Hi guys,



Last week my first two tips for riding a great dressage test were about the importance of memorizing your test and what to do to make a great entry into the ring.

The tips this week focus on riding your corners and diagonals properly and how to prepare for your transitions.





3. CORNERS AND DIAGONALS

Okay, you're in the arena. No matter what level you're doing, you have to ride corners. The general rule for riding corners is that you…

When it comes to riding a polished dressage test, preparation is the key to success. So I want give you some competition tips to help you have the best experience possible.



Before I get started with the actual tests, I want to just talk in general about riding dressage tests because there’s a lot of things that they all have in common.



1. MEMORIZE YOUR TEST

The first thing is that you need to know your test. I mean REALLY know it. Even though from…

Horses shy from tension so there's lots you can do to ride proactively to help them relax. I call one of my favorite exercises "The Valium Exercise" because it's so effective at relaxing a tense horse.



Let's say your horse likes to shy at a particular corner of the ring. Start the Valium exercise well before you get to the corner.



Here are the aids for the "Valium exercise".



THE ACTIVE AIDS



1. The Inside Rein:

• The action of the inside…

Fear is a very real issue for many horseback riders. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, it would be surprising if you never felt afraid when riding. After all, you're dealing with an animal that greatly outweighs you.



In addition to their size, horses are not always predictable. After all, they've survived all this time because of their flight instinct. The fact that they’re reactive creatures rather than logical ones can be scary.



So what do you do…

I often hear from horseback riders that they have irrational fears about being out of control or getting hurt when riding. The fear seems irrational because they've never actually had an accident or injury. So they wonder where the fear comes from.



For what it's worth, I used to have "irrational fears" about flying. It was so bad that I would only do clinics within driving distance. It turns out that the fear of flying was just a convenient "hook" to hang stuff on. It…