| You've carefully laid out a systematic, progressive | | | | do something is that I find a way to take the difficulty |
| training program for riding your dressage horse. Yet | | | | out of the exercise. That is, I do the "essence" of the |
| every time you add new work, you run into a certain | | | | exercise, but I make it more simple. |
| amount of resistance. | | | | Here are some ideas so you can be your own |
| Don't panic. Understand that when you raise the bar, | | | | problem solver and figure out how to take the difficulty |
| it's inevitable that you're going to encounter resistance. | | | | out of exercises but still get your point across. If you |
| It's a normal part of dressage and horse training. Don't | | | | take this approach, the resistance becomes |
| be afraid of it. Just work through it in baby steps. | | | | manageable or even nonexistent. Then little by little, |
| Have a checklist in your mind to help you decide if you | | | | you can increase the demands again. |
| should back off a little bit, or whether you should push | | | | For example, let's say you start to leg yield from the |
| through the resistance. There should be three things on | | | | quarter line over to the long side, The first few steps |
| your checklist. | | | | are fine, but then your horse starts resisting. Maybe he |
| 1. Physical issues. You need to know that your horse is | | | | slows down or tosses his head. Take the difficulty out |
| not in pain anywhere. Are his hocks are okay? Is his | | | | of the leg yield by starting only 1-meter off the rail |
| back is okay? Are his teeth okay? Do his saddle and | | | | instead of from the quarter line. |
| bridle fit him correctly? | | | | Or let's say you're struggling when you start your |
| 2. Check yourself. Make sure you're giving the aids | | | | advanced lateral work such as shoulder-in, haunches-in, |
| correctly. You want to be sure that you aren't giving | | | | and half pass. |
| contradictory signals. | | | | There are several things you can do. You can reduce |
| For example, let's say you're riding to the right (Your | | | | the angle. Rather than asking for shoulder-in, do |
| right leg is on the inside). You turn down the quarter in | | | | shoulder-fore (half the angle of a shoulder in). Or rather |
| order to leg yield over to the left. | | | | than asking for a 3-track haunches-in, ask for half that |
| Your right leg is behind the girth asking the horse to | | | | angle. With your half pass, rather than going from the |
| move over. However, you have a very bad habit of | | | | corner letter to X, reduce the angle by going from the |
| pushing too hard with your right leg so your upper | | | | K or F all the way up to G. |
| body leans to the right. Since your horse wants you to | | | | Regarding shoulder-in and haunches-in, do fewer steps. |
| stay centered above him, he finds it hard to go | | | | That is, do three or four quality steps, and then |
| sideways to the left because your leg is saying, "go to | | | | straighten your horse. Let him take a breath. Then do |
| the left", but your body weight is saying, "I won't let you | | | | three or four steps again. Or do the movements at a |
| go to the left." | | | | slower gait such as the walk. |
| Then you end up thinking, "Oh, my horse can't go | | | | Just be very clever on taking the difficulty out of the |
| sideways. He's not ready. He´s resisting." But | | | | dressage training exercises for your horse. Introduce |
| the reality is that you're giving conflicting signals. | | | | new training work in baby steps so that your horse |
| 3. The third thing that I do if my horse is really showing | | | | always thinks he's a champion no matter what you're |
| me, or telling me with his body language that he can't | | | | asking him to do. |