In her video series on EQUESTRIAN+, USEF Dressage Assistant Pathway Coach Olivia LaGoy-Weltz works with a rider on keeping her horse’s body correctly aligned. She explains that the rider needs to keep the horse’s energy up while maintaining an even, consistent contact and bending in both directions. Olivia points out the importance of riding the outside of the horse and not only trying to turn with the inside rein. 

Directing the Horse’s Movement Through Bending Exercises

“Think shoulder-in in the leg yield and purposely putting him haunches leading in this spot because he is a little bit prone to wanting to run through his shoulders and not go sideways from your leg. Making it a little more extreme, so then if we back off, it is easier.”

“Thinking supple and smooth in your motions. It is totally fine to ask him to give then let go, but you are thinking up off your inside leg, forward up into a receiving inside rein—not dumping your outside hand because he has to work within it.”

“Lock in on the line that you want to be on [when changing direction across the diagonal], so you’re not drifting toward the rail. Then, riding him uphill from your right leg into a receiving left rein through the corner [when change direction from left to right].”

“Think of the outside line of his body from his outside hind to his outside nose being on the line of the circle. Whatever that means—sometimes that means more bend, sometimes that means more alignment through the outside side.”

Making Symmetrical Turns

“The turn needs to be the same turn from the first steps to the last steps versus he turns then he makes the turn a little bigger and then you have to make it much tighter at the end when you are going in the difficult direction. … Think the same arc from the moment that you leave the wall to the moment that you get to centerline.”

“It has got to be like bicycle handlebars. It is a little like turning a bike in that you don’t crank one side or the other. Or, as Ali [Brock] says, like a one-wheel wheelbarrow.”

“Now, take it to 10-meter half-circle to 10-meter half-circle rather than a three-loop serpentine. I want you to think his star [on his forehead] starts the turn and bring his outside side with your outside aids.”

“Think that the saddle stays balanced on this back and you are not shoving it up toward his withers [during the canter], but try to slide it back towards his hind legs a little bit more. The swing forward happens really naturally for you, but we don’t want to slam him down onto his front feet.”

Watch & Learn on E+

• You can watch Olivia LaGoy-Weltz’s entire series on keeping a horse’s body correctly aligned here on EQUESTRIAN+.
• For additional videos featuring LaGoy-Weltz’s top tips and training strategies, click here.
• From short training tips to how-to videos and insider-access to private clinics and lessons, learn more from top dressage experts on EQUESTRIAN+.

About Olivia LaGoy-Weltz

Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Olivia LaGoy-Weltz began riding at age 5. She traveled to Holland and Germany after high school to work in several top dressage barns. In 2011, she won the U.S. Dressage Festival of Champions FEI Young Rider Grand Prix and was named the Brentina Cup Reserve Champion. Her many accomplishments since then have included winning the small tour at the Palm Beach Derby CDI twice and serving as an alternate for the U.S. Dressage Team for the 2015 Pan American Games. In 2021, Olivia was short-listed for the Tokyo Olympics with Rassing’s Lonoir and won the Fourth Level Open Championship at the U.S. Dressage Federation Dressage Finals with Ici Bria VCG. In 2025, she was named one of the USEF Dressage Assistant Pathway Coaches. Olivia is based at Mountain Crest Farm, in Haymarket, Virginia, and winters in Wellington, Florida.