Jane Savoie Gets A New Project Ready for the 2010 Alltech World Equestrian Games

Here I am with some of the members of “team Savoie” during my recent exhilarating, exhausting week in NY brainstorming and whiteboarding the SSNP (Super Secret Ninja Project) which I’ll launch at the Alltech World Equestrian Games 2010 in September.

Peter and Billy are technical and product development geniuses and James is brilliant like a Good Will Hunting/Matt Damon kind of guy.

So look me up in the program under Jane Savoie at the Alltech World Equestrian Games 2010 this September. I’m in the Pavilion in Booth #610. You’re gonna be blown away by what we’ve created!!!!

Sit Centered and Balanced for Effective Horseback Riding

Horseback riding is all about balance and staying centered. You always want to keep your horse in good balance for his stage of training no matter what your discipline.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a dressage rider, a western pleasure rider, a trail rider, or an event rider. Correct balance is essential to effective riding because the center of your balance directly affects your horse’s balance.

Your goal should be to have an independent seat so you can effectively influence your horse as positively and as harmoniously as possible.

In order to have this independent seat, you need to sit in the saddle properly. By that I mean that the both the placement and the position of your pelvis must be correct. This position will, in large part, determine your level of success.

So in your quest for good balance, here’s a great image to help you keep your pelvis in the desired “neutral” position.

Imagine your pelvis is a big bucket filled with water. If you ride with an arched, tense back, the top of your pelvis tips forward, and the water spills out the front of the bucket. In this closed or tipped pelvis position, your seat bones are actually aimed toward the back of the horse.

If you ride with a rounded lower back, the top of your pelvis tips back and the water spills out the back of the bucket. In this position, your seat bones are aimed forward and down, and can sometimes drive the horse’s balance and back downward.

When your pelvis is in a neutral position, you can keep all the water in the bucket. When your pelvis is neutral, your seat bones point straight down toward the ground.

In this neutral position, your body is balanced over your horse’s center of gravity. When you’re in balance with your horse, all things are possible,

So, help your horse find his balance by riding with your pelvis in a neutral position so you can keep all the water in the bucket!

Click on balanced seat for more help with your position.

Would You Like Private Dressage Coaching From Me?

From my own experience, I know that consistent coaching and being able to have regular follow-up is essential to your progress as a dressage rider and successfully training your horse.

So I’m working on a special project called the Dressage Mentor Platinum Coaching Club where, through the magic of technology, I can actually teach you dressage lessons in “real time” no matter where you live.

You get help moment to moment as you go through your dressage lesson just like I’m standing in your arena with you.

You’ll never have to leave the comfort and security of your own dressage arena or go through the hassle and expense of organizing a clinic for other riders.

This is a very exclusive program, and you’ll need to apply for a spot because I can only accept 6 people.

You don’t need to be a professional to apply. You just need to be serious, hard working, and willing to do your homework in between lessons.

If you want to know more about these private “virtual” dressage lessons , click the link below or paste it into your browser to get more info.

http://www.dressagementor.com/dm/platinum.html

There is NO obligation to do this. You’ll simply be put on the “more info” list. And ONLY those people on the list will get additional details on the Platinum program in the next couple of weeks including how to apply if they choose to do so.

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

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.