Shoulder In

Delphi and I have been working on shoulder in, which has the by-product of improving our canter transitions.
Prepare for shoulder in by first riding shoulder fore, where the inside hind leg reaches toward the middle of the front legs, and there is slightly less flexion and bend than in the shoulder in. The exercise is easier if the horse carries more weight with the inside hind leg on a circle, or as Karen puts it: when you "activate" the inside hind. From shoulder fore ask for more angle while keeping the same amount of bend. Out of the short side of the arena, ride the horse as though you were going to cross the diagonal, by leading the shoulders off the track to the inside, then ride shoulder fore along the long side of the arena, being sure that the hind legs stay on one line of the track, and the inside hind leg steps toward the outside front leg. Be sure to control the neck on the outside! Always remember to intersperse periods of riding forward to re-establish looseness, relaxation, and submissive contact in between periods of more difficult lateral work such as shoulder in.
Future inspiration point: the shoulder in prepares the horse to learn travers, which in turn prepares for the first steps of half pass. Exciting stuff!
Here is Karen Brown's student demonstrating shoulder in, showing good angle and just enough bend. Notice Music's inside hind leg stepping toward the outside front leg in both strides of the trot. Nice work, Crystal!

Warming Up for Rhythm, Relaxation, and Connection

A rider's eye view of the massive indoor at Blue Fox. To give perspective, note Delphi's ears: we're standing at H on the dressage arena (the cones you see Delphi's ears pointing at are B and F) and the horse in the distance is in the same indoor as us on the jumping grid. Grand, yes?

In warming up for school-work, I do as much posting trot as necessary to get Delphi relaxed, rhythmic, and connected by bending her deep to the inside around my leg and engaging her inside hind to get her into my outside rein. I insist that she stays supple by half halting on the outside rein after bending deep, even too deep to the inside and using inside leg to engage her inside hind. I do as much of this as needed to get her working in a connected yet forward cadence, before I pick up a firmer connection to begin working toward collection.

The Importance of Free Walk

Here's the lovely old racetrack- now turf- at Blue Fox Farm. The old starting gates are still tucked in along the tree line. Great place for Delphi to relax her muscles and mind in free walk while just "being a horse" after a schooling session. It is so important for the Dressage campaigner to have enough regular, stress-free exercise. Brisk walking across country on a loose rein is good, and eight to twelve hours per day of turn out with buddies is better. Both daily is best.

Walk to Canter Transitions

The following describes an exercise Karen Brown taught me for schooling walk to canter transitions. It has proven very helpful for Delphi.
At the walk, first take a few "short steps" (Karen's term for shorter, more energetic steps that lower and activate the hindquarters), counter-bend the horse and perform a half-turn around the hindquarters with the horse bent around your inside leg in the direction you want to canter while moving the outside shoulder around. The rider's aids for the canter depart are: outside leg behind the girth to maintain the horse's haunches while the inside leg creates the bend around the inside leg at the girth. The rider's inside leg gives a little "stomp, kick" at the girth while the outside leg stays firmly behind the girth to encourage the horse's outside hind as it activates into the first step of the canter stride. Remember to maintain a soft, giving jaw and poll by "vibrating" the inside rein while keeping a supple contact with the outside rein.
About the "stomp, kick" manoeuvre: It consists of quickly stepping firmly down into the inside stirrup (the "stomp") followed immediately by a tap at the girth with the inside leg (the "kick"); teaching this now will be useful in eventually teaching flying changes of stride (more on that later, grasshopper).