This article first appeared in the May 2021 digital edition of Equestrian Life. To see what’s in the current issue, click here. 

Chris Chugg and PSS Levilensky ride a victory pirouette; more than just a celebration, good training means this horse has his engine well and truly underneath him!

© Michelle Terlato

Dressage for showjumpers

By Dr Kerry Mack

Dressage training for jumping horses is, to a large extent, training to improve the balance and rideability of the canter. Jumping is all about the canter. A jump is just a bigger canter stride.

Dressage is usually not the favourite activity of jumping riders, however, the demands of the modern show jumping courses with the light gear and technical lines will always advantage the well-trained horse.

If dressage is training for balance, suppleness and obedience, it is obvious that dressage training will help jumping horses achieve their best. Jumping horses need to be adjustable at the canter. They need to be able to lengthen and shorten the canter fluently, and in balance, without shortening the neck. Just as with dressage horses, the action of the rein must go through to the hind leg, not be absorbed in the neck.

When you ride your jumping horse, it takes the same time (albeit with a bit more effort) to ride him and train him to be a more supple, more adjustable horse who can go straight, and so have his hind legs — which are his engine — right underneath him for maximum power over the fence, as it does just to keep him fit. So why not do both!

Read the full article in the May 2021 issue of Equestrian Life here!