Stale? Use Transitions
Transitions are the key to keeping your horse fresh and interested.
Oh No not the arena again, he’s thinking. He’s stale and disinterested. But keeping your horse thinking about you and what you want from him is easy-peasy!
- Is your horse getting stale in the school?
- Can he transition, clean off your leg aid?
- Do you get true and immediate obedience to your aids?
In a word ‘ transitions ‘! Do hundreds and hundreds of them, but ensure they are quality, in your training sessions.
You are judged on the quality of your transitions in a Dressage Test and they are as important, if not more so, as the way of going. But my point is not that there are lots of types of transitions, my point is that you really do have to do hundreds of them. So never think that you have done ‘too many’ just keep going. Even when you have perfected the essential element, which is to preserve balance and maintain rhythm.
Hundreds of perfectly practiced transitions will have a huge benefit to your riding and your horse’s way of going. Your horse will find its own balance.
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