A close up image of the letter B of the dressage arena while the sun sets

ASKHQ: COUNTER-CANTER

Q: What is counter-canter and why is it worth practising? Counter-canter is when a horse deliberately canters on the outside lead. For example, the horse canters on the left lead on a right-hand circle, or the right lead on a left-hand loop. In ordinary canter work, the horse’s leading leg matches the direction of travel;…

BylizzieDecember 13, 20250Comments

Horse Training

SHOULDER-FORE FOR SUPPLING

The suppling abilities of lateral work are essential for horses in any discipline and therefore should play a major role in your horse’s training programme. Introducing lateral work early gives you time to establish it in the horse’s repertoire and allows you to move onto more advanced work with more confidence. A really useful exercise for…

BylizzieOctober 30, 20250Comments

Horse Training

CIRCLES

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…

BylizzieOctober 23, 20250Comments

Horse Channel Horse Training

FLATWORK FEBRUARY #12: THE SNOWMAN

It may be summer in South Africa, but here at HQ, we are making snowmen. The snowman exercise consists of two circles: one bigger circle, 20m, forms your snowman's body, and a smaller circle, 10m, forms his head. There is no set way to ride exercise; similar to the figure eight exercise, you can do the…

BylizzieFebruary 13, 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

Ask HQ Horse Channel Horse Training

ASKHQ: MOTIVATION WITH YOUNG HORSES

Q: How can I stay motivated when working with young horses? A: Working with young or green horses can be an incredibly challenging experience and it is easy to become demotivated or despondent. Personally, I love working with the youngsters – I see them as a clean slate; a blank canvas ready to be painted! However,…

BylizzieFebruary 14, 20210Comments

Ask HQ Horse Channel

ASKHQ: STRETCH IT OUT

Q: What is the best way to shorten my reins after allowing my horse to stretch? Asked by Kath Harrison A stretch is often a surprisingly difficult movement for a horse to perform. In order to stretch and regather well, a horse must be truly in balance. If your horse struggles to balance or accept the bit…

BylizzieOctober 12, 20200Comments

Horse Channel Horse Training Know How

MUSCLE UP: CONDITIONING YOUR HORSE

Conditioning muscles, as with most other work with horses, therefore, relies on a consistent, progressive programme [dropcap]M[/dropcap]uscle is the most adaptive tissue in the body in that it can grow and develop with training and degenerate and become weaker during periods of inactivity. Trained muscle is more efficient because: It has an increased number in the…

BylizzieMarch 12, 20180Comments

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