“Hello, I’m in search of some advice for me and my horse. I own a 15.2 TBx who is 18-years-old. We have done some clear rounds which we have decided to miss now as I lack confidence in him and it is affecting him and his performance for me, so thought I would concentrate on dressage.

We have done a few prelim tests and haven’t done too badly considering our limited access to a school and always do well in ridden classes at our local shows. I would love to do more with him and possibly teach him some more advanced movements like leg yielding and possibly half pass and would like to get him slightly more up into the bridle as he tends to work quite low.  I would like to take him up through the ranks, a few of my friends have said it can’t be done because of his age but I don’t think this is a factor. He is very happy in his work and acts more like a five-year-old, he is very sensitive and can be a little explosive.

I would be really grateful if you could explain how I can teach him to have a slightly higher head carriage whilst keeping the soft contact and outline that we currently have and also how to teach / introduce him to the lateral movements I have mentioned above. Thank you so much for your time. I hope you think it is something we can do together, I am not looking for him to be a dressage superstar but would love to give it a go and give him a chance. I’m not about to write him off because he is a little long in the tooth. Thanks again Chrissy.”

H&C’s expert Jenny Rudall replies: “Dear Chrissy, thanks for writing in and I completely agree you should not be writing your horse off and for some horses, 18 is not old at all.  People can be very quick to favour a youngster when there are many older horses with plenty of good years left, so your horse is lucky that you are so keen to keep him going. As for losing your confidence, that is not uncommon and if concentrating on keeping all four hooves on the floor is what you want to do, there is no shame in that (there are several members of the H&C team who would agree with you).

As you can imagine, without meeting you and your horse it is very difficult to explain the technicalities involved in improving your horse’s lateral work and head carriage, especially without seeing the level you are currently at.  I would recommend you find a good instructor in your local area who can assist you in the improvements you seek and can show you how to do it properly.

In the meantime, ensure your horse is moving of the leg using transitions and is working through from behind. This will help improve his head carriage and should encourage him to come off the forehand.  As I said, there is far too much to cover without being in the arena but you can help yourself, by reading up on the movements you want to learn so you have the basics in your head and this will save your instructor time.

I have also found some H&C videos and case studies, that I believe can really help you visually understand what it is you want to achieve,

The first is How to Leg Yield, which will take you through how to ride a correct leg yield.

www.horseandcountry.tv/ask-the-expert/video-how-leg-yield

How to succeed at Prelim, which can help you prepare for and improve your dressage test.

www.horseandcountry.tv/prelim

Finally, I love this case study on shoulder in, which not only demonstrates how to correctly ride the movement but the uses of it and the common errors.

www.horseandcountry.tv/article/case-study-spotlight-shoulder

Good Luck and let us know how you get on, Jenny.”