Wednesday Wisdom – What is Connection?
August 13, 2025In terms of dressage training, connection is often thought of as the line from the rider’s elbow to the horse’s mouth by way of the bit. This is not a complete definition. Connection actually comes from the seat. It is the energy that comes from the hindlegs and is carried over the horse’s back to the bit where it travels to the rider’s hand. Once in the hand, the astute rider is able to determine what the horse needs and how to deliver the aids and create the movements and quality of gaits from the horse. Connection allows for the…
Does Consistency Really Matter?
Do you know why consistency is so important in training? Have you ever noticed… That your horse will walk the same path out to pasture? They know exactly when feeding time is without a clock? They choose their favorite herd…
What’s Your Super Power?
I have a question for you… Do you ever wish you had a super power when it came to training your horse? That’s silly, right? There’s no such thing as a super power… Or is there? My super power is…
Ultimate Rider Fitness Giveaway
Enter for your chance to win the Ultimate Rider Fitness Giveaway. It’s free, so what do you have to lose? Package includes: Random drawing will be held on 1/6/23. Winner will be notified via email. Enter your information below for…
Outfitting Your Horses
Basic information about tack and gear needed for your horses can be found at the following link: Outfitting Your Horses
Rhythm – Let’s Get into the Groove Newsletter
What is Rhythm? When reading tests and listening to people talk about dressage and the way horses move, it is easy to confuse rhythm and tempo. In general, rhythm relates to the horse’s way of going. It is how the…
The Seat
The Holy Grail of Dressage Dressage is a sport where riders continually work to improve themselves and their horses in an attempt to create perfect harmony. This harmony is developed over countless hours of riding, training, assessing and evaluating every…
The Not-So-Secret, Secret Dressage Training Formula Article
THE BASIC GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN DRESSAGE TRAINING You see this absolutely amazing dressage horse floating effortlessly around the arena. The rider looks to be doing little more than sitting there. And you think to yourself, “Why doesn’t it ever look…
Long and Low – The Foundation of All Good Dressage Training
What is Long and Low? Long and low is a way of riding the horse so that the horse stretches the nose forward and downward as if it were sniffing something on the ground. This stretch causes the horse to…
Classical Dressage Training Basics
“As a conclusion of these general observations about the course of dressage training I want to add the serious admonition; not to hurry any of the exercises and to let them all follow one another in such a way that…
Keeping the Horse Happy
“Do not demand at the end of the lesson what the horse cannot do easily and happily yet! Always finish the lesson with something the horse is able to do easily and that he will thus perform happily, so that…
Dressage – Your Relationship with Your Horse
“Dressage is more than just learning how to ride. Dressage is a way of life. As you learn more about horses … and the beauty of creating something in a horse … you find that this process becomes how you…
Learning New Things
“Whenever a horse has learned a new movement or a new aid in its basic form, the rider should give him a break and deliberately ride something else for a few days or weeks. When he returns to the movement,…
What is Riding?
“Riding:The dialogue between two bodies and two souls aimed at establishing perfect harmony between them.” – W.Seunig
Rider Characteristics
“If the art were not so difficult we would have plenty of good riders and excellently ridden horses, but as it is the art requires, in addition to everything else, character traits that are not combined in everyone: inexhaustible patience,…
Schooling the Young Horse
“Young horses should never return to their stall tired, since they lose their motivation to work and the tendons and joints suffer too much that way. After having asked for a more difficult, more demanding exercise, necessitating somewhat stronger aids…
Patience is a Virtue
“I have time” should be the guiding word especially of dressage riders during the entire course of training and remind him of the fact that the goal of the classical art of riding is to be attained only by the…
Understanding Progress
“As always, everything is connected, every single exercise or movement influences all the others, which is the reason why we can improve certain movements by not riding them at all, but by practicing exercises that improve the necessary ingredients of…
Why do we ride?
“We ride horses for the pleasure of `creating beauty’ as the Master Ecuyer (La Guérinière) said. We ride for the pleasure of feeling ourselves transported into different attitudes, drowned into the fluidity of a supple and tranquil back, rocked by…
Food for Thought
“A clumsy rider will hardly be embarrassed on a trained horse. The most skilled rider, on the other hand, can get into the most embarrassing situations on an untrained horse. For that reason: Always focus on the horses, not on…
The Walk Pirouette
View Video Online The Walk Pirouette Defined The walk pirouette is a collected 180 degree turn on the haunches at the walk. How to Execute the Walk Pirouette Start in collected walk, Apply half halts and almost simultaneously flex the…
Walk
View Video Online Walk Defined A clear “four-beat” gait with footfalls following one another. This gait has a clear, even rhythm as the feet land and take off. There are 4 variations of the walk – the collected walk, the…
Volte
View Video Online What is the Volte A 6, 8 or 10-meter diameter circle starting and ending at the same point. How to Execute the Volte Start in the walk, trot or canter depending on the horse’s ability. Flex the horse at the poll to…
Trot Halt Transitions
View Video Online Trot Halt Transition Defined In the trot halt transition, the horse is moving in an energetic, forward-moving trot and is then asked to cease movement, while maintaining contact and lightness in the transition. How to Execute the…
Trot Variations
View Video Online Trot Variations of Pace Defined Pace refers to the variations of a gait. For example: Gait = Trot. Pace = Collected trot, Working trot, Medium trot or Extended trot. The length of the stride is what changes…
Trot Lengthening
View Video Online Trot Lengthening Defined A distinct two-beat, diagonal gait where diagonal pairs of legs move forward at the same time, in which the horse demonstrates more elongation in the frame and an increased stride length from that presented…
