Dressage is one of many equestrian sports. Equestrian sports generally, are heavily based on tradition, including the kind of dress allowed. No other group of sports have such strict rules on dress and turnout. Dressage in judged subjectively, so the correct turnout and the right impression is even more important.
In competition Dressage riders wear white [...]
Leg Yield
Your horse moves slightly sideways away from your leg while flexed in the opposite direction from which he’s moving. His body remains straight with a slight flexion at his poll. Both front and back legs should cross as he moves. For example, you are on the rail going to the left. You ask for [...]
Turn on the forehand is a movement in equestrian schooling that is of great benefit to both horse and rider. It involves the horse’s near fore marking time on the spot. The off fore moves forward very slightly and the hind legs move in a semi-circle around the near fore. A clear walk rhythm and [...]
1. The half halt is the most important yet most misunderstood concept in riding. The half halt can help you put your horse on the bit but you also need it for every change of gait, balance, movement, or exercise.
2. The half halt is used to bring the horse into an improved state of balance.
3. [...]
When introducing the flying change some horses find it difficult to change both front and hind legs simultaneously. While this isn’t a problem for jumpers, in dressage this error will be heavily penalised. The exercises below can help a horse that changes late behind:
1. Counter-flexion
Ride plenty of counter canter, but counter-flex your horse at the [...]
While dressage is thought to have been practised for hundreds of years, arena markers were not introduced formally into competition until the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, using a 60x20m arena.
Although there are several theories regarding the origins of the arena letters, including that they represent the initials of horses in the stable yard [...]
