Schooling for Dressage on a Hack - Exercise 1

By Your Horse

Riding advice

24 January 2011 13:47

Exercise 1 - Start with some stretch

Teaching your horse to stretch at the beginning of your training sessions is a great way to loosen up the muscles over his back,” says Adele. “It will also encourage him to relax.”

To ask your horse to stretch, squeeze your legs in rhythm with the horse’s stride, thinking about pushing him forward into the bridle. As you use your legs, closeboth hands around the reins and then immediately relax your hands, but don’t drop the contact. If you lose the contact you’ll defeat the object of the exercise. Your hands need to be soft but you should always have a light feel on your horse’s mouth.

Your horse should respond by stretching his nose down and forward. It may well take a while for him to get the hang of this and it’s likely he’ll only take an inch or two of rein through your hands at first, but the more you do this exercise with him, the more able he’ll feel to take more rein.