Dressage trainer Eliza Sydnor Romm and professional artist Susan DiFelice were first introduced decades ago, when Sydnor’s family hired DiFelice to paint a portrait of her horse. Some 20 years later collaborated on a dressage training video for DiFelice’s website Allpony. In this new “Drawn To Dressage” blog series, we will be sharing their most recent collaboration, which combines their talents and shared passion for education and horsemanship to share illustrated dressage training tips.

When riding onto a circle, imagine you are on a spiral ramp in a parking garage, heading up to the next level. You ride your horse up and around the circle.

Many riders struggle with their horse falling onto the forehand and losing impulsion, especially when riding onto a smaller circle, like 10 meters. If the rider pulls their horse “down” and around a small circle, the horse will dive onto the inside shoulder to make the tighter turn. 

First and foremost, the rider must learn to look up and ahead for their geometry. If you are riding a 10-meter circle at B, as you leave the track, you must look up and ahead to X. Picture your trajectory heading slightly up a ramp towards X. And then as you approach X, look up and ahead back to B. The imaginary ramp continues back up and around to B. 

In a well-executed 10-meter circle, the horse engages the inside hind leg more and pushes up and around the circle, lightening the forehand. 

The rider must never pull the inside rein down and to the inside of the circle, because you will be taking the horse’s inside shoulder down and in with you. I picture a retaining wall on my outside, and my outside aids (outside leg and rein, and engaged core, especially oblique muscles) act like that retaining wall. My inside leg supports at the girth, so that I keep the horse from falling down and in. My inside rein helps to provide inside flexion and direct the horse around the circle. But the tendency of the inside rein is towards softness, so that I am making an inviting space for the horse to turn up and into. 

Almost all riders at first tend to turn their horse like turning a car steering wheel: the inside hand pulls down and the outside hand floats up. This is natural and very understandable, but it is a terrible way to steer a horse! The rider’s outside aids become “unplugged” and often the rider leans to the inside or collapses the inside hip. 

To effectively turn a horse, you must time your turning aids—inside rein directing and outside aids enclosing—when the inside hind leg is landing and the inside front leg is lifting off the ground. The easiest way to learn this timing is to watch the inside shoulder. You can tell yourself “Now, now, now…” as the inside shoulder is lifting. Once you have the timing, you will need to look up, so you don’t ruin your seat by staring down and to the inside. The turning aids are applied gently in that moment, followed by a softening. If the turning aids are too strong, or the rider hangs for too long, then the horse will often pull in return. This causes the rider to pull harder, which creates a vicious cycle. 

The other common mistake riders make is to focus so much on turning the horse with the reins, that they no longer support with the leg. This would be like steering your car onto the parking ramp and completely taking your foot off the gas—it wouldn’t work! You wouldn’t drive fast onto the ramp, but you would still need some gas to drive up it. As you approach a 10-meter circle, you want to think in the same way: controlled power (no speeding) with a supportive leg (foot ready on the gas pedal). If you feel the horse slowing down, the leg supports for more impulsion. If you feel the horse rushing, your half halts help to rebalance and slow the horse down. 

Use the imagery of the parking ramp to help picture your uphill trajectory. Small circles might not seem that hard, but they are. Hopefully these tips can help you ride better, more effective circles of any size. Let us know if you find this imagery helpful.

Illustration by Susan DiFelice. 

Eliza Sydnor Romm is an FEI rider and trainer from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She is a USDF Certified Instructor and sought-after trainer and clinician. She teaches horses and riders of all levels, from starting under saddle to Grand Prix.

Susan DiFelice, a lifelong rider and award-winning equestrian illustrator, created Allpony, an educational website serving a global community with courses, games and printables on horsemanship. Her passion lies in fostering creative partnerships and producing illustrations for professionals and brands seeking to make an impact in the equestrian world.