Part 2: The rider gets back in the saddle and Doug Payne continues the lesson by explaining that her horse likes to pop hi shoulders to evade her, and she can work on this by opening the opposite rein a little, and maintaining correct bend. He encourages the rider to soften as soon as the horse begins to offer the correct answer, and maintain pressure when he is being silly. He emphasizes always providing an avenue for the horse to make a good choice and step over to release the pressure. Horse and rider grow in confidence as she develops the skills to keep him focused on his work and less on distractions.
Up Next in Dressage
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Helping The Anxious Horse Focus - Part 3
Part 3: While the horse takes a break, Doug reminds the rider that her hands are a powerful tool to help make her life easier and overcome her horse's issues. By maintaining a shorter rein but keeping her hands more forward, her aids can be more effective, and she can avoid a lot of the wiggling ...
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Using Half-Halts - Part 1
Colleen discusses and demonstrates how she rides a half-halt with her body, which helps the horse balance back, keep his energy, but not fall on his forehand. A proper half-halt will help the horse rebalance, change the horse’s tempo or let the horse know something different is coming up.
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Using Half-Halts - Part 2
Using the half-halts in a well-trained horse shows how the horse gathers and engages himself. Colleen also explains what happens when she doesn’t execute a half-halt as well as she should have and what she could do to improve it.
