Lots of riders seem to be confused by the dressage term "long and low". Some riders even think long and low is different from the stretchy circle in the dressage tests.



Long and low is the SAME as what's being asked for stretchy circles. The stretchy circles were added to the dressage tests to check that the horse's connection was correct and that the rider wasn't fudging things by fiddling with the reins.



To get correct long and low, your horse must be connected…

Rearing, bucking, nappiness as well as needing "a lot of leg" are all symptoms of your horse not going forward. Many people think that forward only means going forward over the ground. That's the physical expression of forward. That is, going forward is a direction in the same way that going sideways is a direction.



But having your horse "think forward" is even more important if you want a horse that's safe and not exhausting to ride. There are 2 aspects to this concept of…

You can help your stiff dressage 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 dressage horse's soft side more "stiff" and his stiff side more "soft" and bendable.



How Do I Make the Stiff Side "Softer"?

Dressage riders tend to think that the stiff side is the "bad" side because it feels harder for…