the easier it is to balance. So what does this mean to your riding? Keeping your balance point low, by keeping your seat close to the saddle when up off of your horse's back, and your weight sinking well down into your heels, will make you more secure.Tip/Quote of the Day # 330Think of using every corner of the Dressage ring to increase your level of engagment. Tip/Quote of the Day # 329Be careful when jumping a spread fence on an angle, as the spread gets considerably wider when you do so.Tip/Quote of the Day # 328Always think of keeping your shoulders aligned with your horse's shoulders (or where you want them to be), and your hips aligned with your horse's hips (or where you want them to be.)Tip/Quote of the Day # 327Throughness is the result of relaxation, suppleness, energy, connection, submission, and balance. Tip/Quote of the Day # 326If your horse is not "hot" to your leg, and you need lots of leg just to keep him going, how will he ever hear the leg aid that asks for something more, like lateral work or a flying change?Tip/Quote of the Day # 325Something to say to yourself often when riding - "Strong seat and core, and soft elbows"Tip/Quote of the Day # 324Lots of little demands... ie riding a little forward and a little back, will not only keep your horse sharp to those aids, but will help to keep his attention on you.Tip/Quote of the Day # 323Counter bend is a great tool when your horse tries to bulge against your outside aids. And following that up with a change of direction backs that aid up even further, and will make your horse have more respect for it. Tip/Quote of the Day # 322You don't get a supple horse by trotting round and round the arena - so don't stay in the same pace or movement for too long. Lots of turns, circles, and transitions will be the most beneficial.Tip/Quote of the Day # 321"It is not our horses job to understand our language, it is our job to understand theirs" ~ Reiner KlimkeTip/Quote of the Day # 320The horse should always set the pace of the progression of both training and competing. Pushing too hard, too soon will usually result in having to go back and start over. Tip/Quote of the Day # 319If you want to be able to soften the reins without your horse speeding up, make sure you think about relaxing all driving aids (seat and leg) when you give the rein. Tip/Quote of the Day # 318"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." ~ Theodore RooseveltTip/Quote of the Day # 317Just as a horse needs to be relaxed throughout his body to be honestly throughand connected from behind on the flat, a horse needs to be relaxed throughout his body to jump with the best technique that he is capable of. Tip/Quote of the Day # 316When a rider "hangs on to" or uses too much inside rein, it can create stiffness, resistance, head tilting, and often the loss of control of the horse's outside shoulder.Tip/Quote of the Day # 315Riding lots of transitions within the gait (i.e. a little more trot, to a few steps of a quieter, slower trot - and then back to forward again), will make your horse more attentive, responsive, and longitudinally supple. Tip/Quote of the Day # 314"In training, make jumping the reward" ~ Jimmy WoffordTip/Quote of the Day # 313Think back to when you first started riding… how hard it was to just post at the trot. Now you do that without even thinking. As long as you are actively working on your riding, you are always improving. Usually improvement is so gradual that you don't see it unless you stop and look back at where you came from. Do that sometimes... as it can be a great motivator. Tip/Quote of the Day # 312From Facebook fan Heather Salamone ~ "Short cuts will bite you in the butt later, and not when you think it will, but some other time when it will be one hundred times worse. Don't skimp."Tip/Quote of the Day # 311You must think of allowing your horse to have a long neck, to allow for him to truly come over his back and be "through". Tip/Quote of the Day # 310Good jumping involves landing at the same speed that you had when you approached the jump. Tip/Quote of the Day # 309From our very own blogger Kelly Jennings ~ "Sometimes you just have to allow it to happen rather than trying too hard. Remember...they can feel a fly. Lightness does matter."Tip/Quote of the Day # 308Jimmy Wofford on learning how to gallop 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."
It's all about technique, rather than brute strength. Tip/Quote of the Day # 307The basis of a successful Dressage quality flying change is the balance, understanding, and correctness of canter/walk/canter transitions.Tip/Quote of the Day # 306Your ability to do accurate and smooth simple changes of lead through the trot speaks of the amount of rideability that you will have on course.Tip/Quote of the Day # 305From member and Facebook fan Karen Barbato ~ "Even if the canter is messy on a wiggly green horse, JUST DO IT! Amazingly it gets better from just going forward and staying out of the way without trying to micromanage it."Tip/Quote of the Day # 304The more consistent a rider can be with their hands and the contact, the more the horse will be able to pick up on the rider's highly subtle cues.
