Grand prix rider, trainer, and former United States Equestrian Federation national youth dressage coach Jeremy Steinberg has two pieces of advice for anyone wishing to master the piaffe and dressage: take a high school physics class and read the FEI rule book.

Steinberg is serious on both fronts. During a recent clinic hosted by Equestrian Dreams in Campbellville, ON, Steinberg lamented the number of riders at the sport’s highest level displaying technique that is incorrect and damaging to the horse’s long-term health and soundness.

“Every movement we perform in dressage is about improving the horse’s well-being, both physically and mentally, and encouraging the weight shift to the hind end so that we can ask for increasingly more collection and self-carriage,” Steinberg said. “The transfer of weight isn’t a difficult concept; anyone who has taken a high school physics class can understand the mechanics in carrying more of the load at the back than at the front. As the weight shifts towards the back, the horse’s hind end lowers; the hind legs come further under the body towards the centre of gravity and the front end comes up.”

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