New post on http://essentialequestrian.wordpress.com!

Today was a beautiful day. I tried to work all my horses but only got a few done. Its all good though.

I did ground work with Fergie, (Painted Beauty), (my newest baby a 3 yo paint. The filly from my late paint mare, B (My Bayou Beauty). I got her completely green. So I am starting from scratch.)

I lunged Fergie in the arena with a western…

Hi Guys,



Regardless of which discipline you ride, it's very important to sit straight and square in the saddle. Can you tell if you're collapsing at your waist and sitting crookedly?



Ask a ground person to stand behind you.

1. Are your shoulders level (i.e. the same height)?

2. Is your seat in the center of the saddle so that each seatbone is the same distance from the middle of the saddle?



If your shoulders aren't level which means that one…

Hi Guys,



Lots of riders are confused about how to smoothly switch their long dressage whip from one hand to the other. Many of you tell me you feel awkward while doing this, and you're concerned about making your horse uncomfortable and disturbing the contact because you're twisting the bit in your his mouth.



Here's a step-by-step method to switch your dressage whip without disturbing the contact with your horse's mouth. I recommend practicing this technique at first…

The following blog was inspired by a rider who told me, "I have a

wonderful, talented thoroughbred. We can do Second and Third level work

at home, yet when we compete, we can barely get through a First Level

test. The missing link seems to be relaxation. My horse is off the

track, and we seem to feed off each other's tension. How does a

normally…

Hi Guys,



With show season right around the corner, I thought I should go over some tips to help you in the warm-up ring. So many riders are confused about how to warm-up their horses so they can have a productive schooling session. So here are 9 tips to help you with your warm-ups.



As a rider and trainer, your goal in the warm-up is to take the restrictions away from your dressage horse's body. So depending on the day, your warm-up could be as short as 10 minutes, or it…

Hi Guys,



In order for your lateral work such as shoulder-in, haunches-in, and half passes to be effective as collecting exercises, your horse must BEND.



Think of the following equation. Bend+Sideways=Engagement. (Engagement means the bending of joints. As your horse bends his hind legs, his croup lowers, and his forehand goes up--kinda like a seesaw or an airplane taking off.)



So here are some quick tips to help you determine if you're bending your horse…

You've carefully laid out a systematic, progressive schooling program for your horse. Yet every time you add new work, you run into a certain amount of resistance.

Don't panic. Understand that when you raise the bar, it's inevitable that you're going to encounter resistance. It's a normal part of training. Don't be afraid of it. Just work through it in baby steps.

Have a checklist…

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…

I had a birthday last weekend, and I got the most incredible gift. It was given to me by Sammie, but when I really think about it, the gift was made possible by Jane Savoie. (For those of you who have been living under a rock, Jane is one of the most well-known names in dressage, with a list of accomplishments too numerous to detail here.)

You already know that I have had my share of challenges with…

The point of the warm-up is to take the restrictions away from your horse's body. So depending on the day, your warm-up could be as short as 10 minutes, or it could end up making up your entire ride.

1. Since your horse has probably been standing in the stall, spend the first 5-10 minutes walking around on a loose rein.
2. After walking around "on the buckle" for several minutes, pick up a contact so you can begin your…

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…

You can help your horse stay in good balance by sitting evenly on your seatbones.

Here’s a cool image to help you make sure you’re part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Imagine you're sitting on top of a basketball.

If you lean forward, the basketball shoots out the back.

If you lean back, the basketball shoots out in front of you.

If you lean to…

Can you tell if your riding position is straight and centered on your horse? Or are you collapsing at your waist and sitting crookedly?

Ask a ground person to stand behind your horse.

1. Is your seat in the center of the dressage saddle so that each…

I think the main reason riders lean to the outside in half pass is that they use too much outside leg to push their horses sideways. So here are 3 quick tips to help you sit in the direction of movement.



1. Pretend there’s a seam running down the middle of your saddle from pommel to cantle. Then visualize yourself moving your outside seatbone onto that center seam so you don’t get left behind.



2. Think about actually taking a "step down into the inside iron" as…

Remember that dressage simply means "Training". You don’t need to work in a regulation dressage arena to "do" dressage. Every second you’re on your horse, you’re either training or "untraining"! So you’re always doing dressage no matter what kind of horse you have or what style of riding you’re doing.



Think about how you can continue to train your horse yet add some fun and variety to his life.



Carla Varasso writes: My friends and I, who like to hilltop with…