Ride with your mind, train with your heart.
Consistency, persistency, insistency
A horse convinced against his will is of the same opinion still 
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So funny I have never heard to referenced that way, always like more leg because riders don’t have enough leg or no leg at all. Either way it’s a joke 
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The best advice I have ever gotten was simply, when in doubt send them forward.
It’s simple and generic but it seems to apply in so many situations. Spooking, balance, connection, relaxation etc.
Great tips here, love this type of thread.
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Don’t avoid working on something because it’s hard. If anything, the opposite. Like if your canter transitions suck, don’t avoid them, do more transitions. (Within reason, of course.)
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My favorite: Everyone rides with their own accent.
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Per Eric Dierks and in line with your comment about working on something that is hard: “Get your numbers in” This means practicing what is not working until it does work. You then go to the show not worrying whether the gods will bless you and your horse at that particular movement/moment, but confident that you can get it when you ask for it. 10,000 repetitions until perfection (not all in one day).
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Totally agree. “Ride through the resistance” and “forward fixes all” are quotes/advice that have proven so helpful in my riding and in my life…
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From a fitness trainer (of human bodies) I learnt to do the more difficult side first, then the easy side, then the difficult side again. It has worked really well on horses over the years as well. We tend to work on the easier rein/side first, then switch over and struggle with the difficult side.
I prefer to start on the side I know is more difficult (for different movements, the difficult side is not always the same for us). I do a messy version of whatever I’m working on, just relaxing and letting us both process how it feels. Then on to the easy side, think about what you want to recreate, and switch back to the difficult side. If that side is stiffer/duller to the leg/whatever, you would have proactively (hopefully) created a bit more responsiveness in your messy first effort so that more subtle things can be worked on now.
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I do this. That Mark Twain quote comes to mind: “if your job is to eat a frog, best to do it first thing in the morning. If your job is to eat two, eat the bigger one first.” (or something like that)
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This is so true! In the saddle and on the ground!
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Just finally understood what is meant by not letting your horse “get away with X” in the saddle the same as you don’t let them on the ground (e.g. treat leaning on your hands in the same class of behavior as pushing into your space on the ground).
I spent most of my life learning how to be a very zen and supportive rider working green and mentally anxious types. So de facto is make everything not a big deal. And consequently never end up asking for much from the horse for a long period of time after i could.
Needless to say, I have felt pretty dumb the last few days…
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Horses are very forgiving of their pet idiots (us humans) and we need to remember that we can’t learn everything at once. Don’t be hard on yourself. You can’t know what you haven’t yet learnt! Be happy knowing that as you set and maintain ridden work ethic/boundaries, your horse will become happier and happier. They LOVE consistency and thrive on fairness. As long as the new rules are fair (and from how you describe your experience, I expect they will be), you horse will love you for it.
This ties into one of my own from when I used to teach, “Raise your expectations.” To move forward in your training you need to keep adjusting your expectations of the horse. The expectations we have for a green horse will not get that horse to a higher level unless we adjust them as the horse learns and becomes stronger." Always be happy with progress, but don’t stall out by limiting yourself sitting on that plateau too long.
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Just FYI, USEF Dressage Rule 109 says: “Corners should be ridden as one-quarter of a volte appropriate to the level of the test (10 meters at Training-First Levels, 8 meters at Second-Fourth Levels and 6 meters above Fourth Level).” (https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/F3p8pgrWgAo/dr-dressage-division). Even at the upper levels, corners are supposed to be ridden as an arc or, technically, a quarter of a circle–not a sharp or square turn. So relax, you have been making yourself work harder than you need to!
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This isn’t a pearl of wisdom in the verbal sense and it may sound kind of “duh” to dressage purists but that, I am not. Awhile back I found an up and coming trainer who was willing to give me both jumping and dressage lessons. I grew up taking H/J lessons as a kid and had taken dressage lessons once in awhile but it was never a focus. The sitting trot had always been a problem for me if the horse wasn’t silky smooth. One day the trainer told me we were doing a lunge line, no reins, no stirrups, sitting trot lesson. As an adult, who’s not as strong as her younger self, I was not looking forward to it and admittedly felt even a bit insulted by the idea. --BEST LESSON EVER! While basic, the light bulb went off! I can sit a variety of trots and I feel like the bigger benefit was that I’m soooo much better at using my seat and hands independently. WHY did no one ever give me a lesson like this in all my many, many years?! (Sure as a little kid beginner I was on the lunge line maybe 2 or 3 times, but that was for simply for safety.)
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Txs, that helps too!
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consider that the riders of the SRS do that regularly. All of them! you are in good company. (although the idea scares me, giving up control like this)
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Yes, I learned it as “go slow to go fast”.
I also learned from Carla Symader to go FORWARD! I have a picture of my finally getting my mare to really reach forward in her body and neck and Carla’s arms in the air saying “YES!!!”. It’s one of my favorite pictures and was a big help to my riding/training.
I’ve also appreciated other top advice to slow down and let my horse think about the exercise. My two recent horses would drive cars if they had thumbs and space to think was very important for them as they went up the levels.
Lasly, “are you happy with that???” My current horse is Mr. 90% and he’ll lull me into thinking he isn’t comfy doing something. Having good riders ride him (he listens to new riders more to interpret their aids) prove that he can do more physically with someone new he’s figuring out. With me, he knows me well enough to say “I’m not sure I can do that” and I used to say “really? Let’s just try”. Now I say “yes, you can. Try and do.” . Super spooky/reactive or lazy, that’s how he rolls. While I’m a sucker for his endearing “I’m not sure I can do that” (sucker) and say “I can’t go by that because I’m scared” (he’s gone in the same arena for 9 years) I’ll now react with “oh, oooohhh, nothing is there and I’ll go down making you listen in front to the gate of doom. Try me, buddy”. I seriously get into the mode of “try me, buddy”, even though he has tried me and other trainers in the past and his 1300 athletic lbs won. Age and very tailored work which I’m 100% appreciative of has won out and although he still spooks to save himself, he’s 1000x more cognizant of me and not wanting to hurt me than he was (meaning, he thinks about me in he space when he thinks out, not just himself, which is a huge thing).
Oh, horses!
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Really appreciating everyone’s comments and insights!!! I need all the help I can get.
My trainer surprised me recently in the exact same way. I hadn’t been reinless on a lunge line in 5 years and it was great. It was nice to work on my position.
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When riding, It should always be “a conversation [with the horse], never an argument”. - Axel Steiner
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