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Dressage Tips

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A person uses their seat to ride a chestnut horse in an outdoor arena. The horse wears white leg wraps and is mid-stride. The rider, in dark clothing and a helmet, demonstrates a precise half-halt. Bold text reads “Half-Halt!” in the top left corner.

How to Half-Halt from your Thighs and Seat

How do you ride a half-halt with your seat and thighs? Ah the Elusive Half-Halt. Do you ever feel like your half-halt is more halt than half? Have you ever had your instructor yell…
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A person wearing a helmet is horse riding a dark horse with white leg wraps in an outdoor arena. Text on the image reads “Posting Trot!” Trees and greenery are in the background as they post the trot.

How and Why to Post the Trot

Posting trot is not easy to do well – you have to coordinate your seat, legs and hands and stay in tempo with your horse! But, posting trot has a lot of important benefits…
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A person in a blue shirt and helmet rides a chestnut horse in an arena. Four green dots highlight a vertical line along the rider’s body. The word “Canter!” appears in bold on the right.

Canter! What to do with your seat, legs, shoulders, elbows, and more!

How do you move your body in the canter? A LOT of riders struggle with the canter. In the canter, your seat, legs, shoulders, and elbows all have to be doing something different! Here…
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A side-by-side comparison of a rider on a gray horse, showing posture with green lines and red arrows highlighting alignment and stability differences, under the text How’s your alignment?!. Trees are in the background.

Alignment: Your KEY to Stability and Security in the Saddle!

Alignment is arguably the MOST IMPORTANT part of your position.  Whenever I see a new student, I always start with getting them in the correct alignment from their ear-shoulder-hip-to heel! Why? Finding and maintaining…
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A person riding a horse is holding the reins, dressed in a light blue shirt and black gloves. In bold at the top right corner, the text Shorten Your Reins reminds riders to keep control.

Shorten Your Reins!!!!

Many amateur riders ride with their reins WAY too long and this is a huge problem! First and foremost from a safety perspective when your reins are too long it is extremely difficult to…
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Two women are outdoors; one sits on a saddle positioned on a white stand while the other points beside her. Text asks: Does your Saddle Fit?! Perfect for learning about saddle fit and dressage rider position. Video title: Saddle Fit and Dressage Rider Position.

Saddle Fit and Dressage Rider Position

Your saddle is the sandwich between you and horse horse. It is very important that you saddle correctly fits both you and your horse so that you are in the correct position and can…
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A red stop sign with the word STOP is shown next to a photo of a person riding a gray horse. The rider’s lower leg and foot are circled in red to highlight horse training mistakes. Below, the words “Stop Nagging!!” appear in bold white text.

Stop Nagging Your Horse!!

Are you guilty of nagging your horse? I think we all are sometimes… I sometimes find myself riding around and suddenly wonder why am I kicking and clucking every stride and nothing is happening?!?!…
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Two people in black riding outfits and helmets sit on gray horses, viewed from behind, with the text How Straight Are You?! in the center—highlighting rider position and symmetry against a backdrop of trees and a riding arena.

Rider Position: Symmetry and Straightness

A big part of Dressage is straightness.  All horses are naturally crooked and so are the riders.  It is very important to first identify these asymmetries, understand how they effect your position and your…
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A person rides a brown horse with white leg wraps in an outdoor arena, practicing smooth downward transitions. Text reads “Downward Transitions!!” with a waving hand emoji and a wavy-mouthed face in the bottom left corner.

Downward Transitions!

Downward transitions are on many horses even more difficult than upward transitions. Even though your are slowing down, you want the horse to stay forward feeling in the downward transition and to stay engaged…
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