1. Spend time with your horse – the more time you spend with your horse, the more you will bond to your horse and get to know them.
2. Groom your horse and learn where they like to be touched and scratched (and where they don’t!). Watch your horse play in the turnout. Take your horse for a handwork or to graze.
3. Cavaletti work – this is a great way to add some variety to your training, build confidence, and get the horse to use their bodies better!
4. Take a clinic with a new instructor – this is a great opportunity to learn some new exercises or help get you out of a rut with your horse. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can explain something a little differently in a way that you and your horse understand!
5. Groundwork – working with your horse on the ground to improve their ground manners and get your horse respectful and paying attention to you on the ground will carry over into your riding. Good ground manners are essential to staying safe and enjoying your horse. Groundwork can also be a very useful tool to explain the piaffe to the horse!
6. Watch top riding – Go to a big show and spend the day watching and carefully observing top riders. You will be amazed how much watching top riding will immediately improve your riding!
7. Get your mind right – your mindset has a huge impact on your riding. Make sure to start each ride with a positive and confident mindset and you will find a huge improvement in your riding and training.
8. Focus on your rider position – rider position is arguably the most important piece to becoming a better rider. Identify and focus on correcting bad habits in your riding position.
9. Set a goal – having a destination and something to work towards is so important to make progress in your riding. Outline what goals you want to achieve and what you need to do to get there!
10. Ride a different horse – Riding is all about feel. Feeling a different horse (hopefully a good one) will help you to improve your feel and improve your horse.
11. Focus on your health and fitness – top riders take their fitness and health very seriously. You must be strong, supple, and symmetrical to be a top rider in the sport of Dressage!
