Today the Dressage Mentor Reunion starts at the horse show where I’ll critique the rides through headsets! Then on to more lessons, position analysis, EQui-Chi with Kris Garrett, and Thermography demo.

Sunday, we’re back at the horse show to critiques both rides and warm-ups. Then off to my farm for two more lessons (One with an Olympian who I’ve taught since she was a kid!), and then a saddle fitting demo with Jochen Schleese,

We’re having a blast at the Dressage Mentor Reunion in this 75 degree, sunny , Florida weather!!!!!!

The key to seeing shades of gray is to recognize when things are just
“a little bit better”. For example, when you think of your ride, ask
yourself if:
• Were your hands a little quieter?
• Did you sit a bit more centered today?
• Did you keep your eyes up for more of your ride than you did
yesterday?
• Were you able to use your legs, hands or seat a bit more
independently? That is, when you used your legs, did your
hands stay somewhat quieter than last week?
• Did you remember to use your legs before your hands more
often?
• Did you control your emotions a bit better so that you were
more relaxed, patient, brave, or calm?
• Did you stay slightly more focused throughout your ride?
• Did you remember to breathe more often?
• Did you reward your horse for every effort he made that was a
bit closer to what you want as a finished product?
As long as things keep getting “a little bit better”, pretty soon you’ll
be riding “a whole lot better”.

www.janesavoie.com/hhinvite/happyhorse

It’s important not to use your reins to control the things that you should use your seat to control. If you pull on the reins to steady rhythm, slow speed, decrease the length of stride or do downward transitions, you BLOCK the hind legs from coming forward.

So, make it your goal to develop a knee jerk reaction to use your seat instead of your hands for each of those four things.

Your seat can be used in four different ways:
1. Passive Following Seat
• Your passive, following seat tells your horse that everything (his rhythm, speed, and the gait) stays the same.
• Simply open and close your hips to follow the current movement of your horse.

2. Driving Seat
• Your driving seat tells your horse to increase his speed or length of stride.
• Think of pushing the back of saddle toward the front of the saddle, polishing the saddle from back to front, or pretending you’re pushing a swing higher in the air.

3. Retarding or Stilled Seat
• The stilled seat steadies the rhythm, slows the speed, decreases the length of stride, or asks for a downward transition.
• Sit in a “ready” position by stretching up tall so you have a gentle curve in the small of your back.
• Then, contract or tighten your tummy muscles like you’re doing a sit-up. This action braces your lower back and stops your hips from following your horse’s movement.

4. To Control the Position of Your Horse’s Body
• Your shoulders should be parallel to your horse’s shoulders, and your hips should be parallel to his hips.

Think about how your seat moves when you’re cantering. Notice how your hip angles open and close. Start with your upper body on the vertical, and then open your hip angles and let your upper body rock a bit BEHIND the vertical. Then come back up to the vertical with shoulder over hip over heel.

Visualize arrows extending down from your seatbones. Whichever way those arrows are pointed, is the direction you’re sending the hind legs. If you lean forward and close your hip angles, you push the hind legs out the back door.

If your upper body is on the vertical and you rock behind the vertical, you open your hip angles. As a result the imaginary arrows extended down from your seatbones point forward. You’re saying to your horse’s hind legs, “Come along, come along, go with, go with.”

The key here is to RETEST. Otherwise you’re just teaching your horse to go forward to the “correction” not from the light leg aid.

For more tips for training a Happy Horse, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse

Think about how relaxed you sit when you’re finished with your work. So, if you’re walking, and you feel like your horse is going to get tense or jig, sit in the same relaxed way. Say to yourself, “We’re done. We’re finished. Work is over.”

Inhale. Exhale. And dissolve into your horse’s back. If you sit with less positive tension or tone in your body, your horse can feel you relax and will mirror that.

Imagine that when you pick up the reins, your arms don’t belong to you anymore. They’re an extension of the rein, and they belong to your horse.

Here’s an exercise to help give you the feeling of an elastic contact in the canter. You can even practice this exercise in the halt first to get some muscle memory.
• Get up into a two-point position.
• Pretend you’re a jockey galloping down a track with your hands pushing your horse’s neck forward every stride.
• While doing that, notice how your elbows open and close with every stride.
• Then sit back down, and keep your elbows opening and closing in the same way.

For more info on the Happy Horse Course, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse/

This tip is excerpted from The Happy Horse Course. For more info on how to train a happy horse, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse/

Try this exercise at home first. You might be surprised by the reaction you get. So you don’t want to do it for the first time at a horse show.

• Take your legs off your horse’s sides.
• Move them back an inch or two.
• Place them back on his sides lightly.

This tip is excerpted from The Happy Horse Course. For more info on how to train a happy horse, go to: www.janesavoie.com/happyhorse/