10m circles at the Walk.
Riding a correct circle helps to quickly put the horse on your aids. A correct circle should be a round circle. By using the cones and poles to ride a correct circle we can help the horse to stay better balanced by riding to these ground aids. 10m circles help to create bend and engagement of the quarters.
Riding accurate 10m circles for correct bend.
Pick up the reins lightly, not a true medium walk at first, let your reins be as long as you dare, but do not dare to lose the connection. So you should have a slight feel of the bit and it is not important if the horse has his nose out, he will come to the bit soon enough. As you ride through this pattern your horse should start to offer you some loose rein, gently pick it up as you go.
Warming up -10 meter circles
Start on the left rein in the purple cone corner by the letter K and make a 10m circle using the trotting poles and cones as reference points, try to touch the two trotting poles near their center points and the two cones placed 5m from the corner.
Try to start to develop the feeling that your horse is moving from your inside leg to the outside rein. Test this by frequent Uberstreichen on the inside rein to ensure that you are not merely steering the horse on that rein. You may also wish to test your outside rein to see if it is too tight, not connected enough or just right.
When riding alone, we have to get feedback from somewhere, learn to get the best feedback from your horse, he will teach you. Uberstreichen is one of the best ways to test your contact. If the horse gets better during Uberstreichen, lighten up your reins a bit, if he stays the same then your contact is about right (at that moment in time!) and if he gets worse… then perhaps you need a little better connection and elasticity in your reins.
Once your 10m circle feels good, change rein into the blue cone corner by F. Since early in our warm up we should always take several strides of straight before changing bend I like to ride up the centerline just past the quarter school (and my orange cones) and then do a half 10m circle back to the track.
Once this 10m circle feels good I then proceed to the next part of my warm up, 4 shallow loops up the centerline.
Read More Pages in this Dressage Training Article.
- Warming Up at the Walk, Riding Shallow Loops on the Center Line
- Warming Up at the Walk, Riding Shallow Loops Down the Long Side
- Warming Up at the Walk, Riding 4 Loops Down the Center Line
- Warming Up at the Walk, Riding 2 Loops Down the Long Side
- Warming Up at the Walk, Leg Yield Right to Half Pass Right
- Warming Up at the Walk, Leg Yield Left to Half Pass Left
- Warming Up at the Walk, Leg Yield In, Half Pass Back