# Haven't had a trainer in a while and watching this I can tell :(



## ApuetsoT (Aug 22, 2014)

I really like your horse. He seems super fantastic. 

You're very tight and tense, especially through your thighs. You put a lot of effort into your post. Put less foot in your stirrup and bring your leg back onto the bulk of his body. Where it is now you can't really put your leg on. 

Do you know how to do leg swinging exercises? Cross your stirrups and swing your legs from the hip. Either one at a time or together(one forward, other back). Don't twist and compensate with your upper body. The first few times it will likely make you sore on the outside of your hips. Really good for separating your seat from your leg. Do it at both the walk and trot. 

I'd also recommend dropping your hands. They get loud and pully at times, so I'd suggest dropping them to the neck until you can make them more independent. 

Do you see at the end when you halted him, you pulled him to a stop. He's nice and doesn't invert, but his neck got bracy. That's there you need to be able to put your leg on and push him into the halt. Bend him if you need to to stop him from stiffening. If you ask and he stiffens, send him forward again, then ask again. Until he stops soft and balanced. Can do this for all other downward transitions.


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## Ariat164 (Nov 27, 2009)

ApuetsoT said:


> I really like your horse. He seems super fantastic.
> 
> You're very tight and tense, especially through your thighs. You put a lot of effort into your post. Put less foot in your stirrup and bring your leg back onto the bulk of his body. Where it is now you can't really put your leg on.
> 
> ...


Thank you  I do have a tendancy to tighten when I shouldn't be , but it is usually through my hips not my thighs (also was a bit upset when I was riding for reasons other than riding lol) so thank you for pointing that out. I used to do the leg swing but haven't practiced it in a while. I just started working on yoga to help me gain strength and relaxation, so hopefully that will help. Quieting my hands is also something I have always had difficulty with :/ It was a little worse than usually because Ariat ran himself all over the pasture so he was a tad tired and not wanting to supple the way he usually does.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I agree with most of what Apuesto says. 

the horse is a gem! I WANT him! he's rythmic in his gaits, supple , available to your aids and very tolerant of your bumping him in the mouth from time to time.

overall, I think you are a cute pair, really, and you will become a good rider. you have good balance from side to side, and longitudinal (front/back) will improve when you get a more stable leg. 

like Apuesto said, you need that leg more under you, with more of your thigh ON the saddle. there are places I see daylight under your thigh and knee. that means you are putting a lot of weight on your seatbones, gripping up with your calf, but not having enough weight going down the thigh.

lessons in dressage would be my recommendation for you. in fact, I think your horse would make a lovely dressage mount. he seemed less enthused about the jumping, and since your seat is just not that secure, I would hold off jumping for a bit. 

as for your hands. they are sometimes a bit high, but what I liked was that you often maintained a flexible and 'living' line from elbow, through hand to bit. it was a bit bumpy due to your seat not being quiet and secure, but the angle was often good, and best, your elbow was soft and flexing much of the time. so many riders freeze up there.


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## Ariat164 (Nov 27, 2009)

tinyliny said:


> I agree with most of what Apuesto says.
> 
> the horse is a gem! I WANT him! he's rythmic in his gaits, supple , available to your aids and very tolerant of your bumping him in the mouth from time to time.
> 
> ...


Thank you for your input. The thing is I really want to jump. Dressage is nice and I like practicing it but jumping has always been what I've wanted to do. Ariat usually loves to jump and gets overly enthusiastic about it, but he was tired yesterday him and his buddy ran around the pasture like mad men because all the other horses were out on the trail. Ariat is a very sweet tolerant horse, but his attention span is very short and if you don't keep him focused he has a tendancy to spook and spin. He is usually very good aside from this, but on his bad days he can be like riding a squirell. Unfortunately this has lead to me nit picking with my hands trying to keep his attention. Another issue is that I have been taught to ride in so many different ways by different trainers that it is sometimes hard to know what was right and what was wrong. When I rode in the Arabian circuit one of my trainers had me ride very heavy on my seat (not a lot of weight in the stirrups) with a lot of contact on the mouth, but not harsh or anything. The other Arab trainer wanted me to ride super soft barely touching the horses sides. She had me ride in a German martingale and using my pinkys to set the horse into a "frame" (looked very pretty but of course was very artificial). Then once I started lessons at a hunter barn, they wanted me to throw all of my weight into my heals, and have more contact with my lower legs as well as hold my wrists flat (which I hate doing lol) . Then my awesome friend started helping me learn a little dressage, which as you know is quite different then everything else I have known. So essentially My body all kinds of confused XD


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I can see what you are saying, in terms of the different things you describe, in the riding video. how confusing. but, you seem very self aware of your body, so I have confidence you'll get it straightened out.

you know that 'fiddling' the head into a position isn't good. so, that's one thing I think you can work on eliminating. I think , in general, when you feel your horse move evenly, loosly and willingly forward, you know that you are doing something right at that moment. so, you ask yourself, 'what am I doing now that makes my horse move so well, and feel so good about my riding him?"

you try to find that place, and re-find it and re-find it until you become better at keeping it.

I think having your leg more 'around' your horse , like Apuesto and I are trying to explain, will help a lot. getting him as much in front of your leg wihtou 'goosing' him, is good, no busy hand fiddling. that's a LOT to work on.


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## Ariat164 (Nov 27, 2009)

tinyliny said:


> I can see what you are saying, in terms of the different things you describe, in the riding video. how confusing. but, you seem very self aware of your body, so I have confidence you'll get it straightened out.
> 
> you know that 'fiddling' the head into a position isn't good. so, that's one thing I think you can work on eliminating. I think , in general, when you feel your horse move evenly, loosly and willingly forward, you know that you are doing something right at that moment. so, you ask yourself, 'what am I doing now that makes my horse move so well, and feel so good about my riding him?"
> 
> ...


Okay thank you very much for the advice  I will work on that


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## ApuetsoT (Aug 22, 2014)

When you need to get his attention, or balance him, or anything like that, think leg first. I will need to go back later and watch the video as I forget how you were using your outside rein. Solid outside rein, push them over to it with the inside leg. Some half halts. Viola, balance and attention. 

Don't think of dressage and jumping being two separate islands. You can jump alright without any dressage. But if you have that solid foundation of dressage on both you and your horse, your jumping will improve exponentially. You may not leg yiekd on course, but you need to be able to correct a wandering shoulder or straighten to the fence. Same principals. You may not need to do a walk pirouette, but being able to push them around straight and load the inside hind will set you up for roll backs and tight distances. 

My hunter is probably a better dressage horse than my actual dressage horse at this point. Lol.


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## DanteDressageNerd (Mar 12, 2015)

It's really hard to go without a trainer, I know why you are but hopefully I'll give you some reminders. 

I agree with calming down a bit in your post and relaxing in your hips. Think of sitting a hair more forward (you don't want to be sat so far back on your seat bones), allowing your stirrups to hang straight down (dont push forward or back with your feet or leg) and when you land in the saddle in the posting trot imagine you're landing on egg shells. Landing gently, slowly and allowing his bounce to bring you out of the saddle. Also with your hands, bring your elbows more so into your body with your thumbs facing up, think about carrying your hands a little higher then his withers but not saddle seat high and posting through your elbows so you don't get so tense. Grab the front of your saddle pad if you have to to remember that motion so your hands don't come up and down as you post. It'll allow for softer hands. 

Stretching your legs, hips and psoas will also help. Core strength and planks both sides and core and also lower back and upper back help a lot. Rows, though I suspect you get plenty of PT  But getting stronger in your core and back will help a lot with your position and effectiveness because right now you're falling a bit behind the motion. Not bad but you want to be in balance, not in front or behind the balance.

One thing that will really help with Ariat is doing the fall in, fall out exercise vs the mouth fiddling. I think it helps a lot with establishing the inside leg, outside rein and also paying attention to your position and how that influences his balance. So to turn him in, step into your inside stirrup, open your inside rein and let him fall into the circle about a 10 or 12m circle, then step into your outside stirrup, open your outside rein wide and add leg, like you're leg yielding (on off). It's sort of like leg yield in and leg yielding out which I know works really well with Ariat but I think it establishes the inside leg, outside rein better and develops better bend in the neck and rib cage without using much hand. It also helps so when you do need to turn or re-balance him you just need to step out and apply your inside leg then follow with an outside rein half halt. 

In your downward transition, remember to bring your shoulders down and back, engage your core and exhale. 

For the upward canter transition, think of switching your diagnol just before you ask and ask. Half halt the outside rein twice, outside leg back, inside leg on and canter. If necessary do a 10-12m circle at trot and pick up your canter leg yielding out to a larger circle to help him balance and come over his back in the canter transition. 

In the canter use your shallow loops and shoulder fore to help with his straightness, also the fall in and fall out exercise. Ariat has a really good canter.

Pay attention to your shoulders and the crookedness in your back. With you I'd look over your outside shoulder like you're looking behind you to straighten up, then turn your belly button where you want to go with slightly turning but fairly straight shoulders. Remember stepping into your inside or outside stirrup positions his balance and tells him where to go.

Also remember in the changes of direction, post into the outside stirrup with a few leg yield steps out to help with his balance. And also small trot/canter and big trot/canter. It's not that the stride gets bigger but the stride gets smaller or bigger. 

On the line going left around 410, I'd have half halted and held Ari to the base, even if he was buried, so he doesn't develop a habit of going long. Trotting fences is also a really good exercise. Trotting in, two point, stay in two point, make sure he lands trotting and after the 2nd jump on landing he can canter. When you're at a fence in two point, I used to come up a bit in my shoulders and back in my position to half halt and keep them back a bit. But after I'd give the aid I'd return to my regular position and come back in my upper body as necessary.

Another thing is your reins are a hair too long which is why you tend to be pulling back in your reins. If you have to pull back to keep contact, your reins are too long. Try instead of pulling back with your shoulder and elbows or bracing, try closing your reins with both hands and release in your middle and ring fingers, closing your hands again and releasing those fingers. I know Ari can be spooky but I think we talked about how transitions and lateral steps helps. If he's not letting you ride him, go back to walk and have him leg yield or do a turn on the forehand or turn on the haunches and shifting his ear, so his focus is on you. Sometimes on the babies I will squeeze my inside rein a few times to get their ear back on me and attention, talking to them helps too but the most important thing is training their reaction and focus, so when they are scared, worried or concerned they don't just react but turn to you.

Also remember you send forward as you come up in your post and half halt as you come down. And in canter, half halt as your hip come forward. Remember in walk about moving a barrel between your legs, sitting lightly but moving with his body. 

Also think about when you want to pull on the inside or outside rein, think of using your leg and position to send him over. Using the fall in, fall out exercise will help you feel it and experimenting with it should help you incorporate it into your thinking.

Even jumping is all organization of balance, being mindful of rhythm, body awareness etc. When I was in Germany the GP jumpers were schooling about 4th level dressage. Also remember when you give an aid it isn't constant, on (get effect) off or on-off until you get the correct response and reward, repeating at necessary. With some of the babies it's re correcting every 2-4 strides. Correct and leave alone, correct and leave alone.


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## Ariat164 (Nov 27, 2009)

DanteDressageNerd said:


> It's really hard to go without a trainer, I know why you are but hopefully I'll give you some reminders.
> 
> I agree with calming down a bit in your post and relaxing in your hips. Think of sitting a hair more forward (you don't want to be sat so far back on your seat bones), allowing your stirrups to hang straight down (dont push forward or back with your feet or leg) and when you land in the saddle in the posting trot imagine you're landing on egg shells. Landing gently, slowly and allowing his bounce to bring you out of the saddle. Also with your hands, bring your elbows more so into your body with your thumbs facing up, think about carrying your hands a little higher then his withers but not saddle seat high and posting through your elbows so you don't get so tense. Grab the front of your saddle pad if you have to to remember that motion so your hands don't come up and down as you post. It'll allow for softer hands.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much Cassie! I'm going to have to read this 50 times XD so my tiny brain can sort it out lol.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

that' s like a dissertation. 

I wish you'd make a video that shows each one of those things, while you narrate them. some I know, but this fall in, fall out . . . I am not following your written explanation. so much easier to SEE it. why don't you start your own teaching channel?


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## DanteDressageNerd (Mar 12, 2015)

Mikki your skull may be child size but the size of the brain does not reflect brain function or your ability to learn. I have a child size head too  a good friend of mine has her PHD in theoretical physics and has just as small of a head. Skull size is not an excuse 

And you're welcome!!

Also don't let Mikki fool you, she actually has a pretty good dressage base as does Ariat. 






Caroline- I can't see myself making a channel. All the horses I have going atm are babies and there are a lot of phases and processes that young horses go through that can be really hard to explain and put into perspective. For whatever reason people expect babies to be foot perfect and neglect the process. 

The fall in, fall out exercise I learned from an international event rider I clinic with from the UK who is just a brilliant instructor. He's was a british 4* eventer but teaches through GP dressage and is honestly just a good, practical, down to earth horseman that every time he comes into town I will clinic with because he offers so much guidance, common sense and wisdom. He's just a good horseman, really understands them and is fair without ego.

I think a lot of develop horses is learning patience and realizing, it's not about making the horses do anything, it's about making them want to do it. You shouldn't have to micromanage and exercise or over ride, a lot of people over ride Because to me it's all about the process of developing them, not just a magic trick or magic fix in position that suddenly will fix whatever issue you're having but a systematic day to day riding and paying attention to details that brings it together. It's training the mind as much as training the body.

I'll post some videos because I think there is a lot of good information in them for people who want to learn.

Or I have a very nice horse and ride some very nice horses and sometimes people who haven't ridden horses like that and think they do it all by themselves or it's easier to ride these nice horses when in all honesty I think it's more difficult to organize and put them together and to teach good technique. It often takes longer to train a "plainer" horse but organization is a lot easier. Also I was apart of raising these horses, I was there when these guys were born and helped raise them. They are like my own babies, except the dark bay mare is my personal horse.

Here some video of riding the fall in, fall out exercise on a 4yr old almost 16.3h but you have to note this horse has a short ewe neck and that is part of what we're addressing is really developing that trapezius muscle so that he can carry himself. He's a very large mover and wants to go long, so what we're developing is slowing him down, getting him to sit more behind, using his back and neck more completely and also dealing with bend because he is not laterally very flexible and bending right is very difficult for him. Last year when we broke him he couldn't bend right on the lungeline at all. 

About 3:20 we start the exercise. Also note it was the very end portion or our ride and he was getting tired. It's hard work.






Or you can look at this horse, I restarted about 2 weeks ago that is very quirky. He's a half arab. The opening part I'm kinda running him and sending him up because he went vertical on me because I wouldn't let him lean on me or slam on the brakes, so he went straight up just before this video and I came off. I petted him with the outside rein about .33 because he was bracing against my left rein and I needed him to take the left, so when he took the left I petted him with the inside and half halted the outside rein then petting him with the outside rein to be sure he still had in the inside rein. About 1:19 I fall in and then fall out and at 2:07 I ride him one handed for a circle. That had no purpose, other than to say I could and prove a point about riding dressage because I have it when people say oh dressage riders pull on the face and finness the bridle and horses are in that position from being held. Not true at all.






And my 3yr old. We don't do the fall in, fall out exercise on. She was just broke. She doesn't really steer, the only way she knows where to be is based on where I put my weight and position. 






or Friday learning leg yield. He's actually 15.2h 






working on trot to canter transition. He is tricky to ride, he's a super smart, fun horse but he is tricky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl2AoDyr4Fg&t=31s#t=61.98544

More working through stuff, again I'm sharing this because I learned a LOT from this lesson. This was during a transition of him being restarted to saying hey you can sit and me feeling insecure so I'd send him forward because I thought he was going to drop to canter rather than organizing his balance which my other trainer taught me with this problem is that I had to hold my core and lower back very strong and lift up in my chest and half halt and expect them to come back then release and as you come out of the turn hold my lower back and core very still, so I didn't follow so much in my hip and was able to organize the balance back and I also learned I should have been more confident about doing trot-canter transitions but that's why you do this is to learn and figure out better and better ways to do something. 






Or here's my old quarab who Mikki has ridden and knows just how hard he is to ride






My issue was mental organization and getting too busy in my brain and putting too much pressure on myself but it has good information for riders of how important the mind is when riding






Mikki is a really good rider but some horses are really hard to ride. Honestly she should give herself more credit


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## Ariat164 (Nov 27, 2009)

DanteDressageNerd said:


> Mikki your skull may be child size but the size of the brain does not reflect brain function or your ability to learn. I have a child size head too  a good friend of mine has her PHD in theoretical physics and has just as small of a head. Skull size is not an excuse
> 
> And you're welcome!!
> 
> ...


Awww thanks Cassie! And you know as well as I do those last few videos I have posted were not my best rides. Ariat was actually lazy, which is not typically like him. Unfortunately I'm not used to riding lazy horses anymore, because he usually is quite peppy XD


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## DanteDressageNerd (Mar 12, 2015)

I know. I'm very familiar with Ariat. I did ride him for about 3 months when you were at WTI and every weekend  he and I know each other very well and I taught you on him. I think you've just been without guidance for a while and the area does suck because there is NOBODY good to train with. Hopefully I can make it out there sometime in spring or summer for a week and help you guys out or maybe you could come out here and you could take some lessons on Bailey because I know it wouldn't take much to get you guys where you were. You have really good feel and learn quickly.

With Ariat he is a really good horse but he is one that you have to ride well. He's generally very honest but he's not going to give you more than you ask for and he will find his way out of doing work. He's a bit of an ADHD horse, so the rider needs to focus really well and keep his attention which can be tricky. He's not always like that but he can also tune out and not pay attention. You can make mistakes on him but you have to ride him, he doesn't do it for you.

When he's lazy like that, you have to train his reaction. Remember transitions. When you ask for trot lift up in your chest, open your thigh and send with a soft leg aid, then if he doesnt respond, ask again and tap with the whip, ask again softly and expect him to respond. Then bring him back to walk and ask again lightly and expect a response, walk 3 steps, trot 4 steps, walk and then trot and get him responding. I think he gets bored and tunes out sometimes without changes. Like instead of going around the ring doing shallow loops or throwing a change of direction and transitions and half transitions or shoulder fore-in and leg yield just to get his brain back working. Remember whip is a motivator and attitude adjuster, not for discipline. It's about training a good reaction and seeking improvement, not whether it was perfect or not. It doesnt need to be perfect. It just needs to get better.

Example video


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## Ariat164 (Nov 27, 2009)

DanteDressageNerd said:


> Mikki your skull may be child size but the size of the brain does not reflect brain function or your ability to learn. I have a child size head too  a good friend of mine has her PHD in theoretical physics and has just as small of a head. Skull size is not an excuse
> 
> And you're welcome!!
> 
> ...


Awww thanks Cassie! And you know as well as I do those last few videos I have posted were not my best rides. Ariat was actually lazy, which is not typically like him. Unfortunately I'm not used to riding lazy horses anymore, because he usually is quite peppy XD


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I did not realize you two had an active teaching relationship. there are just so many people on the forum I lose track of who is who , at times. anyway, that's wonderful that you, Ariat, have the guidance of Dante (Cassie).

I thought, from the last video I saw of you, Ariat, that you had a real working relationships with your horse, and Cassie is confirming that. I'll watch those videos a bit later, savoring each one in leisure.


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## DanteDressageNerd (Mar 12, 2015)

Mikki- it's all good.

Caroline- Mikki and I are really good friends, she actually introduced me to the forum and found me Dante. But she has a really good partnership with Ariat and they both have a pretty decent dressage background. They're very capable, going without a trainer is really hard especially for a year and a half. The trainers in the area either charge outrageously high fees for what they are or they're not really worth taking lessons with. 

But the videos have a lot of good information in them, so hopefully they make what I wrote make more sense and if there are any questions. I'm happy to answer whatever.


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## QHriderKE (Aug 3, 2011)

I'm not a dressage or English person, but I am wondering if how deep the OP's foot is in the stirrup is alright? Personally, I would be worried about but I don't know how acceptable it is in the realm of dressage riding!


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## lroffey (Jan 16, 2017)

I would work on keeping your hands quiet- you are balancing a bit on your hands. Your left hand is high and tugging at him. Also, in both feet, you stirrup isn't on the ball of your foot. Your foot is more than half way through your stirrup. I wonder if you would do better dropping your whip and focusing on quiet hands and feet for awhile. I also noticed you are pumping a bit at the canter, maybe slow your seat down a bit too. I agree that you have a nice mount and you look good on him!


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