Top Tip from Jonny Hilberath, German Coach

Top Tip from Jonny Hilberath, German team coach

You see these open mouths/ tight necks. What’s the basic missing?

“The correct moving of the back –  the contact forward from the hand. It is the wrong pressure in the horse; the wrong tension in the horse also mental tension in the horse because the mouth is like a mirror to the brain. That is something that definitely has to be fixed”.

So if someone came to your place for training, they’ve got their Grand Prix horse. What’s the first thing that you do to address it?

“First of all you get the double bridle off his head. You get them in a snaffle. “But I only ever ride him in a double!” Well now you don’t. Even take a lower noseband away. Just to see the basic of the mouth. Then I go step-by-step. I’m not a bit expert, so I try a different way with the riding. Most of the time, the mouth and tongue is a mirror for the rest of the body, so I am not so busy at that stage looking at the mouth, I am busy looking at the hindquarter and the back and the whole connection through the horse.”

https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2021/03/jonny-hilberath-what-makes-a-great-dressage-rider/