This article first appeared in the June 2020 digital edition of Equestrian Life. To see what's in the current issue, click here.

The author, Tony Uytendaal.

Developing the correct dressage horse

By Tony Uytendaal

An understanding of how to develop the proper outline, collection, and the resulting elevation of the forehand is crucial to developing a correct dressage horse.

To begin with, you need a horse that is built specifically for your discipline of interest. It’s much the same as a person who is over six-foot tall being suited to basketball, compared to a person who is under five foot and more suited to weightlifting. It is the same for the sporting horse.

The first thought that comes to mind is that the horse should be capable of carrying you with ease. Is the horse well balanced (meaning, is his spine already near to the horizontal)? As we know, the spine is sloping downwards from the back to the front, ending at the last neck vertebrae (number seven), which is approximately the widest part of the base of the neck….

Read the full article in the June 2020 issue of Equestrian Life magazine here.

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