#ProkoniBestExercises: Evgenia Davydova spoke about her training and work with horses

We continue the #ProkoniBestExercises dressage column, which has gained great popularity among our readers, and this time we made it even more interesting!

Today we share with you the comments of Evgenia Davydova, Master of Sports of International Class in dressage and member of the Russian national team, trained under the guidance of an experienced Russian rider – Tatyana Miloserdova, who has recently been competing for the Italian team. Now the main Grand Prix horse of Evgenia is a mare of the Dutch warm-blooded breed named Awakeningprepared by Tatyana Miloserdova. Paired with Awakening Evgenia competed at the World Equestrian Games in Tryon last September. The rider spoke about her training and work with horses.

Фото: Łukasz Kowalski / LukaszKowalski.com

Prokoni: What is your favorite dressage exercise?

Evgeniya: All my work with the horse is loved and interesting, so I don’t have any favorite exercise).

Prokoni: What exercises would you recommend to activate the horse’s hindquarters, raise the forehand and make the gaits more flying and springy?

Evgeniya: To activate the horse’s hindquarters and raise the forehand, a lot of transitions in all gaits help. The rises from stops, contractions and extensions are all very good at activating the horse’s hindquarters.

Prokoni: What elements do you do best?

Evgeniya: I really like canter pirouettes. I work a lot on contractions, so it’s not too hard for me to pirouette afterwards. Of course, the ride is not always perfect, but that’s what it’s riding! :).

Photo taken from the rider’s facebook page.

Prokoni: What are your guidelines for canter pirouettes and what should a rider know about this exercise? After all, it often happens that the rider is not yet ready to perform this element, and he has errors in performance.

Evgeniya: I understand the pirouette as a small circle, and the main thing here is that the horse turns his front legs around his hind legs when performing it. And many riders mistakenly knock the horse with the outside side to the side, not quite correctly understanding the idea of ​​​​the pirouette, and the reversed horse simply cannot physically do this element. She’s just not comfortable with it. During the pirouette, the horse must continue to move forward. In addition, it is very important to keep the inner leg tightly pressed when performing the pirouette!

Photo taken from the rider’s facebook page.

Prokoni: Please tell us about working with mares. Do you have any life hack on their dressage?

Evgeniya: Mares … in fact, it all depends on the nature of each individual horse. For example, my gelding is much more difficult than my mare, but it seems to me that the main thing with mares is to behave extremely delicately and understand that they are girls and subject to mood swings. Mares do not allow the rider to be rough with them, they are delicate natures!

Thanks to Evgenia for the answers! In the next article we will publish the answer Tatyana Kosterina, speaking at the Diavoless and training in Germany. Do not miss! 🙂