Two horses in the medium/advanced medium were going when I arrived. They were the super elastic fancy types that you see around, and I didn't get a ton of of what he had to say about them. However, next up was an older rider who I believe was an A/O riding a gelding that is VERY similar to Tesla in both looks and gaits doing the developing PSG. I sat down and jotted my notes on those rides during lunch, so it is all pretty jumbled. It gets somewhat more organized after lunch as they worked up to the small tour and then finished with a GP horse. Overall it was good, but not earth shattering. There were LOTS of people there, so no Q&A with the audience, and no photos or video were allowed. The Thunderbird horse park was amazing; I've never seen so many arenas and jumps together in one place, and we had fabulous weather. I wouldn't travel so far again, but glad I did it this time (and it was combined with a trip to see extended family). So anyway, here are my notes, most of which I've heard before, but I guess we can all benefit from repetition.
Ride more in travers on a diagonal and make sure the gait doesn't slow, as it can when you're thinking more of HP.
Ride SI into the corner, then release the pressure once the horse bends around the leg.
Use some baby passage to get the trot more onto the hind legs.
Start piri w/ W/C transitions in travers, focusing on bringing the shoulders forward and around. Make sure the walk is good before asking for the up transition. Don't go too small and lose quality- a bigger circle with quality is better.
If you can't keep the horse free of tension and over the back in the WTC transitions, don't move on to the changes.
Stretch and put the neck out at the end of each ride (he had every rider finish in a stretch trot).
Think about massaging the horse's mouth with the bit so the contact doesn't become stiff or static. It is not enough to wag the head back and forth.
If the IH isn't stepping to the OF in the SI, take some bend out of the body and ride it more like a LY. Test the SI by riding on the 1/4 line to make sure you have control of the haunches. It's SI, not haunches out, so don't let your inside leg slide back.
Don't be afraid to take the reins away from the neck to make space to go out to the outside rein and bend around the inside leg. Don't take the hand down or back.
If the C/W isn't good, canter on the spot to a C/Halt transition. Make sure it is on the ind legs and not against the hand. A down transition ridden with the hand might be obedient, but that doesn't make it good.
Hands need to be up in front of the saddle; if they come back, you are riding backwards. Passive hand, active leg.
Every ride should have 100's of transtions.
Recognize that in a show or other big environment, tension shows up. Be kind to the riders who are dealing with this, and recognize when you need to spend more time with a nervous horse working on this. Be sure you can get a SI at any time with the seat and leg to ride through the spookiness without choking back on the reins.
I do 70% canter work, but some horses (this was the horse similar to Tesla) are better in trot, so warm him up in trot to get the back, and then do the canter work.
Don't hold to keep the horse on the bit in transitions; ride the hind legs and keep the neck out.
Some horses don't do better with more forward, they just get on the forehand - if closing up the canter improves the rhythm, do that.
Collected trot should look powerful like a shorter medium, just contained power, not small or slow.
C/Walk - do the transition when the neck is up to allow room for the legs to walk forward.
Keep the inside leg loose and soft in the HP.
If the horse gets hot/bargey in the changes, ride collected canter, go forward 4 strides, change, and then collect immediately.
Working on pirouettes - HP to centerline, ride SF forward into a 1/2 piri, ride out in an easy HP to avoid losing the bend and energy. If piri gets stuck with the haunches in, ride a 1/4 piri then LY out of it.
If you and your horse tend to overbend one direction, ride that direction with more outside aids and a straight feeling. Increase the bend on the other side and watch that the ears are balanced.
Don't tell the horse off for making a mistake, just redo the exercise. A horse that's used to being told off will try to run away.
Piaffe/1/2 steps: If the horse doesn't tend to diagonalize, jog and then shorten and jog again. Horses that get nervous, walk in and walk out of the 1/2 steps.
For medium trot, build it from the hind legs, think of slow front legs.
What you can get at the end of the ride will eventually be available at the beginning, so finish with circles until you get a good stretch.
Our horses school 4 days a week and have one fitness day, one hack day and a day off each week.
Know your stride counts for 20 meters in collected trot or canter, or a 10 m volte, for example. That way you can count strides to a transition, and it will be more forward, rather than making a more backward transition when you get to a letter. He had the demo rider do FC's on a serpentine and had her change 4 strides from the turn, and it made an instant difference.
Make every transition a good one, even if it's to take a walk break. If it's bad, do it again.
Improve the walk with easy changes of bend pushing out through the shoulders in the turns. Row a bit with the hands and push the neck away without making the walk faster. Don't allow a tight/quick walk.
The back needs to be moving to build the muscle behind the saddle. Don't let the horse get to high in the neck with shoulders/back dropped or this won't happen.
Ride into the piris in SF - if you are coming in in travers it can't stay small and the horse will drift in. The piri needs to be 50/50 across whatever line it's ridden from.
