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TRAINING
FUNDAMENTALS
Test your training fundamentals
Basically 99 percent of all technical problems come from an insufficient confirmation of the basic
training fundamentals. Those first basic training fundamentals imply that your horse has the
right rhythm, is relaxed and moves with a forward intention from behind into the hand.
Whether you have problems with the connection, when doing lateral work or making transitions,
chances are that the core of the problem lies in the basic training fundamentals I just mentioned.
It is therefore of importance that each training you make sure you have the training
fundamentals established. Only that way you can proceed to the highest levels of dressage.
On the following pages I describe a few basic exercises for you to try yourself in the training.
These exercises serve as a way to give you an indication of how well the training fundamentals
are established and to increase awareness.
Good luck!
TRAINING FUNDAMENTALS TEST
Do you have the basic training fundamentals established?
You don’t want to have the feeling that you need to keep giving the driving aids to keep your horse going.
Instead you want your horse to keep forward intention even if you don’t give the driving aids anymore. Of
course a horse won’t keep going forwards without aids infinitely, but you do aim to keep that feeling as long
as possible.
Below you find the first exercise to find out whether you keep forward motion without giving additional aids.
EXERCISE 1. Track right in walk and when you pass ‘K’ don’t give any forward aids anymore. How many steps,
meter, feet or to which letter do you get before losing the same feeling of forward intention? Do this exercise in
walk, trot and canter. Do the same when tracking left in all three gaits and start at ‘F’.
RIGHT TRACK
Walk
Trot
Canter
LEFT TRACK
Walk
Trot
Canter
Do you feel that your horse keeps enough forwardness without your support? Is there a difference on the right or
left track or whether you ride in walk, trot or canter?
TRAINING FUNDAMENTALS TEST
Do you have the basic training fundamentals established?
Not only do you want your horse to be ‘forward thinking,’ you also want your horse to respond rapidly when
you give a driving aid. An easy way to check this, is to ride the transitions ‘halt-walk’ and ‘halt-trot.’
EXERCISE 2A. Make the transition ‘halt-walk’ on the long side of the arena. What aid did you give and in what
amount before your horse responded? How long did it take before your horse responded? Also make the transition
‘halt-trot’ and answer the same questions.
What aid and in what amount?
Hoe long before you got the right response?
Transition halt - walk
Transition halt - trot
Do you have the feeling that your horse responds rapidly to your forward driving aids from halt? Can it be
improved? If so, how?
EXERCISE 2B. Repeat the transitions ‘halt-trot’ a few times in a row. Do you feel that your is starting to respond to
your driving aid more rapidly?
Doesn’t your horse respond well enough? For example, doesn’t he respond immediately or is the
response too slow? Give the aid again, but this time, increase the aid so that your horse learns to
give a quicker response. Always start with a small aid and build from this when you don’t get the
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response you want. This way your horse will soon learn that he will get a stronger leg aid when he doesn’t
respond quickly or doesn’t give enough of a response. However, be aware that you don’t unconsiously block
your horse in his forward movements, for example, by having too much pressure on the reins.
TRAINING FUNDAMENTALS TEST
Do you have a solid confirmation of the basic training fundamentals?
Only when you have the right rhythm, relaxation and a steady forwardness from the hind legs towards the
bit, you can start to get a good connection. You can’t force this with your hands and by giving rein aids.
Getting the right connection is a process that takes time. With the following exercise you can get an
indication of how well the connection is established and how much you control the connection and frame
with your rein aids.
EXERCISE 3. Track right in walk and when you pass ‘K’ just keep a steady, friendly and relaxed contact with the
mouth of your horse without trying to control or adjust the frame of your horse. How many steps, meter, feet or to
which letter do you get before the connection and the frame of your horse changes? Do this exercise in walk, trot
and canter. Do the same when tracking left in all three gaits and start at ‘F’.
RIGHT TRACK
Walk
Trot
Canter
LEFT TRACK
Walk
Trot
Canter
How do you get the right connection? It starts with what I call the ‘contact rein.’ You take the
contact with the mouth and try to keep that contact. So, does your horse move his head into a
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certain direction, you just keep the same contact. At the same time, you try to sit in a relaxed and
independent manner.
The aim is to have a soft and steady connection with the mouth of the horse. It doesn’t matter in what frame
your horse moves. If you start this way, your horse will learn to trust your hand and he will eventually
perceive the contact as pleasant and he will want to keep that contact.
Make sure that you don’t start to influence the frame of your horse. First, your horse needs to have
forwardness and a willingness to stay in contact with your hand. You want to ride your horse in his natural
preferred frame with a steady contact rein. When you have that confirmed, you can take the next step.
TRAINING FUNDAMENTALS TEST
Do you have the basic training fundamentals established?
It is of importance that your horse carries his own weight and has his own balance without looking for
support of your hand. To test the self-carriage of a horse you can do the exercise ‘überstreichen.’ You can do
this exercise when the connection between your hand and the mouth of your horse is established.
With this exercise you move both hands forwards and you break the contact with the mouth of your horse.
The idea is that your horse keeps moving in the same rhythm and in the same frame. You can do this for a
few strides in trot and canter on the circle or on a straight line.
EXERCISE 4. Ride the exercise überstreichen onze in trot and once in canter for 2 to 3 stride and pay attention to
what happens to the rhythm and the frame of your horse. Write down your findings below.
ÜBERSTREICHEN IN TROT
ÜBERSTREICHEN IN CANTER
Do you feel that your horse has enough balance and self-carriage without seeking support of your hand? Or do you
feel that you need to ‘control’ your horse with your rein aids?
When you’re doing this exercise and your horse lifts his head up, this is often a result of a lack of
trust in your hand. Does your horse instead drop his head? This is often a result of a horse seeking
support on the contact rein. This implies that your horse puts too much weight on the reins.
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TRAINING FUNDAMENTALS TEST
Do you have the basic training fundamentals established?
You have now completed four simple exercises to get more of an idea of how well the training fundamentals
are confirmed. What are your findings? What are areas of improvement and do you know how you can solve
that?
Remember that improvement always starts with awareness. Don’t worry too much if your conclusion is that
you really need to work on your training fundamentals. Perceive it as an opportunity that you can still make
a lot of progress with your horse.
Keep an eye out on your mailbox. You’ll be getting free tips and if you really want to learn how to improve
the training fundamentals step by step,
www.dressagepro.com
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