For my blogs this year I am looking at some of the movements that we see at higher levels of competition and reviewing what is desired from the movement, and some of the problems that can occur. This month I am looking at the sequence of flying changes at every stride performed by Edward Gal at the Dutch Dressage Championships in 2021. The full video of the test can be seen here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzwxmnhGWvA&t=274s. The particular section I am discussing in this blog is a sequence of flying changes made at every stride which start at 4 minutes 15 seconds. For refere ..read more

  This month I’m taking a look at some footage of dressage shown at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The video is of Canadian rider Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu riding the transition between passage and piaffe. You can watch the full test here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGSYdsItiqU.   I am focusing on the quality of the passage, the transition into piaffe and the piaffe itself. This is a complicated sequence of movements that require the rider to have great tact and timing of the aids.   The passage starts at 5 minutes 37 seconds as the pair come out of the extended trot. The ride ..read more

Following on from my last blog on canter, I’m looking at counter canter for this blog. In essence, counter canter is cantering on the outside lead. All horses can perform counter canter, but it must be done in balance and with the correct rhythm for the horse. Counter canter is an exercise that improves the canter by engaging the horse’s haunches, making canter rounder and more active. Counter canter is often taught by establishing a correct canter lead and then changing the rein across the diagonal, maintaining the same canter to put the horse into counter canter. Whilst this has its benefit ..read more

​Canter is a 3-beat pace with a moment of suspension between each stride. The canter should be as smooth as possible, without an excessive up and down movement in the fore hand and should be straight. Straightness is difficult to achieve because the sequence of legs tends to move the horse into a crooked position, haunches slightly to the inside or to the outside.   There are many different ways of giving the canter aid, and each has their own merit. However, Nuno Oliveira said that the use of the outside leg to give the canter aid would result in straighter flying changes, whilst the ins ..read more

​This month I’m looking at the gait of walk, a pace that is often over looked as a training tool and frequently over ridden.   Walk is a four-beat pace, left hind, left fore, right hind, right fore with no moment of suspension. There should be 4 regular beats to the steps, 1-2-3-4, not a broken rhythm which often seen now where the beats are 1-2, 3-4. The horse should walk slowly with activity and power. Developing this is not easy, often riders push the horse with their legs to create some impulsion, but unfortunately this usually serves to break the rhythm of the walk and some horses ca ..read more

​Historically, the type of dressage training shown in a competition was based on classical dressage principles. It was a way for a rider to check their horse’s training and have some input on which areas needed to be developed with their horse. However, as competition dressage became more focused on the rewards of competing, placings and rosettes, riders began to look at their next test to direct the training and the test itself became the training manual.   The modern dressage training used today came to the fore during the 1980’s, when we began to see riders competing on horses trained ..read more

​Lightness is a characteristic of classical dressage, sought by riders throughout the centuries. For me, lightness is the ultimate goal of dressage training, it brings a unique expression to each horse throughout their work, and it directs all my work and teaching. When a horse is truly light, dressage is elevated to another level, something that, once you have felt it, is never forgotten.   Lightness means to be nimble, with a lack of weight, or a lack of weightiness or force and each of these interpretations are relevant to classical dressage.   Horses are naturally weighted toward ..read more

I recently rewatched a YouTube video, “Dressage Disaster: Heartbreak for Howington & Putten” at the Tokyo Olympics. Reading some of the comments, there was a split between those who believed it was just one of those things that happens with the pressure that competition horses are under, and those who viewed it as abuse. Whatever your views, the causes are evident in the preceding movements and this month I am sharing my thoughts as a trainer on what is going wrong. You can watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3-YqN_TVVU . The particular section I am reviewing is from the ..read more

I recently rewatched a YouTube video, “Dressage Disaster: Heartbreak for Howington & Putten” at the Tokyo Olympics. Reading some of the comments, there was a split between those who believed it was just one of those things that happens with the pressure that competition horses are under, and those who viewed it as abuse. Whatever your views, the causes are evident in the preceding movements and this month I am sharing my thoughts as a trainer on what is going wrong. You can watch the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3-YqN_TVVU . The particular section I am reviewing is from the ..read more

Throughout my riding and training career, I have been in a position to observe many hundreds of riders and trainers working their horses and see how training problems arise and the many different ways that people approach possible solutions to these difficulties. It is clear that the primary causes of difficulties during training occur through either a lack of understanding between the horse and rider, or physical difficulty for the horse. Retrying the same exercise rarely produces the desired result, often the horse can become more resistant, and the rider or trainer more frustrated. It is ..read more