\u201cWhen you start riding a young horse, try not to make the mistake of reacting when the horse puts his head up and starts to look at things. Eventually you want the neck to come up, if you force it down then the next thing you know, the horse is behind the bit \u2013 we say it\u2019s like shooting pigeons\u00a0 with cannons. Keep a steady contact and let the horse come down by itself. Don\u2019t pull \u2013 this horse has the tendency to come too much down. Stay on a straight line and try for even contact on two reins.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRide more into the corner, use the inside leg with the idea of inside bend. If you try to pull the horse into the corner with your outside rein, you just push the horse away <\/em>from the corner. It\u2019s the same if there are flowers or a pot plant worrying the horse, don\u2019t try to pull the horse to the problem, bend the horse away from the problem and step by step, every round, get a little bit closer to it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFour-year-old horses don\u2019t have much gas in the tank so we had better start working this one. As soon as the horse feels good, as soon as he is not running away and you can feel him with your legs, mix sitting and rising trot \u2013 and when you sit, not slower, not that he always thinks, sitting, oh a transition is coming. When you sit a little more engagement of the hind legs. After sitting forward a bit and don\u2019t pull down \u2013 right from the beginning, don\u2019t pull the neck down in the transitions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t do transitions in the corners, use the corners to ask for the bend. It is difficult to start the trot in a corner, and no test asks for this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTry to make the transition quicker, but not pulling. If he comes up, allow him, try to do as much as you can with your legs and less with the reins. Okay the neck is a little tilted but this is not the first thing we think about.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOn the next long side, make the transition a little bit faster, a little bit tougher. See the rein comes looser because the horse\u00a0 became more engaged in the transition, as the horse comes more together, the rein comes light by itself. It\u2019s a passive rein, and a lighter horse, and he thinks \u2018 that\u2019s nice\u2019 and that is the beginning of the half halt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd don\u2019t worry when your four-year-old reacts to things going on around him, if he doesn\u2019t react you will be carrying him when he is six!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBending the horse is like riding a bike. The inside hand comes in, the outside hand follows and allows as much on the outside as the take on the inside. If you don\u2019t do this on a bike, you will fall over, on the horse you don\u2019t fall, but it is still a problem. If he comes too much to the inside, don\u2019t use the outside rein, use your inside leg. Inside hand a little higher, and use your leg.\u201d<\/p>\n Ulf and Don Davidoff demonstrate forward bend in canter, plus lightness, contact, engagement, hind leg and forward impulse<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cGo \u2013 but don\u2019t kick, feel with your leg. Now bend the horse, but bend is not backwards.\u201d The horse breaks into canter. \u201cKeep doing what you planned, keep the bend, don\u2019t change anything.\u201d<\/p>\n The concept of lightness and contact is a vexed question. Obviously the easiest way to achieve \u2018lightness\u2019 is to throw the rein away, Hey Mum, look, no hands! Trouble is, in most cases it is also a case of no engagement, no hind leg, no forward impulse. It\u2019s not only not a good look, but it is not nice for the horse to work in that way, it doesn\u2019t develop the horse\u2019s athletic ability, strength and ability to carry the rider, which by the way, is what dressage is supposed to be about. Ulf, along with all the other riders in the modern classical dressage tradition, works on a much more subtle awareness of contact and lightness \u2013 lightness is something the horse, rather than the rider, does, as the result of correct riding. That is a little bit harder to understand, and a whole lot more difficult to do, but who ever said dressage was supposed to be easy?<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you touch the mouth, don\u2019t change the tempo. Wait until the rein comes light on its own, that means the horse is accepting the hand.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNow canter, and don\u2019t change anything. In the canter transition, don\u2019t pull down, allow your upper body to come back so the canter is in front of you. And wait until he accepts.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe moment you touch the mouth, keep the forward tendency, and the horse accepts the bend and comes light by itself.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you bend, your hand comes higher \u2013 not back, that allows you to fix your elbow, and the horse feels the rein coming light.\u201d<\/p>\n more follows<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNow to canter, and if you start the canter with a bend, the first step is more under control. Everything you do with the rein AND seat AND legs, is not pulling. Everything you do only with the rein, is pulling. When the horses accepts the bend, you can see the muscles come out on his neck, then the horse is accepting contact. Bend and wait till he gets light\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n The horse makes that distinctive blowing, burr noise and Ulf is happy:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he does this, we know we can\u2019t be wrong. Now make him a bit rounder. Both legs to the bit, and the horse deeper and rounder. Bend and make him longer, when he accepts, go longer, bend, accepts, longer, bend, accepts, longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Bend and make him longer, when he accepts, go longer, bend, accepts, longer, bend, accepts, longer.\u201d – Ulf and the stallion, Don Davidoff demonstrate…<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAs you get better contact you can make the horse more straight. You should feel you are allowed to touch the horse\u2019s mouth. There are some riders who think no contact is a good thing, but when they want to ride a volte, they can\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe ability for self-carriage is the same as balance, the horse that is not balance is looking for support, and leans on the reins. The more they lean, the stronger you have to make the transition. Maybe you have to give two or three half halts, but it is sometimes better to do one tough thing and then pat the horse, than to do something ten times, a little bit every time. It\u2019s the same with the whip, once stronger is better than lots of little taps. The first time do it strong, the second time, less, third time you only have to sit and you can say to the horse \u2018look it is easy\u2019. Go from strong to less\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/MaseratiUlfNoseband-2.jpg\")
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