Steffen Peters—Training Ride on a Prix St. Georges Horse

Join Steffen Peters for a schooling ride on his new horse, Mani’s Endeavor. Following their first time showing Prix St. Georges together, Steffen continues developing the horse. Starting with movements like half-pass and walk pirouettes, Steffen works through his warm-up and gets the horse’s attention while discussing common pitfalls with the leg aids. Steffen continues to explain his aids and thought process while he moves into working on suppling and lightening Endeavor to curate a gentle, soft, and steady connection. At the trot, Steffen discusses the proper position of the neck and the importance of bending. He moves into canter work, maintaining light aids while riding forward and increasing the tempo. Endeavor has a small reactive moment to the outside leg, giving Steffen the opportunity to demonstrate a beautiful, soft correction, and how he rides through “silly” moments without creating resistance. He shares his philosophy on the inside leg and outside rein for straightness though movements like leg-yield and shoulder-in, and later in the flying changes. Steffen stresses the importance of the horse understanding the difference between straightening aids and the cue for a flying change while working on tempi changes. He shares the importance of being conscious, positive, and mindful at home or at important events when mistakes happen. Finally, Endeavor and Steffen work on their transitions to avoid “giving points away” in their test by ensuring they are accurate.