Robin Walker, faculty member of the USEA Eventing Coaches Program, works with a Novice level rider schooling Training level. He first discusses what skills trainers should work on with their students to enable them to successfully move up the levels. One challenge is the horse tends to leave long...

Bettina wants more march in the walk and suggests the rider use his seat to accomplish this. She gives great tips on riding and improving the walk. They go back into the trot with details on when to apply half halts and ride the serpentine from the 2* test. In the canter they talk about the depar...

They reverse direction and Bettina explains softness comes from soft elbows, not opening the fingers. She helps the rider prepare properly for a canter depart. The trot becomes bigger after the canter, and they talk about containing that energy and changing the balance back onto the haunches.

Bettina begins this session by having the horse walk through a curved line of cavalletti. In the trot they work on the correct outline for the horse's strength along with the right rhythm. When they add the shoulder-in against the rail and lengthened steps on the open side of a circle, Bettina st...

Bettina Hoy brings her vast experience and knowledge to help this talented rider with the building blocks of great dressage - inside leg to outside hand, proper half halts and supple connection.

They move to the trot and repeat the exercise of three cavalletti on an arc, letting the horse sort out his balance and footwork. They change direction immediately after the third cavalletti and keep it interesting for him while working on using his core and position to designate the gait. The ne...

They take the next step in the progression of the exercise. After cantering through and changing direction, they add a walk transition, using the cavalletti to create the self carriage needed for a canter-walk transition.

Sharon explains how the cavalletti help in the development of the horse. They do another set of trotting through the exercise, and while he shows some tiredness, they work on building strength.

Sharon coaches a 2-star moving up to 3-star pair with loads of talent. The gelding’s big stride makes it difficult for him to sustain self carriage and collection, and Sharon helps them with cavalletti exercises that build the necessary strength.

Sharon White coaches a 2 star moving up to 3 star pair with loads of talent. The gelding’s big stride makes it difficult for him to sustain self carriage and collection, and Sharon helps them with cavalletti exercises that build the necessary strength.

Bettina begins this lesson by discussing the importance of straightness in the dressage training scale. She coaches the rider through the aids necessary to engage the horse's hind end and unlock the poll. She offers invaluable how-to’s to improve how the horse moves.

They do trot-walk-trot and trot-canter-trot transitions focusing on precise and balanced transitions only when the horse is correctly balanced. Shoulder fore to shoulder-in exercises are next.

When doing the leg yield, they lose a bit of their suppleness, so Bettina coaches them through softening again. The same aids are applied in the canter circles with an emphasis on flexing and letting go.

Robin starts with a coming 4-year-old OTTB that a client has brought along and explains how to properly start a youngster. They are just starting in his smaller ring, and the student shows the benefit of their work in the past week of having the mare go forward enough into a steady hand for her t...

Robin next address tempo changes within the trot and how that fits into the progression of training. He describes the next steps and exercises to improve the canter.

Robin Walker adds turns to the exercise, they make sure to keep the flow going forward. They trot large half circles back to the rail, setting them up for the canter later. The next exercise is sitting a few steps then rising without changing the connection or forward rhythm. This is used as the ...

Bettina Hoy brings her vast experience and knowledge to help this talented rider with the building blocks of great dressage - inside leg to outside hand, proper half halts and supple connection.

International event rider Jonathan Holling offers a logical and methodical lesson on increasing the suppleness in the lateral work with a focus on the trot half pass and a turn on the haunches. If you struggle with these upper level movements, this video offers a structure to build correct perfor...

To begin working on a turn on the haunches, they first school a leg yield with the nose to the rail. They then add a small circle in shoulder-in to get the bend with the front legs describing the shape and size of the circle.

In the trot, they again check the back and forth within the gait, spiral in and out in haunches-in or shoulder-in and then work on the trot half pass. They set it up by going haunches-in down the long side, 10m circle at E or B, haunches-in to the end, straighten across the short end, then trot h...

The exercise continues with haunches-in on the diagonal to the quarter line, medium trot to the next quarter line and the haunches-in again.

Olympic eventer, Bettina Hoy, joins PracticalHorsemanOnDemand.com with this excellent dressage video covering problems common to so many riders - getting the horses more active and responsive. Watch this great lesson for a cavalletti exercise you can do at home and great instruction on how to pro...

They now move on to the canter making sure first that they can go forward and then collect. The progression is to the counter canter next, spiraling in and out and walk/canter, canter/walk transitions. They go back to the turn on the haunches and the medium trot and shoulder-in.

Bettina schools them at the walk, asking for the proper energy and self carriage. She is very particular about the walk trot transition, and in the trot canter they use a 10m circle to prepare. By the end of the lesson the horse is noticeably more in self carriage.