The photo is of Amber Gipp and her horse Furst Yogi. Here is what Amber had to say: 

“Furst Yogi is a 7-year-old, 17.2-hand gelding who is a mellow and happy horse, but he needs to stay engaged behind while under saddle. I am his trainer, and he is confirmed at Third Level and schooling Prix St. Georges.”

My first impression after seeing this photo was: What a great picture catching this colorful and powerful moment! It’s one of those pictures you would hang inside your barn to advertise your training. Furst Yogi is trotting with engaged hind legs, good lift of the shoulders and nice self-carriage. He looks like he’s concentrating, his mouth is closed (with the curb bit at the correct angle) and he looks like he’s in a nice frame. 

Amber is sitting with an engaged, stable core and correct leg position. She looks focused and is concentrating in the direction where she and Furst Yogi are headed in the arena. While her hands are a little high and her shoulders are very slightly behind the balance line, it’s important to remember that a photo is simply one moment in a series of movement.

If Amber needed a bit more engagement and self-carriage from her horse, she may have moved her body for one step into this position and then returned to lower her hands and bring her shoulders over her hips. But the picture cannot show the next step. Also, riding a big horse that makes you look small is always a challenge. But Amber is collecting such a big horse with lightness and makes it look easy.

 Stretching Up With The Upper Body

This picture is a good example that correct training does not need strength but balance and quick coordination paired with knowledge and understanding. For the horse, correct timing of the aids is more important than how strongly they are applied. To encourage Furst Yogi to move with more activity from the hind legs, Amber is sitting with her seat bones forward and under her hip joints with her pelvis in a driving position. To avoid compressing her lower back by “tucking in” her seat, she needs to stretch up in her body at the same time. Here, she’s stretched up a bit more with the front side of her body, or frontline, but ideally, she would stretch up through her back, or backline, in the same way. 

To help with this concept of stretching up in the body, imagine the position of your shoulders when riding up or down a steep hill. Riding downhill you will lean slightly back, while your shoulders will come forward going uphill. When asking a horse for a more uphill movement and frame, the rider should not position her shoulders slightly back as if she was riding downhill for an extended period of time. Pushing with the seat and pelvis forward must be followed immediately by rebalancing the chest and upper body forward above the hips.

Another visualization for stretching up in the body is to imagine closing a zipper. You need to hold the base of the zipper down firmly with one hand while the other hand pulls the zipper up. Amber is stretching up very nicely with her frontline. She has connection down into the saddle, and you can imagine her pulling a zipper up over her sternum and chest. This gives her a nice, upright position, but it needs to be balanced by a second zipper stretching over her backline.

I would advise Amber to visualize the second zipper starting at her sacrum (the large, triangular bone at the base of the spine) that needs to be pulled up over the back of her neck and head. The balance between the two zippers will give her the necessary core stability and balance to encourage Furst Yogi to move with more cadence and self-carriage in an uphill frame.

A Giving, Following Hand

Amber is lifting her hands to help carry the weight of the bits and make sure they are not pulling down on the horse’s poll. I prefer a slightly higher, lighter hand position rather than a lower, heavier hand position. But too high of a hand position will break the line from the elbow to the rein to the horse’s mouth and should not be held for a long period of time. If held too long or too strongly, the horse will bend more in the neck and come behind the vertical. Furst Yogi’s nice neck position shows that he’s not being pulled up to self-carriage; he just got a little reminder in this moment. 

A brief lift of the hands can do wonders, but it needs to be followed by lowering the hands with a tendency to push them forward. To make sure that forward giving enhances self-carriage, try standing in riding position in front of a wall with your knuckles touching the wall. Pushing gently forward against the wall will engage your abdominal muscles and lengthen your spine in the lower back with the hips opening forward. This is why every half-halt is only complete when we get to the “giving” moment, where we actually control the horse using our seat. 

Another helpful mental image for Amber: She should imagine lowering her hands forward while also sending her arms along the reins underneath her horse’s mouth as if her hands are scooping under the mouth to help him lift and carry his neck. This forward scooping visualization helps riders keep their balance more forward and avoid leaning back with their shoulders.

I am sure Amber will enjoy training this impressive and willing horse further into Prix St. Georges and beyond, and I hope she can find value in these training tips.

About Susanne von Dietze

Susanne von Dietze is a leader in equestrian biomechanics. A physiotherapist, licensed Trainer A instructor and judge for dressage and show jumping, she gives lectures and seminars throughout the world, including at the prestigious German Riding Academy in Warendorf. She is a native of Germany and now lives with her husband and three children in Israel, where she competes at the international level. She is the author of two books on the biomechanics of riding: Balance in Movement and Rider and Horse, Back to Back. 

Watch training videos with Susanne von Dietze on EQUESTRIAN+.

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of Practical Horseman.