dressage – A to Z Dressage

Stop the Neck Rope Fad!

Neck Rope = Neck nerve Irritation by Rivkah Roth DO DNM When and Why did “dressage queens” start riding with a neck rope? Looking at this sketch, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out why riding with a neck rope or neck ring is neither compassionate nor gentle. The neck ring irritates a horse’s…
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Ride for the Sake of the Horse — not Yours!

Don’t ride for the sake of riding, Ride to help your horse develop! by Rivkah Roth DO DNM “Like Rider like horse, like horse like rider” is a sentence I coined in the 1980s as an expression of the mutual influence on each other’s body, i.e. rider seat vs. horse movement and body use, and…
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Blue Tongues

Not the Problem but A Result! by Rivkah Roth DO DNM Blue tongues are unacceptable! And hiding them with contraptions, fluff, and the likes is not only unsportsmanlike, but tells about training shortcuts of horse and/or rider, or of total disrespect of the horse. Yet, blue tongues are not the original problem. They are almost…
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Focus on the Croup – not the Nose!

lowered Croup = nose in front of the Vertical High Croup = Nose behind the vertical by Rivkah Roth DO DNM Everybody understands that the nose behind the vertical shows bad riding or training. Yet, if we understand anatomy, physiology and biomechanics, we know that… only when the croup is lowered, can the nose come…
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The Failure of Dressage Judging

and how it may detrimentally influence today’s riding Style and training approaches. by Rivkah Roth DO DNM I have long said it, including postulating better eye schooling for the dressage judges and tips on how to get to a more correct eye in my reference handbook and teaching manual “A to Z Insights for Riders,…
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Eye Schooling

The dressage world is waking up by Rivkah Roth DO DNM A new generation of riders is looking to get trained along the classical criteria of systematic horse training as described by the Training Scale (Ausbildungsskala). Meanwhile, many of the international top riders still subscribe to shortcuts – possibly encouraged by dressage judges who fail…
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Reactive Horse?

Back and Neck Health Co-determine Suppleness or Resistance by Rivkah Roth DO DNM Does your horse show signs of resistance or evasive behavior? Even more so, has such behavior started after a change in its training routine, farrier work, saddle or rider? Signs that your horse has become reactive… Think about an issue within the…
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Are we still Breeding Rideable Horses?

by Rivkah Roth DO DNMfirst published 2023-05-23 on coachmetoo Riding horse breeding, from the mid-20th century until quite recently, has made huge advances. Larger, more angled shoulders and saddle positions, horses with a higher lower neck connection and a more refined and open jowl angle, all have contributed to bigger moving horses. However, in the…
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Collection

Beware of Training Programs Advertising “Collection” Training! by Rivkah Roth DO DNM first published 2021-06-21 on coachmetoo Anyone who advocates teaching collection will be apt to turn your horse into a mental and physical trainwreck. Collection is a R E S U L T of all the steps and stages of the Training Scale or…
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Correction Riding

An Advance Teaser from A to Z Insights for Riders, Trainers, and Coaches by Rivkah Roth DO DNMfirst published 2020-10-21 on coachmetoo Correction riding is a highly specialized, often thankless, branch of correct dressage training. It would be wonderful if we wouldn’t need it, but sadly, we see more and more need for good correction…
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Category: dressage