Every equestrian discipline seems to have its own lingo, its own priorities, and its own movements. I don’t know that any is more confusing than dressage.
I’m trained to ride hunters. I know all about jumping impulsion, oxers, rollbacks, broken lines, and hunter carriage. We also always worked in a little basic dressage, asking our horses to round up and carry themselves more and move away from our legs.
But it was only a few years ago that I learned a haunches in was not the same as a leg yield. And …

I’m sorry I’ve been so absent lately. I was just out of town for four days living and breathing horses at Equine Affaire in Columbus, Ohio, and was dealing with some family stuff before that. I’m back in business, and you can expect some recaps of the awesome Equine Affaire clinics and clinicians (and the Extreme Cowboy Race!) over the next week or so.
I’ve been to Equine Affaire a few times before, but the tradeshow has never been that alluring to my bank account. That was, before I had my …

I’ve been to the Equine Affaire at the Ohio State Expo Center twice in the last three years, and was generally pretty good for one day of clinics and shopping. Now that I’ve got a horse, however, everything’s changed. I’m interested in a whole different set of clinics, not to mention a lot of equipment I wasn’t looking to buy pre-horse ownership.
And to top it off, 2008 Olympic dressage team member Steffen Peters is one of this year’s clinicians. He has a full schedule of sessions on Thursday and Friday …