How Important is Balance in Dressage?

[From the March 2011 Sho Times:
Shannon Dueck is a contributing writer to the
Sho Clothes Sho News monthly newsletter]

by Shannon Dueck
(Photo of Shannon Dueck by Sue Stickle)

How Important is Balance in Dressage? 


The answer is easy: incredibly important. It’s crucial to all aspects of good dressage for both horse and rider.

First of the all the rider must be beautifully balanced in order to positively effect the horse in all things. This means that an effective rider does not balance by holding onto the reins or by gripping with his or her legs. A rider that is balanced can use the leg, seat and rein aids in the clearest and lightest way, which gives the horse the chance to react in the quickest and most correct way. Probably the fastest and easiest way to work on your balance is to take lunge lessons on a safe horse. That’s how the Spanish Riding School trains their riders, and it’s pretty darn impressive watching those riders sit a Capriole without stirrups!

Secondly, the dressage horse should have good natural balance. It is much easier to train a horse that can already balance in all three gaits. It is harder for a horse to balance the canter, because the gait is 3 beat and goes to the front end in each stride. This is why we have the old adage “enjoy the walk and trot but buy the canter” when searching for a dressage prospect. Bigger gaits are harder to balance, so a horse with three normal and balanced gaits is often preferable to a horse with large and unbalanced gaits. Of course the dream horse has fabulous gaits and also great natural balance!

Assuming that the rider is balanced and her horse is somewhat balanced, we now have to put both together in the dressage ring. Both lateral and longitudinal balance are necessary to make the work look easy and harmonious, regardless of the level. These qualities are improved and enhanced with good training.

Lateral balance is improved with equal bending in both directions. This in turn, will allow the rider to keep the horse correctly straight with ease. It’s all about having the horse keep both shoulders up with both hind legs stepping up to the same degree, even on bending lines and when doing lateral work. Every horse and rider finds it easier to bend one direction, so the job of the rider is twofold: Work on your own ambidexterity and straightness, and also keep training your horse to bend equally easily in both directions, and thus to become straighter and more laterally balanced. Add increasing levels of difficulty with lateral work, beginning with leg yields and graduating to shoulder in, travers, renvers and half pass.

Longitudinal balance is enhanced with transitions, transitions and more transitions. Both between gaits and within gaits. These transitions will improve your half-halts tremendously, and for sure one of the major end results of a well executed half-halt should be improved balance. I often substitute the word balance when I am asking a student for more collection, it seems to help them get the horse more on the hind legs rather than take away from the impulsion.

Lastly, a horse that is correctly balanced will find it much easier to execute whatever your are asking of him, and along with ease comes mental relaxation and physical suppleness. A horse that is not balanced is not able to be properly soft to the aids. When your horse is struggling with lateral or longitudinal balance he will be braced somewhere in his body, and so it follows that it is only fair to balance your horse before insisting on a supple and soft feel. It never ceases to amaze me when I am training that the struggle for softness and harmony just ceases to be an issue when I am able to balance my horse correctly. Keep it in mind in all your riding, and all things will be easier.
International Grand Prix trainer and competitor Shannon Dueck is a Pan Am Games Individual Silver Medalist, and has competed at both WEG and the World Cup Final. She has trained with Bert Rutten of the Netherlands, Kathy Connelly, Lars Peterson, Hubertus Schmidt, Robert Dover, and most recently, Wolfram Wittig while in Germany this past summer.