Brilliant Reflection Farm

08/03/2025

We may have one or two stall openings starting in September for boarding. No lessons available. Most of our boarders are retirees so it is a very quiet facility. Contact us for more information.

07/23/2025

It’s Christmas in July! I was cleaning out my tack locker where I store my blankets and I have way too many size 81, 82, and 84 winter blankets. I have New still in the package from Smart pack, I have gently used weatherbeetas, Smart pac higher-end brand, and I have gently used Pessoa’s, That are still waterproof. Message me if you are interested in anything. I need to get rid of them :-)

07/16/2025

Training Tip Tuesday - This exercise is a great way to lift the horse's shoulder especially in the canter transition and canter circle. Begin by riding a 10 meter circle in the corner, then track down centerline and leg yield to the rail. Upon reaching the rail, begin a shoulder in for a few strides before asking for a canter transition.

When done correctly, you will feel that the horse is well balanced and upright stepping well under it's center of gravity. Continue riding a shoulder fore (less angle than the shoulder in) on the 20 meter canter circle to maintain the horse's balance, lift and engagement.

In addition to lifting the shoulders and engaging the hindquarter, these exercises are great for suppleness, increasing the responsiveness to the inside leg, acceptance of the outside rein and creating straightness. This will also help to increase impulsion and the carrying capacity of the hindquarter.

You could also use variations of walk to trot and walk to canter in these exercises. The complete exercise could also be ridden in canter if the horse was far enough along in his training.

07/08/2025

Ask 100 horse professionals what the most difficult part of running a business is these days, and I bet 95 of them will tell you that it’s finding, training and retaining good workers. Why is it so hard? Is it really worse than it used to be? Are there ways we employers can do it better?

06/16/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1EmXjB7ZD6/

Send a message to learn more

06/05/2025

06/02/2025

Congratulations to Barbra Reis and Leverado Lauries for receiving their second qualifying score for 4th Level and both Pre Saint George qualifying scores for Regional Championships in September!

06/01/2025

🐴DRESSAGE SOLUTIONS: Improve Your Pirouettes🐴

To help make your pirouettes regular, balanced and effortless…

Imagine the face of a clock and make each step cover 10 minutes.
— Carl Hester

🎨 Sandy Rabinowitz

05/23/2025

RIDING FROM BACK TO FRONT

One of the most common faults that prevent a rider from riding their horse from back to front is that they don’t have “forward-thinking” hands. Instead, they have “backward-thinking” hands.

Backward-thinking hands are always pulling back as though the rider constantly has the handbrake on. The rider may try to create activity from the horse’s hind legs, but the horse will always feel as though he’s been ridden into a brick wall between increasingly stronger leg and rein aids.

Another cause of backward-thinking hands is when the rider tries to “fiddle” their horse into an “outline.” This will only cause the horse discomfort and encourage him to duck behind the contact.

Instead, the hands should always be forward-thinking, meaning that whilst the contact with the horse should always remain elastic, your hands should have a feeling of pushing the horse to the bit, and not pulling back.

The outline and the contact with the rider’s hand come from the horse’s willingness to work forward and over his back.

----------

For more on riding back to front, check out this post - https://howtodressage.com/article/back-to-front/

----------

(Apologies for the heavy watermarking, but as per our previous post, there are people out there who prefer to steal content and profit from other people's work.)

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

----------

Check out our latest book on Amazon

UK - https://amzn.to/4b7hwLf
US - https://amzn.to/3ybENgq

05/15/2025

Qualities that make a good leg-yield:

✅ The horse moves both forwards and sideways on two tracks.
✅ The rhythm and tempo remains consistent.
✅ The horse's body stays straight with the shoulders about one hoofprint in front of the hindquarters, and a very slight flexion at the poll away from the direction of travel.
✅ If in trot, the horse's inside legs pass and cross in front of the horse's outside legs.
✅ The horse moves freely forward, working through his back without tension or resistance, and the balance is uphill.
✅ The contact is elastic and consistent.
✅ There is a clear start and end to the movement.
✅ The positioning of the leg-yield remains the same throughout the movement, without steep or shallow variations.

For more help with this, check out this article on our website - https://howtodressage.com/article/leg-yield/

Illustrations created and copyrighted by How To Dressage

Check out our latest book on Amazon
UK - https://amzn.to/4b7hwLf
US - https://amzn.to/3ybENgq

05/14/2025

I have been following the discussion and editorials on the current state of dressage with interest and frustration since the Olympic Games in Paris last summer. I keep reading and hearing from both professionals and amateurs alike that buying trained horses is not and has never been a sustainable fu...