Remember to take advantage of any hills you may have to build your horse into a stronger athlete. Progressive hillwork done several times a week, with days in between for muscle recovery, will build your horse up to a peak level of strength... which of course will make his job easier for him.
"In training you have to be very honest. You cannot lie to your horse or your trainer or the dressage judges. If you only can do something one out of 10 times at home, then you know you have to be lucky at the show—and we know we’re not always dead lucky." ~ Kyra Kyrklund
When you come down the center line in your Dressage test, briefly think about something that you know will make you smile. You and your horse will both relax, which will make for a happier performance. The judge will see the difference!
How do you prepare for transitions? Try thinking "active hind legs” into the connection of the outside rein, one to several times as needed, in rhythm with the horse's stride.
"Learn from each and every horse you ride. Every horse has something to teach you, and sometimes you don't realise what that lesson is until years later!" ~ Carl Hester
When a rider hangs on to the inside rein (with anything more than a light connection), it very often creates stiffness, resistance, head tilting, and the loss of control of the horse's outside shoulder.
Note to anyone who is in a hurry with their horse’s training: Using quick fixes and skipping basics will only slow you down in the long run. It will take you FAR longer to get to the same good end result, then someone who is truly committed to taking the time to do things right. And if you do not go back and fully fill in any holes in your horse's education, you may never have a good result.
It is a common mistake for novice riders to give the rein when the horse does the wrong thing, such as snatching at the rein or pulling on the rider. If you give when the horse does this, you are rewarding that behavior, and it will surely continue!
When mistakes happen in the show ring, try to put them behind you immediately in your mind. Ride the next Dressage movement with confidence in front of the judge. If jumping, think positively forward and ride the next fence on course with enthusiasm.
"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
This is SO important! You can not just add another layer over top and expect it to be right. And this is true for the training of both horses AND riders! This is why I feel so strongly that even beginner riders need high quality instruction. Don’t think that because you are only a beginner, that just any riding instructor will do. Do your homework! Figure out who is the very best instructor that you have available to you. And be prepared to pay extra for that expertise. It will be worth it, in the long run.
Think of letting your hips move towards the back of the saddle as your horse begins to jump. This will allow your horse's jumping motion to smoothly and naturally close your hip angle over the fence.
The evenness of the contact reveals the straightness of the horse. Instead of being tempted to try to fix unevenness in the contact with your hands, focus on helping your horse to use both of his hind legs evenly.
Think about having weighted elbows. When your elbows are hanging down by your hip bones because you have relaxed your shoulders and are allowing your elbows to drop, your hands will be in the right place.
Do not miss the possible opportunity to shorten your reins when your horse changes his balance in the direction of increased collection. But make sure you maintain forward feeling hands when doing so.
If you do miss it, and are riding with a length of rein that was more appropriate to the longer, lower frame that you had previously... you risk losing the amount of increased collection that you had just attained.
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 fluidity of the movement, which should be some of your top priorities.
The inside rein is like the directional or turn signal in your car. You use it to indicate the direction that you plan to go, but it doesn’t actually turn your car.
"I like to think about making my body longer in the front to make me sit up instead of thinking ‘shoulders back,’ which can make you stiff." ~ Mary King
If your horse leans in heavy on the inside shoulder, or falls out through the outside shoulder on the circle in both directions, chances are it is something that YOU are doing as a rider that is the cause of the problem.
When you halt and salute the judge at a competition, remember to smile! This will send the judge the message that you are confident about your performance, which can impress the judge and may even influence your scores in a subconscious way.
It can be 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 especially 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 what you did.
When giving the aid to canter, let your outside leg sink down and back as the last part of your canter aid. If you lift your leg up and back to use it (as so many incorrectly do), you will end up losing your seat to some degree, and may also end up sitting crooked.
"Contact has to be just that, contact. People think 'oh this horse is very light I have nothing in my hand' – this is wrong because then you have no contact to his hind legs." ~ Jean Bemelmans
Posting or rising at the trot can sometimes be a useful exercise as you ride a collected trot. It can encourage the horse to think more forward and swing more fully through the body.
You must keep riding forward into the bit while riding your horse in a stretching position. A low neck does nothing without the horse remaining active and swinging behind the saddle.
"There are two types of seat, active and passive. Don’t ride hard all the time: active, passive, active. The main thing is to think about the horse’s back a lot." ~ Carl Hester
Train your horse to understand that he should stay at whatever speed you put him in until told otherwise. Remember that every time you allow your horse to make a decision about his speed or energy level (or don't realize that he has done so), you are training him to make these decisions on his own.
"The horse has to have independence, responsibility, and tolerance for a variety of distances [when jumping] because you’re going to mess up and the horse has to be able to cope." ~ William Fox Pitt
"Make him proudly independent of you so that he understands his job so well you merely walk the course and then show him the way. Tell your horse what you want him to do, and then allow him to do it." ~ Jimmy Wofford
"If you put a muscle where it doesn’t want to be, it is broken down – not build up."
So don't go thinking that you are building the right muscles when you force a horse's head into a position. The horse has to be using those muscles correctly to actually develop properly.
Don't "sort of" have a contact. Try to either ride with a connection, or ride with a loose rein. That "in between" area where there is sometimes a feel and sometimes not, is where horses learn to fear and/or evade the contact.
