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Dressage Work
Dressage Work
Posted by Mara at 4/14/2009 11:46 AM PDT on Horse Barn

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Although I specialize in jumping, I encourage all of my students to practice diligent flat work and to take flat lessons regularly. We also hold regular dressage clinics which all students are pushed to participate in. This week my flat lessons focused on adjustability and flexibility through a series of lateral work and transitions.

Throughout the warm up I asked my students to make various upward and downward transitions. In the upward transitions I like my students to focus on having a sharp response from their horses and in the downward transitions I want my students to keep their horses forward and engaged.

After warming up I asked my students to ride up the quarter line at the sitting trot and leg yield to the track. A common mistake I see is that student’s don’t hold their outside reins as they leg yield over so they end up with a crooked horse and often a strung out trot. Once everyone completed this exercise well we moved on to leg yielding from the track to the quarter line, which is harder because the horses naturally like to stay on the rail.

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Site Manager - Mara Hi, I'm Mara. I hold several equine business related degrees and have earned numerous national awards for riding. I've been seriously involved with horses my entire life and have ridden with many locally and nationally known horse professionals. I've also worked as a working student for hunter/jumper trainers Tammy Provost-Vitello and Wendy Newby, primarily as a rider and instructor. I've worked extensively with event, jumper and dressage trainer Jerry Schurink.

My love for horses is genuine and my desire to share that passion with others is the chief reason I'm working on this site. Be sure to check out my blog for more about my experiences with horses as well as my videos here on the site.