Anyone have links to a video for in-hand dressage work in English?

Trying to expand my knowledge and no one in my area knows in-hand work. I came across a good one a while back, but it is in Dutch. Followed it along the best I could with my previous knowledge of in hand work, but I don’t speak Dutch :sweat_smile: I’m wondering if anyone knows of quality in-hand dressage videos in English that I could look at? I’m also open to books (with lots of pictures)!

Also, would love a little bit of discussion about it. I have heard somewhere that the spanish walk has been a decent in-hand exercise to help strengthen and prepare the horse for collected work. I found this incredibly interesting. It makes sense since it is a dressage movement. I taught my own horse (just for fun) and I love that it has a practical application besides just being a fun trick to pull out.

Sport Horse in Hand?

my daughter used this as bases for development of her two young horses (one a weanling, the other was a yearling)

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There’s a serious dearth of them and a serious dearth of knowledge of in-hand work in general. Amelia Newcomb has some very basic stuff on her YouTube channel. If you look up “in hand work dressage” on YouTube there’s a lot more videos of the basics. You just have to be careful of the kool-aid drinkers like Art2Ride and similar.

I would love a book of just exercises for in-hand. Kind of like Dressage for the Not-So-Perfect Horse but for dressage groundwork.

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The Chuck Grant book has great basics. It has been decades since i looked at it but the timing and mental component are what i took away that stayed with me.

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Manolo Mendez’s basic in-hand dvd is online.

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I have this one:

Schooling Horses in Hand: A Means of Suppling and Collection: Hinrichs, Richard: 9781570762055: Amazon.com: Books

Pretty clear on explanations, lots of pictures. Very classical, but seems like a pretty sensible approach.

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For basic in hand work, Tristan Tucker has a massive library online for a fee.

If you are looking for half steps to piaffe in hand, check out Claudio Oliveira. He has a few videos online, but lots of people have posted videos of his lessons. I watched a bunch before I signed up to ride with him.

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Richard Hinrichs videos are great. I have his videos in VHS

Here is Kip Mistral discussing his work
Richard Hinrichs: German Master of In-Hand Work and Classical Equitation - Kip Mistral

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Thanks! I’ll check hers out. I like her other videos too. Curious about the controversy on ArttoRide? I watched their videos years ago and found it not too bad, though I adapted it to my liking. Haven’t watched them in years though and I noticed it became gimmicky and handsy.

Thanks! I’m definitely going to check this one out.

Thanks! I looked him up, but could only find the advertisements. You wouldn’t happen to have a link to one of the videos?

I think the issue with art2ride is they took one useful idea, the low stretch, and made it the only thing they do, and that’s not good for the horse.

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The riding videos of what their method produces are…bad. There are many, many better choices for learning in-hand work that comes from a standpoint of supporting excellent ridden work.

I have found that watching Portuguese videos of in hand work to be extremely helpful. Some of them are videos from above. I will try to find them.

A quick search revealed this. Look up Portuguese In-Hand Work

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He has a bunch of free ones posted here: https://www.youtube.com/@trtmethod/videos

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The Valenca Equestrian Academy in Portugal have an online library of videos including loads of groundwork for a very reasonably subscription, you can subscribe monthly. There is a couple of taster vids on youtube too if you search.
https://www.valencaequestrianacademy.com/online-program/

The head of academy - Luis Valenca was (unlike the maestro lol) an apprentice and assistant to Nuno, and while he’s obviously due to age not doing alot any more his family have carried on the work.
I also have a TRT subscription - have found that useful for the “teaching horses to be calm in life” aspects

For your discussion part, AFAIK, the Spanish Walk is not a Classical Dressage movement, I could be wrong.

Marijke de Jong. Straightness Training
Bent Branderup Academic Art of Riding (AAoR)
Ylvie Fros
Bettina Biolik https://youtu.be/bKgCIfUhgCc

Realize this thread is over a year old, but just stumbled on it.
I work my horses in hand regularly. I learned in Europe, but have used the Kip Mistral and Ellen Schuthof-Lesmeister called Horse Training In Hand, here’s the link, it’s excellent.

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Agree, Manolo Mendez is one of the best at it. I don’t have his cavesson nor do I use a Portuguese style cavesson. I just have an excellent, old, leather articulating noseband cavesson that I adjust well. I use the cavesson when working with the youngsters or rehabing OTTBs to keep from pulling on the mouth and tongue if they resist or spook.
But most of my in hand work is done either with a simple snaffle bridle or a double bridle.

Pippa Callanan the légèreté instructor is excellent at it also and the audit costs are more affordable for her clinics than Mr. Mendez’s audit costs in general.

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If the in-hand work you want to do is to develop passage/half-steps/piaffe, as opposed to the groundwork that Tristan Tucker does where he typically uses a rope halter, using a well-fitting cavesson is extremely important.

Amberley and belgianWBLuver’s comments about cavessons used while doing in-hand work are notable. There are people who give in-hand clinics to teach passage and piaffe who don’t use a cavesson, so there’s danger of hurting the horse’s mouth. I’ve watched YouTube videos w/ fairly well-known clinicians who teach piaffe/passage clinics, and it’s disturbing to see how the horses don’t follow the basic tenets of dressage - there’s no effort to keep them straight, rhythmic, and responding to half-halts. It’s disturbing to see horses rushing forward and/or circling around and having their mouths yanked. Basically they’re just holding the horse with the bridle and tapping their butts with the whip.

The SRS Bereiters I’ve taken in-hand lessons from always use a cavesson over the bridle, with sidereins, so that they can half-halt and control the horse without hurting the mouth. They emphasize that the pyramid of training applies while doing in-hand work just as it does while riding - the horse must be relaxed, rhythmic, straight.

The SRS cavessons are wonderful, and yes, agree that it’s hard to find anything like them in the US. I just finished a clinic with an SRS Bereiter, who brought over a cavesson for one of the regular riders. It’s pretty typical that people ask him at clinics to bring a cavesson back with him when he returns. I treasure mine. :slight_smile: