RC Dressage

RC Dressage I am a competitive dressage rider, Equestrian Canada Basic dressage judge, AEF Certified judge, & an NCCP level 1 coach. Lessons, training, clinics.

08/23/2025

Renvers, also known as haunches-out, is a lateral exercise that improves your horse's flexibility, strength, suppleness, and straightness. However, unlike leg-yield, shoulder-in, travers, and half-pass, renvers is a movement you won't find in many dressage tests, which can lead to it being overlooked in training.

It's the mirror image of travers, and it's a difficult movement to position correctly and, therefore, tests and improves your coordination and ability to influence your horse's shoulders and hindquarters.

Renvers can be ridden in collected walk, collected trot, and counter-canter.

To position your horse for renvers, you can either:
👉 Ride shoulder-in on four tracks and then reverse your horse's bend.
Or
👉Ride leg-yield with your horse's hindquarters to the walk and then ask your horse to bend in the direction of travel.

08/19/2025

When riding corners, you should only ride them as deep as the smallest circle required for the level at which your horse is currently working.

For example, if you are working at British Dressage Introductory level, the smallest circle you’ll be expected to perform is 20-meters. Therefore, the corners you ride will be fairly shallow, not much deeper than the arc of a 20-meter circle. Elementary horses are expected to negotiate 10-meter circles, so the corners you ride will be correspondingly deeper.

This rule ensures that your horse stays relaxed and well within his comfort zone. He’ll be able to maintain the correct rhythm as he moves through the corners without variance in the tempo. He’ll also be less likely to lose his balance and fall onto his inside shoulder or his forehand, and he won’t swing his quarters out in an attempt to evade a degree of bend that is beyond his capability.

However, this rule is temporarily broken if you are preparing to turn down the center line or ride across the diagonal. In which case, you may need to ride the corners fractionally deeper.

08/13/2025

In this Ask the L, Aviva Nebesky explains why riding correct corners is crucial for your success and what judges expect to see from you and your horse through the levels.

08/09/2025

Dressage Excellence Part 1: Olympian Sue Blinks examines the qualities that contribute to rider success at every level.

07/30/2025

One of the worst positional faults is that of inconsistency!

Many riders neglect their position while practicing at home, and they flop around in the saddle. When it comes time for a competition, they suddenly sit up bolt upright and try to adopt the perfect position. This drastic change can make their horse think that someone else is riding them!

Achieving a correct position that is both secure and flexible requires many hours of practice. If you want to have a good position during your dressage test, it is essential to focus on maintaining a good position while riding at home.

07/24/2025

FEI 5* judge Janet Foy explains how attention to detail can earn you those extra points in the show ring—from making a strong first impression to riding each movement with precision, these helpful hints will turn your test from average to great.

06/22/2025

USEF 'S' dressage judge Janet Hannon explains what it means for a horse to be "quick behind" and why this quality is important in developing dressage horses.

06/21/2025

During a give and retake, you release your contact for two or three strides by pushing your hands toward your horse’s bit and showing a visible loop in your reins. (You can ride it by yielding forward both reins together or just the inside rein in isolation.)

Your horse should not change his way of going before, during, or after the movement.

The give and retake tests your horse’s contact, self-carriage, and balance. If your horse is too reliant on your reins for balance, or if force has been used to get him 'on the bit,' you will not be able to ride this exercise correctly.

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Find out more about the give and retake here - https://howtodressage.com/article/ride-give-retake-reins/

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Illustrations created and copyrighted by How To Dressage, and may not be reproduced in any form without prior permission.

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06/19/2025

Heidi Chote explains what it means for a horse to be "in front of the leg."

06/17/2025

🐴DRESSAGE SOLUTIONS!🐴 How To Know If Your Inside Leg Is Effective?

To help you determine if your inside leg is effective in sending energy to the outside rein …

Imagine that, as a result of using the inside leg, the outside of your horse’s neck seems like a balloon filling with air and the outside rein feels like a bungee cord with positive tension and an elastic connection.
— Martin Kuhn

🎨 Sandy Rabinowitz

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