Working With a Strong but Willing Mare

“The walk feels quite good so that is when I will go to the trot. If I feel that she gets a bit resistant, I will go back to the walk.

“It’s all about learning.”

“Can you see when I take the left rein? I’m not just holding it. I play a little bit with it. So taking, giving, taking, playing a little bit with it and giving.”

Listening to the Rider’s Aids

“We are looking for a shortened frame, not just a shortened neck. We want her frame a little shorter from her tail to her ears. A great way to do that is a little lengthening in the canter then bringing her back.”

“You want to hold the half-halt a little bit longer to finish the half-halt. I don’t want to do a little lengthening in canter, give one half-halt, then let go because she wouldn’t get it. You want to really finish the half-halt where you can say, ‘Right here I feel quite comfortable releasing and she stays with me and collected a few strides on her own.’”

“Within the trot, do a few transitions. Start with posting trot. Do a gentle lengthening and allow her to go. For her, you don’t need to push much. Then, sitting trot to bring her back. Even if you get a walk step that is still much better than her running through the bridle.”

“Expect lightness.”

Improving Responsiveness

“When you lengthen the canter, do just about 10-15 meters of lengthening along the rail—no longer. Then, bring her back to a collected canter. Build it up daily to go longer in the lengthening but not faster.”

“For collecting, it is a holding leg—not a pushing forward, driving leg—with support from the seat.”

“When going from trot to halt, see if you can eliminate the walk steps before she halts.”

Watch & Learn on E+

• You can watch Steffen Peters’ entire series on managing a strong mare here on EQUESTRIAN+.
• For additional videos featuring Peters’ top tips and training strategies, click here.
• From short training tips to how-to videos and insider-access to private clinics and lessons, learn more from top dressage experts on EQUESTRIAN+.

About Steffen Peters

Born in Wesel, Germany, Steffen Peters gained a solid dressage foundation in his birth country before moving to San Diego in 1985. He struck out on his own as a trainer in 1991 and become a U.S. citizen in 1992. Peters worked his way to the top level with the support of special horses and sponsors, achieving impressive results. He is a six-time Olympian who earned team silver (2021) and team bronze (1996, 2016) medals. Peters collected team silver (2018), team bronze (2006) and individual bronze (2010) at the FEI World Equestrian Games, team and individual gold at the 2011 and 2015 Pan American Games and the 2009 FEI Dressage World Cup Final title. He and his wife, Shannon, run SPeters Dressage in San Diego, California.

There are two components of a transition to consider: rhythm and energy. A transition may involve a change in rhythm and/or a change in energy. For example, riding a transition from a working trot to a trot lengthening does not involve a rhythm change, but it does involve a change (an increase) in energy. Riding a trot-to-walk transition involves a change in rhythm (trot rhythm to walk rhythm) and a change (decrease) in energy.

Regardless of which transition components are most important, you must be ready for the change in your body—in energy and rhythm—and prepare to move appropriately with your horse. This takes focus, postural support and body control. With organization, you will maximize the benefit of transitions on your horse’s balance and make them look effortless and harmonious.

So, what can you do to help your horse execute balanced transitions without interfering with his movement? In this lesson from her video series on EQUESTRIAN+, hunter trainer Kristy Herrera works with student Katie and her horse Parker and provides expert tips that you can apply with your horse to improve your transitions.

Upward: Walk To Sitting Trot & Sitting Trot to Working Trot

“We start at the working walk. Establish a strong enough connection with your reins so he has to accept the bit while you keep your leg on, so he does a nice, strong walk without getting too forward.

“Our first transition will be to the sitting trot. As you do an upward transition, you want to hold your reins a little tighter than your initial pace and then add your leg into the transition. You have to hold your horse’s mouth while keeping your leg on, so he doesn’t have anywhere to go except listen to your leg. What you don’t want to do is let go of the reins when you’re asking for a transition.

“If your horse is trying to evade the bit or moves his head up and down like Parker is here, that’s OK. Horses naturally try to figure out a way to escape your hands. Raise your hands above the withers and be consistent with your hands so he’ll be more engaged and stay in front of your leg.

“Next, we transition to the working trot. As you do this keep your fingers closed and add leg as you go to posting, and if your horse stays in a nice, round frame, you can give a little on the reins.”

Downward: Working Trot to Sitting Trot & Sitting Trot to Walk

“In your downward transitions, close your leg first and take the mouth second. If your horse roots at the reins in your transition, make sure you’re maintaining contact with both your reins and legs. If your horse tends to shift left or right in your downward transitions, think about steering with your legs so your reins can maintain the connection needed for the slower pace.

“When working on transitions, make sure your horse is always straight. You’re not trying to bend him left or right. You want is hind end directly behind his front end. When Parker tries to get behind the bridle, Katie keeps her leg on and maintains connection with the reins and takes her time until her horse accepts the aids. Accepting the aids is always your primary goal in transition work.”

Canter Transitions

“After you’ve worked with your horse on walk and trot transitions, you can progress to canter transitions. Start at the walk and make sure your horse is perfectly straight underneath you. You want a nice, strong walk that doesn’t get too flat or fast. Then, use your outside leg to bring his haunches in a bit. When you’re transitioning to canter from the walk you want no or minimal trot steps. That means you need to have pretty strong contact with your reins as you use your outside leg to ask for canter.

“You can see Parker made a mistake in his transition by picking up the incorrect lead. That simply indicates he was crooked when Katie asked for the canter. In that case, go back to the walk and really focus on getting the haunches to the inside to encourage him to pick up the correct lead.

“On her next try, Katie used too much hand and not quite enough leg to get the exact canter she wanted. You have to keep your legs strong enough that your horse establishes a true canter. This can take some time to accomplish. So, start by establishing a strong walk; then, ask your horse to hold his haunches in at the walk. Take your time and allow your horse to accept this at the walk first, while keeping him straight with your outside rein.

“Then, ask for canter again and keep your leg on to establish your working canter as soon as you can. While your horse is engaged in your hand and leg, make sure you’re traveling straight to get the working canter.”

Lengthening & Collecting the Canter Stride

“Now, we’ll do a transition of lengthening the stride at the canter. Keep your fingers closed to help your horse maintain his balance while adding a little leg to encourage him to lengthen.

“If you horse wants to pop up or evade your outside leg, sit down and back in the saddle while adding more leg. You have to keep your reins strong enough so he stays in your hand, but without taking too much away so he doesn’t lengthen his stride enough.

“Now we’re going to go from lengthening of stride to collecting. Try to keep your horse’s head and neck straight so you don’t accidentally wiggle the bit back and forth in his mouth by maintaining even pressure on both reins. After collecting the stride at the canter, go down to the sitting trot. Parker wanted to collapse a little there and fall behind her leg, but Katie corrected him.

“If your horse tends to transition downward too quickly, keep your leg on and use even more leg once you add rein. When working on transitions, it’s important that you expand the stride from the most it can do back to the downward transition to the sitting trot and then to the walk.”

Exercise to Improve Your Trot-to-Walk Transitions

1. Establish an active trot, either posting or sitting.

2. Initiate the downward transition to walk by slowing down how your body is moving with your horse (either slow your posting or sitting rhythm) instead of pulling on the reins. Breathe through your rib cage to help activate your core muscles, which will help you balance and stabilize your body so your horse can feel your change in tempo.

3. Gradually slow your tempo until your horse comes to a walk. You should find that in the resulting walk your horse moves forward freely.

It may take many trot steps to accomplish the walk transition at first. But over time, your horse will learn the “don’t go forward so much” cue from your body stability and breathing, and quickly come to a prompt, balanced and active walk. The transition comes from managing your horse’s energy from your center and steadying—not pulling on the reins. This promotes balance and harmony between you and your horse.

For More:

• Watch the full episode of this lesson with Kristy Herrera here.
• For more top tips and hands-on training videos with her on EQUESTRIAN+, click here.
• You can listen our Practical Horseman Podcast with Herrera here.
• Want to retrain your jumper to be a hunter? Herrera provides her expert advice here.

When dressage rider Terry Golson moved to Maine in 2019, she decided to board her APHA registered Paint, Tonkas Midnight Snow, at hunter/jumper barn Greystone Stables in Berwick, Maine, because of its big stalls and nice turnout. She’d been a little hesitant because the barn was home to a lot of teenage girls and she had heard that subset could be challenging.

Instead, Golson found a group of young adults who not only welcomed her but also cheered her on, especially when she and Tonka started taking lessons over poles on the ground and then crossrails. As a way to thank them, Golson entered Practical Horseman’s “Win A Day with Margie Engle” contest more than a year ago. For the contest, Margie would travel to the winner’s stable and teach her and 10 friends.

Golson’s dream became reality Saturday, when Engle, an Olympian and World Equestrian Games team silver medalist who has won more than 200 grand prix classes, traveled from her home base in Wellington, Florida, to Jason Ludwick’s Greystone to teach Golson and 10 riders at the barn, many of whom were the same young riders who gave Golson so much support.

“Winning this was really a gift to the people at the barn who welcomed me here and brought me into their world of their little hunter/jumper shows and the jumping, and the kids are great,” Golson said after the clinic, which was sponsored in partnership with Equimax, a dewormer made by Bimeda. Golson had won the contest out of nearly 550 entrants who all had written short essays on why they should win. The top 10 finalists made five-minute videos further pitching their case.

“This was the way for them to have a very special day,” Golson said. “Margie was amazing, of course, because Margie’s eye is superb and laser focused, and she seemed to know exactly the exercises that we needed to learn and what we need to do to progress.”

The young women at the stable agreed. “Having the opportunity to ride with Margie was such an incredible once-in a lifetime opportunity,” said 15-year-old Katie Plaisted, who rode in the fourth and final session of the day. “She is such a great teacher as well as rider, and I learned so much even just from watching the others in the clinic.”

“It was an amazing experience, and we couldn’t be happier with how things turned out,” enthused Lilly Leonard, 15, who rode in the session with Plaisted.

‘You Can Never Use Enough Leg’

The morning of the clinic, the stable hummed with activity in anticipation of Engle’s arrival. Golson was busy rubbing out the manure stain her black-and-white Tonka had acquired on the white part of his hind leg. Plaisted took out one of the ponies to longe him briefly before his session with Engle with another rider. Ten-year-old Ryen McDaniel, along with many of the other clinic riders and resident trainers Stephanie Plaisted (Katie’s mother) and Kate McDaniel, helped bring in poles to set the course in the indoor arena for the lessons.

Rain during the week had required the clinic be in the indoor ring, which had been watered and dragged with the arena mirrors squeegeed the night before; new plastic flowers decorated the jumps. The clinic was divided into four sessions, with jumping levels ranging from 18 inches to 3 feet. One of the four sessions was two Short Stirrup riders on their ponies. Engle arrived shortly before 9 a.m. and the lessons began.

Despite the differences in skill levels and fence heights, Engle structured the lessons similarly: flatwork with a focus on transitions; riding two poles on the ground in five, six and four strides; and riding a small course that included a one-stride trot gymnastic and a bounce.

A main training theme emerged with all of the sessions: Use your leg to ride forward to engage the horse’s hind end and maintain that with a light connection with the hand. As Engle said to Lily Baker who rode Champ in the first session, “You can never use enough leg, even with a sensitive horse.”

Ride Forward on the Flat

Engle started with Golson and Baker’s session, asking them to ride their horses forward off their legs. Soon after, she had them lengthen their horses’ strides down the long side of the arena in posting trot and shorten and collect on the short side in sitting trot.

When the riders collected, Engle instructed them to use their legs and seats to drive the horses forward yet keep a connection with the hand. “You want a lively trot with more impulsion behind,” Engle said to Baker. “You want him to feel light in hand. You want him to feel like he’s carrying himself not you carrying him.”

After the trot work, Engle had the riders canter, but they needed to make sure their horses were engaged from behind and balanced at the trot before they asked. When Golson’s Tonka had a new spring in the posting trot, Engle asked Golson to ride a transition to sitting trot, reminding her to use her leg and seat before her hand. “Establish a nice balanced sitting trot that’s very active behind. Then sit deep and drive him forward” into the canter, Engle said.

Even though most of the riders rode in hunter or equitation divisions where they are often encouraged to stay in two-point at the canter, Engle had them remain in full seats. After Golson lengthened down the long side, Engle had her work on more engagement by riding a circle at one end of the arena. “Go down the long side, then ride a small circle to the left, using your leg and seat to collect him,” Engle instructed, having Golson bend him around her inside leg as well. When Tonka looked more uphill and lighter, Engle added, “There he started to engage behind.”

Two Poles on the Ground

After the horses were more engaged on the flatwork, Engle had the riders canter two poles on the ground across the diagonal. The poles were set so they could be ridden in a nice five strides, and then Engle had the riders collect and ride the exercise in six strides and four strides.

In the third group, Monika Calitri’s Finnigan rode the five strides easily but was more challenged fitting in the six strides because Finnigan didn’t change his stride length easily. When he raised his head or broke to the trot as Calitri tried to collect him, Engle told her to use more leg to “coil” his stride. Once they succeeded in getting the six strides, Engle said, “See you can do it, but it’s a lot of work.” To ride the line in four strides, Engle told Calitri that she needed to go forward through the turn with a little feel of his mouth, and once over the first pole gallop to get the four strides. “You’re putting your leg on and he’s going at the same pace,” Engle said. “Be more assertive when you land [from the first pole.] Keep kicking.”

Gymnastics and a Course

After the pole exercise, Margie had the riders jump a small course, starting with a gymnastic with a trot pole to a crossrail, then one stride to a second crossrail or vertical, depending on the rider’s experience. Between the one stride was another placing pole. So the riders trotted over the first placing pole, over the crossrail, over they placing pole, then finishing over the second crossrail/vertical.

After the gymnastic, Margie had the riders make a tight left turn to an outside six-stride line, to another left turn to a bounce set across the diagonal, to an outside five-stride line. The more experienced riders then finished over a long approach to an oxer set on a diagonal.

As Katie Plaisted approached the gymnastic on Counterno Boy, Engle told her to focus on her position and keeping her horse straight. “It’s a good exercise because you don’t have to worry about distance,” she said. To all the riders, she reminded them that “you need to make sure he’s in front of your leg, even if you’re just trotting.”

Amanda Conley’s Due Diligence sometimes had trouble maintaining rhythm around the course. Margie said it looked like Conley worried about him getting strong and take on his mouth, causing him to go up and down. Instead, she told Conley to let him go. “You relaxed your hand to the last oxer, and he leveled out,” Engle said. Though she wanted Conley to relax her hand, she also wanted her to maintain a light connection with the hand, not throw it away.

Engle also advised Conley not to be so worried about finding the perfect distance. “I’d like to see you guys take a deep breath and let it happen. Enjoy the process a little more,” Engle told her as she rode around the course. “Just be patient. Be comfortable whether the distance is short or long. It’s not going to be perfect.”

After her session, Plaisted said, “The most important thing that I learned was that I need to ride more assertively and not let my horse take over and get his way.” I learned that there is a way to ride assertive and strong while also making it look like smooth and effortless.”

At the end of the day, after Engle said her goodbyes and headed to the airport, the riders bubbled over about the day. Golson was thrilled she had delivered a gift to give back to the riders who had been so supportive to her.

“We’re way up here in Maine,” Golson said. “People don’t come up here, so for Margie to come here and tell the kids they’re valued and that they have talent and that they can do this too, even when you’re in a little out-of-the-way town—that’s a really big deal.”

Thanks to Equimax for its sponsorship of the Win A Day with Margie Engle clinic.

In this gymnastic, you will position raised rails both before and after two crossrails in an hourglass pattern. The raised rails sit four to five strides out from the crossrails, angled left and right as well as straight ahead so you can vary your path following the gymnastic.

The hourglass offers plenty of flexibility—you’re limited only by your imagination. For example, make the two center crossrails a one-stride one day and a bounce another—or use a combination of the two with three crossrails.

For optimal results, I incorporate transitions between gaits as part of my gymnastic scheme. Practicing transitions can never be overdone because they help balance your horse and give his stride adjustability. In this exercise, you will ask for numerous transitions and adjustments to enhance your horse’s balance and athleticism in front of, over and after each rail or crossrail. Lengthening and shortening strides in this fashion prepares him for more advanced work. He will also be more prone to stay with you mentally and wait for your direction when he lands.

Most horses have more difficulty slowing down and shortening strides than moving forward and lengthening them because they naturally carry more weight on the forehand and must shift it back over their haunches in downward transitions. Fences intensify this challenge because the thrust of a horse’s jump transfers tremendous weight onto his forehand as he lands. When you keep the distances short inside the raised rails and the crossrails, you encourage not only a steadier, balanced approach but a slower, softer landing.

Riding the countless transitions in these exercises will teach your horse how to rebalance his weight to stay light on the landing, helping you regain control. You must recover your own position as quickly as possible to reinforce and contribute to his rebalancing effort. If you do nothing and he focuses instead on the next fence and takes over and braces against you, change his mind by transitioning down to the trot or even to the walk and then begin again. When he is thinking with you, not for you, he will be easier to manage once you are cantering an entire course.

Benefits

This exercise:

• requires the horse to think about the placement of his feet,

• improves the horse’s accuracy off the ground,

• encourages cleverness between obstacles,

• establishes a better jumping style,

• improves balance and rideability,

• strengthens the horse’s attentiveness to the rider’s directions,

• encourages a steadier, balanced approach and a slower, softer landing.

Who Can Do It

Anyone can practice this exercise with any horse. For an easier version, you can use rails in place of crossrails.

Setup

This exercise should be set up so it can be jumped in either direction. Study the diagram below. Build an 18- to 21-foot one-stride or a 10- to 12-foot bounce using two crossrails on the centerline with ground lines on either side. Ground lines further improve balance and adjustability because they will shorten the stride in between the jumps even more, making the distances tighter than those typically used on a course.

Place three rails raised 6 inches at distances 3 to 4 feet apart on a straight line four to five strides before and after the crossrails. Since you will be transitioning to trot to ride over these rails, the exact measurement of the line is not important since it is not a related distance, but it can be set at approximately 60 feet or whatever space allows. This series of closely-placed rails requires the horse to think about the placement of his feet and encourages the downward trot transition between the crossrails and the direct line to the raised rails.

Then about four or five strides on the left and right angles before and after the two crossrails, place two raised rails 7 to 8 feet apart. Set the height of the raised rails at 6 or 12 inches. You can approach both heights at the trot or canter. If the rails are 6 inches, you have the option of trotting over both rails. If the rails are 12 inches, your horse should bounce them from either the trot or canter.

How to Ride the Exercise

1. First, warm up your horse at the walk, trot and canter. This exercise can be part of your continued warm up on the flat with a few rails and small jumps in the way. It is merely an exercise in adjustability.

2. Begin trotting to any set of raised rails. If your horse lands cantering, continue to canter or transition to trot and ride to the crossrails on the centerline. Upon landing, transition back to trot or continue at a soft canter.

3. After the crossrails, trot straight over the three raised rails. Turn left or right and trot or canter over one set of raised poles and ride the bending line to the crossrails either at trot or canter. Next, go over the bending line first, then return on a straight line.

4. Constantly change the gait and pattern of this exercise to keep your horse soft, supple and tuned in to you. He must not only follow a feel but also focus on the line you choose and place his feet correctly over the raised rails before and after the jumps.

5. As you practice, stay aware of your horse’s straightness. Aim for the center of each rail or crossrail and be disciplined about landing and riding away from the obstacles on a straight line. Even if you have curved to the left or right, ride out the straight line following the bend to keep your horse honest and straight between your aids.

About Melanie Smith Taylor

Melanie Smith Taylor is an internationally recognized competitor and trainer with many accolades in the sport of show jumping. Melanie was part of the gold-medal-winning team at the 1979 Pan American Games in Puerto Rico, won the individual bronze medal with her beloved horse Calypso at the “Alternate Olympics” in 1980 and won a team gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, also with Calypso. She won the World Cup Final in 1982 and placed second in 1980. Melanie retired from competition in 1987 but continues to be active in equestrian sport. She is a television broadcaster, course designer, judge, clinician and trains young riders. Melanie is based at Wildwood Farm in Germantown, Tennessee. 

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2019 issue of Practical Horseman and  is adapted from “Riding With Life: Lessons from the Horse” by Melanie Smith Taylor and Jamie Caton, which can be purchased at Eclectic-Horseman.com and Amazon.com. Readers can get a signed copy by directly contacting Melanie through her website at MelanieSmithTaylor.com. 

One of the most important principles of riding at any level of any discipline is that rein aids should never be used in the absence of leg aids. Many instructors oversimplify the aids when teaching the basics, telling people to use their legs to go forward and their reins to turn and stop. But this is such a challenging habit to correct if you’re taught to use reins without legs as a beginner—and I’m speaking from experience as a rider who had to relearn the right way to use my legs—that I believe all riders should learn how to use their leg aids in conjunction with their rein aids as soon as possible. In this article, I’ll explain why this concept is so important, then will give you a simple exercise for testing and improving your leg aids and your horse’s responsiveness to them.

Using reins without legs is like trying to stop a bike with only the front brake and no rear brake. If you’re biking really fast, you risk flipping the bike over by doing this. Similarly, if you use only your “front brakes” (reins) on your horse, he’ll fall on his front end and get heavy in the bridle. Adding your “rear brakes” (legs) engages his hind legs, encouraging them to step further underneath his body. This helps him stay balanced while using his entire body to respond promptly to your cues, whether you’re asking him to turn, circle or make a downward transition. For example, if you’re turning him to the right, you use your right leg to ask him to bend his body on the turn, then add left leg to ask him to square up onto a straight track after the turn. This way he exits the turn as balanced as he was when he entered it.

The more you use your hand aids without accompanying leg aids, the more your horse leans on his front end and the heavier he’ll become in the bridle. That’s why many horses need stronger and stronger bits. Clients often send horses to my barn for training with really big, strong bits. It may sound counterintuitive, but these are the horses who need riders to use more leg, not less. My goal is always to send them home in a simple snaffle. That’s the best proof that you’ve trained a horse to respond properly to leg aids.

To do this, you need to teach yourself a new habit of using your legs every time you use your hands. Even when you’re not making a change in your pace or track, you’re still probably doing something with your hands, such as maintaining a light contact with your horse’s mouth. You should be using your legs in a similarly constant, measured way. At the very least, there should always be a light connection between your calves and your horse’s sides. This applies to all horses, no matter how hot or sensitive they are. Conconcreto Believe, the mare with whom I won the Rolex U.S. Open Grand Prix at the 2015 Central Park Horse Show, is a perfect example. She is a very “bloody” horse (she has a lot of Thoroughbred blood) and I have to ride her with a lot of leg. If you have a very sensitive horse, consider riding him with smaller spurs or no spurs at all, but understand that using your leg is essential.

One great way to test that you’re using your legs properly and that your horse is responding to them appropriately is to perform a rein back. A horse who backs up obediently in response to your rein and leg aids with no signs of tension truly understands your aids. As an added benefit, practicing rein backs engages, strengthens and relaxes your horse’s back muscles. So this is an excellent exercise to incorporate into his regular training and conditioning program.

Exercise 1: The Test

Use the following technique to ask your horse to back up five steps in a straight line (Caution: Do not attempt to do this if you are riding with any sort of assisting reins or head-restricting gear, such as draw reins, a de Gogue system, standing martingale or chambon):

1. Begin at the walk. Sit quietly and squarely in the middle of the saddle, staying relaxed in your upper body while holding a light contact on the reins.

2. Next, apply a little more leg aid to increase your horse’s forward “intention”—creating a sense that he’s moving more actively forward into the bridle. How you use your legs and how strongly you use them depends on your horse. Some horses may require a slight squeeze with your calves while others may need you to tap their sides a few times with your legs or spurs.

3. When you feel that forward intention, increase the pressure on both reins evenly until your horse stops, all the while continuing to apply your leg aids. Imagine you’re filling up a bike tire with a hole in it. Your legs are putting air in the tire. Your hands have to apply pressure to the hole to prevent the air from escaping. How much pressure you apply with your hands depends on how much air you put into the tire with your legs.

4. Once your horse has come to a halt, reapply your leg and hand aids the same way you did to ask for the halt, still keeping the rest of your body quiet, centered and relaxed in the saddle. Squeeze or tap your legs while applying pressure on the reins to stop him from moving forward. Continue both of these aids until he takes a step backward. Then repeat the aids, using your right and left legs and hands equally so he backs up in a straight line.

When you apply these rein-back aids, a typical horse will do one of three things: He will either back up, run forward or brace against your hand, blocking his shoulders and giving you the feeling that he’s turned to stone. If he runs forward, apply more rein aid. If he freezes, don’t try to force the issue. He clearly hasn’t learned to back up properly yet. If you press him further, you could provoke a dangerous reaction, such as a rear. Instead, ask a ground person to help you perform the exercise I describe in Exercise 2.

Some horses may take only two or three steps backward and then stop. These horses are blocked in their bodies because their muscles aren’t used to moving this way. This motion may even be painful for them, just the way your muscles would hurt if you didn’t go to the gym for a long time and then suddenly tried to do a big workout. 

If your horse blocks like this, immediately go forward and let him relax his muscles. Then stop him and ask for just a few more backward steps. Never push it to the point where he gets aggravated or upset.

Exercise 2: Teach Your Horse to Back

To improve your horse’s understanding of the aids if he refuses to back or backs with a great deal of resistance, try the following exercise. Do it only if you’re an experienced rider with a secure seat. Otherwise, introduce the concept to him unmounted before trying it mounted—or ask a professional to teach your horse the initial lessons.

1. Set up a triangular chute with two verticals spaced 5 or 6 feet apart on one end and coming together on the other end to form the apex of the triangle. Alternatively, you can form a triangle with the arena fence or wall and a single vertical placed at an angle to it with one of its standards next to the wall. Make the jumps 3 or 4 feet high, so there’s no risk of your horse tripping over them.

2. Have your ground person stand at the point of the triangle, holding a longe whip and pointing it at the ground.

3. Ride your horse into the open end of the triangle at a walk. Using the same aids I previously described, ask him to halt a few feet away from your ground person.

4. Next, apply the aids I’ve described to ask your horse to step backward. At the same time, have your ground person make a clucking sound and move the lash of the whip on the ground in a snake-like manner, just vigorously enough to startle your horse slightly so he takes a step backward. If he doesn’t step backward, have your ground person wiggle the whip lash closer to his front feet. If this still doesn’t do the trick, have her touch him with the solid part of the whip very lightly on his chest. Be patient and take care not to escalate the situation to the point where your horse gets aggravated or upset.

5. When he finally takes a step or two backward, immediately pat him and stop applying your leg and hand aids. Then ask him to take a step or two forward to relax his back muscles again.

6. Repeat the exercise a few times to reinforce the concept. Then end the session for the day.

With practice, you will be able to do this exercise without the help of a ground person and will be able to ask for more backward steps in a row. Always focus on keeping your horse straight and relaxed. As his muscles strengthen, he’ll find this easier to do. He’ll also begin to respond better to your leg aids in general. 

Exercise 3: Transition from Trot to Halt

When he’s backing well, take this concept to the next level by practicing downward transitions, always asking him to come forward into your hand before applying your rein aids. Use enough leg to make it feel like your horse is grabbing the bit. (Don’t worry about overdoing it. You can never use too much leg.) Then use an equal amount of rein pressure to ask for the downward transition. Start with simple transitions, such as trot to walk and canter to trot, then graduate to canter to walk and trot to halt. Remember, no hands without legs.

About Daniel Bluman

Grand prix jumper Daniel Bluman was born in Medellin, Colombia. He started riding at the age of 3 and competed in Colombia, Germany and the United States as a Junior. In 2007, he moved to Wellington, Florida, and became a professional rider. Representing his native Colombia, he competed in the World Equestrian Games in 2010, the Pan American Games in 2011 and the Olympics in 2012. In 2015, he won the $212,000 U.S. Open CSI*** Grand Prix at the Rolex Central Park Horse Show with Conconcreto Believe and last year competed in the Olympics with Apardi. Daniel credits most of his education to two legendary Olympic riders: Canadian Eric Lamaze and Brazilian Nelson Pessoa. He now spends about half his time in Brussels, Belgium, and the other half in East Norwich, New York, where he and his cousin Ilan run their business, Bluman Equestrian.

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of Practical Horseman.

Southern California dressage riders are a little spoiled. Olympians Steffen Peters, Guenter Seidel, Christine Traurig, Jan Ebeling and Kathleen Raine train and compete regularly in the area. Charlotte Dujardin, Carl Hester, Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud have visited to region recently as part of organizer Scott Hayes’ Masterclass weekends. Yet there was no sign of fans being desensitized to stars of the sport as the reigning queen of dressage Isabell Werth came to town Oct. 13-14 as the latest Masterclass presenter.

Fresh from winning WEG double gold with Bella Rose this past September in Tryon, and ready to start the quest to defend her World Cup Finals crown, Isabell coached seven horse/riders pairs with precise, stride-by-stride instructions. The intimate setting of a private stable in Rancho Santa Fe gave the sold-out crowd of nearly 500 an up-close view of this candid and colorful celebrity. The riders were mostly very accomplished, and all rode top quality horses with a variety of training and experience levels.

Here are eight takeaways from the weekend. Familiar as they may be, “We can never hear them too often,” said one amateur rider of Isabell’s broadly applicable advice as she headed home to put it into practice.

Outside Rein

Even contact on both reins was Isabell’s ideal, but getting to that goal often entailed more use of the outside rein, sometimes more than seemed intuitive. In helping one horse build hindquarter “swing” in its trot stride, she had the rider use more outside rein on a 20-meter circle: a half-halt-degree of pressure. The exercise progressed to a “touch” of counter-flexion and even a slight shoulder-in to the outside, still on the circle. The goal was getting the horse more supple and through in the body and working into the bit. The rein cues were all in coordination with steady leg and “heavy” seat aids to keep the forward impulsion.

In the canter, the outside rein is most important, Isabell explained. “When the horse jumps against the inside rein, the inside leg is less active, giving less quality to the canter.”

Forward Fix

“It doesn’t matter,” was Isabell’s response to spooks, breaks of gait and misunderstandings by the horse. Going forward was almost always the first step toward a fix, especially if the misstep involved the horse falling behind the bit and/or the rider’s leg. As horses were spooky or balking, Isabell insisted on forward aids and an attitude of “we don’t discuss this” toward the horse’s unwanted behavior.

Thousands of Little Transitions

Beyond a few laps of warm-up work, it was rare that any pair made more than a few full loops round the ring at the same pace or gait. Transitions within and between gaits and into and out of exercises, in circles, on diagonals and straightaways and in lateral work were the medium for helping fine-tune each partnership. Establishing quick responses to subtle aids while maintaining a steady rhythm was the overarching goal, along with suppling the horse.

Try Trust

Allowing a horse to “present himself” or “show himself off” is another of Isabell’s training goals. First, the horse must accept the leg and seat go-forward cues and move fluidly into the bit, rather than escaping from those pressures by “running through” the bit. Next, it’s a feel-based, precisely-timed, very slight release of rein pressure. In trusting the horse to move forward freely in self-carriage, the rider invites and allows the horse to express itself.

Even though Isabell often coached stride-by-stride control, she also encouraged letting go of control when the rider sensed the horse would handle it right in the form of “opening herself up,” as she explained to several pairs. In some cases, it was a matter of experimenting with the horse’s reactions. “Push when necessary, but also try trusting him,” she said to one rider on a strong horse who tended to fall behind the bit. “He can only open himself when he has the chance. It’s about using the power of the hands in a positive way.”

Keep The Rhythm

At all gaits, rhythm is the most important. “Tick, tick, ticking…” to keep the beat for several riders, Isabell coached back-to-front powered impulsion and a steady, honest contact with the hand to get and maintain an even rhythm. That’s always the priority within gaits, in transitions between extensions and collections, through gait changes and into, through and out of exercises: fluid movement and even rhythm.

Pilot errors cause many breaks in rhythm. Rushing a transition and applying too much or too little leg or rein are frequent culprits. Sometimes this stems from not trusting oneself. Too often, “Everybody stops breathing because they say, ‘Now, the collected walk or maybe piaffe is coming in 10 meters,’” Isabell observed. “They get more awake or tense because of that. What you have to do is trust yourself that in 10 meters, it will work out.”

Shoulder Ins & Half-Passes

To varying degrees, these were workhorse exercises for all seven horse/rider pairs and they served several purposes. The shoulder-in first cropped up, at the walk, as a way to get Rebecca Ridgon’s spooky 5-year-old Iquem to accept the leg aid without getting further flustered by the very different surroundings in her home arena. Shoulder-ins, at the canter on the long-side straightway, helped Niki Clarke’s big horse Coral Reef Scoobidooh improve the quality of his “jump” in each stride. With the support of a firm inside leg aid, the exercise helped elevate his inside shoulder, which carried nicely into a transition from shoulder-in to half-pirouette.

Several horses worked from several steps of shoulder-in into half-pass. The half-pass, Isabell explained, helps the horse learn to use its hind legs first. That’s critical to the quality of all gaits, transitions and movements, from the basic canter depart to passage, piaffe and pirouettes.

Flexions

Alternating lateral flexions helped several nervous or spirited horses relax. Bending through the rib cage loosens the horse’s body and encourages breathing, plus the aids require the horse to focus more on their rider and less on their spooky surroundings. Lateral suppleness helps with hindquarter engagement required in back-to-front impulsion in all gaits, and loosens back muscles for swing in the trot and free movement in all gaits.

Looked at from above, a horse in lateral flexion should have the shape of a banana, usually curved in the direction of travel, but not always. Counter-flexions were often used on straightaways and in circles of all sizes to encourage suppleness and build strength and balance.

Lots of lateral flexions helped supple Matt Cunningham’s 9-year-old Prix St. Georges horse, Ribéry 27. Coaching Matt to sit more deeply and back with his torso, with steady leg pressure, Isabell said, “Let him run into the flexion so you can feel him going through your hand and into the bit.” The horse had started out stiff and too short from back to front. The flexions helped him take on a more engaged, rectangular-shaped frame that Isabell sought, making the most of a “super mover.”

“He has a lot of talent,” she concluded. “The challenge is to make him flexible enough and quick enough.”

Work The Walk

“People forget to work in the walk, but you can do so much in it,” Isabell said. David Blake’s flashy mare, Heide Spirit, was hot to trot or more, but Isabell had them work at the walk for about 20 minutes, concentrating on transitions aimed at getting her to develop a “more honest contact” with the bit and engagement through her whole body. Her initial trot was uphill looking and “passagy,” but Isabell wanted a “more normal rhythm and using her body more: quick, but little. She’s moving so big, she’s running against the rein.”

Hence, a walk session of “collect and let go, collect and let go” as Isabell coached the small transitions between collected and normal walk. “Slowly give her a little rein, let her chew [the bit].” She encouraged David to “shake the rein a little bit,” which appeared as a subtle vibration, to encourage the mare to reach into the bit.

“You could work at the walk for an hour a day, but nobody does it,” Isabell said of the gait’s potential to address many training issues.

Isabell’s visit was short. She flew in from Germany on Friday evening and was headed home Sunday afternoon. As she mingled with fans, signed autographs and posed for photographs during breaks, it was clear the crowd had not had enough of her and would welcome her return ASAP!

For more tips from Isabell, check out Dressage Today’s coverage of the clinic as well. 

The world’s best riders make dressage into an art form by creating and controlling their horses’ power with opposing aids—producing energy with the legs and seat and using the body and rein contact to channel it. They do this so harmoniously that you rarely see their aids. What you also don’t see is all the homework that went into getting to that point. To achieve such finesse, you must be effective at every level. From the very first time you mount a young horse, he must react to your aids. You can’t expect these reactions to be as immediate as you will later in his education, but it’s so important that you get a reaction. How well you establish this reliability to the aids early on will determine how successful all of your subsequent training is.

To teach responsiveness, you must always know the answer you want to every question you ask. And you must have an expectation that an aid will always work. When it doesn’t work initially, be prepared to exaggerate that aid however necessary to achieve a response. As your horse’s understanding improves throughout his career, you’ll be able to refine your aids more and more. They won’t change fundamentally, but the degree of subtlety will gradually increase.

Dressage instructors focus intensely on certain aids—the reins, legs and individual seat bones—but you don’t often hear them talk about how to teach horses to respond to their riders’ weight distribution. In this article, I’ll explain how key this aid is and how you can apply it at every level of your horse’s training.

How It Works

Horses naturally want to be balanced. That’s why you don’t see them run around the field tipped sideways. When you nudge them to step away from you on the cross-ties, they automatically readjust themselves to a stance they find comfortable—not necessarily square, but with their weight distributed fairly evenly across all four legs. You can use this natural tendency to your advantage when you’re riding. When you shift your weight to one side, forward or backward, your horse will instinctively try to shift his own weight to prevent you from throwing him off balance. So the aid is simply a matter of counteracting his natural desires by shifting your weight in the opposite direction.

You can use this tool to help teach a young horse your leg and rein aids—which won’t make as much intuitive sense to him at first—and to teach him better balance on turns and circles. As his training advances, your weight aids will be helpful for re-inforcing your other aids when teaching him new skills. They’ll also be useful for encouraging more self-carriage and expression.

Before you apply any weight aid, always check first that your “neutral” position is correct: upright and centered in the saddle with your shoulder, hip and heel aligned and your hands maintaining a light following contact with the reins while your body does nothing else that might interfere with your horse. The more secure you are in this position, the more confidence you’ll inspire in him. Establishing this confidence before every new lesson and exercise is essential.

Here are three examples of how the weight aid can enhance your training at different levels.

Young Horse Starting Under Saddle

The first basic under-saddle lessons you need to teach your horse are how to go forward from the leg and slow down in response to the rein aid. Using weight shifts will help to make these intentions clear. Starting from your correct neutral position, lean forward when you want him to increase his pace and backward when you want him to decrease it. He will naturally speed up to stay balanced underneath your forward weight and slow down to accommodate your backward weight shift.

Don’t be afraid to exaggerate your position to get results. Ideally, you want your horse to respond to a very subtle weight shift, but he won’t always notice that. So lean as dramatically forward or backward as necessary. Committing to doing this can be especially difficult for dressage riders, who try so hard to maintain the perfect position in every step. But remember, it’s always more important to get a reaction to your aids.

As soon as your horse offers even the smallest response to your weight aid, return immediately to your neutral position and praise him with a “Good boy!” and perhaps a stroke on the neck with your inside hand. We dressage riders tend to be perfectionists, but you must reward your horse all the way along the road to perfection to achieve it. That means positively reinforcing any response he makes to your aids that was better than the time before.

Be sure that your aids never conflict. Whenever your leg says, “Go forward,” don’t let your upper body get left behind. For example, if you’re making a transition from walk to trot, be ready to go forward with the motion in that very first step of trot.

Another useful application of the weight aid on a young horse is for controlling his tempo. If he’s trotting too fast, stay in the air just a little longer and bring your shoulders back a few inches during the rising phase of your posting. He’ll try to “catch” you by slowing his tempo.

Lateral weight aids are also extremely useful with youngsters. Ideally, we want dressage horses to travel around turns and circles in an upright balance. Imagine your horse’s head, shoulders and hips as three connected train cars. All of the parts have to follow each other along the same track. And the cars need to stay upright. In their early training, however, horses don’t usually have the strength to achieve this while carrying us on their backs. Instead, they tend to lean in on the turns and circles like a motorcycle. Unfortunately, we riders have the same tendency, so it’s twice as important to be conscious of this.

Here’s how to convert your horse from a motorcycle into a train: Approach the corner of the ring in a posting trot and initiate a very shallow turn, as if you were riding half of a 20-meter circle. (Young horses don’t have enough strength to maintain their balance around corners any deeper than that.) As he enters the turn, stand more on your outside stirrup while simultaneously leaning your shoulders to the outside. Be very careful not to let your weight shift affect your contact in the reins.

If your horse still falls in on the turn, exaggerate the weight shift a little more the next time, leaning your shoulders a bit further to the outside and putting more weight down into that outside stirrup. Experiment with these aids until you find what’s most effective with him. Each time you go around a turn or circle, close your inside leg at the girth as well. Over time, by associating that aid with your weight shift, you’ll be able to use it alone to support his balance on turns.

First Level Horse

This same sideways weight shift will help you when it comes time to introduce your horse to the leg-yield, where you ask him to move sideways off a single leg aid and flex slightly away from the direction he’s going. By now he will fully understand that your two legs used together mean go forward. Learning to go sideways in response to a single leg aid is a new concept, which might confuse him at first. Instead of resorting to lots of kicking and use of the whip—which is never constructive—reinforce the leg aid with your weight aid.

For example, start at the walk tracking to the left. When your horse feels confident and happily walking forward, check that your position is correctly neutral and then turn down the centerline. After walking straight for several strides, squeeze your left leg. At the same time, drop the weight down in your right heel with your right leg against his side while keeping your upper body tall and centered over his spine. This will prevent you from tipping your body to the left—a common mistake that riders make in the leg-yield and another example of unintentionally conflicting aids.

If your horse doesn’t move at all to the right, step more weight down into your right stirrup, just as you did to balance his “train cars” on turns. He should recognize this aid from his earlier training and move a little to the right. Again, experiment with how much of a shift works best to produce the response you want.

The moment he takes a step or two sideways, release the leg aid, praise him immediately, return to your neutral position and ask him to walk straight again. When he feels forward and square in his body, ask for another step or two sideways. If you ever lose the forward momentum, immediately close both legs and lean a little forward.

In the beginning, it’s OK to allow him to run through his shoulder a little as he steps sideways. We’re only asking for a reaction to the aids right now, not perfection. And don’t get too greedy: Asking for too many lateral steps at first can be overwhelming.

Eventually, your horse will learn to correlate the weight shift with the leg aid and you’ll be able to use a less and less dramatic weight shift. As his understanding and strength improve, you can refine your aids and progress to a more ideal leg-yield—with his neck, shoulders and hips aligned and parallel to the long side, a slight flexion around your inside leg (the leg he’s stepping away from) and nice regular steps crossing over, following a diagonal track from the centerline to the long side. Once you’ve achieved that at the walk, you can follow the same procedure at the trot.

Meanwhile, continue to use your forward and backward weight shifts to control his tempo. Sit a little behind the motion when he rushes and a little ahead if he falls behind your leg. As you begin to ask him to develop more pushing power from behind, be aware of your weight’s influence on his balance. Although your lower leg is responsible for creating the energy, the best forward driving aid is a seat that follows the movement. Imagine your horse is a powerboat. As you increase the power from the back, the front end rises. Tipping your upper body slightly forward will prevent this positive energy from toppling you backward.

Third Level Horse

By the time your horse reaches Third Level, he should fully understand your lateral aids. However, you will still often find it helpful to reinforce them with your weight aids. Usually you’ll be able to apply these weight aids much more subtly than you did in his earlier training—but be prepared, as always, to give as much aid as necessary to obtain the response you want.

A good example is the introduction of the half-pass. The concept is similar to that of the leg-yield—asking your horse to move sideways away from a single leg aid—but your bending aids are different. Whereas in leg-yield your horse is flexed slightly away from the direction he’s going, in half-pass he’s bent toward the direction he’s going. So your bending aids are opposite. Whenever you make a change like this, expect that your horse might not understand what you want initially—and be prepared to use more of a weight shift to make it clear.

Say you’re trotting on the left rein and turn down the centerline. To initiate a half-pass to the left, ask your horse to stay bent around your left leg while moving away from your right leg. If he doesn’t respond promptly, step more of your weight into your left stirrup. Increase this aid and reduce the degree of bend until he responds by moving sideways. Remember, when you teach a new skill like this, your immediate goals are not about how many steps your horse produces or how perfectly he does them. What matters most at this point is getting a reliable reaction to your aids. As soon as he reacts correctly, praise him, return to your neutral position and allow him to travel straight forward again. Once he’s taken a breath and relaxed, ask for another few sideways steps.

As with the leg-yield, if you’re consistent and clear with your aids from the beginning, you’ll gradually be able to use them more subtly over time. But your weight aid will continue to come in handy. For example, if his front legs lack expression in the half-pass (or any other movement), you can sit back slightly to weight his hind legs more, which will lighten his front end. At the other extreme, if he feels a little stuck and behind your leg, accompany your driving aid (your lower leg) with a slightly more forward upper-body position to encourage more activity.

These strategies will continue to pay off all the way through to the Grand Prix level. The world’s top riders have the same basic expectation that their horses will respond to every aid they give and are always willing to follow through to make that happen. Only with this reliable foundation can they create, control and direct energy in the manner that makes dressage such a beautiful art form.  

About David Marcus

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, David Marcus moved to Canada in 1996 and became a Canadian citizen in 2011. He and the Danish Warmblood gelding Chrevi’s Capital represented his new country in both the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy, France. The pair also competed on multiple Nations Cup teams and topped the North American League to qualify for the 2013 FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Göthenburg, Sweden. Throughout his career, David has won many Grands Prix, including CDIs at Dressage at Devon and the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. He won the 2016 Adequan/USDF Intermediate II Dressage Horse of the Year award aboard Binjora. Recently, he was selected as the guest rider and judge for the KWPN Championships’ Pavo Cup in Ermelo, the Netherlands.

David has coached multiple students to podium finishes at the North American Junior & Young Rider Championships as well as to many national show and CDI wins. He is now based year-round in Wellington, Florida, where he and his husband, Nicholas Fyffe, run the training and sales operation Marcus Fyffe Dressage.

This article was originally printed in the February 2018 issue of Practical Horseman. 

Q: While galloping, each time I kick my horse, he bucks. How do I get him to stop bucking every time I kick him? I just want him to go a little faster!

ANGELA MOORE

A: Start by ruling out any physical problems that might be making galloping uncomfortable for him. Ask your veterinarian to check for medical issues that could be producing pain when you ask him to move forward. Also ask your instructor or find a qualified saddle fitter to help you check your saddle fit. Some saddles move differently with the horse at the gallop than at the other gaits. For example, your saddle may be diving down onto your horse’s withers, and his bucking may simply be his way of lowering his body to avoid this discomfort.

Once you’ve ruled out any potential physical causes of your horse’s bucking, take him back to basics. Many lazy horses develop this habit when they get behind the leg: They respond sluggishly and sullenly to leg aids instead of willingly and promptly. Instead of going forward, they protest by bucking. Plan on spending several sessions reviewing the meaning of your leg cues. He must understand that he should always respond promptly to light aids.

To reinforce this lesson, you may need spurs and/or a stick. If you’re not accustomed to riding with either of these, consult your instructor about their proper use first. It’s especially important that you have a correct, steady leg position—at or behind the girth—if you intend to wear spurs. If you’re not comfortable using spurs or a whip, ask an experienced rider to work through these lessons on your horse.

Begin these sessions by practicing halt–walk transitions. Use the “ask–tell–demand” method: First, wrap your legs down and around his body and give a gentle squeeze to ask him to go forward. If he doesn’t respond immediately, follow up with a cluck and a firmer squeeze or bump against his sides with your legs. If he doesn’t respond to that, apply the spurs or stick behind your leg. Be careful to make all of these aids clear but never nagging—not spur, spur, spur.

The moment he moves forward, release your leg aids and reward him with a “Good boy!” and a pat or scratch on his withers. This reward is the critical part of the lesson. It will instill the knowledge that leg means go—and that everybody’s happy when he goes! If he breaks into trot, don’t pull him up immediately. Instead, reward him for the super response, then let him continue for a few strides before coming back to walk and asking for the transition with even lighter aids.

Repeat this transition several times until his response is prompt and obedient. Then move on to walk–trot transitions, using the same ask–tell–demand method. Next, try making transitions within the trot—asking him to go a little faster for a few strides, then slowing down for a few strides, and repeating.

For all of these upward transitions, be sure to follow his mouth forward with your hands as soon as he moves forward. Soften your elbows and lighten your weight in the saddle. This way, there’s no risk of giving him mixed messages.

It may take several sessions until your horse is responding properly and consistently to your leg aids. Take the time to solidify this basic concept at the walk and trot before trying trot–canter transitions.

Repeat the same ask–tell–demand method for trot–canter transitions. Check your position again first. Be sure your hip angle is soft, your weight is light in the saddle and you’re looking and thinking ahead. This will reinforce your “go” aids. If your hips are locked and your seat is heavy, your horse will be confused by your aids and reluctant to go forward.

Once you’re happy with the canter transitions, prepare to ask for a more forward canter. Depending on the size of the area you usually ride in, this might be easier to do in a big, open space—anywhere that you feel safe and your horse feels like he has room to gallop.

You may have to ride through a few bucks before he gets the message that he must go forward every time you ask. Check that your position is secure with your heels deep, eyes up and elbows loose. Be ready to nip his head up with one hand the moment he drops it. He can’t buck with his head up. Give this quick, upward rein aid for just one stride so you don’t discourage his forward movement while continuing to apply your leg aids. Again, if you don’t feel confident to do this safely, ask a more experienced rider to do it for you.

Be happy with the slightest improvements. If he increases his pace just a little, praise him. With repetition, he’ll learn to commit to the gallop and will actually enjoy it.

With more than 25 years of experience, Angela Moore is the head trainer at Stealaway Inc., a full-service hunter/jumper business based on her family farm in Johnstown, Ohio. A U.S. Hunter Jumper Association certified trainer, she emphasizes logical, safe, fun instruction with her students, who range from the walk/trot level to grand prix. Angela, who continues to enhance her own education by working with top professionals such as Margie Engle, also has competed successfully at all levels. She and her students travel to compete at both local and AA-rated shows throughout the Midwest as well as to Florida for the Winter Equestrian Festival. Her students have earned many awards in the jumpers and equitation, including several top-10 placings in the Taylor Harris National Children’s Medal Finals as well as Kate Morrison’s individual bronze medal at the 2013 Adequan/FEI North American Junior & Young Rider Championships.

This article originally appeared in the February 2015 issue of Practical Horseman.

Q: I am switching from hunters to dressage. I start out each ride by walking my off-the-track Thoroughbred for several minutes until his legs are stepping underneath him and he’s stretching and taking a light contact. But when I ask him to trot, he raises his head slightly for a few strides. What am I doing wrong in this transition?

MARY FLOOD

A: This problem is a common symptom of a lack of throughness, or longitudinal and lateral suppleness. As you correctly describe, to achieve throughness your horse must create energy in his hindquarters and transfer it over his back, withers, neck and poll into an elastic, yielding rein contact. He may seem to be on the bit—flexed at the poll so the front of his face is at the vertical—but still be stiff in his poll and/or leaning heavily on your hands. Or you may be holding him in a frame that appears round, but his head comes up the moment you relax the contact. In all of these cases, he’s not truly longitudinally supple and through.

Improving longitudinal suppleness is a two-step process. First, you ask your horse to yield in his jaw, lengthening along the crest of his neck and shortening his underneck. He then needs to make the connection through his entire topline from back to front. The best way to both test and improve this connection is with properly ridden transitions. They’re the glue between and within the gaits. To make that glue stronger, you must communicate with a correct position and appropriate aids. Here’s how:

Your horse’s body mirrors yours. If you tip your upper body forward during a transition, you’ll throw his balance onto his forehand. If you lean back and push with your seat, his back will hollow and his head will come up. So be sure to maintain the vertical alignment of your shoulders, hips and heels during transitions.

In dressage, ideally your seat aid should make up about 80 percent of your communication with your horse while your leg and hand aids are each about 10 percent. Using too much hand will cause him to avoid or brace against the contact. Similarly, squeezing your legs makes him feel constricted, causing him to drop his back, stiffen his shoulders and raise his head.

There are three types of seat aids:

• Neutral tells your horse to maintain whatever gait he is traveling in.
• Sending asks him to go forward, as in an upward transition.
• Non-allowing signals for a downward transition. 

Practice these aids on a bar stool. Sit on its edge, first with a relaxed, vertical pelvis and upper body (neutral seat). Then advance your hips by rotating them forward until the stool tips onto its front legs. This is your sending seat. The motion you make with your hips to keep the stool from tipping too far and falling is your non-allowing seat.

In the saddle, use these seat aids to make transitions and regulate your horse’s stride length. Start with halt–walk and walk–halt transitions, using the sending seat and non-allowing seat, respectively. If he doesn’t respond to your sending seat, close your calves. If this doesn’t work, bump your legs or tap the whip either on his shoulder or directly behind your leg as you soften your hands slightly to allow room for him to step into the bridle. With repetition, he should tune into these go-forward signals and require less leg.

To produce effective downward transitions, make your shoulders and elbows heavier, then press your seat bones and thumbs downward. This will encourage your horse to accept your hand without bracing against you, being more likely to keep his topline shape while comfortably transitioning down.

Next, imagine you’re making an Oreo cookie, and the transitions within the gaits are the chocolate wafers. Focus on them before making the filling—the transitions between the gaits. Start with a regular walk, then use your non-allowing seat to ask for several shorter steps. Next, apply a sending seat to ask for bigger steps, following the motion forward with your hands. At first, don’t worry if your horse speeds up in the bigger walk and slows down in the shorter walk. The goal now is simply to adjust the size of the stride length.

Repeat this exercise at the trot. Ask your horse to respond promptly to your sending seat aid. Once in the trot, use your seat to request bigger and shorter steps, encouraging him to continue yielding in his jaw and poll as he adjusts his stride.

Gradually, as his suppleness improves within the gaits, you can work up to maintaining it during the transitions between them. For the trot–walk transition, use your non-allowing seat to ask for a slower and slower trot until he walks. He should be so balanced and on the aids now that it won’t occur to him to raise his head. The same thing will happen eventually in the walk–trot transition. Just keep building both sides of that Oreo cookie until you work your way into the center. Then the filling will glue it all together.

Mary Flood has spent more than 40 years refining her dressage techniques, incorporating her experience in eventing, show jumping, hunters, competitive trail riding and Western riding. An FEI trainer and competitor and USDF national-level certified instructor and bronze, silver and gold medalist, she has earned awards such as the Grands Prix at Dressage at Devon and the Festival of Champions in 1990. A popular clinician, she has coached students to achievements including representation at USPC National Dressage Finals and three USPC “A” ratings. Her training facility, Wildfire Farm, is based in Lovettsville, Virginia.

This article originally appeared in the June 2015 issue of Practical Horseman. 

GWEN POULIN

A: The term “jump” describes the bounce or loft in a horse’s canter stride, which depends on both the amount of time his body is suspended in the air when all four of his feet are off the ground and the spacing between each footfall. Horses naturally gifted with good jump have a great deal of suspension, or “air time,” as well as a very clear, distinct three-beat rhythm. They articulate their footsteps in a way that makes it easy for their riders and bystanders to distinguish each beat.

Less talented horses have a quicker, flatter, earthbound gait. Instead of the three beats sounding clear and spread out, they are muddled together. Although it is the hardest of the gaits to influence, the canter can be improved. To do so, you must have a good seat, an excellent sense of rhythm and well-timed aids. Because poorly timed aids can actually quicken and flatten a horse’s canter stride, it’s very important to develop a good feel for what your horse is doing underneath you and pay close attention to how he responds to your aids.

The first step is learning to flow with his canter. While trying to keep your seat connected to the saddle at all times, relax your inner thighs and feel the way his ribs expand and contract with each stride. Allow your legs to “breathe” with his body, opening and closing with it. Avoid squeezing or gripping with your thighs, which will kill his jump.

Next, focus on his rhythm. Count out loud: “one–two–three, one–two–three.” The first beat is the moment when the outside hind leg is loaded—bearing the weight of your horse’s body. By squeezing your outside leg during this moment, you can ask for more jump in the canter.

The third beat of the canter is the moment when your horse’s inside front leg is on the ground and he is preparing to push himself up into the air. This is the best time to apply half-halt aids to encourage him to rock his body even higher and thus create more suspension.

To produce a good half-halt, sit in the middle of the saddle with your ear, shoulder, hip and heel in a straight line, while engaging your core and bracing your back. (For readers familiar with karate, this is much like the feeling of a karate stance. I help my students practice by standing next to them when they’re mounted and trying to push them off the horse. The strong, centered feeling they use to resist my pressure is the same feeling you want to have during your half-halts.) Then—always after your seat aid—add a little rein pressure without pulling your hands backward.

How often you use half-halts to influence your horse’s canter depends on how balanced he is. Sometimes you need only an occasional half-halt; other times, you may need one every stride. Experiment with different frequencies and ask yourself, “How does he feel?” before and after each half-halt. As you become more aware of what he’s doing underneath you, your judgment about when to use half-halts will improve.

Incorporate half-halts into the following exercise to create more canter jump: On a 20-meter circle, push your horse forward into a bigger canter, using your leg aids within the rhythm to ask for more “gas.” After four or five strides, apply half-halts to ask him to gradually shorten his canter and then make four or five smaller-than-normal strides. Repeat this forward-and-back exercise several times. You should feel him grow more elastic over his back, which will help him to articulate each beat of the canter and lengthen his air time.

Practicing canter–trot–canter transitions on a 20-meter circle can be similarly beneficial. Aim to do about two transitions per circle. You will feel the most jump in your horse’s canter in the first few strides after the upward transition. As he gets more pliable through his body, he’ll be able to sustain this better-quality gait for longer periods of time.

More advanced riders can practice canter–walk–canter transitions. Doing these effectively requires much more refined timing. Another helpful, advanced-level exercise is to start with the above-mentioned big-canter/small-canter transitions on a circle, then ride across a diagonal and continue around the ring in counter-canter. Ride across another diagonal and return to your circle to repeat the big-canter/small-canter transitions.

With any of these exercises, consciously tap into your feel of the horse. Rather than simply following the directions step-by-step, think about the rhythm and balance, always focusing on the quality of the canter. Live within the moment and the exercise. Make the transitions when your horse feels soft and receptive to your aids, not when he’s stiff or flat. With practice, your timing of the aids will improve and he will begin to produce more jump.

Gwen Poulin’s career path started when she was 11, with a 5-year-old Welsh Pony named Robin. With him, she earned her U.S. Dressage Federation bronze and silver medals and competed on the bronze-medal team at the first Junior Dressage Team Championships in 1997. She went on to win three team gold and two individual silver medals at the North American Junior and Young Rider Championships. Since then, she has earned her USDF gold medal and trained several horses to the upper levels. In 2009, Gwen won the USDF Region 3 Open Grand Prix Championship. In 2014, she placed 10th in the 6-year-old division at the Markel/USEF Young Horse Championships on her “dream horse,” Fleury’s Fanfare (featured on this April’s cover of Practical Horseman) and also won both the Region 3 Open First Level and Intermediaire II championships.

Gwen loves teaching students of all levels, ages and disciplines. She travels frequently to give clinics and runs her teaching and training business at her family’s facility in DeLeon Springs, Florida. She is also in the USDF “r” judges program, which, she says, “I am very passionate about.”

This article originally appeared in the September 2015 issue of Practical Horseman.