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French Dressage for Gaited Horses

Why a High and Light Riding Position

Classical French dressage for the naturally gaited horse: why a high and light position?

Did you know there is a BIG difference between asking the horse to raise its head and neck vs pulling the reins back to force a high position?

Why a High and Light Riding Position

By Jennifer Klitzke

Living in the Northern Midwest without an indoor riding arena provides many months of book study. This winter I took a deep dive into Baucher’s second manner.

Many of the books I have been studying were written by Classical French Dressage Master Francois Baucher (1796–1873), his students, and others who have studied and applied Baucher’s second manner. During this era, ambling gaits were considered a fault and not developed like we do today with our naturally gaited horse breeds. Does this mean classical training doesn’t apply to our horses? I don’t think so. If you ask me dressage is more than trot.

My two favorite books regarding Baucher’s second manner are: Racinet Explains Baucher by the late Jean Claude Racinet and Methodical Dressage of the Riding Horse by Faverot de Kerbrech. Some of what I have been reading affirms my training, while I have also discovered more to apply.

Now that Spring has produced suitable riding weather, I couldn’t wait to get out and begin applying my studies. For this post, I’ll focus on a high and light position. There is a big difference between the rider asking the horse to lift its head and neck to find balance vs the rider pulling back on the reins to force a high position. I have been teaching my horses a high and light position for years, thanks to Classical French Dressage Master Philippe Karl’s DVDs and books. However, my winter book study has challenged me to encourage my horses to reach an even higher position than I had been asking―provided my horse maintains relaxation and lightness.

Asking for a high and light position

For years, I had been asking my horses to lift the head and neck for the purpose of relaxation, lightness, and balance. I have always introduced a snaffle bit from in hand exercises. Then from the saddle at a halt, followed by a slow walk, and then proceeded by a slow gait.

High and light, balanced square halt
A high and light, balanced square halt

For me, balance and relaxation are key to smooth gaits.

Anytime the horse loses relaxation, lightness, or balance, the horse is brough back to a halt to regain relaxed balance. Then the horse returns to the walk or smooth gait. Whenever more tempo is added before the horse is trained in relaxed balance, the horse tends to lose relaxation and/or balance. That’s why starting at a halt is best and gradually adding tempo. For me, balance and relaxation are key to smooth gaits.

A high and light, balanced Tennessee Walking Horse Spanish Walk
A high and light, balanced Tennessee Walking Horse Spanish Walk

My book studies taught me a few more benefits this high and light position offer the horse beyond relaxation, lightness, and balance. Asking the horse to lift its head and neck high and light in relaxation causes the horse to engage the chest and abdominal muscles to raise the wither and bring the back to a neutral position, and it engages the hindquarters. This high and light position teaches the horse balance to best carry the weight of a rider.

A high, light, relaxed and balanced riding position
A high, light, relaxed and balanced riding position

Effects of forcing a high position

When the rider forces a high position by pulling back on the reins, it isn’t helpful for many reasons:

  • It causes the horse to hollow its back
  • The under-neck muscles bulge instead of rounding the top line muscles
  • The hind quarters don’t engage
  • It develops the wrong muscles
  • It makes the horse less able to produce a smooth gait
  • It is more difficult for the horse to carry a rider comfortably
  • It compromises the long-term soundness of the horse
  • Plus, it’s unsightly

Watch the video below and see how teaching your horse a high and light position with a snaffle bit helps the horse find balance and elegance. Plus, it helps the horse develop naturally, smooth evenly timed gaits!

Questions?

Let me know your thoughts by completing the form below.

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Dressage for the Gaited Horse, French Dressage for Gaited Horses

Following the Natural Head and Neck Motion

Age-defying Dressage
Showing dressage on a horse that doesn’t trot (2013)

Many people ride their naturally gaited horses with low fixed hands. I did this, too until I learned a new way leading to relaxation and smoother gaits.

Here’s my story.

Following the Natural Head and Neck Motion

By Jennifer Klitzke

I’ve been a passionate student of dressage since 1988, predominantly of the German school, learning how to post and develop my core to sit a bouncy trot. This kept me in shape, I’ll give you that!

Then in 2007, my aging body longed for a smooth ride, and that’s when I acquired my first naturally gaited horse: a just turning three-year-old Tennessee Walking Horse filly named Makana. I began her training with the German dressage I knew until I was introduced to a gaited rail class instructor. This is where I learned to ride with low fixed hands.

Then French dressage clinicians traveled to my region, and they acquainted me with the work of modern classical French dressage Masters, such as Philippe Karl and his School of Légèreté. This launched a book and DVD study into his methods which were vastly different than the German dressage and rail class instruction I had learned. I gradually began to adopt Karl’s methods as I rode my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse.

Philippe-Karl-Legerete-DVDs-video-camera
My DVD collection of classical French dressage Master Philippe Karl.

A few years later, I learned that Karl had been teaching School of Légèreté instructor certification clinics at three USA locations—one of which was not far from family. At my next trip to Seattle, WA, I contacted Nichole, one of Karl’s instructors in training for lessons.

Each day with Nichole I took several lessons on her non-gaited horses. First, we began with: Work in Hand: Educating the Mouth.

Then Nichole taught me how to apply the exercises from the ground to the saddle. First, we began at a halt and then a walk.

As soon as I began the walk, Nichole noticed my low fixed hand position. While my arms and hands were quiet at my sides, she also noticed my pelvis and lower back followed the motion of the horse more than necessary. It seemed my back and hips were overcompensating for my still arms (tense shoulders, elbows and hands).

My efforts to remain still with my arms and hands began to affect the horse with tension and heaviness. This great observation and feedback is just what I needed. I certainly did not intend to impose this response from my aids! The book and DVD study I had been doing was great, but only one-on-one lessons can give specific real time feedback.

Instead of being still with my arms and hands, Nichole encouraged me to follow the horse’s natural head and neck motion. This meant becoming aware of my arms and hands―elastic fingers and relaxed wrists, elbows and shoulders while maintaining a light contact with the reins connected to the snaffle bit.

This was an epiphany for me!

Granted, I was riding a non-gaited horse at a walk, but the walk is an evenly timed four beat gait. I began to think about the smooth evenly timed four beat gaits of the Tennessee Walking Horse. Gaits like the flat walk and running walk with a natural head and neck nod.

I wondered how my stillness and low fixed hands had been affecting my horse’s relaxation, willingness to move forward, and quality of natural gaits?

  • Could low fixed hands and stillness be creating tension and braces leading to pace, step pace, short quick steps, lateral canter and bit avoidance?
  • Could the tension in my shoulders, still arms and hands be saying “stop” to my horse when I intend to move forward?

Nichole taught me the importance of following the natural head and neck motion of the horse’s four beat walk with relaxed shoulders, arms and hands. This fostered relaxation, harmony and lightness with each horse I rode during my lessons.

If following the natural head and neck motion of non-gaited horses at a walk produce relaxation, wouldn’t the same logic translate to the naturally gaited head-nodding horse at a flat walk, fox trot, and running walk?

  • Would following hands produce less driving with my legs and seat to encourage my horse forward?
  • Would following hands produce less tension and more relaxation, harmony and lightness between me and my horse?
  • Would my horse be more apt to seek contact with a snaffle bit if I followed the head nod?
  • Would following hands lead to longer and deeper strides rather than short quick steps?

How many naturally gaited horses struggle with a camel walk, hard pace, step pace, and a lateral canter? Would horses be smoother to ride if they felt more comfortable and relaxed? Could following the horse’s natural head and neck motion lead to smoother gaits?

Did You Know

When the horse holds tension in the mouth, jaw and poll it affects the body with tension. For the naturally gaited horse this body tension can lead to pace. (Just do a study on the hyoid apparatus, the horse’s tongue, and the effect it has on the horse’s body and movement.)

Wouldn’t the opposite be true? If the naturally gaited horse where more relaxed in the mouth, jaw and poll wouldn’t it lead to smoother gaits? Wouldn’t following the natural head and neck motion of the horse lead to relaxation better than low fixed hands?

I began to explore this idea of following the natural head and neck motion with my hands at the flat walk and running walk. In the beginning I was rather clumsy with my following arms. Yet it was a step in the right direction since I was letting go of the tension in my shoulders, elbows and hands as compared to a low fixed hand position.

Overtime I gained more finesse in the use of elastic fingers and wrists, along with relaxed shoulders and elbows, as I followed my horse’s natural head and neck motion at the flat walk and running walk.

Watch: Why follow the natural head and neck motion with relaxed arms

Granted, it is a lot easier to ride a naturally gaited head nodding horse with floppy reins, but dressage is my passion. I needed to find a way to communicate with a light contact that produces relaxation leading to smooth gaits. I believe following the natural head and neck motion is beneficial.

Balanced flat walk
Makana, my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse in flat walk (2025).

Special thanks to Nichole Walters, the owner and instructor of Cadbury Farm who taught me the “Educating the Mouth” and “Following Hands” exercises that she learned firsthand from Philippe Karl and his School of Légèreté.

Questions?

Let me know your thoughts by completing the form below.

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Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Tips for the Gaited Horse

Age-defying Dressage with a Smooth Gaited Horse

age defying dressage with a gaited horse

When your body can no longer endure the sitting trot, it’s time to discover dressage with a naturally smooth gaited horse!

Age-Defying Dressage with a Smooth Gaited Horse

By Jennifer Klitzke

H-X-F, extended trot along the diagonal. Oh, dread, my German warmblood Seiltanzer has never been smooth to sit, especially at the extended trot, and over the last twenty years both of us have aged. Each stride has become more dislodging, resulting in back pain, sagging breasts seeming to hit me in the face with each step, and sometimes “splash”—the loss of bladder control! What began as a beautiful dance between horse and rider has now become a losing fight with gravity.

SeilTanzer
Jennifer Klitzke riding her dressage gelding SeilTanzer (1998)

In 2007, I joined other aging baby boomers and retired from showing hard-trotting horses, but I didn’t want to give up riding, especially the beautiful dance of dressage.

This quandary introduced me to the bounceless stride of the Tennessee walking horse, and I have learned that I’m not alone. The naturally gaited horse industry has seen a continual climb in popularity. Tennessee walking horses, Missouri foxtrotters, Rocky Mountain spotted horses, Icelandics, gaited mules, Paso Finos, and Peruvian Pasos are among these naturally smooth-gaited horse breeds. Not only that, I was thrilled to learn that dressage actually improves the gaited horse’s quality of movement. The principles of dressage build balance, forwardness, relaxation, suppleness, and engagement and can actually transform a pacey horse into a smooth four-beat gaiting dance partner.

Below are seven ways  that improve the naturally gaited horses’s quality of movement using the dressage I learned while riding trotting horses. These humane training methods transform an ordinary ride into a beautiful dance—even while on the trail!

1. Equipment: Just as it is no fun to dance with ill-fitting shoes, an uncomfortable horse is an unhappy dance partner. Dressage methods are best applied by riding with a well-fitted snaffle bit that encourages salivation and acceptance of the bit, as opposed to bits that are engineered for pain avoidance. Remember to loosely adjust the noseband so your horse is able to open its mouth. A tight noseband causes undue tension that can show itself throughout all dance expressions. Equally important is a properly fitting saddle that does not pinch the shoulders or touch the wither while you’re in the saddle.

2. Stretching: Begin and end each dance session with 5-10 minutes of a forward moving without rushing walk. Follow your horse’s side-to-side belly sway with your hip joints and encourage your horse to maximize each step deep under its body. Allow the horse to stretch forward, down and out. Stretching helps lengthen the naturally gaited horse’s topline muscles and increase a horse’s stride. Be careful that the horse’s poll doesn’t drop below the wither height, or the gaited horse will begin to fall onto the forehand. It is important that the gaited horse remains balanced over all four feet during the stretching.

Neck extension at a flat walk
This is a great example of a neck extension at a flat walk. My horse is engaged, lifting her back, stretching out, forward, and down at chest level with an even snaffle bit contact.

3. Transitions: Choreograph every ride with changes of direction and tempo to keep it interesting for you and your horse. Walk-canter-walk, halt-rein back-walk, and transitions from walk to gait and back every 5-10 steps are great exercises that will improve the communication between you and your equine dance partner. Transitions can improve your horse’s responsiveness and graciously establish you as the dance leader.

4. Bending: Twenty-meter circles, three-loop serpentines, spiraling in and out of a circle are great exercises to encourage a horse to bend through the neck, shoulders, and rib cage, and teach the horse to step deeper under its body with its hind leg steps. Bending exercises improve a horse’s balance, lighten the forehand to carry itself more poised, and help smooth out a rough gait.

Lateral exercises at a collected walk
Lateral exercises at a slow collected walk help the naturally gaited horse develop balance.

5. Lateral exercises: Zig-zag leg yields, turn on the haunches, turn on the forehand, haunches-in, shoulder-in, and half-pass are great dance moves to bring balance, supple and soften your gaited horse and build trust and communication between you and your dance partner.

6. Canter: It is a popular myth that cantering a gaited horse will ruin its naturally smooth four-beat gait. On the contrary, I have found that cantering actually improves my Walking Horse’s flat walk and running walk. Cantering up hills, in 20-meter circles, over ground rails and small jumps will strengthen your horse, lengthen its stride, and break up a pace.

canter
First level tests require 15 meter canter circles, working canter, canter lengthenings, and one loop counter canter serpentines.

7. Become a dressage student: There are a few gaited horse trainers and nationally known clinicians who I have learned from who use dressage methods to improve the movement of naturally gaited horses. Among them are Jennie Jackson, Larry Whitesell and Jennifer Bauer. Audit their clinics, read their books, and watch their training DVDs or find an open-minded traditional dressage instructor to help you and your gaited horse get started with suppling exercises.

Dressage will help your gaited horse improve its smooth, four-beat gaits, and make your horse a more mentally connected dance partner. Dressage with your smooth gaited horse can transform even a ride on the trail into a beautiful dance you can comfortably enjoy well into your senior years.

What are your thoughts? Please reach out and send me a message or stay connected by subscribing to the Naturally Gaited youtube channel and “like” us on facebook.com/naturallygaited.