100+ School Exercises for Dressage

By Debby Lush

Over 100 exercises for all levels, with easy-to-understand instructions and clear diagrams. 100+ School Exercises for Dressage offers a wide range of different schooling patterns to suit all stages of training and all levels of rider and trainer experience. It is designed to be used as a reference book that can be visited again and again to seek out answers to everyday training challenges. Collected by the author over forty years of riding and training horses of all types and breeds, from backing to Grand Prix, the selection of exercises ranges from the most familiar of patterns to some rarely used but highly effective techniques specific to addressing less-common issues. The final section of the book offers sample schooling plans, explaining how to combine patterns to tackle common schooling issues, such as suppleness, straightness, connection to the outside rein, engagement and collection, and developing medium gaits and half passes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J A Allen
• Release date: Nov 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9780719835049

Debby Lush

Debby Lush has been a professional dressage rider and trainer for over forty years, working with a variety of breeds and types, ranging from thoroughbreds to warmbloods, and from native ponies to Iberians. She has trained many horses, from backing right through to advanced competition levels, has coached several successful horse/rider combinations and is a British Dressage List 1 judge. She is also the author of The Building Blocks of Training and The Successful Dressage Competitor (both JA Allen).

Book preview

PART 1

PATTERNS AND EXERCISES

FOUNDATION EXERCISES

These are the simple, basic exercises that should be taught to all horses, no matter what their purpose in life. They are designed to equip the horse with the mental understanding and the physical skills for a long and healthy career under saddle.

The gait/s in which each exercise can be performed is detailed on each page.

1. 20m CIRCLE

Walk, trot and canter.

Aims:

•20m circles are the exercise you will use most throughout your training career.

•The required bend is gentle enough that all horses can accommodate it to some degree, even on their stiffer side.

•It is where you begin to equalise your horse’s two sides.

•It is the basis of many other exercises.

How to:

1. On approach, prepare with small vibrations (half-halts) on the inside rein to develop a tiny inward flexion at the poll, and to warn the horse you are about to leave the track.

2. To start, turn your shoulders so your outside hand travels slightly forward and inwards towards the crest, permitting some bend while keeping control of the outside shoulder. It also brings your inside hand slightly back without pulling backward.

3. Put more weight into your inside stirrup/seat bone.

4. Move your outside leg slightly back from the hip to control the hindquarters.

5. To leave the circle , straighten your shoulders and equalise the weight in both stirrups and seat bones.

Common faults:

•You struggle with the shape . Learn the necessary touch points on the track and centre line ( see #2 ). Place markers or poles as visual aids.

•The horse falls in. Press him out with your inside leg. Do not pull him outwards with the outside rein, which will compromise the bend.

•He falls out . Press the outside rein against his neck – your outside hand should have an inward/ forward direction towards his inside ear – and use more outside leg.

•He leans in like a bicycle. Sit upright relative to the ground, and not to the horse. Push his ribcage out and up with your inside lower and upper leg.

•He bends to the outside as you leave the circle. This is caused by pulling on the outside rein in your effort to straighten. See above for how to leave the circle correctly.

Combine with other exercises:

Many exercises can usefully be performed on the 20m circle, such as

•Transitions

•Spirals

•Satellite circles turning in, and out, of your 20m circle

•Lateral movements such as shoulder-in, and haunches-in

2. DIAMONDS TO IMPROVE 20m CIRCLES

Walk, trot and canter.

Aims:

•To learn the points in the arena where circles should touch, to give you a true circle