#Dressage Showing

Training in the Right Way: What to Look for in a Dressage Horse, Part 2

This is the second of a three-part series that explores what to look for when selecting a dressage horse. Today’s article focuses on the conformation that lends itself to a successful dressage horse.
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Training in the Right Way: What to Look for in a Dressage Horse, Part 1

This is the first of a three-part series that explores what to look for when selecting a dressage horse. Today’s article focuses on the three parts needed for a successful dressage horse: temperament, conformation, and movement. (more…)

Training in the Right Way: Let’s Talk about the Correct (and Incorrect) use of Equipment

The focus of this week’s article is to shed some light on some commonly used — and almost as commonly misused — pieces of equipment found in training and discuss what their original purpose is.
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Training in the Right Way: Let’s Talk About Balance

“[C]ollection creates better balance while performing harder tasks, which then also creates greater cooperation from the horse due to having the ability to stay balanced while performing these tasks.”
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Training in the Right Way: 12 Dressage Exercises and Their Training Purposes

“What almost everyone has forgotten, or may have never learned, is that dressage is a training system, based on the European cultures and horse types of antiquity, and it was created over centuries to develop horses for war and for ceremonial purposes.”
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Training in the Right Way: Road to the Grand Prix — Milestones for Age and Level

A student asked for a timeline for the development of the Grand Prix horse. While there are all sorts of variations and time elements that may get in the way, there is a generally accepted, age-based expectation of the horse’s development.
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Training in the Right Way: A Picture Is Worth a 1000 Words…

This week’s article discusses what you can see in a still photo and explores how to begin sorting out what is “a moment in time” versus what is most likely a constant state (which is, of course, indicative of the training).
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Training in the Right Way: The Training Scale, Part II

The last article discussed the importance of the three base layers of the training scale. This article builds on that, focusing on the top three layers — which do not stand alone or separate from the lower half and cannot exist without or disconnected from them.
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