A rider’s leg has the power to improve a horse’s performance on the flat beyond measure, provided it is used in the correct way, as dressage rider and trainer Alex Harrison explains to a young eventer
WORDS: JULIE HARDING
PART THREE
Trainer Alex Harrison concentrates on getting Brownie more reactive to his rider’s leg during the lesson PHOTOS: MAX MILLIGAN
REACTING TO THE RIDER’S LEG
At the start of the session, as Brownie trots a 15m circle, Alex says: ‘You need to make sure that you have control over his body’
OLLY STAFFORD HAS been working on getting the flatwork movements of his dark bay gelding, Brownie, less ‘shuffly’ in a dressage arena. When Olly turned up at dressage rider and trainer Alex Harrison’s yard with the dark bay gelding last year, the horse was pretty green and had never seen a pole or learned what a contact was. He has since made huge strides, but there is still work to do to get him shining in front of a dressage judge at a horse trials.
