by Jane Savoie | Oct 11, 2016 | Dressage
Shoulder-in is the father of all the advanced lateral exercises. What I mean by advanced lateral exercises are exercises like shoulder-in, haunches-in, half pass, walk pirouettes, and canter pirouettes. Shoulder-in does a lot of different things. It is a straightening...
by Jane Savoie | Oct 11, 2016 | Dressage
Here’s an exercise to supple your horse’s poll. Start in the halt on the rail so you can check that you’re keeping your horse’s body absolutely straight. If he’s straight, his body is parallel to the rail from nose to tail. When you start to...
by Jane Savoie | Aug 29, 2016 | Dressage, Dressage Mentor
One of the many reasons deep breathing helps you to relax is that it allows you to move from a Beta state to Alpha state. When I refer to Beta and Alpha states, I’m talking about the oscillations of your brain waves. When you’re in a Beta state, the oscillations are...
by Jane Savoie | Aug 29, 2016 | Dressage
To put your horse on the bit, use what I call the “connecting aids”. The “connecting aids” are a combination of three ingredients that you’ll maintain for about three seconds—the length of time it takes you to inhale and exhale: Those three ingredients are the: ....
by Jane Savoie | Jun 21, 2016 | Dressage
The most important thing to know when you find yourself riding a horse with a sudden desire to kick his heels up is that there are two main rules that will help keep you safe: RULE #1: Heads Up! Both of you: horse and rider. When your head and eyes go down so will...
by Jane Savoie | Jun 21, 2016 | Dressage
If your horse gets too far behind the vertical, he ends up in a position that I call “rolled over the bit”. In that position, he physically can’t shift the parallelogram of his body. He won’t be able to bring his hind legs underneath his body and come up in front. So,...
