Growing up riding horses, I never really put myself in the category of one type of rider versus another. I always would say that I was like a Quarter Horse–versatile and open to trying new things. I showed halter/showmanship, Western pleasure, trail, hunt seat, barrel racing, goat tying, roping, even started jumping in college. I knew that trying new things would be good for my horses, too, because it gave our riding sessions a fresh perspective when we’d work on one thing one day and something different the next.

Much like how I’d use extended trotting, leg yielding, side passing, etc., to warm up my horses, many trainers borrow movements that might not be the norm for their discipline to help improve their horses’ overall movement. The most popular is dressage…which shouldn’t be surprising to anyone, since dressage is simply the art of riding your horse.

It is with this in mind that I wrote “A Little of This, A Little of That” for the Equine Chronicle earlier this summer. Download the PDF and read the article in its entirety: A Little of This, A Little of That

How do you use movements from a different discipline to help with your discipline?