Ok, so I've been riding western pleasure the past few years and have decided to change over to an jumping. In what kind of equipment/attire will I need? And how expensive will this switchover be? Oh, and I've been looking around and there are all different styles and colors of breeches... Is there a certain type I'm looking for?? When I looked this stuff up on the internet, I got different answers from almost every site I looked at! ...I'm a little confused. Can anyone out there tell me what…

Hi Guys,



People often ask me to explain the difference between "running" and "lengthenings". In fact, in this article I'm also going to describe the difference between running, lengthenings, medium gaits, and extended gaits.



1. Running- When you ask your horse to lengthen his strides and frame, and you hear his tempo (the rate of the repetition of the rhythm) get QUICKER, he's not lengthening. He's just running.



2. Lengthenings- In a good lengthening, your…

How well do you warm up and cool down your horse?



Warming up your horse prior to working him must not only be in his body, but also in his mind, getting him mentally prepared for the work he is going to do.



Put simply, warming up is getting the horse ready, relaxed and prepared for accepting what you are going to say to him. Time spent warming up will also allow you to release your own tight muscles and warm up as a rider.



During the warm up process, you will…

The Fine Art of Letting Go or Making Go

By Chris Irwin



Hello and greetings to all from Pearson airport in Toronto. As I type these words I’m sitting beside my lovely wife, Kathryn, waiting to board our early morning flight to Bermuda. For the next five days I’ll be coaching dressage riders and jumpers on this small island nation in the Atlantic before flying next week to the Netherlands for the first European Train the…

I travel from horse show to horse show and see poor-fitting saddle pads all the time. Not enough by itself, some misguided riders often combine a too-short saddle pad with a thick halfpad, creating even more pressure points.

Imagine wearing flip flops where the back of your foot hangs out by an inch. Now go walk for 10 minutes. Comfy? I don’t think so.



So how to avoid that:



1. Buy a saddle pad that fits your…

Hi Guys:



Many people are confused about the aid for the canter. What follows are some common questions about the canter and my answers.



Q: I know to ask for the canter it is outside leg behind the girth and inside leg at the girth, however during the canter is your outside leg supposed to stay back or do both legs then become neutral at the girth once the canter is achieved?"



A: Swing your outside leg back ONCE, and then…

Before you even ask your horse to do a flying change, there are a number of requirements that should come easily to you and your horse.



1. Can the horse do collected, medium and extended canter?



2. Can the horse do a clean canter walk canter transition? (no trot steps)



3. Can the horse…

Correct Fundamentals help you "do the right things right".



As a rider, you need to put the fundamentals in place so that the right things happen by habit. Good riders ride well, because their right habits are so ingrained into their philosophy and their thought processes that they do routine things without thinking.



Developing the correct habits…

Now that is an interesting question. The rules are very clear that should a rider at a competition have a question for the judge, they must first ask permission to do so through the steward or technical delegate. An excellent tactic, in that it usually means there will be some emotional involvement and the presence of a third party may allow for some coolness of thought. However, in my experience, riders do not ask judges anything. I believe it is the general perception that to talk to a…

Crooked Riders = Crooked Horses: Develop Your Awareness of Balance and Symmetry



Like many young girls, I grew up carousing around my neighborhood bareback on my pony. The saddle came out for 4-H, otherwise, I stuck to her sleek back like glue. In college, I went on to work for a dressage trainer, never thinking that moving with the motion of a horse could be a problem. In my mid-20s, lured north to the arctic, I quit riding. I moved with my husband to the Brooks…

In 1733 F.R. de la Guérinière lamented that to bring out the beauty of our horse we need “an air of ease and freedom… a controlled yet supple posture...depth of seat” but riders weren’t working to achieve it.



And today? Despite knowledge of biomechanics and physiology elegance and control on a moving horse eludes many of us, Some riders don’t take the time to work on themselves. Others strengthen and stretch, yet they still struggle. Many think they just ride that way,…

Always have in your mind that horses are unpredictable animals, not machines. Our familiarity can lead to taking liberties and accidents occurring.



How many of these practices are on your own safety list?



1. Always wear clothes and boots that are designed for riding.



2. ALWAYS wear a riding helmet that fits you correctly and complies with current standards.



3. If you are young, your horse is misbehaving, you are out of practice or you…

Cinch Magazine will be pursuing the 'Great Bitless Experiment' in the summer of '09 to determine, once and for all, the effectiveness of riding bitless versus bitted. Our study will include: well-broken horses, green horses, a nervous pony and starting a horse under saddle with the bitless bridle. We will be using a variety of different riders: adults, children, begginer to advanced. If the bitless experience works out for schooling, we will also try it in the competition ring!



We…

Hi Guys,



Can you feel when your horse's hind legs are on the ground? This is an important skill to develop because you want to time your leg aids so that you give them when your horse's hind leg is on the ground...specifically just as it's getting ready to push off. That's the only time you can influence a hind leg.



I feel where the hind feet are by feeling my horse's hips. When a particular hind foot is on the ground, my horse's hip is higher. It feels like my…

Hello - and welcome to my first Barnmice blog.



Wherever I travel, I am asked questions about training the show jumper. It is very encouraging that so many riders are interested in furthering their education, and it is my hope that this series of training blogs will help everyone do just that.



Each week, I shall discuss a different aspect of training, referencing some of the most important points from my training books, but before I start specifically into training,…

Hi Guys,



You can help your stiff horse bend better by using benign antagonism. Remember, benign antagonism is just a training philosophy that allows you to custom design your program for each and every horse. It simply means that you kindly and quietly do the opposite of whatever your horse chooses to do on his own. For example, if your horse likes to carry his head too high, then you ride him "deep". If he likes to put his head on the ground, then you ride him "up". If your horse…

Hi Guys,



With a young horse, you do changes of canter lead through the trot. Around Second level, you do simple changes of lead. In a simple change, your horse goes from canter to walk and back to canter without any trot steps.



At Third level and above, you do flying changes. In a flying change, your horse stays in the canter and switches his lead during the moment of suspension, when all four feet are off the ground.



In this article, I'll go over a single…

Hi Guys,



First, let me define rhythm and tempo. I want to do this because lots of dressage riders use those terms interchangeably and they don't mean the same thing.



Rhythm - Regularity of the rhythm refers to the even spacing between each step in a stride of walk, trot or canter. Regular rhythm is a priority for all work--whether or not you're riding a pure dressage horse. Movements and exercises should never be done at the expense of rhythm. Rhythm should always stay…

Hi Guys,



You've probably heard lots of discussion about whether or not to work your dressage horse "deep." There are a variety of opinions on the matter. Some riders warm up and cool down their horses "long and low" to stretch and loosen the muscles. Others always school in a balance and frame appropriate to the level at which they are working; they never stretch their horses. Many trainers school in a deep frame only during the movements when the horse habitually comes above the…

Hi Guys,



Your horse's weaker hind leg is the leg on his soft side. There's nothing wrong with your horse! Almost every horse has a weaker hind leg because few horses are ambidextrous. The weaker leg is the one on your horse's "soft" or hollow side. The stronger one is on his stiff side.



The weak hind leg doesn't step directly underneath your horse's body. Your horse displaces it slightly to the side to avoid carrying weight with it. On the other hand, the hind leg on…