When people hear the word ‘dressage,’ they automatically tend to think of piaffe’s and serious dressage riding – but when stripped back, dressage is just another term for flatwork, and this underpins everything we do with our horses. Even when hacking we will ride transitions and these are the fundamentals of dressage. From here you can move onto things such as lateral work, which even if you have no intention of ever doing a dressage test, can still improve your horse’s obedience and suppleness to help you in other disciplines. At Kilminster equestrian, we believe Dressage should be viewed not just as a separate discipline, but ongoing training and progression for your horse.
It is important for a rider to understand that when they watch a Carl Hester demonstration, for instance, the horse he is riding did not become an advanced horse overnight. It is the ground work and conditioning that separates the everyday horse and the dressage horse, and even the advanced horse is always still in training.
Kilminster Eventing
Although Eventing includes dressage as 1 of the 3 phases, the horses who compete are a multi disciplined and multi muscled horses which are also conditioned to jump and gallop, something the pure dressage horse is not. This does not mean that the dressage horse cannot jump or gallop, it just means that they won't have the correct muscle groups built up to do the same job as that of the event horse at top level.
When it comes to showjumping, the most successful horse is likely to be one who is rhythmical and balanced, as well as being adjustable, and able to lengthen and shorten. A horse which runs on his forehand and is unbalanced will usually have fences down, so again we see the importance of getting the flatwork right. The same principles apply to cross country; you need an obedient horse which can gallop underneath you in balance, and which is able to shorten and lengthen in between fences as necessary. My own horse Eric was very strong XC, and I would have given anything to have had him as a younger horse and established the obedience early on. He did improve with work but at times it was very hairy!
Kilminster showing
All of my horses have started their working lives by doing in hand showing, entering things such as native in hand, or best conditioned for instance. Not only did this introduce the youngsters to busy environments, but also taught them to stand correctly and gain patience and obedience while waiting in line. Personally I find fidgeting horses awkward to deal with as their attention is often 
elsewhere and by the time they come to be ridden, they have developed bad habits and become harder to work with.
Ridden showing is another separate training process. I learned very quickly when working and riding for a HOYS winner, that those horses are the best mannered, easy to ride horses. Since working with this producer, every show horse I’ve worked with has followed the same principles - with small adjustments where necessary according to the horse.
All ridden horses need to show the basics; halt, walk, trot, canter and lengthened canter/gallop. Some judges do ask for rein back, demonstrating obedience and yielding. Old school judges look for a forward thinking, light in the hand, obedient ride. This is paramount in the hack classes, but also applies for the other classes too. A ridden hunter needs to be able to gallop and come back to his rider without a disagreement, as too does a working hunter, riding horse and cob.
There is also an in hand section to the showing, showing the horses conformation and natural way of going, something which may be hidden by the rider in the first instance. All horses should be able to demonstrate how to trot correctly and willingly without being forced by the handler, or groom for that matter.
From showing to dressage to eventing, everything comes back to the basics – whether that means groundwork or flatwork. In order to get this right, we believe in working with both horse and rider. Even the best horses will struggle to achieve results if the rider is off balance or not sitting correctly. This kind of training needn’t be boring, or require the brains of Einstein; ALL training should be fun, educational and clear. Believe it or not, most of the exercises we use to address this usually end in fits of giggles, as well as a better partnership for the horses and riders I work with. Give it a go and see for yourself!
