4 Questions to Ask If Your Dressage Horse Is Struggling in a Movement

If your dressage horse is struggling in a movement or exercise, ask yourself 4 questions:

1. Is he going too fast or too slowly?
2. Is his neck too high or too low?
3. Is his frame too open or too closed?
4. Am I asking too much?

If you’re not sure what the problem is, adjust one of the 4 things above to see if that helps your dressage horse.

What Does The Dressage Term “Long and Low” Mean?

How To Help Your Stiff Horse Bend

You can help your stiff  horse bend better by gently doing the opposite of what he wants to do with his body.

Few horses are ambidextrous—meaning they can bend as easily to the right as to the left. So your goal is to make your horse’s soft side more “stiff” and his stiff side more “soft” and bendable.

How Do I Make the Stiff Side “Softer”?
Dressage riders in particular tend to think that the stiff side is the “bad” side because it feels harder for them to bend their horses when that side is on the inside. But you need to think outside the box. The stiff side is not the problem. Your dressage horse feels stiff to the right because the muscles on the left side of his body are shortened and contracted.

The solution to this problem is to stretch those shortened muscles on the left side by riding your horse with too much bend when you track to the right. In schooling, you’ll live in “right bend” until you feel the muscles on his left side elongate. (You’ll know those muscles are stretching because it’ll feel easier to bend your horse to the right.)

So, let’s track to the right—the stiff (hard, strong) side. The main reason your dressage horse feels stiff to the right is because the muscles on his left side are shortened and contracted. These shortened muscles limit how much he can stretch his left side and bend around your right leg.

Here’s an exercise to gently stretch and elongate the muscles on the left side (the hollow side) of your dressage horse’s body.

If your horse is really stiff, do the exercise in the walk.

• Go on a large circle to the right.
• Pick a point somewhere along the arc of the circle, and turn onto a 6-meter circle.
• While on the small circle, think about your bending aids. (Put your weight on your right seat bone, keep your right leg on girth, place your left leg behind girth, flex your horse to the right as if you’re turning a key in a lock with your right wrist, and support with your left hand.)
• Ride the 6-meter circle a couple of times until your horse’s body conforms to its arc.

• Once he’s bending, keep applying the 6-meter bending aids, but blend back onto the 20-meter circle.
• If it gets difficult for your horse to stay bent this much to the right, blend back onto a 6-meter circle. The idea is to ride the 20-meter circle with a 6-meter bend.
• Once you can do this on a circle, try riding straight down the long side with your horse bent as if he’s on the arc of a 6-meter circle. (The feeling is a bit like doing shoulder-in in front and haunches-in behind at the same time.)

When you go down the long side, bend your horse to the right from nose to tail as if he’s on the arc of a circle. Be sure you bend him behind your leg as well as in his neck.

How Do I Make the Hollow Side “Stiffer”?
The flip side of this “stiff to the right” issue is that your dressage horse will be hollow or soft to the left. You might think his soft side is his “good” side because he feels easier to bend, but the hollow side of your horse needs help as well.

On the hollow side, your horse doesn’t have true bend-equal from poll to tail. He usually overbends the neck to the inside and places his inside hind leg to the inside of his line of travel. By doing so, he can avoid bending the joints of his inside hind (engagement), and he also doesn’t carry as much weight on it. As a result, that leg gets weaker, and your horse develops unevenly.

My solution for this problem is to ride your dressage horse without any bend at all when the stiff side is on the outside and the hollow side is on the inside. Keep your horse as straight as he is on the long side even when you go through corners and circles. Think that his body is like a bus that can’t bend on turns.

Let’s say your dressage horse is hollow (soft, weak) on his left side. When circling to the left, ride without any bend at all. Keep his body as straight as a bus.

• To get a perception of straightness, halt somewhere on the long side. Make your horse’s body parallel to the long side all the way from poll to tail.
• Also, ride him either with no flexion (His chin is lined up with center of his chest.) or in counter-flexion (-1). In counter-flexion, his face will be 1 inch to the right.
• Ride through corners and circles with no bend through his body and in counter-flexion at his poll. If you ride in this position, your horse’s left hind leg will step underneath his body.
• This will make that leg stronger over time. (This exercise is only for schooling– not for horse shows.)

If you use this philosophy of doing the opposite of what your dressage horse would do on his own, and it’ll be easy to get him to bend on his stiff side. You’ll also find that you rarely get stuck solving training issues. Invite your horse to do the opposite of what he chooses until it becomes easy for him. Once that happens, settle back into a happy medium.Click on suppling the stiff horse for more help for you stiff horse

Sit Up Straight When You Canter Your Dressage Horse

If you tend to grip with your legs, and lean forward when you canter your dressage horse, here’s a simple exercise  to help you sit up straight.

Sit in a chair and do the following exercise for muscle memory:

1. Sit up straight with shoulders over hips.

2. Lean back about 4-5 inches

3. Come back up to the vertical.

4. Do this in the rhythm/tempo of the canter.

5. Notice how as your upper body comes back, your hip angle opens.

6. Close your eyes as you do it, and memorize this feeling of the hips opening and the upper body rocking backwards.

Now try these “backward rocks” for real on your horse, but mimic the feeling you had through your body when you were sitting on your chair.

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How to Supple Your Dressage Horse’s Shoulders

Do you ever feel like your dressage horse’s shoulders are so stiff and stuck that not only is it hard to turn him, but his hindquarters are disconnected from his front end?

If your horse’s shoulders are stuck, it’s like having a kink in a water hose. The energy can’t flow from behind, over the back, into your hands where it can then be recycled back to the hind legs.

Here are two shoulder suppling exercises for you to try with your stiff horse.

1. Make a 20-meter box with 4 corners in the walk.

•  To give you more control of your dressage horse’s shoulders, do the exercise in counter flexion. (That is, you’ll just barely see his outside eye or nostril.)

•  If you’re going to the left, ask for right counter flexion with your right wrist. Stay in counter flexion during the entire exercise.

•  At the first corner, bring both hands to the left to swivel your horse’s shoulders around the corner.

•  Then, soften the contact without letting the reins get loopy.

•  After the corner, walk straight ahead in counter-flexion.

•  At the next corner, bring both hands to the left again.

•  Do this in all four corners.

•  As your horse’s shoulders become more supple, it’ll get easier to spin his

shoulders around the turn without meeting resistance.

•  You can tell there’s no resistance when the weight in your hands stays the same as you swivel your horse’s shoulders around the corner.

2. Ride down the long side of the ring, and move your dressage horse’s shoulders slightly to the left and right.

•  Walk down the long side of arena.

•  Flex your horse at the poll opposite the direction you’ll be moving his shoulders. For example, when riding to the left, ask for a counter flexion to the right by turning your right wrist. Then, take both hands to left to slide your horse’s shoulders over. Move the shoulders over only 1-2 inches.

•  Now change to a correct flexion by turning your left wrist.

•  Move both arms to the right to pop the shoulders back out to the track.

•  Smoothly and fluidly move the shoulders back and forth as you work your way down the long side.

Click on supple my horse, for more suppling exercises for your dressage horse

How Dressage Riders Can Feel When Their Horses’ Hind Legs Are On The Ground

It’s important for dressage riders to learn to feel when their horses’ hind legs are on the ground. This is because you’ll want to time giving your leg aids to coordinate with when a particular hind leg is on the ground. You need to have this
skill because the only time you can influence a horse’s hind leg is when it’s on the ground, and specifically,
just before it pushes off the ground.

Here are some tips to help you learn to feel when your horse’s hind leg is on the ground:
1. As you ride your horse at a walk, close your eyes. Focus on, let’s say, your inside seatbone. Some
people describe the feeling as their seatbone being higher. Others describe it as feeling like it’s being
pushed forward. Each time you feel your seatbone being pushed forward or higher, say the word
“Now.” As your horse walks, you’ll be saying “Now, now, now….” That way you can get into the timing and rhythm of
when that hind leg is on the ground.

2. Ask a friend to call out “Now” each time a certain hind foot is on the ground. Coordinate what your
friend says with the feeling under your seat.

3. If you’re working alone, sneak a peek at your horse’s shadow or a mirror if you have one. Check
that you’re feeling the right thing by calling out the footfall and looking at the shadow or mirror to see
if you’re right.

4. Watch other horses and riders and notice where both the horse’s hip and the rider’s hip are when a
particular hind leg is on the ground. When the horse’s hip is high, his corresponding hind foot is on the ground. His hip drops as his foot is in the air.

5. Teach yourself how to feel when the inside hind leg is on the ground in the canter by watching your
horse’s mane. It flips up during the second beat of the canter when the inside hind leg is on the ground.
Say “Now” each time you see it flip up. Then you can coordinate what you’re seeing and the word
“Now” with what you’re feeling under your seat.

Click here for more training for dressage riders.

Sit Up Straight on Your Dressage Horse

Horseback riding is all about balance for both you and your dressage horse. To ride in good balance, be sure to keep a good plumb line with your shoulders directly over your hips and over your heels.

In this article, I’ll give you two quick tips to help you sit up straight and in balance.

1. Many riders lean behind the vertical (especially in trot extensions!) because they think they’re driving their dressage horses more forward.

The problem with leaning back, however, is that you end up pushing your horse’s back down, and he becomes hollow and disconnected.

So if you tend to lean back, here’s a quick tip to give you some muscle memory for keeping your upper body straight.

While you’re standing on the ground, lean back and ask a friend to put the palm of her hand between your shoulder blades. Ask her to gently push your upper body forward until your shoulders are above your hips.

Repeat this several times. Close your eyes as you’re being pushed forward so you can really memorize the feeling of bringing your upper body over your hips.

Then when you’re riding your horse, visualize your friend is gently pushing your upper body forward so you can sit up straight.

2. Now let’s look at the opposite scenario—leaning too far forward. For this exercise, focus on your hip angles. If you’re leaning in front of the vertical, your hip angles are too closed.

So while you’re sitting on your horse in the halt or walk, lean about 10 inches behind the vertical, then sit upright so your shoulders are over your hips.

Do this several times. As you lean back, focus on how your hip angles open. You can even close your eyes to really concentrate on how it feels to open your hips.

Then when you’re riding, if you start to tip too far forward, visualize leaning back. The exercise you’ve done at the halt and walk will give you the muscle memory to find the happy medium and sit up straight.

Click here for more dressage position tips.

Does Your Dressage Horse Alternate Between Coming Above the Bit and Dropping Behind the Bit?

Some dressage horses are very quick to alternate between coming above the bit and dropping behind the bit. If that sounds like your horse, you need to be quick to switch your aids as follows:

When your horse comes above the bit, use your “connecting aids”.

1. Close both legs to send him forward toward a lengthening.

2. When you feel the “surge” of power coming from behind, close your outside hand in a fist to capture, contain, and recycle that power back to the hind legs.

3. If your horse starts to bend his neck to the outside, vibrate the inside rein to keep his neck straight.

As soon as he ducks behind the bit, send him “forward through his body”.

Here’s what I mean by that. Go on a circle in rising trot, close both legs and ask for a trot lengthening for 6 or 7 strides. Do this several times until it becomes a knee jerk reaction for him to go “forward over the ground” when you close your calves.

Then close your legs as if you’re going to lengthen, but don’t let him lengthen. This time you want your horse to go “ through his body” rather than “forward over the ground”. As you feel him go forward though his body and start to take a contact with your hand rather than curling behind the bit, praise him.

You might have to alternate a trot lengthening with asking him to take a contact with your hand several times. But once he understands, you’ll have a tool to use when he curls behind the bit.

If he’s curled behind the bit really badly (not just going with the poll too low), in addition to sending him forward through his body, you might have to raise your hands to place the bit out in front of him so he can step toward it.

The feeling is like putting a sheet on your bed. You lift the sheet up, and then let if softly drift onto the bed.

You can also think of it like doing “the wave” at a football game.

If you do have to raise your hands because your horse has dropped behind the bit, keep the following things in mind:

1. Always use your legs BEFORE you raise your hands.

2. Raise both hands evenly.

3. To the degree that you raise your hands, ALSO put them forward toward his mouth without losing contact. That is, if you lift your hands 2 inches, they must go forward 2 inches. If you lift them 4 inches, they must go forward 4 inches.

How To Teach Your Dressage Horse to Do Free Walk at Training Level

It’s just as important to do a good free walk with your dressage horse at Training Level as it is to develop your trot and canter work. Many riders lose sight of the fact that they should pay as much attention to the  medium walk and free walk as they do to the other two gaits.

First, let me define the free walk. It’s a gait of relaxation. Your dressage horse should lengthen his frame and lower his head and neck so he looks like he’s going to graze. His poll is lower than his withers. He should open the angle at his throatlatch so his nose points a bit forward, and he looks like he’s stretching toward the bit. Also, his strides become longer so his hind feet step more inches beyond the tracks made by his front feet.

PREPARATION is the key to getting a good free walk at Training Level. You should prepare for the transition at the beginning of the free walk the same way you prepare for the “stretchy” circle in the trot

To do this, use “connecting aids” for 3-4 seconds on the short side while you’re still in medium walk. To give “connecting aids”, create energy by closing both calves as if you’re asking for a lengthening. But don’t let your horse lengthen. Instead, close your outside hand in a fist to capture, contain, and recycle that energy back to the
hind legs. Keep your legs and outside hand closed for 3-4 seconds. While closing your legs and outside hand, vibrate or squeeze and release on your inside rein so your horse doesn’t bend his neck to the outside.

Then, as you turn onto the diagonal, relax your legs, and open your fingers so your horse can chew the reins out of your hands.

Your next challenge will be to do the transition back to the medium walk. Use the same “connecting aids” you used to prepare for the free walk. While the reins are still long, press lightly with your calves. As you shorten the reins, keep your new outside hand closed in a fist and squeeze and release with your new inside hand.

Horses should march in both the medium walk and the free walk. If your horse gets lazy, “breathe” your legs during the free walk. To “breathe” your legs:
* Take your legs off of his sides.
* Move them an inch or two back, and place them on lightly again.
“Breathing” your legs does two things. If you’ve been gripping, your horse is probably numb to your legs. Taking your legs off allows you to put them on again lightly so he feels them. Also, moving your legs back puts them closer to your horse’s “engine” and reminds him to use his hind legs actively.

On the other hand, some horses get nervous in the free walk and want to jig. If your horse wants to jig, do several
transitions to the halt, and praise him after each halt. Soon he’ll learn to anticipate stopping or slowing down.

Then when you’re doing a Training level dressage test, you can use just a little bit of your “stopping aids” several times to remind him to stay in a four-beat, flat-footed walk as you make your way across the diagonal.

If he wants to jig when you pick up the reins at the end of the diagonal, do some homework between shows. Practice your free walk at home and BEFORE you pick up the reins at the end of the diagonal, halt. Then, pick up the reins in the halt. Doing so will train him to stay slow when you do the transition for real at a dressage show.

Click here for more info on training level dressage horse.

How You Can Tell If Your Dressage Horse Bends in the Lateral Movement Shoulder-in?

I just posted a new video on my Youtube channel,  which explains how you can tell if your dressage horse is bending in the lateral movement shoulder-in. It’s at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPmTqSBM8k0

So many people draw their inside leg back in this movement, and the shoulder-in becomes a leg yield. Keep your inside leg on the girth in a bending position and your outside leg a couple of inches back where it would be if you were on a 10-meter circle. Then lead the shoulders to the inside by bringing both of your hands in.

Then, have someone check that you have bend by looking to see if the hindquarters stay parallel to the wall. They should stay in exactly the same position that they’re in when you are just going straight down the track. if they’re at an angle to the rail, you’re just doing a leg yield.

In order for your dressage horse to reap all the benefits of the lateral movement, shoulder-in, he must bend. When done correctly, shoulder-in straightens him, strengthens his inside hind, and collects him.

Click here for more info on lateral dressage movements like shoulder-in.

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