Understandings or Misunderstandings? Emotions are flying high when and where it comes to the competitive aspects of dressage. On one side, there are spectators hungry for circuslike displays of bigger-is-better movement excitement. These include horsy and non-horsy admirers of our field that is (always has been) the culmination of art, not of artisanship. Dressage hence … Continue reading Action Needed – Unfortunate Developments in Dressage
Seat Exercises on the Longe Line by Rivkah Roth DO DNM If you haven't done so yet this winter it is time for a few weeks of intensive seat exercises and a major "tool building" refresher Performing seat exercises on the longe for an elastic and balanced, independent seat requires an highly reliable longe person … Continue reading Show Season Preparation
Advanced Level Canter Work Stands and Falls with Your Basic Canter Transitions by Rivkah Roth DO DNM If your walk-canter departures are equally straight and balanced on either lead, chances are you will be able to master faultless flying changes in either direction and, later perhaps also, your series-changes from fours to changes every stride. … Continue reading From Canter Departure to Flying Changes in Series – Part I
The value of riding transitions from gait to gait or within one gait in the schooling of our horses is unquestioned. Only correctly ridden transitions however fulfill our goal of producing a better balanced, sound and uphill horse.
There are no shortcuts to correct training and why training of young horses belongs in experienced hands.
Owner Involvement Desired by Rivkah Roth DO DNM Horsemanship starts with "reading" horses. Sadly this is a lost art these days where our lives no longer depend on the availability of a sound horse in body and mind. So, there really was no guesswork when decades ago in Israel I was called a miracle worker … Continue reading Be Prepared to Fight for Your Horse
"Straight" is not "|" Straight, but ")" = "(" Even Bend Ever since Prussian dressage master Gustav Steinbrecht (1808 to 1885) demanded, "reite Dein Pferd vorwaerts und richte es gerade" - usually translated into English way-off-the-mark as, "ride your horse forward and straight" - misunderstandings about the goal and the process to reach it have … Continue reading Equestrian: Straightness – Why You May Have it All Wrong
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