Several of you have asked me if there's any value in counter flexing your horse while in true canter so I'd like to discuss that here.

1. Generally, you want to flex your horse in the direction of the canter lead he's on. That goes for true canter as well as counter canter. So if you're cantering on left lead, position his head so you just barely see his left eye and/or nostril.

2.…

At Training and First levels, you're asked to ride your horse in a working gait.

So you might ask, how do I know what is a good working gait for my horse?

A working gait is the gait that the horse most easily presents himself in the best balance. So a working gait is as individual as the horse…

Shoulder-in is the father of the advanced lateral dressage movements. It does many wonderful things for your horse. Here are just some of them:

• Shoulder-in is a suppling exercise because it stretches and loosens the muscles and ligaments of the inside shoulder and forearm. During shoulder-in, your horse passes his inside foreleg in…

Lately, I seem to be getting a lot of questions about improving haunches-in and shoulder-in when the stiff side is on the inside.

So here are some ideas to help. I’ll start with haunches-in.

Let’s say your horse is stiff to the right. Start by tracking to the right and do the following:

1. Ride a 10m circle in the trot, and focus on…