riding notes from the Stephen Clark Clinic 2015

Notes from the Stephen Clarke Clinic, October 3 and 4th, 2015

• where the horses head is at is his business, the rider needs to ride forward with still hands.  hands should be quiet and relaxed. 
• train your horse to step into the outside rein as soon as you put your inside leg on.
• to improve the canter pirouette - do the pirouette canter through the corner then go forward - progress to doing this is all the corners.
•  rule = the size of the pirouette is directly related to the quality of the canter.
• improve the half pass  - start in shoulder in- then half pass, then travers, then half pass.
• to improve the extension - in the medium trot break the long side down to three parts, 1) start in shoulder-in 2) straighten and lengthen 3) go back to shoulder-in.  bring the gait back before it loses the rhythm and balance. 
• exercise to improve the half pass in canter, do the shoulder fore, do a few steps in half pass, do a few steps in shoulder fore, repeat .