So lots of tack and Olympic topics. Anyone up for training topic?
Fave exercise: shoulder-in to shoulder-out either on 20m circle of figure eight. Done in balance is such a good strengthening exercise as well as getting the horse on the aides.
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I just spent 1 hour in a lesson, all at the walk. The instructor was former Cadre-Noir. A picture is worth a 1000 words. I have posted this before, but this shows what can be done.
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I’m getting a lot of mileage out of this right now towards the end of my warm-up set: trot shoulder-in left, straighten but maintain positioning, right lead canter, leg yield left to the centerline increasing towards medium canter, collect on the CL and ride a big half schooling pirouette to the QL, trot, repeat on the other side from the QL.
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Shoulder in to Renvers.
Plié out in canter.
SI to HP to SI.
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I love the counted walk exercise too!
Depending on the horse I find the tear drop exercise helpful for bending and yielding.
According to the Cadre Noir rider an hour of these exercises at the walk can do wonders for strengthening the back which is what we are working on. We also do reverse pirouette at the walk to canter transitions to engage the hind.
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What’s a reverse pirouette?
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I am a lower-level dressage rider, and we keep it simple. I love the “snowman” exercise. Canter an approximately 20-meter circle to the right, then when the circle is complete, do an approximately 10-meter circle at the trot to the left(sort of a lopsided figure 8). Of course, reverse and do them in the opposite direction, too. 
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Counter-bent walking turn on the forehand. eta - which now that I think about it is actually true bend and a regular ToF would be technically in counter bend.
Leg yield to half pass figure-8s without a change of bend.
Half pass to the wall into counter canter with no change.
Any figures with changes of direction and transitions mixed in, any version of the snowman exercise.
Can you spell this one out step by step, please?
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I work mostly with fresh OTTBs or green horses, so some of my favorite exercises may be below y’alls paygrades. 
Right now my favorite exercise is pretty basic, but it helps develop your accuracy and timing. Trot at C. At M, bending line to X where two cones are placed only a foot apart. The goal is to change bend right before X, ride exactly between these cones (without knocking them over!) with two or three steps of straightness, resume inside bend and then leg yield to the wall (F). At A, pick up a canter and circle 20m. Rinse / repeat. You can either trot the long side back to C, or you can try the same exercise at K. This exercise works on your timing and suppling the horse, and you can change to half-pass for those more experienced. Any horse benefits from it, regardless of training level.
Another one I like is trotting 3-4 trot poles on the quarter-line and leg yielding to the wall.
A staple in my program is 3 cavalettis placed between I and X (or X and L). Pick up a trot at A, go through the cavalettis, canter four steps after cavaletti. Go back down to trot 4 steps before cavaletti.
For my young horses learning to leg yield and the baby steps of SI, the square box exercise. At the walk, envision your 20m circle is a square box instead. Halt at each ‘corner’ and ask for a TOF.
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My trainer’s recent favorite exercise is walk-trot transitions in half pass. I find this to be mighty hard.
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Sure, I usually use only half of the ring from centerline to the wall for this though if you had a horse that excelled in the lateral work you could use the whole ring.
So if I start down a long side tracking right in trot, it would look like:
- turn down centerline at C and half pass right to the wall toward E or K
- when I get to the wall, continue with slight outside flexion down the rest of the long side and around the corner toward A
- turn up center line at A and leg yield back to the wall toward E or H, still flexed right
- continue with inside flexion toward C and repeat
You could also, starting from the short side at A tracking right:
- half pass off the wall at K toward center line
- when you get to centerline, head to C with slight right flexion and turn left with outside flexion
- leg yield off of the wall at H toward centerline
- when you get to centerline, head to A and turn right again with inside flexion
Obviously you can also do this to the left. I would only repeat a few times in one session but it’s great to establish the flexion either side and get them moving off of both legs without changing the position of the shoulders or the flexion.
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I like it! Thanks for the step by step.
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Walk work is great. I think many assume you have to have suspension to get the horse working. Great to supple the horse through his body.
The vid is a great lesson.
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When you say “slight outside flexion down the rest of the long side” is that haunches out, shoulders out, or something else?
Look at the Nuno video at the following
1:00 to 1:10
2:24 to 2:33
Walk work is like Pilates for horses.
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These can be used at any gait, and at any level, from “just learning to steer” to third level (that is the highest I have gone, but they could be used at higher levels too).
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Ice cream cones (one) / bow ties (a pair).
Start along the rail, make a small half circle (size depends on the gait and the horse), then a diagonal line back to the rail. For a bow tie, you continue a along the rail (opposite direction) followed by another half circle and back to the rail.
At the simplest you just go back to the rail in a straight line, but as you educate the horse, it can be a leg yield, shouder in, haunches in, half pass, in true or counter bend. An ice cream cone at the canter, using a half pass back to the rail, followed by a simple tranistion (either to walk, trot, or canter on the other lead) is great preparation for flying changes. -
Squares.
Depending on the horse, the corners might be small quarter circles, turn on the forehand, or turn on the haunches (my preference). I start 8 - 10 strides on a side, then graduallly reduce the size depending of the strength, obedience, and training of the horse. I am happy to get down to 3 straight strides on a side (with one or two strides for the corner). -
Serpentines (the kind where you make a half circle, then go straight for several strides, then a half circle the other way).
As the horse progresses:
Make the half circles smaller (more turns of the serpentine to get from one end of the ring to the other).
Introduce a lateral movement on the straight part (in either true or counter bend).
Keep the lateral movement around the circle.
At the canter, between different directions, you can.
Make a change of lead - through walk, trot or flying change, or
Keep the lead, and do the next part in counter canter.
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