​In dressage, your position is critical to being able to move with your horse, which in turn is important for feeling the communication that your horse gives you and this allows you to give precise, well-timed aids without interfering with your horse. A good position creates a balanced rider, necessary for riding in harmony.

An important aspect of the rider’s seat is balance. As soon as the rider’s balance is lost, the horse also becomes unbalanced and heavy in the forehand, leaning on the rider’s hand. A good position allows the rider to maintain balance in movement with the horse, whereas an unbalanced rider impedes the horse’s natural movement.
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There is a lot of information about the correct position, and whilst the basic principles of posture for the dressage seat remain the same, it is important to apply them in relation to each rider. The position of a tall rider will not necessarily look the same as the position of a shorter rider, especially on different shaped horses. 

​A common phrase used for dressage riders’ position is a deep seat, which refers to the ability of the rider to move their pelvis and lower back in complete harmony with the horse’s back movement. This seat is developed by having your leg stretched out from the hip, around the horse’s rib cage without gripping, and your upper body balanced over their seat bones, without wobbling from side to side or backwards and forwards. In this position, your spine can move precisely with the movement of the horse’s spine.

Once the rider loses balance, they often resort to gripping with the legs or pulling on the reins to regain their balance, or just to stay with their horse! When this happens, the horse is instantly blocked, and the rider’s aids are indistinguishable from the gripping or pulling. As the horse tries to compensate for the rider’s lack of balance, they too become unbalanced.

The strength of the rider’s position or seat comes from being able to maintain balance. Toned core muscles are needed for this, muscles that can react quickly by an appropriate amount and then instantly release. Full on muscles are not always needed, sometimes the slightest movement is sufficient to rebalance the horse.
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When the rider finds that state of perfect balance, the horse begins to move more freely and then they can start to develop their suppleness. The rider can feel the responses the horse gives and adapt the exercises accordingly.

​Have you ever wondered why it’s worth perfecting a circle? It may feel as though a circle is a basic movement, useful for young horses and in a warmup, but after that the benefits of a simple movement can often be forgotten as we move onto more interesting things.

Circles provide a foundation for all the other work and they are extremely useful throughout a training session. For a novice horse or rider, a circle teaches the basics of balance and engagement. For a more advanced horse, a circle rebalances and reengages them, that is, if they are ridden correctly.

A correct circle is very hard to ride for both horse and rider. Many horses fall in or out of the shape without the rider even being aware of it. The major benefits of the exercise are wasted, and poorly executed circles can leave your horse more out of balance before.

To quote Nuno Oliveira, “a circle is a correct geometric shape, not a potato or an egg.”

Whilst different trainers use different aids for a circle, the qualities that come from the movement should be:

• Suppling and strengthening the horse on both sides to create a more even and straighter horse.
• Engaging their inside hind leg to build collection and impulsion.
• Placing (or replacing) the horse round the rider’s inside leg and creating the connection to the outside rein.
• Creating a horse that is balanced, both left and right and from back to front, in preparation for another movement.

To ride a circle, the rider’s hips should match the position of the horse’s hips, and the rider’s shoulder should match the position of the horse’s shoulders. This means that they rider needs to rotate at their waist, advancing their outside shoulder without allowing their inside seat bone to follow the movement, which would bring their hips out of position.
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Simply trying to make a circle by use of the inside rein only achieves a twisted and resistant position in the horse’s head and neck. The difference can be felt by the rider and can be clearly seen in the pictures below.

​The development of suppleness should be at the forefront of our minds when training horses. Suppleness creates a horse who is light, balanced and maneuverable.  A horse that is out of balance will carry weight in one shoulder, which often shows with problems with the canter lead on one side, your horse is unable to stay on a circle and is being heavy in the hand.
 
Much like humans, horses find things easier to do on one side than the other. This is most recognisable on a circle. When the stiffer side is to the outside of the circle, the horse stays reasonably on the line of the curve. But when the stiffer side is to the inside, the horse continually falls in and the circle gets smaller and smaller. This asymmetry can overload one foreleg can result in tendon problems and the asymmetry of the whole horse can develop into neck, back or joint issues.
 
The exercises you chose should encourage your horse to release on their stiff side and strengthen the softer side to create a straight horse. Over the centuries, the classical masters created different exercises to supple horses. These exercises are still in use today; correct circles, shoulder-in, half pass, travers and renvers being the five key movements.
 
All horses can achieve these five basic movements, provided the rider considers the horse’s conformation. A cob may not show as much crossing in their legs as a more lightly build horse, but this does not mean the movement is incorrect.
 
Choosing an appropriate exercise encourages the horse to release any blocks they may have by developing suppleness, strength and balance. Sometimes it is necessary to be a little creative and adapt an exercise or develop a new pattern of work that is more effective for the horse. If the exercise is not working as you expected, analyse where the problem is and make the necessary changes or use a new exercise.
 
In all these movements the rider must be well balanced in the center of the saddle. It is remarkably easy for your body to tip to the side which will block your horse. Pulling the inside rein back will also block your horse by preventing their inside hind leg from moving through and dropping them onto their outside shoulder.
 
Creating a balanced horse who moves straight through their body allows the energy from the haunches to be used efficiently. Work in the school does not need to be complicated but must be precise. A few hours in the school riding, circles, spirals, yielding and serpentines can develop a more supple and responsive horse that is safer and more comfortable to ride. 

Diane Followell - Training Riders, Transforming Horses

​The bit is a subtle way of communicating with your horse, a whispered conversation between horse and rider. No-one else can see the conversation happening, but they can see the results. The bit gives the rider instant feedback on how the horse is feeling in that moment. A soft, relaxed mouthing of the bit shows a unity between the horse and rider. If this continues through the work, the horse is comfortable and both horse and rider are content with the relationship.

This fragile contact is lost if the rein contact is more than the weight of the reins in the rider’s hands. Having X pounds of pressure blocks the horse and hardens the delicate structures of the mouth. Long loose reins does not create any communication between horse and rider.

If a problem with the work occurs, the first place this will be shown is in the horse’s mouth, communicated to the rider via the bit. The skilled rider will recognise this and make the necessary adjustments to the work. If this feedback is not recognised and acknowledged by the rider taking the steps needed to change what they are doing, the horse will start to raise their voice by blocking elsewhere in their body and avoiding the exercise.
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When this unwanted behaviour is displayed, riders often look for an external solution, a stronger bit, a tighter noseband, a martingale. This simply ignores the issue and unless trainers and riders are willing to uncover the root cause of the problem, the fix masks the difficulty until it emerges somewhere else. To achieve this level of control and subtly requires riders to have a good position and balance, a lifetime’s work.

Whilst a lot of time is spent thinking about which bit to use, nose bands tend to be used solely to keep a horse’s mouth shut. Mostly riders use a flash or a cavesson, done up tightly to prevent the horse from opening its mouth. Apart from the obvious physical pain and harm that this inflicts on a horse, it masks a very important communication channel between a horse and their rider.
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The art of dressage riding is to finesse the communication between the horse and rider so that, to an observer, the rider appears to be doing nothing. Part of achieving this is having the horse soft and mobile throughout their work, and the horse’s mouth is a very good reflection the level of that relationship between horse and rider.
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For example, if a horse is finding an exercise difficult or feels too much pressure from the rider’s hands, this will show first through the horse’s mouth with blocks such as fixing the jaw, opening the mouth or putting their tongue over the bit.

Tightening the nose band to prevent this behaviour does not solve the problem. Unable to express himself via his mouth, horses often become harder in the jaw and the tension occurs elsewhere in his body. As the stress ripples throughout the horse’s body, blocks can often be seen in the horses neck, back and hind legs.

The solution is to change what you are doing, rather than increasingly tightening the nose band. It may be as simple as modifying an exercise slightly, or you may need to look a bit deeper at how you are asking. Riding with a softer hand and working more tactfully from your seat and back or with your leg.
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The connection between bit and rider’s hands should always be the weight of the reins. For very skilled riders, the slightest tension in the horse’s mouth is felt in their hands, and they make appropriate adjustments to make the horse comfortable. With a nose band that is done up tightly, the horse is unable to speak to the rider and training becomes an exercise in force.

​A few years ago, I wrote a blog about the apparent introduction of rolkur into the Spanish Riding School -  Flexions and Rolkur. At the time, the rolkur debate had been raging across the horse world for a while, with proponents both for and against vociferously arguing their case. The FEI banned rollkur in 2010, but continued to accept the use of low deep and round in its place. Years later, the legacy of this technique remains and continues to be used extensively in the equestrian world.

Rollkur has been used in horse training for decades and rewarded with high marks and medals in the competition arena. For some equestrians, it is the only method that they know and when the horse objects to these techniques, steps are taken to block their resistances with tighter nose bands, stronger bits, sharper spurs, more forceful riding etc.

The FEI took steps to mitigate these moves by introducing rules on the maximum tightness on nose bands, use of whips and the blood rule. How can it be acceptable that training methods, which mean rules are needed to stop riders inflicting injuries on their horse, continue to be endorsed? Monitoring the warm up area to prevent riding abuses does not stop this from being carried out away from the arena, particularly when the training continues to be rewarded with high marks.

The force that riders use in rollkur is at odds with the idea of dressage as the harmonious union of horse and rider, and the influence of these techniques is visible in the way the horse moves.

Many horses are unable to cope with the impact of this riding and start to display psychological and physical problems. The psychological problems manifest in many ways and can range from a horse who shows signs of stress and tension, such as tail swishing or grinding teeth, to extreme resistance to their rider or becoming impossible to ride.

Physical problems can show anywhere in the horse’s body, often in their mouths and backs, poll and neck, but also in ligaments, muscles, bones, joints and elsewhere, frequently resulting in horses being retired early instead of being able to work into their late twenties.

When the problems become too difficult to manage, riders look to find a trainer who can solve the issues that have arisen with their much-loved horse. Disappointingly, they only find more of the same. Many trainers use these techniques, as this is the way they have also been trained.

With this as the only history that many riders know, and the national and international governing bodies still reluctant to properly address the issue, is it not surprising that we are still seeing horses being ridden to breaking point both mentally and physically?

Canter pirouettes are one of the most difficult exercises for a horse to perform and many horses are unable to achieve them. The horse’s forehand moves around their hind quarters as the hind feet mark a small circle, maintaining the same cadence in the canter.

The rider must remain light in their aids, if the hand becomes hard, they block the forehand and hind quarters.

• The horse should have the same cadence throughout the movement, as they come into the pirouette, through the pirouette steps and when they leave the pirouette.
• The horse should maintain a 3-beat canter.
• The horse should be around the rider’s inside leg, bent in the direction of the movement.
• The contact should remain light.

 
Common faults in the pirouette are listed, but knowing the difficulty of this exercise, the horse should not be overly criticised.

• The head and neck bobs up and down.
• Loss of clear three-beat rhythm creating a 4-beat canter.
• The canter changes when the horse leaves the pirouette from the canter that they had in the pirouette.
• The riders asks with aids that are too strong and the horse is blocked and loses cadence.
  
• Hind legs jumping together resulting from a loss of collection.
• Quarters slipping out, as the horse avoids taking the weight behind.
  
• Falling onto the inside shoulder, as the horse avoids taking the weight behind.

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The pictures below show 4 horses in canter pirouettes, what do you think of the movements? It can be easier to see what is happening in a pirouette from a video, have a look at some on the internet to see what you think.

Extending a pace is an advanced movement. It is often thought to be a basic exercise because some lengthening is required in novice tests, however correct extensions require a high degree of strength, balance and engagement and come from collection, a horse cannot extend more than it can collect. If lengthening or extended paces are asked for too early, the horse simply cannot sustain the steps and falls to the forehand with quick, short strides.

In extended trot the horse should maintain the same diagonal steps throughout the trot but reach of the steps is longer. The movement of the foreleg should appear to start in the shoulder with the hoof landing at the furthest point of the step. The hind legs should match the step of the forelegs and the horse shoulder visibly lengthen their frame, head and neck extending with the legs. The trot should not speed up but cover more ground with longer, lower strides.
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The rider should follow this movement with their back and seat, hands allowing the horse to lengthen their neck as necessary. This stride can be difficult to sit with, but the rider should not brace against the horse.

Common faults are

• Blocked forehand with contracted neck
• Break in the diagonal with the hind foot landing slightly before or after the front foot.
• Front hoof appearing to flick out beyond the leg
• Exaggeratedly high movement of the front legs.

               
Compare the pictures below and see which you think is best.
(The black and white picture is from Kottas on Dressage by Arthur Kottas-Heldenberg, page 15).

Passage is one of the most difficult paces for horses to perform. A very collected trot, with highly elevated steps which progress slowly forward, not all horses have the ability to perform this movement. The horse needs to engage their haunches to hold the height and suspension in each step. The height and suspension of the steps is dependent on the horse’s conformation, strength and suppleness, and so this will vary from horse to horse.

The head and neck must be allowed to rise, the exact position will depend on the horse, and some horses will bring their nose slightly in front of the vertical. If the neck is lowered, the horse will be on the forehand.

These pictures show 3 different horses with the same rider, Nuno Oliveira, and each horse has a slightly different look to the passage.
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 ​Problems with passage steps can be seen in a number of faults:

• Uneven steps behind, one hind pushes forward and under and the other disengages and trails behind.
• Uneven height of diagonals, this can be seen more clearly in the hind legs
• Uneven length of steps.
• Hollowing.
• Swinging the forehand or the hindquarters from side to side.
• A double beat in the moment of suspension where the hind leg appears to drop slightly down at the highest point of suspension.

 
It is not uncommon to see a big moving horse making exaggerated steps in the front legs, giving the impression of a correct passage, but when you look to the details of the movement, they are often disengaged and do not have correct steps. To see this more clearly, look at the action of the hind leg.

​Have a look at these images, which do you think is most correct? With passage and piaffe it can be easier to see faults from video footage, look up some video’s online and see if you can observe correct steps and faulty ones.

Half pass is a movement across the diagonal of the arena, where the horse’s body remains roughly parallel to the side of the school and they step forward and then sideways. It follows on from shoulder-in and develops greater flexibility and strength in the horse. Half pass can be ridden in walk, trot and canter.

It needs to be developed with care so that the horse remains in his haunches, leading the movement with his inside hind, not his inside shoulder.

• The horse should step forward and sideways, with a slight bend in the direction of the movement. Different horses will have a degree of bend that is correct for them and the rider must know this and choose the correct bend for the horse.
• The half pass should finish with more inside leg and outside rein than inside rein and outside leg.
• The horse should maintain an even bend throughout their body.
• The rhythm should remain consistent.

Go back to shoulder in and circles if the horse has difficulty in half pass.
Common faults are;

• The horse put weight into their inside shoulder.
• This horse twists his head and does not bend through his body.
• The haunches precede the forehand.
• The forehand is too far ahead of the haunches, haunches trailing.
• The rider sits to the outside unbalancing the horse.
• The rider creates half pass by using the inside rein and outside leg, twisting the horse.
• The horse loses the rhythm and speeds up or slows down.

​Look at the pictures below and see which half pass you think is most correct.

For more information on correcting problems in half pass please see
Half pass – Correcting Problems – Horse twists the head.
Half Pass – Correcting problems 2 – Changes to the rhythm.
Half pass – Correcting problems 3 Quarters or forehand lead too much.
Half pass – Correcting problems 4 – Horse confuses aids for canter.