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Foundation Exercises for Dressage Success

This document provides exercises to check if a rider has established the proper foundation in their dressage training. It discusses the importance of having relaxation, forwardness, and trust between the horse and rider's hand. The exercises check if the horse stays forward without leg aids, responds quickly to transitions from halt to walk and trot, and maintains a steady frame and connection when the rider breaks contact with loose reins. Performing the exercises can help identify areas for improvement in establishing a solid training foundation.

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keira bigtuin
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46 views12 pages

Foundation Exercises for Dressage Success

This document provides exercises to check if a rider has established the proper foundation in their dressage training. It discusses the importance of having relaxation, forwardness, and trust between the horse and rider's hand. The exercises check if the horse stays forward without leg aids, responds quickly to transitions from halt to walk and trot, and maintains a steady frame and connection when the rider breaks contact with loose reins. Performing the exercises can help identify areas for improvement in establishing a solid training foundation.

Uploaded by

keira bigtuin
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

FUNDAMENTALS

CHECK
Four exercises to check if you have set the
right foundation in your training

R S R I D I N G . C O M
99% OF ALL TECHNICAL RIDING
PROBLEMS ARE RELATED TO NOT
HAVING A SOLID FOUNDATION
You need to have a solid foundation. It’s something we can all agree
on. Without a solid foundation you can’t train your horse in the right
way. Without a solid foundation you won’t progress to higher levels
and you’ll get stuck. Without a solid foundation you’ll run into all
kinds of problems like having an unsteady or heavy connection, not
having forwardness or having difficulties with collection.

Chances are you’re also running into problems and that you want to
know if the problems are related to the basic foundation of
dressage. Well, I can tell you that it’s very likely that’s indeed the
case.

According to Rien van der Schaft 99% of all technical riding


problems are related to not having the right basic principles, the
foundation, in place.

But what exactly are these basic principles?

In the online training program 'Solid Foundation Course' Rien talks


about the three basic principles. The three basic principles are
relaxation, forwardness and that your horse trusts your hand and
finds the contact pleasant.

This is what you want to have all the time. No matter if you’re just in
walk or if you’re doing a movement like shoulder-in. To find out if
you have these basic principles in place, together with Rien van der
Schaft we have a number of exercises for you that you can do when
training your horse. You’ll find them in the following pages.

Good luck and have fun!

Conny Loonstra
Founder DressagePro and co-founder TRTmethod
MEET RIEN VAN DER
SCHAFT
At the moment, Rien is the national coach of the Finnish
dressage team (formerly of the Dutch dressage team) and
guides students all over the world.

Besides the fact that Rien can be found abroad a lot, he runs his
own stable 'Sprengenhorst' together with his wife Inge and
daughter Romy. Here they train their own horses, but also
horses of owners.

From 1979 to 1983, Rien was part of the Dutch dressage team
and he also participated in the Olympic Championships, two
European Championships and the World Championship.

The training method of Rien van der Schaft is known as a very


friendly, logical and effective training method. With not only
the focus on the horse's head, but on the entire functioning of
the body.
FORWARDNESS
WITHOUT LEG AID
You don’t want to have the feeling that you have to keep giving
your horse leg aids to get forwardness. Instead, you want to
have forwardness even if you don’t give any leg aid. Of course,
your horse won’t stay forward for eternity after giving one leg
aid, but you do want to have the feeling of forwardness as long
as possible before repeating your leg aid. In the first exercise
below, you’ll find out how long it will take before the effect of
your leg aid wears down and you have to repeat your aid again.

1
How long will the forwardness last?

EXERCISE

Go in walk, tracking right and once you pass the letter “K” in
the arena, you don’t give any leg aid anymore. How many
steps, how many meter or feet or until what letter do you get
before you feel you have to repeat your leg aid? Try this in
walk, trot and canter and do the same when tracking left.

TRACK RIGHT TRACK LEFT

Walk Walk

Trot Trot

Canter Canter

Do you have the feeling your horse stays forward? Is there


difference within the three gaits and on the left of right
track?

TIP
The transition from trot to walk is also a good exercise to test whether
your horse has enough forwardness. Because if your horse doesn’t have
forwardness, the transition won’t go smoothly and it will feel like you’ll
lose (partly) the connection from back to front.
HALT AND RESPONSE
Not only do you want your horse to have forwardness, you also
want your horse to respond in the right way when you give a leg
aid. So when you give the leg aid that you feel the energy, the
activity, flowing through your horse’s body from his hind legs all
the way to his mouth. What you don’t want to feel is some kind
of blockage in your horse’s body or that he doesn’t respond at
all. There’s a simple way to check if your horse responds in the
right way and that’s by riding the transition halt to walk and the
transition halt to trot.

EXERCISES
2A
Go to halt on the long side of the arena and make a transition
to walk. What aids did you have to give and to what extent to
get the desired response? Do the same for the transition
from halt to trot.

How much and


How long before
what aid?
response?

Transition

Halt - Walk

Transition

Halt - Trot

Do you have the feeling your horse responds


quickly without having to give too many
aids? Can it be improved?
EXERCISE
2B
Repeat the transition halt to trot a few times in a relatively
short period of time. Do you feel your horse is learning to
respond quicker and on less aids?

“It’s very nice to review all


the videos. My trainer has
also noticed that my way of
riding has positively
changed.”

-
Christel Deugd (NL)
STEADY CONNECTION
When your horse has relaxation in his body and you ride him
with forwardness towards your hand, you can get a good and
steady connection. This is something you can’t accomplish with
your rein aids or by making a certain frame. Even if you do it in a
‘friendly’ way. With the next exercise you check to what extent
you try to influence the head-neck frame with your rein aids
instead of it being a result of having relaxation and riding from
back to front with a horse that trusts your hand.

EXERCISE
3
Go in walk, tracking right and once you pass the letter “K” in
the arena, focus on keeping the contact with your horse’s
mouth in a friendly and relaxed way without trying to
influence the frame. How long does it take until the head-
neck frame changes? Try it all the three gaits and do the
same when tracking left.

TRACK RIGHT TRACK LEFT

Walk Walk

Trot Trot

Canter Canter

Is there a difference within the three gaits and on the left or


right track?
HOW DO YOU GET THE
RIGHT CONNECTION?
It all starts with what Rien calls the ‘contact rein’.
With the contact rein you take the rein and you try
to keep a steady and soft connection to your
horse’s mouth. So if your horse moves his head up
and down, you just continue to keep the same
contact and you try to be as independent and
relaxed as possible.

At this point, it doesn’t matter what the head-neck


frame of your horse is. Because if you ride your
horse in this way, your horse will learn to trust your
hand.

Important! You don’t want to influence the head-


neck frame. You first want your horse to be
forward, relaxed and have a steady
contact rein with your hand. You’ll first
ride your horse in his natural preferred
balance with a steady contact rein.
Once that’s established, you can take
the next step.
ÜBERSTREICHEN
Another way to find out if you’re not trying to influence the
head-neck frame with your rein aids is to see what happens
when you let go of the contact. You can do this with an exercise
called überstreichen. It will also show you if your horse carries
himself or if he’s using your reins as support. Make sure to do
this exercise only when the contact between your hand and
your horse’s mouth is established and your horse trusts your
hand. With überstreichen your bring both hands forward and
you ‘break’ the contact with your horse’s mouth. Your reins
become loose. The desired result is that your horse continues
with the same rhythm, tempo and frame. You can do this a few

4
steps in trot or canter, on a straight line or on a circle.

EXERCISE

Try to do a few steps of überstreichen in trot and canter and


see what happens to the rhythm, tempo, head-neck frame
and balance of your horse. Write it down below.

Überstreichen in trot

Überstreichen in canter

Do you have the feeling your horse carries


himself or do you feel you need to control
the head-neck frame with your hands?
TIP
When your horse lifts his head during the exercise, this is often a sign of
your horse not trusting your hand. If your horse brings his head down
it’s often because your horse uses your rein for support and doesn’t
carry himself.

“Rien makes everything very


simple and divides the
training into small steps.”

RESULTS
You’ve now done four exercises to test your horse’s foundation.
What are your conclusions? What do you need to work on?

1 RELAXATION

2 FORWARDNESS

3 TRUST IN THE HAND


“This way of training is so


important if you want to
keep your horse fit and
healthy.”

Mirjam Riet (NL)

Common questions

Powered by AI

Forwardness without constant leg aids is crucial because it allows the horse to maintain a self-sustained, energetic movement without the rider having to constantly urge it forward. This indicates that the horse is responsive and attuned to the rider's initial prompts and can maintain energy and activity flowing through its body from hind legs to the mouth, which is essential for higher level movements .

Repeating the transition from halt to trot refines a horse’s responsiveness by reinforcing the horse's understanding of the rider's cues, making it more effective and anticipative. This repetitive exercise helps reduce the amount and intensity of aids required, leading to a more subtle and efficient communication, which enhances the horse’s listening skills and reactivity to commands in various movements .

It is significant to track changes in the horse's head-neck frame without influencing it through rein aids because it measures the horse's ability to maintain a natural balance and relaxation. This approach ensures the horse's reactions are not forced or artificial, indicating true self-carriage and trust between horse and rider, thereby allowing natural and effective communication during training .

The 'contact rein' plays a role in maintaining a steady and soft connection with the horse's mouth, allowing the horse to trust the rider's hands. It requires keeping a consistent feel without trying to manipulate the horse's head-neck frame, thus fostering a relaxed and confident forward movement from the horse .

Not having a solid foundation in dressage training can severely hinder a horse's progression and result in various problems, such as an unsteady connection, lack of forwardness, and difficulty in more advanced movements like collection. These foundational issues prevent progression to higher levels and can cause both horse and rider to become stuck or regress without resolving core deficiencies like relaxation, forwardness, and trust in hand .

The 'überstreichen' exercise helps evaluate a horse's self-carriage by briefly breaking contact with the horse's mouth while maintaining the same rhythm, tempo, and frame. If the horse continues without relying on the rider's reins for support, it indicates that the horse carries itself properly. If the horse lifts its head, it may indicate a lack of trust in the hand, while lowering the head can suggest reliance on the reins for support .

Determining if problems in a dressage routine stem from foundational issues can be assessed by examining the horse's relaxation, forwardness, and trust in the rider's hand. If issues such as unsteady connection, lack of forwardness, or difficulty in collection arise, it might imply a lack of these foundational elements. Exercises designed to test these principles, such as assessing forwardness without continuous leg aids or checking the steadiness of the contact rein, can reveal underlying foundational weaknesses .

A horse that responds quickly to fewer aids in halt-to-trot transitions demonstrates increased sensitivity and attentiveness to the rider's cues, indicating a higher degree of training progression and understanding. This efficiency in response suggests improved communication between the horse and rider and indicates that the horse is more forward-thinking and anticipatory of the rider's intentions .

If a horse's head consistently lifts during the 'überstreichen' exercise, it may indicate a lack of trust in the rider's hand. This behavior suggests that the horse is not comfortable carrying itself without the reliance on the reins for support, pointing to a need for building confidence and a steady connection through improved trust and forwardness .

According to Rien van der Schaft, the three basic principles of a solid foundation in horse training are relaxation, forwardness, and ensuring that the horse trusts and finds contact with the rider's hand pleasant .

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