Cedar Ridge Equestrian

19/08/2025

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.

18/08/2025

Important to remember stretching involves contact.

13/08/2025

Stop disengaging the hind end on the lunge. Teach horses to find their balance and their engine.

Stop Disengaging Your Horse’s Hind End on the Lunge Line

I’m going to step on a few toes here, but I’d rather bruise egos than backs — horse’s backs, that is. One of the most common things I see being taught at clinics, in videos, and even in some lesson barns is “disengaging the hind end” on the lunge line as a primary tool for control. The handler steps toward the horse’s hip, the horse swings their hindquarters away, and people smile because, “Look! They’re yielding their hindquarters!”

It might look neat, but here’s the hard truth: repeatedly disengaging a horse’s hind end on the lunge line is one of the fastest ways to destroy the very balance and movement you’re going to need for everything you’ll ever ask a horse to do under saddle.

What Happens Biomechanically

When you drive that hind end out and away, the horse has to:

Shorten and stiffen their topline — the back inverts, the head pops up, and the neck often stiffens.

Lose engagement — they stop stepping up under themselves with their hind legs, which is the motor that powers everything from a collected jog to a downward transition.

Fall onto the forehand — without that hind end carrying weight, all the motion and balance shifts to the front, making the shoulders and front legs work harder and creating sloppy, heavy movement.

The horse might “turn and face you,” but now you’ve trained them to lead with the front end and trail their engine behind them. That is the opposite of how a balanced horse should move.

Why Balance Matters

Every discipline — from reining to ranch work, from dressage to trail riding — depends on a horse being able to carry weight in the hindquarters, lift the back, and move with forward drive.

A balanced horse:

Steps under with the hind legs to support the weight of the body.

Uses the hindquarters as the main source of propulsion.

Lifts the base of the neck and the back, creating a soft, round outline.

Stays light in the front end, making direction changes smoother and safer.

When you take that away by constantly disengaging, you’re building a habit that will show up later when you try to stop, turn, or collect. The horse will drop the back, hollow out, and lean on the front legs — exactly when you need them to sit down and use their hind end.

The Problem with “Safety First” Misuse

A lot of clinicians teach disengaging as a safety mechanism — “If you control the hips, you control the horse.” There’s truth in that, and it can be a useful emergency tool in certain situations, especially on a green or reactive horse. But just because it’s good in an emergency doesn’t mean it should be your main training approach.

Think of it like pulling the parking brake in your car. It’s great if your main brakes fail, but you wouldn’t drive around all day with the parking brake half on — unless you wanted to ruin your car’s performance.

A Better Approach

Instead of driving the hindquarters away, we should be teaching the horse to:

Track forward with impulsion — every step should have purpose and energy, with the hind legs stepping under.

Bend through the body — a slight inside bend in the neck and body encourages softness and correct balance.

Engage the topline — a relaxed neck and lifted back are signs the horse is moving correctly and in self-carriage.

Shift weight back — whether in a circle, straight line, or stop, the horse should be able to carry more weight behind without you having to force it.

This way, when you transition from groundwork to riding, the horse already understands how to use their body in a way that will make everything easier — from stopping softly to spinning cleanly to navigating a rocky trail.

How to Lunge Without Wrecking Balance

If you want to lunge in a way that builds, not breaks, your horse’s movement:

Keep the horse moving forward first. If you need to redirect, do it with a change of bend, not by throwing the hind end out.

Ask for engagement — think “hind legs under, front legs light.”

Use transitions on the circle — walk/trot, trot/lope, and downward transitions — to teach the horse to rebalance and carry themselves.

Reward moments when they lower the neck, lift the back, and move fluidly.

Final Thought

Every single ride you’ll ever take depends on the strength and balance of your horse’s hindquarters. If you make a habit of disengaging them, you’re literally training your horse out of the balance you’ll later wish they had.

Yes, disengaging has its place as a safety or control maneuver in specific situations. But as a go-to groundwork exercise? It’s counterproductive. Instead, teach your horse to carry themselves correctly from the ground up — you’ll be building the foundation for everything you’ll ever want to do together.

Remember: a horse moves best when the engine is pushing from behind, not when you’ve shut the engine off and let the steering wheel do all the work.

11/08/2025

🐴 The Function of the Rider’s Elbow Joints

A rider's elbow joint is one of the most important joints in their body... especially so for those of us who ride Dressage! As the elbow is essentially the rider's shock absorber - allowing horse and rider to maintain a harmonious connection while in motion.

Click on the link below to learn about a very common mistake riders make with their elbows, that causes all sorts of unwanted resistance from their horses! 👇👇👇

https://www.myvirtualeventingcoach.com/articles/the-function-of-the-riders-elbow-joints

07/08/2025

Ok I am done 😁 i have twiddled and fiddled with my drawings because you know if it isnt right in my head then I will keep messing with it because I want you to think whole horse so just drawing one part often can make it hard to correlate why your horse may be showing something in one area yet be reactive in the other.
But my aim is for you the horse owner to have those 💡moments

But my next question is how many parts do you want to see in a course ?, I am working through the whole horse but obviously cannot put over 700 muscles in its already taken me ages and I am only getting to the muscle section, each video will discuss the correlation between what we feel and see so if we see the rhomboid and the tensor fascia lata then why ??
So I thought about what i call everyday muscles the muscles which often are always part of the crime scene

But this way is my fav so far. Ps if you disagree I will block you 😅😅😅 (only joking)
P.p.s I know they are not perfect arghhh imposter syndrome is a real thing, but try and not be to mean its really hard putting stuff out and worrying about criticism xx

I promise I am putting the pen down the urge to just do one more thing is very real 😃

06/08/2025

As we’ve had a bit of rain & cooler nights, some green shoots of rich grass are starting to come through so quick the horse are eating them before we can even see them…!

With this in mind I thought to re-share my graphic that shows the complications of a saddle that sits too narrow on a horses back.

Ensure to monitor your horses weight, top line and any changes in behaviour and movement that could correlate to saddles not fitting correctly.

06/08/2025

How Does Pole Work Improve Your Horses Topline?

1. IF ridden correctly in a lighter seat, the action a horse has over poles causes them to lift their core and back.
2. This requires their muscles to activate through their abdomen, lifting their entire spine with more effort from the thoracic, lumbar and sacral areas.
3. If you sit too heavily while training pole exercises you will impede the horses ability to maximise positive effects from this type of training. It might look a bit ugly in rider position, and you might feel a bit out of your comfort zone… but having a light seat or even better a two point seat will help your horse develop over the back more effectively when training pole work.
4. If you use specific poles exercises and patterns you can encourage your horse to move straighter, be more balanced and activate muscles they may not have been using.

This particular horse had been sent to me for a short two week stay. He’d been spun at a dressage test for being lame. Appropriate vetting had taken place to show he was not sore anywhere… just travelling with an irregular movement.

He had a slightly tipped pelvis and was very jelly like over his lumbar. So I alternated his training between poles, hills and hack outs. This activated his lumbar muscles, regulated his gait and he went off to score well at his next comp.

20/07/2025

Ingrid Klimke talks about development of the back and hind legs:
“The hindlegs must be energetic under the centre of gravity, that means the hindquarters get much more muscle, the back gets so much stronger, and the horse really shows himself. The horse has to have energy from behind, the motor is the hindlegs.”
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2023/02/ingrid-klimke-talks-about-hind-leg-development/