Each of the horse’s gaits offers a unique tool when conditioning for performance and, used correctly, can accomplish results that might otherwise be missed. Optimally, horses should spent equal time in all three gaits during training sessions in order to achieve both looseness and strength. Certain conditioning phases, though, sometimes necessitate prioritizing one gait over another. This article will clarify how and when individual gaits can serve the equine athlete, especially the way he uses his back, and how cavalletti routines can help.

There’s a reason some call it “stressage.” Like ballet, dressage is an art form that balances grace with strength and athleticism, a feat demanding extraordinary mastery of the body. Unlike ballet, in dressage that feat is dependent on cooperation between members of two different species — cue the stress! And when riders are stressed, so are the horses. As a result, riders sometimes turn to dubious methods in an attempt to gain control of their equine partner.

Canada is a massive country, with large distances between equine competitions and a relatively small number of upper-level equestrians. Hence, Canadian riders who want to be competitive at upper levels struggle to find enough higher-level competitions to advance their riding careers. Canada also has winter weather that precludes many riders from training outside for half the year. This can limit advancement and horse fitness. For example, three-day event riders can’t school cross-country jumps or get their gallop training in when fields are drifted with snow, nor can endurance riders do long rides on varied terrain.

While it might often be spoken about in artistic, aesthetic, or even philosophical ways, lightness — both of movement and also of communication with horses — is more than an abstract ideal. In many ways, it measures a horse’s current physiological capabilities.