Pretty much all dressage horses, just like most people, have a stiff and hollow side and, therefore, are either left-handed or right-handed.

There are different theories on why this phenomenon of stiff and hollow sides in horses exists. Some people believe it’s because of the position of the horse in the womb. Other people believe it’s because of the split hemispheres in the brain.

But the bottom line is your horse probably is soft or hollow or weak on one side of his body and stiff or hard or stronger on the other side of his body.

Let’s say your horse is hollow or soft to the left. He’s going to want to over bend his neck to the left, his shoulders are going to fall out to the right, and his haunches are going to fall in to the left.

He’s also not going to take as full of a stride with the left hind leg, and, therefore, not fill the left rein. That is, he’s going to be too light in the left rein.

On the other hand, the right side of his body is stiff. He is stronger with the right hind leg and takes a better step with the right hind leg. But be aware that this may show up as feeling too strong in your right hand.

Benign Antagonism

To fix this problem and allow your horse to become more ambidextrous, use what I call “benign antagonism”.

Benign antagonism simply means that whatever your horse does that you don’t like, very quietly and kindly do the opposite.

So when you’re tracking with the horse with his soft side, his hollow side, in this case, his left side, on the inside of the arena, you’re going to do the opposite of what he wants to do.

Ride with no bend or flexion. You can even ride him in counter flexion.

Flexion

Remember that flexion occurs at the poll right behind the ears. You get either counter flexion or true flexion by turning your entire wrist.

Start with the thumb as the highest point of the hand. Turn your wrist so that your fingernails point up to your face for a second. Then go back to the thumb being the highest point of the hand.

As you turn the wrist, bring your hand a little bit closer to the withers, but don’t cross it over them.

While you’re doing that, support with the other rein. If you don’t support with the other rein, the horse is going to bend further down his neck rather than just position his head at the end of his neck so that you just see his eye or his nostril.

If you’re tracking to the left with the hollow side on left side, do this exercise to give you a frame of reference while schooling.

Halt by the rail, fence, or wall. Line up your horse’s neck straight in front of him. Then either put his chin in front of the middle crease of his chest or turn your right wrist and counter flex him so you see his right eye and right nostril.

This is the position to ride your horse in when you track with his hollow left side on the inside.

The Hollow Side

As you go around to the left whether you’re tracking down the long side, you’re going through a corner to the left, or you’re doing a 20-meter circle, keep his body as straight as a bus with either no flexion or counter flexion.

Doing so is going to align him straighter so that his left hind will take a fuller, deeper step under the body and fill the left rein. It will also prevent him from popping out his right shoulder.

Think about it. If his haunches are drifting to the left and he pushes with that left hind leg, he’s going to be pushing diagonally out across his right shoulder. That contributes to popping out the right shoulder.

So in as simple terms as I can make it, when you track with his hollow side to the inside, ride without bend and no flexion OR no bend and counter flexion.

The Stiff Side

Then when you track with his stiff side on the inside, you want to gently stretch out the hollow side, the outside of his body, so it’s easier for him to bend around your inside leg.

To do this, ride with extra bend.

For example, go on a 20-meter circle to the right in the walk. Then turn onto a 6 or an 8-meter circle.

On the small circle, go over your bending aids – weight on your inside seatbone, inside leg on the girth, outside leg behind the girth, turn your right wrist, support with the left rein so you don’t over bend the neck. Feel your horse curve like a banana around your right leg.

Then go back to your 20-meter circle, but keep your aids on as if you’re asking for bend on an 8-meter circle. Now you’re not going to be able to actually do that.

But if you use your aids as if you could bend your horse on an 8-meter arc while on a 20-meter circle, you’ll be riding with better bend to the right.

Apply the same idea while going down the long side. Instead of going straight down the long side, go down the long side as if you’re on the arc of a 10- or 12-meter circle.

It’s not that you’re doing shoulder-in, and it’s not that you’re doing haunches-in. It actually feels like you’re doing a little bit of both.

Your horse should look like he’s in a little bit of shoulder-in in the front and a little bit of haunches-in behind with his barrel just touching the rail.

You can actually start with a small circle, and then go down the long side with the arc of the circle. Then blend back onto another small circle and continue down the long side with the arc of a circle.

Or you can do an exercise where you’re going down the long side and you alternate between going straight and then bending him as if he’s on the arc of a 10- or 12-meter circle for a couple of strides. Then go straight again. Then bend him again.

To Sum Up

So in order to train your dressage horse to be straighter and more ambidextrous, make his stiff side more “bendable” and his hollow side stiffer.

Use the Connecting Aids to Put Your Horse on the Bit

It’s simple to put your horse on the bit when you use what I call the “connecting aids”. The connecting aids are a combination of three ingredients that you’ll maintain for about three seconds — the length of time it takes to inhale and exhale.

The three ingredients of the connecting aids to put your horse on the bit are the:

1. The driving aids which consist of your seat and your two legs because either one of those aids drive your horse forward.

2. The bending aids consist of your inside rein which asks the horse to look in the direction he’s going, your inside leg on the girth, and your outside leg behind the girth. Each of those aids contributes to bend.

3. The rein of opposition is the outside rein. It’s called the rein of opposition because it opposes too much speed from the driving aids and too much bend from the bending aids.

When you marry those three ingredients – driving aids, bending aids and rein of opposition for about three seconds, you give the aids to put your horse on the bit — the “connecting aids”.

So to put your horse on the bit with the connecting aids:

• First close both calves.
• When you feel a surge of energy coming from behind as if your horse wants to lengthen, close your outside hand in a fist to recycle that power.
• Lastly, if your horse starts to look to the outside, vibrate the inside rein to help keep the neck straight.

Jane Savoie
1174 Hill St ext.
Berlin, VT 05602
Jane’s Website
DressageMentor.com