HORSE SENSE: Constants and Variables for Dressage Part 2 - The Variables 11 December 2015 Premium

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11 December 2015

Irish Field Contributor on 11 Dec 2015

HORSE SENSE: Constants and Variables for Dressage Part 2 - The Variables

William Micklem’s acclaimed structure for dressage training for all horses and levels

Irish Field Contributor

11 December 2015

You are about to start a race and you are under pressure, what do you concentrate on? The simplest and most effective thing to do is just concentrate on getting the right Direction and the right Speed, the first two variables. (photo: healyracing.ie)

You control direction primarily by controlling the bend in the neck and position of the forehand as a horse is like a car with front wheel steering but rear wheel drive

In collection the horse can be more ‘up hill’ and eventually lower the quarters and ‘sit’, which is required in the advanced movements of pirouette, and piaffe. (Photo: FEI/Arnd Bronkhorst)

William Micklem Constants and Variables Dressage Training Horse Sense

Once the horse is ‘in gear’, using the Constants, the right Variables are used for each progressive exercise and series of exercises.

IMPULSION is at the heart of the five Variables, and the other four are DIRECTION and SPEED, which are the variables we should all start with, and finally BALANCE and TIMING to make a circle of strength.