Building trust

Whether you’re producing a young horse or preparing for the higher levels of dressage, always aim to finish a training session with a happy equine partner. Not only because you want your horse to enjoy his work, but also because when you give him a good feeling he’ll want to do his best for you, so you’ll get better results, too.

That’s why it’s so important to communicate with your horse and give him your full attention during your time in the saddle. Talk to him, praise him when he tries for you and allow plenty of walk breaks, especially with younger horses.

In this feature, we’ve highlighted some exercises which can be applied and adapted to any horse. Here’s how to give every horse a productive schooling workout that will leave you both feeling confident, relaxed and happy in your partnership.

What to consider

Before you begin schooling, think about the ingredients you need to help make your session as productive as possible. Here are some things to consider…

• Every session should include a warm-up and ideally you want to make your warm-up period as short as possible and as long as necessary. This allows time to work on new things
• When you ‘pick your horse up’ you want him to work with a short body carrying the weight over his hindlegs so you’re able to lengthen his neck. It’s important to have your horse working in this way before you can ask him to carry out any movements or exercises
• If you want to teach your horse a new movement, do it straight after your warm-up before your horse gets tired and loses focus
• Walk breaks are super important because horses will give more if they know they’re going to get a rest. Also, horses need to get used to breaks because they might have to wait around at a competition if things are running late. Not only that, but some higher level tests require your horse to switch on and off, so it’s essential your horse is familiar with this concept
• If you want to carry a whip when schooling, only use it to tickle your horse if you’re not happy with how he’s going. Once he responds to that tickle, praise him and continue with what you were doing

Top tip

As well as including plenty of walk breaks, allow your horse to stretch down in the trot and canter from time to time to help him stay happy and relaxed in his work.

Balancing act

It’s important that horses find their own balance and, in fact, the more you try to help your horse balance by holding the front end in, the less balanced he will become. The following exercises will help to improve your horse’s self-carriage.

Discover more exercises that will help you produce a happy dressage horse in November Horse&Rider – out now!