Comments on: What are some easy dressage exercise my horse and i could learn?

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:32:59 +0000

Do you have letters in your arena? If not, you want to get them first. Here’s a diagram:
http://oakcreek.ponyclub.org/Potpourri/smarena.htm

Once you get your letters up, the simplest thing (but not easy!) is riding accurately. For example, practice doing transitions when your shoulder is at a given letter (for a challenge, try riding a transition at EVERY letter!), ride across the arena diagonally from M to K (going deep into the corners before and after the diagonal, leaving and arriving the rail AT the letter), riding straight down the center from A to C, or circling at B. Riding accurately is surprisingly difficult to do consistently and it WILL help to progress your riding and your horses training.

Another thing that is simple but not easy is riding round circles. Try raking the arena before you ride. Then ride a circle and look at your horse’s footprints to see if they actually make a circle, or if it is more of an oval or egg-shape. Does the letter at which you rode the circle actually bisect the circle, or is the whole circle a little to one side of the letter? Some people find it useful to count the number of strides on each quarter of the circle as an indication as to whether each portion of the circle is the same as all the others.

It may sound a little boring, but it really is quite challenging!

From there you can begin practicing some movements from dressage tests, which you can find
http://www.usdf.org/docs/tests/IntroductorytestA.pdf
http://www.usdf.org/docs/tests/IntroductorytestB.pdf
http://www.traditionalhorsemanship.com/#
http://www.aquilapre.com.au/Dressage.html
http://dressagetestsonline.com/

That should keep you busy for a while!
References :
ARIA certified dressage instructor

By: gabbie

gabbie — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 14:00:59 +0000

leg yields
shoulder-in
back-up

to soften ur horses head and neck, u need to include lots of lateral work, differant schooling movements and transitions in your schooling

schooling movements too look up:
shallow loops
demivaults
serpentines
changing through the circle
changing out the circle
10/15/20 metre circled
changes on the diagonal / centre line
References :

By: Morgan- keep laughing

Morgan- keep laughing — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:25:59 +0000

Well one thing is trying to get your horses nose down by working on vertical flex so at a stand still your horse will drop its head and collect slightly. You can practice this every time you stop your excise. Try not to let your horse back up though, and release to the tiniest try because your horse will learn start to get it them give more and more until she can completely collect her nose. Also don’t yank on her nose, try to use a little pressure as possible but as much as necessary.

Then once you get her dropping her head to your satisfaction at a stand still then you can progress into walking collected and so forth. But, mainly to get the nose down you should work on getting the nose to give and soften up.
References :
Trainer

By: rshazza

rshazza — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:54:59 +0000

you need to first establish rhythm, balance, impulsion and straightness – if you achieve all of these you have the roundness and the vertical nose.
its a huge huge subject – without seeing you both I wouldnt be able to suggest exercises for you to practice
is it possible you can post a youtube link or similar?
failing that http://www.classicaldressage.net is a fantastic site even for people at the lower levels.
References :
dressage instructor