Think you need an extreme dressage makeover to improve your test scores? While there are no shortcuts to correct training, there are some very simple things any rider, with any horse, can do to ride a test to full...
Perhaps you want to try cross-country jumping or would like to enter an eventing show. Many areas of the country are far from schooling courses, making it difficult to test your horse's jumping skills in the great wide open....
The inaugural Express Eventing competition in Cardiff, England, was designed to attract new fans to the sport of eventing. However, the crowd of 13,000 spectators inside Millennium Stadium on Nov. 30, 2008, was struck silent as British Olympian Mary...
Three basic types of cross-country obstacles—ditches, banks and water—must be carefully and systematically introduced to even the boldest cross-country horse. If you give your horse a good start over these jumps, there’s no reason to ever have a problem....
Anyone who has witnessed, or been involved in, an accident with a horse-drawn vehicle knows how horrific the consequences can be. Because most horses are hard-wired to run now, think later,you can never be absolutely certain you won't have...
The trained eye of a horse show judge sees nearly everything. Riders who believe they’ve ridden a perfect round over jumps are often surprised to learn they’ve been marked down for errors. One of the worst problems riders have...
The shoulder-in is one of the best exercises for suppling a horse, building his strength, and increasing his freedom in the shoulder. But the precursor to the shoulder-in is the shoulder-fore, which is also an excellent movement to help with...
Q. My seasoned jumper is a “been there, done that” kind of horse. But lately he’s been dropping rails, almost always on verticals. At horse shows, the first round or two he jumps clean. After that, I can’t seem...
Q. My horse often gallops off after a jump. Sometimes he even humps his back and pitches. My trainer said my lower legs are slipping back and I’m catching my horse in the sides with my heels. Can you...
The shoulder-in asks the horse to shorten his stance, bend his hocks and position his shoulders to one side.Q. I’ve been schooling shoulder-fore on my 6-year-old dressage horse, and I want to introduce shoulder-in. Can you give me some tips...
