They take a walk break, but Steffen still has them work on the quality and tempo of the walk before returning to the canter.  He has them ride the centerline in the canter to teach her when the rider straightens her she is not asking for a change. By being accurate on the turn to the centerline s...

Once the horse is moving well in canter, they try some flying changes. Steffen wants to make sure the horse’s energy, balance and suppleness is correct before asking for a change. The changes are clean and straight, but the horse is a little long and low, so Steffen works on having the rider shor...

They proceed to the canter, and when the mare swaps leads when she asks for collection Steffen has her explain it in a walk pirouette.  At the canter again on a 20 meter circle they ride haunches in, lengthen, bring the haunches in and then ask for collection.  They experiment with keeping her st...

Next, they work on trot half passes asking the horse to come more off the ground and be more responsive to the half halts. They work transitions between medium trot and half steps while keeping the suppleness and elasticity in the contact. Steffen explains that the goal is to create half pass tha...

In this first video, Allison watches this junior rider warm up.

In Part 5, Allison gives great tips on how to ride the walk pirouettes with enough bend and crossing.

ESDCTA Forum, 2007, Janet Foy & Steffen Peters, PSG/ Prix St. Georges /S

ESDCTA Forum, 2007, Janet Foy & Steffen Peters, PSG/ Prix St. Georges /S

ESDCTA Forum, 2007, Janet Foy & Steffen Peters, PSG/ Prix St. Georges /S

ESDCTA Forum, 2007, Janet Foy & Steffen Peters, PSG/ Prix St. Georges /S

ESDCTA Forum, 2007, Janet Foy & Steffen Peters, PSG/ Prix St. Georges /S

Steffen works with a talented pair showing Prix St. Georges. With this forward-thinking horse, he wants the rider to really make sure the horse is listening to the bending and half halt aids. It is okay for this horse to be below tempo in all the gaits. Then when the horse is relaxed and listenin...

Steffen works to create more cadence through half halts. They work between collected trot and passage, and then taking that in to the half pass.

Steffen Peters teaches a session with a Friesian cross 15 year old mare  schooling PSG.   The rider expresses concern with the mare losing activity and jump and a lack of responsiveness to the aids for the change due to the quality of the canter. Steffen points out that it is really an issue of h...

When schooling flying changes, Steffen wants the rider to think about the canter quality first. The horse also needs to be able to move off both of the rider's legs so that he has room to cleanly change. If the horse wants to anticipate the change, it is important to make the horse wait.

After the canter work, Steffen has them do trot work, including passage, piaffe and half pass. He wants the focus on cadence, and since the horse has a good passage, he suggests using that to help collect the trot. In the half pass, if the rider feels the trot getting flat, Steffen suggests going...

In the canter work, Steffen suggests spiraling down into a canter pirouette, but he doesn’t want the inside hind leg to come in too far. When the canter gets too short, there should be less haunches in and slightly enlarge the circle to improve the activity. Then he likes to let the horse stretch...

They work on schooling pirouettes. Steffen says to try to keep the movement and the aids simple. When schooling the movement, keep it large and only do as many strides as the horse can do with quality and then go forward out of the movement. He stresses to set the horse up correctly and then allo...

The rider now remounts, and Steffen clarifies that when she pushes with the spur it needs to mean more to the mare.  When she goes to the canter pirouette she shows a much better collection and when she breaks to the trot Steffen encourages her to make a bigger correction. He asks them to extend ...

They reverse direction and continue with the walk pirouette.  Steffen asks to ride the horse ( Steffen removes his microphone before he gets on. The rider wears it later as she watches him ride.) He begins by repeating the same exercise at the walk, using his leg for a short push rather than a ki...

To finish the ride, they school trot work, including some half-steps, passage and half pass. When asking for cadence in the passage, Steffen still wants the horse to be forward thinking. The steps should be shorter, but higher than the working trot. Anytime the horse gets flat, the rider can thin...

This German Riding Pony tends to rush and get too low in front so they start the warm-up with a slower tempo and higher neck carriage. Steffen comments that usually diving in front and being too quick go together. They do the same thing in the warm-up canter. Then they go back to the walk and try...

They start with flying changes on the long side slightly off the rail so that there is some room for straightening the horse or moving him a little off the leg. Steffen emphasizes the need for straightness before asking for the change. He also wants the rider to use the legs as the primary aids a...