Learn How to Ride Dressage Movements, Part 1 of 2

The 20-meter circle at Training Level
by Jane Savoie

A 20-meter circle at Training Level is the first dressage movement that you'll do to make your dressage horse more athletic. The goal of riding a 20-meter circle is to create flexibility.

Flexibility refers to your dressage horse's ability to bend laterally through his side. Here's what you should know about the lateral bend:
• The bend through your horse's side should be equal from poll to tail.

• Your goal is to help your horse become ambidextrous. In other words, he can bend as easily to the right as he does to the left.

• As a dressage movement, correctly ridden circles teach baby engagement (the bending of the joints of the hind legs).

• Circles also develop straightness. A straight horse is straight on lines and bent along the arc of a circle.

As a dressage movement, why is it so important to ride 20-meter circles accurately?

• Physically, accurate circles help develop lateral flexibility and engagement of the inside hind leg.

• Mentally, riding accurate circles develops obedience.

Always keep in mind that horses are herd animals. When you ride, you're part of a two-animal herd. Your horse is happy to be a follower if you're a leader, but he'll take over if you aren't. If you don't ride accurate circles, you're letting your horse take over and make decisions. Once your horse learns to take over on a circle, eventually he'll make more and more decisions on his own. Letting him make his own decisions can escalate into disobedience.

You always need to be the leader of the herd. It's up to you to tell your horse where to go, how to go, and when to go there.

To make an accurate 20-meter circle, you need to do two things:
1. Bend your horse.
2. Ride to specific reference points.

If you're circling to the left, the bending aids are as follows:
• Weight your inside seat bone (left) to encourage your horse to engage his inside hind leg.

• Place your inside leg (left) on the girth. It acts as a pole for your horse to bend around and also maintains the activity of his inside hind leg.

• Put your outside leg (right) behind the girth to help bend your horse's body around your inside leg and prevent his hindquarters from swinging out. For a 20-meter circle, place your outside leg one to two inches behind the girth.

• Ask for flexion to the inside with your inside (left) rein. You should just see your horse's inside eye and nostril.

• Keep your outside (right) rein steady and supporting. Think of it as a side rein that limits the degree of bend in his neck. It also functions as your turning rein to bring your horse's shoulders around the curve.

Create a marriage between your inside and outside aids. You need both sets of aids to bend your horse while you turn him along a prescribed line. Your inside aids bend your horse, and your outside aids turn him.

Reference Points
To make an accurate circle in a large arena at Training Level, you need four reference points.
• Start your circle at A or C. This is your first reference point.

• Your second reference point is four meters past the corner letter (this is ten meters from the corner). The biggest mistake riders make when starting a circle is that they aim for the corner letter. If you do this, you'll end up with an oval. So aim for four meters beyond the corner letter.

• Your third reference point is the spot where you cross the centerline. If you draw a line between M and H (or F and K), that line is six meters from the short side. The imaginary line between the next set of letters (R and S or P and V) is an additional 12 meters. When you add 6 + 12 meters, you get 18 meters, so in order to make a 20-meter circle, cross the centerline two meters above the line that runs between R and S or P and V.

• Your fourth reference point is on the other long side. Touch the long side four meters before the corner letter (ten meters from the corner).

Important: The key to learning how to ride a round 20-meter circle is to look two points ahead and "connect the dots."

Remember that all of the dressage movements are not an end in themselves; they're a means to an end. That end, for a 20-meter circle at Training Level, is developing flexibility in your dressage horse.

This article originally appeared at www.ezinearticles.com.