The Cavalli Connection

03/22/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17n9ukjzj8/

Paralyzed with indecision? Wondering which method is the "true" method?

The best path is often dressed down as too simple to be true. Personal responsibility, gaining a clear mind and control of your body, and riding the horse forward, calm and straight - it's not new, it's just out of fashion. Nobody that you know walking around today "invented" this. There is no credit to be had, just care for the horse, and basics done well every day.

02/17/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16uG1BmoD8/

The seat's influence:

The seat is one of the most neglected and most important pieces of riding. It goes far beyond just being balanced enough to stay on or looking good.

It influences the horse's rhythm and tempo - essential components for the horse's balance. It influces stride length and joint flexion. It can unblock moments of tension, increase swing through the back, and produce deep relaxation and engagement in movement.

To go even deeper, it creates a feeling of congruence and safety between the horse and rider. As a sensory animal, the horse is feeling everything about the rider through their back. A horse can never truly feel safe when a rider is blocking them with their seat while urging them on with their legs - they can't give their back if the rider is working against them with their body.

This is why the development of the seat was given years of focus in riding halls. It is one of the areas of greatest frustration for many riders learning today, who have learned to go directly to a rein or leg to solve their riding problems, and developed unconscious habits of squeezing, gripping, and generally asking the opposite with their seat as their reins and legs demand.

We are bombarded with images of horses taught to do tricks, given cues to perform movements, but rarely do we see an intelligent, balanced and feeling seat that communicates to the horse in a feeling and fair manner.

A good seat makes us congruent with the movement of the horse - it is deep and wide without being overly driving or forceful. It is supple without losing stability. It is not just sitting pretty, but constantly absorbing movement in an intelligent and creative manner, and giving information and feedback to the horse stride for stride. It is a two way system: recieving the horse, and providing feedback.

Years ago, I watched my teacher sit on some of the most fractious horses I knew. I thought these horses needed lots of assertive aids to be ridden: constant one rein stops, bending around, pulling, and other forms of reactive interference. They were constantly being threatened with blocking movement. My teacher sat on them and they in short order quieted down and relaxed. At the time I could not believe my eyes - it looked like she was doing nothing. But after years of study with her, I learned she was doing so much - a little every stride of recalibrating, balancing, and guiding - and that it meant everything to a horse.

02/11/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18LXTkiJmQ/

I was 4 Coke Zero's in when I asked Angela.

Not because we were hopped on caffeine and aspartame, we weren't, but because that's when conversations stop being polite and start getting strange. The kind of strange where you're suddenly debating what the opposite of dressage is at 11pm on a Tuesday in a Boston Pizza.

"Everything has an opposite," I said, gesturing with my glass. "Love and hate. Up and down. Fast and slow. Good and evil. So what's the opposite of dressage?"

She didn't even hesitate.

"Wu Wei."

I blinked. "What?"

"Wu Wei. It's this Taoist thing. Effortless action. Action through inaction." She was warming up now, the way you do when you think you've nailed something. "Dressage is all control, right? Every muscle tensed. The rider's hands and legs constantly talking to the horse, pushing it into these movements. It's beautiful, but it's... imposed. Artificial."

I was nodding, so she kept going.

"Wu Wei is the opposite. It's strategic surrender. You stop forcing. You let the natural momentum carry you. You stop talking and start listening."

She sat back. Pretty satisfied with herself.

I looked at Angela for a long second.

"You know what's crazy though?"

"What?"

"The best riders I know actually ride more like Wu Wei."

She opened her mouth. Closed it.

"Like... Wu Wei isn't the opposite of dressage," I continued. "It's the whole fu***ng point."
_______________________

I told her about watching Steffen Peters school his horses.

"When you watch him ride, it looks like he's doing nothing. Like he's just... sitting there. Barely moving. But the horse is dancing through the most difficult lines: piaffe, passage, flying changes, and it looks completely effortless. Like the horse is doing it because it wants to."

"Okay, but—"

"The beginner? The beginner is yanking and gripping and micromanaging every single stride. You can see the effort. The horse's body is tense, the rider's shoulders are up around their ears, everything is resistant."

I leaned forward.

"But the master? The master has done so much work, years of work, that the control becomes invisible. The horse isn't being forced into position anymore. The horse is offering it. Because the rider created the conditions where that movement became the place of perfect balance."

She just stared at me.

"Wu Wei isn't the opposite of dressage," I said again. "Wu Wei is what happens when you've done the work long enough that the work disappears."

___________________

I've been chewing on this for days.

Because here's the thing: I'm terrible at letting go.

I still feel like a beginner sometimes. Hands too heavy. Gripping too tight. Micromanaging every stride because I don't trust the horse, or myself, enough to just... ride.

And it can be exhausting.

I keep thinking I need to find the opposite of what I'm doing. I need to let go. I need to embrace Wu Wei. I need to stop controlling everything.

But maybe that's the wrong question.

Maybe the question isn't "How do I do the opposite?"

Maybe the question is: "Have I done enough of the hard work yet that I've earned the right to let go?"

Because effortlessness isn't the opposite of discipline.

Effortlessness is what discipline becomes when you've done it long enough.

The rider who looks like they're doing nothing? They’re actually doing everything. They spent forty years learning exactly which muscles to engage, which aids to give, how to sit, how to breathe, how to think in rhythm with raw, living kinetic energy.

Now it's invisible.

Now it's Wu Wei.

But it wasn't Wu Wei on day one.
_________________________

I don't know what the opposite of dressage is. Chaos, maybe. A bucking bronco. A horse with no rider at all.

But I know what it's not.

It's not effortlessness.

Effortlessness is graduation.

And I'm still in school.

02/08/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CPM8oZvHo/

Team Prac member and equestrian biomechanics expert Dave Thind discusses the common signs that you're overusing the wrong muscles and the importance of relaxing in the saddle to develop a more harmonious partnership with your horse.

02/07/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DSrvv5eM5/

From the short stirrup ring to the grand prix stadium, safety air vests have become one of the most popular and habitually worn riding garments. In one of the most–if not the most–dangerous sports, safety always hovers at the front of every rider’s mind. But are air vests the safest choice f....

11/20/2025

https://dressagetoday.com/instruction/work-without-stirrups-to-quiet-your-hands-and-develop-a-secure-seat/?lid=zfty9y0v9snr&uuid=66f68a661c0441f7a784ca8b

FEI judge Axel Steiner helps a rider move up from First to Second Level by challenging her to ride without stirrups to refine her position, better use her leg aids and activate her core.

11/06/2025

10/22/2025

https://dressagetoday.com/theory/importance-riding-stretching-position-uta-graf/

Uta Gräf of Germany that this exercise is an important part of training not just for young horses or dressage horses, but for all horses.

10/17/2025

A short neck indicates a problem in the connection and the early steps of the dressage pyramid of training—rhythm, relaxation, seeking the contact. William Solyntjes discusses four symptoms of a short neck.

10/01/2025

There are many aids to use for the same thing, many schools of thought of how to accomplish a movement or result:
high hands or low hands, inside leg back or outside leg forward for a turn. Moving the hindquarters or shoulders always in front of the hips. Reducing tension by way of jaw flexions or drive the hind leg forward - and so on.

Which one is right?

When we follow a school or a tradition, we need to have a clear picture of the result it takes us to. Who is it for? What type of rider and what breed of horse? And what is the function of the progression?

Different aids have different functions, but beyond that they are designed to produce different outcomes: obedience only, or a biomechanical function, and within biomechanical functions there are different schools of thought of not just how the horse should move but how they should FEEL.

For example, if you’re training a cow horse, you need a very different function than a dressage show horse, and so the aids will produce different feelings and be applied in a very different way.

And you need to understand what styles blend together and not. Many people mistakenly cherry pick pieces and parts of opposing systems and try to mash them together, when parts of the training progression are in direct opposition of others. Very gifted horsemen have blended styles, but after having an above average understanding of their purpose and result. When you learn the rules of art, you can break them.

So when seeking a set of aids to follow, or a methodology to follow, consider its history, its purpose, and who it was intended for. If you don’t know this, it’s well worth a trip down research lane to get a solid understanding before confusing the horse with mishmashed aids that aren’t congruent with a desired goal.

What do you want to the horse to do? Where is going to lead? And how do you want the horse to feel?

You should have a clear picture of this in every turn, corner, circle, transition, and so on.

09/25/2025

I did a little experiment a while ago -

I didn’t tell anyone at this barn I was riding at anything about me. They didn’t know I was a teacher or trainer or anything I do- and so minding my own business riding my horses, I was plagued with advice. A few women at the barn gave me advice while I rode, told me what trainer to follow and what perceived mistakes I was making - how to fix it, what methods they like, gear to use and supplements to solve my problems.

They were not being mean. However annoying unsolicited advice is, most people’s intentions are probably half helpfulness, half proving themselves to others out of insecurity. Comment sections on videos are full of people like this - you need to follow so and so, take that nose band off, put this thing on, this horse probably has such and such physical ailment —

This experience made me think of my students - trying their best to learn, clinging desperately to new information and patterns they don’t quite have a grasp on yet or understand, and being bombarded by conflicting advice: the barn busy bodies, the internet, sales pitches in your inbox. It’s got to be completely overwhelming! It’s no wonder people’s anxieties are higher and leadership is far lower-
How is one supposed to know which way to go?

It’s important to be open to advice - but consider the source.

Are they trying to help you, or prove themsleves?
Are they trying to help you, or make you afraid of something?
Are they trying to help you, or sell to you? (Obviously all pros have to sell but is it a sale or your long term betterment as well on the table?)

You have to stay sharp out there. Trust what is working and stick to it - sometimes you don’t know if it’ll work til you stick to it for a while. But look at the evidence around you -
Are the horses in the program you’re using getting sounder over time? Or are you just seeing curated snippets decorated in slow motion with music ? Who is it marketed for?

If they can get you afraid or emotional, they can sway you.
Think about it. Stay sharp. Trust yourself and trust the process.

It’s a messy, confusing and chaotic world out there - but if you find someone you trust, hang on to them with both hands.