How to ride smart

May you ask yourself what riding "smart" could mean. Actually, it starts the moment you begin to think about how you want to ride your horse, how many times a week and even though with which methods. When you begin to wonder what type of training would be best for you and your horse, that is the beginning of riding smart. 

Every rider has kind of a concept on how to ride a horse, but many people only ride all possible lections a day or ride through the arena - which from the outside looks very boring for the horse. 

Having the right concept regarding to your training can easily help you improve your skills. The concept always depends on the level you ride on, but can also be generalized. 

First we start with a warm-up:  (depending on the horse) 10 to 15 minutes Walk, then 10 minutes trot. Starting with easy transitions (trot-walk-trot and walk-halt-walk) to trot-canter-trot transitions at the end of this 10 minute phase. (If a horse is on a good level → flying changes)

To continue: one or two rounds walk. After that some trot with transitions within the pace and the same in canter. Another transition from walk to canter and back to walk is also a very good way to warm up the muscles and motivate the horse to think. 

Starting with the work phase:  You should always focus on one or two important aspects. 

e.g. Collected canter and flying changes / collected canter and half-passes

After this working phase, you should begin with a relaxation phase. This phase should relax the muscles again by e.g. letting go of the reins or riding a bit more forward with neck extension. 

At the end of every training there should be a relaxed walk - you can also go in the forest or anything like that, so that your horse is not only allowed to see the riding arena.