They move into a rising trot. The position adjustments allow the horse back to come up more than it was originally. Stephany again makes some minor adjustments to the rider leg to improve her contact with the horse. She also emphasizes how each leg can be different and may need to be altered sepa...

Stephany emphasizes that you will not get a good trot from a poor walk so she works with the rider to get a quality walk and then ask for trot. The rider is the bearer of the rhythm that she can control through her position.

Laura explains the difference betweenœcontact andœconnection. Contact is between the bit and the rider hand. Connection includes the contact but also includes the hind leg of the horse, leg of the rider and the back of the horse. She also discusses the importance of the horse promptly responding ...

As they start to work in the trot, Laura focuses on the tempo and holds the horse to a high standard. They move into canter, and the same standards apply where there is one aid for the canter, and the horse should respond appropriately. If he doesnt, the rider repeats the transition and makes a p...

After a walk break, they go back to establishing a forward tempo while shortening the reins. Once the horse is responsive to the leg, they start to work on the contact, asking the horse to give to a certain amount of pressure on the bridle. However, even if the rider is focusing on the contact, t...

They finish the ride still working on the bend and contact with a forward tempo to improve the connection. Laura helps the horse understand giving to rein pressure so that the rider is able to soften for a few moments. By the end of the ride, they are successfully working with a training level co...

Adrienne helps an adult amateur rider with her horse who is not respectful of the leg aids. She reminds her that the forward aid can get as strong as it needs to be, but when he responds it should go back to being light. The top priority needs to be that the horse maintains the tempo the rider se...

Adrienne Lyle continues to have the rider work on walk-trot transitions with a focus on a prompt step off and steady connection. The rider has to pay attention to her rein length and not let the horse pull the reins out of her hands. They move on to trot-canter transitions where the rider needs t...

Chelsea rides a horse with a personality style she finds common with many riders one that is wonderfully safe, but less motivated and not as responsive to a light leg aid. This type of horse often teaches a rider to work too hard, so Chelsea demonstrates how to promote a better way of going for t...

Chelsea talks about the aids she uses to ride a sensitive horse. The most important thing is that the horse responds to a light aid. Her focus is on light leg aids, getting a response and sending her horse into a steady, relaxed contact. She goes over the basics of walk, trot and canter and leg y...

In the first part of her Equitana demonstration, Karen talks about how to improve the horse balance. The riders work on visualizing a circle with correct alignment, flow and softness. While riding the circle, they notice how the horse feels and make corrections to improve the balance. When the ho...

During the warmup part of this clinic ride, Shannon stresses that the rider needs to start to feel the hind legs more than the front legs in the connection. When the horse starts to come round, be sure not to throw her away. Every transition can help train the horse to step her hind legs under an...

In the upward transitions, Shannon wants the horse to step into herself instead of pulling herself out. The rider cant push the horse forward. She must get the horse hind legs under her body.œTransitions are where we really do the training for collection and suppleness.

They start to work on the single flying change. It is about finding a place in the arena where you can keep the horse contained for a change. Early on, Shannon usually doesnt ask for a change on the diagonal because the horse can get too strong. The do walk-canter transitions around the full aren...

They finish their ride with trot work. They work on compacting the horse in the transitions so that the horse doesnt get too long in the trot. Shannon suggests thinking of going into a half-step instead of going into a big trot. They do a schooling shoulder-in on four tracks and renvers to get th...

The first part of this ride encompasses the warm-up. It is important to check in with the horse to see how he reacts to your leg both forward and laterally. The horse needs to move off your leg promptly to keep the rider from using too strong of an aid and getting out of balance. The rider should...

As the ride continues, they work on getting the horse even sharper to the leg and more upright. Shannon works on details of the rider position during leg yield. Overall, the rider needs to stay absolutely square. That way the horse has a place to balance underneath the rider.

The last portion of this ride focuses on suppleness and collection in the canter work. There is a difference betweenœround andœlow. The horse can be round and also uphill. They add haunches-in on the 20-meter circle to improve suppleness in collection. Shannon helps demonstrate the proper rider p...

Shannon helps a rider with a stallion that tends to get behind the leg. With this type of horse, Shannon says you need to ride forward to organize and forward to balance rather than forward and back. Once the horse carries the rider forward, then the rider can start to bring the horse back.œIf yo...

Once the horse is thinking forward, Shannon asks the rider to take a little more feel with the reins. They work on canter-trot transitions, thinking leg yield to help keep the horse hind leg rotating. The rider also must think forward and bending in the down transitions to help keep the horse fro...

In the first part of this ride, Shannon helps a rider work on her leg position that helps open the hip joint. The rider should feel like if the horse drops out from under her, she will land on her feet. The hips go in advance of the shoulders every stride because the horse takes them.

They start the canter work and focus on the rider turning her body position in the direction of travel. Again, Shannon helps the rider with the specific body position required to bend the horse properly. In the canter half-pass, it is important to ride both sides of the horse, and then they start...

In this third part, they continue to work on canter half pass, straight on the center line and then executing a single flying change. Doing a little less bend in half-pass makes it easier to do the flying change. The rider still needs to focus on the position of her hips throughout the movements ...

Shannon helps a rider focus on establishing a consistent forward tempo with her mare. The tempo and the hind leg are important before trying to have the horse on the bit. They also canter right away to help establish the forward feeling. Once the mare is forward, they can focus on getting her to ...