I am by no means an expert on the higher levels of
dressage though I am lucky enough to be able to train during the
winter months with a highly respected Grand Prix trainer/rider and USDF Gold
Medalist.
I have always been instructed that collection comes
from your seat and legs, not your hands. Yes, eventually the horse
collects and moves forward into your hands, but collection starts at
the "tail" and goes forward. Not the reverse. Choice of bit has very
little if nothing to do with it.
As your horse engages his back end his neck and
pole will drop and flex thus putting your horse in the correct frame.
A simple and great starting example/exercise for this would
be 20M circles doing transitions from a walk to the trot. As you are
asking the horse to move off of your inside leg to your outside rein
and transitioning to the trot his poll should flex and his neck should drop
down slightly as he engages his back end. If the horse is working correctly
there should be almost no pressure on the inside rein at this point yet the
horse should be collected or at a minimum starting to collect
depending on his level of training.
Mollie
Krumlaw-Smith ^..^~~~~
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