Why should recreational drivers practice dressage even if they don't intend to show their horses? Simple exercises can gain you and your horse big benefits such as better communication, improve your horse's balance, and most importantly, greater longevity.
-
I’m often asked, “How much is too much contact, and how little is too little.” The answer often depends on what it is that you’re doing with your horse. But the question of how much contact you should use goes beyond the specific activity your are doing with your horse. It can change within the course of a single workout. Instead of focusing on “How much contact should I have?” you should focus on “What is the most effective contact for that moment?” Read more and watch the video.
-
My goofy Saddlebred at Laurels CDE Maintaining perspective while training horses for carriage driving can be a challenge. This is especially true when you’re trying to improve your dressage scores in combined driving. [...]
-
There are lots of great carriage driving and horse training questions on the Ask Andy page. I think it will be fun to answer some of those questions in video posts from time to time. [...]
-
Driving corners and turns in a dressage test shouldn’t be that difficult, but it’s the one place that people most often get it wrong. They either drive so far from the corner that they bearly use [...]
-
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that how you’re using your body on the carriage effects how your horse is moving. After all, you’re fairly isolated from the horse, and you’re sitting 3-4 feet behind him. [...]
-
Do you ever feel like the second half of your dressage test or pleasure class is just a little better than the first half? Maybe you’ve even thought, “If I only had a little more [...]
-
Carriage drivers may be a little more isolated from the horse than riders, but that doesn't mean that you loose the "feel" for the horse. Here's a great exercise to get reconnected to your horse [...]
-
This little note on bending is long overdue. I’ve put it off for a long time for good reasons. The main reason is that most people get their priorities out of order when the subject [...]
-
Here’s a rare experience for me; Sitting down on a Sunday morning with coffee doing some reading. It’s rare because Sundays are not usually my low activity days for me. During the year I’m usually [...]
-
A student of mine was at an equine expo watching the various demonstrations and clinics. Afterward, she sent me a note; “Not one clinician told their students to look up and away from the horse. [...]
-
Many carriage drivers struggle with their horse taking a step backward after completing a halt. Understanding why the horse is taking the backward step is the first step toward solving the problem.
-
I gotta say, I had a really good time this past weekend. Well, that shouldn’t be that much of a surprise, since I was surrounded by some of my favorite people and ponies. But I [...]
-
Here’s a fun little video from yesterday that I did. It’s shaky, but it gets the point across. We all need a little distraction, and our horses are the best form of that! [...]
-
From time to time I get notes of thanks and other feedback in response to Online Classes or Lesson Plans here on the site. It’s really gratifying to read about how useful these classes are [...]
