This week I want to touch on something that is very important in training and riding, but unfortunately, it is hardly ever addressed in lessons or in books and magazine articles. It has to do with training strategies. How do you decide how to proceed next with your horse? How do you know how to improve a movement, a transition, a turn, the rein contact, the horse’s suppleness, or any other problem you may encounter? Many good, experienced riders make these decisions purely intuitively, based on their gut feeling and their experience with many different horses, and these riders are very often ..read more

Introduction Our old teacher, Karl Mikolka, used to say that “between stopping and moving off, there is the entire training scale.” That was an aha-moment for me because I had never thought about it in these terms. But it made absolute sense as soon as I heard it. The way the horse performs transitions to the halt and from the halt tells us a lot about his training. Many horses and riders struggle with these transitions. Half halts often don’t go through in down transitions, so the horse inverts or curls up. The halt isn’t square, the horse is crooked, to name just some of the most common prob ..read more

Ernst Friedrich Seidler was a civilian écuyer at the cavalry riding school in Schwedt a.d.Oder in Prussia, close to the Polish border. He had made a name for himself by successfully training difficult horses and retraining horses that had been ruined by poor training and handling. He wrote two books that are full of fascinating insights and great practical tips. One of his most important observations was that horses that are difficult to ride usually also have a difficult conformation, and that the saliva gland between the jowl and the neck is the root cause of many behavioral and training is ..read more

Introduction I found an interesting description in Otto De La Croix’s book “Natürliche Reitkunst” (1910) of how to improve the horse’s straightness in the shoulder-in by using the counter movements renvers and counter shoulder-in. It’s a great example of the usefulness of counter movements in the training of the horse and especially in the correction of the crookedness. I will give the excerpt from his book and then explain a little bit more what he is suggesting. Otto De La Croix, 1910, 125-128: The driving aid into the left hand (shoulder-in right with a horse that is hollow left, TR) increa ..read more

“Through the back” is one of those things that means different things to different people. I often get the feeling that to many competition judges, it just means that the horse’s head is down with a round neck. But there is actually much more to it. The Problem If the horse is not “through the back”, his back is tight and rigid. The rib cage tends to be narrow instead of expanded, and the back is usually dropped instead of raised. The gaits are uncomfortable to sit in this case. There's no wave-like swinging motion, but instead, it feels more like a jackhammer. If the horse is not through the ..read more

Introduction We are probably all familiar with the phrase “Ride from the inside leg to the outside rein”. Teachers love to repeat it. Riders giving well meaning advice to fellow equestrians love to say: “inside leg to outside rein!” This sounds good. It sounds like they know what they are talking about. But what does it mean? Why should I ride from the inside leg to the inside rein? And how do I do that?  Big Picture Goal In order to make sense of the bumper sticker slogan “inside leg to outside rein” I have to make a big detour to start at the beginning and give you an overview over the ..read more

Introduction You have probably all heard of books with titles like “7 Habits of Highly Successful People”, or something similar. It recently occurred to me that you could compile a small list of habits that will make you a successful rider. If you prioritize the items on this list, you and your horse will progress, slowly but surely. Whenever you feel lost or frustrated, return to this list, check if you have been implementing it or if you have become sloppy with some of these items. If you put one foot in front of the other, you will succeed step by step, even if progress sometimes seems to b ..read more

Not everything in riding is glamorous. Not everything is special, magical, and brilliant. Much of the most important work we do, as riders, is work that is simple - even mundane - in its simplicity. But it is where the real treasures lie. It is one thing to teach a horse a new concept, movement, or skill set. This is important work, too, but at first, it will come with many rough edges. When you introduce it to the horse, you get it in its crude, unpolished form. It is far from “finished” and the real work unfolds from there. This is the work where you lovingly, attentively polish. You seek ..read more

I believe it is a good practice to teach the horse always to first walk relaxed and focused while longeing. We make sure we instill this into all of our horses, whether we are starting them from scratch or we get them already further along in their training. Not only is this an important safety issue, but there is so much to be gained by ensuring this becomes a habit for the horse. It gives you and the horse the opportunity to “arrive” mentally, check in with each other, and start the work session on a relaxed, calm note. It sets you up better for effective longeing at the trot and canter be ..read more

Introduction I have recently started to rethink the concept of collection for myself. What is collection? How does it work? You are probably all familiar with the classical description or definition that collection is a weight transfer from the front legs to the hind legs, which is associated with the horse taking shorter strides, flexing his hind legs, and elevating his front end, leading not only to a higher head and neck carriage but also to a higher action of the front legs and greater shoulder freedom. But is this really the case? Is that all there is to it, or is there something else tha ..read more