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[RC] bits & collection - Mollie Krumlaw-Smith

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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