Johan Hamminga talks about the importance of ‘balance’:

“The balance of the horse is really the most important thing. The horse must be a good shape.”

When the horse is in balance, the contact will come…

“What we need to be aiming for in our breeding program is a horse with a good hind end, a horse that is strong and capable of bending behind. It all comes from the power and activity behind, the front doesn’t matter, steady on the bit, doesn’t matter – when the horse is in balance, the front and the contact, will come.”

 “Never make a horse short in the neck, you must always be lengthening in front. When you make a horse short in front, then it goes down in the back, the neck is too high. When you open the horse, it lowers the croup and carries the rider’s weight. I like to bend the horse’s inside hind leg,  don’t pull the inside rein. When you pull on the inside rein, you block the inside hind leg.”

Johan is a member of the KWPN Stallion Licensing Commission

---

Breeding a dressage star in Australia this season?

Go to www.ihb.com.au and select a stallion from the top European bloodlines for your mare like the ‘E’ line stallion Escalito, and many more...

Escalito