Need dressage info.Horse knows how to preform,I dont. western experience 29 yrs.explain leg & rein pressures?

Question

I want to learn what different pressures and positions of my legs will tell the horse.What steps do I take with my legs to tell the horse which gait to perform.What different pressures on the reins are telling the horse.How to switch leads on cue and some other fancy footwork

Answer 1

If you've only ridden western I would recommend starting with some basic English lessons.  The leg and seat position and aids are very different.  Then you can move up to some simple dressage moves. I know when you watch someone like Debbie McDonald it looks easy - as if the horse is just reading her mind.  But, dressage requires a lot of training both on the part of the rider and horse.  Your Western experience should be a huge plus since you must have a good balanced seat.  Set up a lesson with a dressage instructor but make sure they know you're experience and you don't need an instructor who competes internationally in grad prix level dressage.  In fact, the one instructor I had who almost made an Olympic team was the least useful because she couldn't explain things.  I love dressage because during a good ride you are in perfect sync with the horse.  Many people think of dressage as being mean to the horse.  But, what it really is about is to teach the horse to use its muscles in the natural way it would do so if it didn't have a rider aboard.  Don't worry about the fancy moves for a while (e.g. piaffes).  I'm sure once you learn the basics of English riding, with your Western experience, you'd be able to start doing things like leg yields which require lateral movements.  And, you don't have to wait until you are great to do dressage shows.  Lots of schools offer dressage competitions with training level tests (the lowest level).  Good Luck!

As far as specific questions, your aids should come first from your legs and seat, and as little as possible from your reins.  The easiest and very important thing to learn in general English riding (hunt seat or dressage) and it may be true in Western riding (I'm ignorant on that front) is that you put pressure on the leg that you want the horse to move away from.  So, if I want to move the horse from an inner track to the outside rail I'd put my inside leg on him.  On a slightly more advanced subject, in order to get a horse to relax properly and drop his head, get on the bit and round his back, you need to have very very steady hands.  Especially the outside rein which you need to try to hold as steady as possible.  You can use the inside rein in the beginning to try to get the horse to bend to the inside, but once you're more advanced it's really your legs that should be giving this cue.  If you're going around a ring counterclockwise and bending inside (you might play with the insides left rein a little) while the outside rein holds the horse straight.  When you get more advanced your leg aids should be enough.  To keep an inside bend around corners, your inside leg should be slightly in front of the girth and your outside leg slightly behind it.  I'm not that advanced but I know seat position also plays a big role.

You should also start with simple lead changes.  When you change direction across the half school or a diaganol bring your horse to a trot for as few strides as possible, change the bend to clue him into the fact that you're changing direction and use pressure with your new outside leg (or kick if pressure doesn't work).  Flying lead changes are harder.  The rider needs to understand how to give the correct aids and the horse has to be experienced enough to know what these aids mean.  Instead of slowing to a trot, when you cross the half school or diaganol and are ready to change direction first change the horses bend so he knows somethings going on and then use your new outside leg as you would in a simple change of leads.

I think you'll enjoy dressage.  I like it (even though I also like the excitement of jumping) because I feel like when I'm communicating well with my horse, he's reading my mind.

To anyone reading this, if I've made an incorrect statement please let me know.  I had taken a vacation from riding and just started doing dressage again a few months ago.

Thanks!

Answer 2

Well to tell you the truth western and dressage is so close

One has less pressure on the reins and legs one has more

so if you have been showing western horses for 29 yrs its going to be very easy for you

Just Use more body / leg  and rein

you will find many movements are the the same just with more contact with the hand to mouth

Que's are more,,,! with more contact with leg always on the horse for support and western is keeping the horse balanced with less support ..But in higher movements you;ll need more contact because he needs the riders help to kept him balanced ,,



Cutting was let into the Olympics because it has so much the same movements as a dressage horse , But just in a different ways of contact

so its should be easy for you ?

Now if you have been ridding western for just trail ridding ? and have never shown Then ????/ ,,,,

Then thats a whole New Chapter to the story ??

I hope you can tell me if you have shown so I know we are speaking the same language ??