Welcome to Our Western Dressage Training Guide

Using this Training Guide any horse, regardless of age can be trained in Western Dressage. The steps can take days or years and can be followed with any horse you own or is new to you.  

Take your current riding horse back to step 1.  Pay attention on how your work with them on the ground.  Build that trust there if you don't already have it.  Move through the steps and reinforce their training with new eyes and a new understanding of the goals at each step.

Start step one with your foals.  Over the next 3 years move through the steps 1 - 3.  By their 3 year old year you will have an exceptional performance horse ready to do anything with you.  

Did you just get a new horse?  Start at the beginning and spend a day or two at each step just reinforcing their training and building that trust.

Good Luck, Have Fun, and Enjoy the Journey.

 Trust is the foundation. How does your horse relate to you on the ground? If there is no trust on the ground how can any partnership progress? Teach your foal to halter & lead. Did you just get an older horse? Start on the ground – Do they halter, lead, lunge, and Respect Your Space? Have you taught them Patience – To wait till your ready?

 Then comes Suppleness by Perfecting the Circle. Does your horse give to your hands on the lunge line and long line? This is a perfect place to add the bridle.   Get your horse use to giving to the bit.  When your comfortable on the lunge line and long lining your horse it is time to mount.  Use the same verbal cues and give and take with the bridle.  Perfect those circles.  Work towards keeping your horse supple with the circles and giving to the bridle.

Add the Gaits – Walk, Jog, Halt, & Back. Add verbal cues on the lunge & Long line for each of the gaits. Work towards smooth transitions, comfortable backing, and Freedom & Regularity of gaits.  Develop your eye on finding your horses optimum gait for the walk and jog.  The working jog is very recognizable.  It is when your horse is in the zone with ears forward with a free and easy ground covering, side to side, jog.  When they loose track of time and you and look like they could go all day.  That is the Working Jog.   If their movement becomes more up and down over the hips they are in the trot and need to slow down.  The Working Walk is always best developed out in the open or on the trail.  

The Rider is next - Cues & Seat. To stand patiently while mounting & dismounting. To move forward off your legs and listen to your hands. To move from the verbal cues to leg cues for each of the gaits. This is where you develop that quiet seat, settle into the center of gravity of your horse, and start to feel what your horse is doing. Use Calf, Ankle, Heel for your leg cues so in the future only the calf will be necessary. Find and understand your neutral position. That breath you take between one cue and the next so your horse understands that something new is coming.

 Straightness is added here. Lining up on distant objects. Keeping the spine straight while still being supple. Smoothly moving from circles to straight and back again.    This is where you introducing Nose, Poll, Wither, Spine, Hindquarters and how each area affects the whole horse and their way of going.   

The foundation has been well laid for Harmony between Horse & Rider – Lightness and Thoroughness. It is so important to add Harmony here before moving on to the lope and more complex maneuvers. Be A Partner and develop that Partnership with your horse. How can you help your horse better understand what you want them to do? Has a lesson been missed that is causing confusion? Do you FEEL what your horse is doing? Are you being a help or a hindrance? Are you allowing your horse to FLOW through the movements? This is also where your cues start to become non-existent. Where you think and your horse acts. 

Add impulsion – Ground cover and thrust. Your working with your horse and can feel the additional ground cover and thrust in your gaits. Add the lope at this stage. You are now becoming comfortable in the Basic Level and are looking forward to moving up. You are working with your horse and subtly adjusting your cues to be less noticeable. It is time to add the maneuvers of Level 1. Remember not to lose the feel of your horse and that incredible partnership. Take each new maneuver and break down the steps so that your horse understands and works with you to accomplish each new feat.

Now comes the final step – Collection and Balance. You have built an incredible partner and it is time to add the boldness and confidence of Collection. Your transitions are silky smooth and effortless. Your gaits are free moving with cadence. Your lateral movements are supple and halts are immobile.  It is time to enjoy the intricacies of the upper levels with Trust and Confidence.