FLATWORK FOUNDATIONS – BUILDING BETTER TRANSITIONS

Smooth, balanced transitions are the hallmark of a well-trained horse and rider partnership. Whether you're preparing for your first dressage test or refining your technique for advanced competition, mastering the art of transitioning between gaits is fundamental to good riding. Yet for many riders (us included!), transitions remain one of the most challenging aspects of…

BylizzieApril 9, 20260Comments

Horse Channel Horse Training

FLATWORK FEBRUARY #16: HAUNCHES-IN

Haunches in, or, more formally, travers, is when the horse is asked to move his hindquarters to the inside line on which he is travelling, while keeping his shoulders on an outside line. Throughout the movement, he needs to maintain an inside bend through his poll, neck and body. Haunches in is an excellent exercise to…

BylizzieApril 25, 20240Comments

Horse Channel Horse Training

FLATWORK FEBRUARY #10: THE STAIRS

‘The Stairs’ is an excellent exercise to help improve your horse's suppleness by using a leg yield. You can do this exercise at the walk or trot. To ride it, go down the centre line (if you are in a dressage arena), do a few steps of leg yield (three to four steps), go straight for…

BylizzieFebruary 13, 20240Comments

Horse Channel Horse Training

FLATWORK FEBRUARY #9: THE SIMPLE CHANGE

Yesterday, we looked at the walk-to-canter transition, and today, we add to that by combining it into a simple change. A simple change is a change of canter lead with a few steps of walk between periods of canter. The simple change is the beginning of teaching your horse to do a correct flying change; this…

BylizzieFebruary 13, 20240Comments

Horse Channel Horse Training

FLATWORK FEBRUARY #8: THE WALK TO CANTER

The walk to canter is more challenging to teach your horse than the trot to canter, but once learnt, it is easier for your horse to execute. This is due to the sequence in which your horse's legs move. The walk is a four-beat gait where all legs move individually. In the trot, the legs…

BylizzieFebruary 13, 20240Comments

Horse Channel Horse Training

FLATWORK FEBRUARY #4: THE SPIRAL

You can complete this exercise in either walk, trot, or canter. But like with most of these exercises, starting at the walk or trot is best. One would usually begin with a 20m circle and spiral into a 10m circle, but you can adjust this as needed. If spiralling to a 10m circle is too…

BylizzieFebruary 6, 20240Comments

Ask HQ Horse Channel Horse Training

THE WONDERS OF CIRCLES

Dressage is all about suppleness. Without consistent bend throughout your horse’s body lots of exercises become difficult and you’ll struggle to get a respectable dressage score. Here we give you two simple exercises that you can work on that will ultimately help to improve your circles: Spice it up: Circles are the mainstay of every…

BylizzieAugust 3, 20210Comments

Horse Channel Horse Training

DRESSAGE FOR THE SHOWJUMPING HORSE

Text: Shari Michaelis While showjumping might seem like a ‘point and shoot’ discipline to some spectators, a good showjumping round requires much more from the horse than just clearing the jumps. Showjumping demands that the horse is adjustable, flexible, in balance, has straightness in his body and has a good and powerful canter. Working the horse…

BylizzieMay 1, 20210Comments

Ask HQ Horse Channel Horse Training

SHOULDER-IN

Shoulder-in is the mother of all lateral movements. It was described in detail by the Grand Master François Robichon de la Guérinière along with its enormous gymnastic benefits for the horse. He is said to have described the exercise as the ‘cure of equitation’ and ‘the first and last movement to teach the horse in…

BylizzieFebruary 22, 20210Comments

Horse Channel Horse Training Know How

Fitness and wellbeing for riders

Your workouts out of the saddle should include cardio and core training [dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile we tirelessly put hours into training and maintaining our horses, we seldom remember to look after ourselves. Our horses are athletes – there’s no doubt about it – and riders work hard to make sure that they are trained correctly, fed a careful…

BylizzieApril 8, 20160Comments

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