Walking On Volume 1, Issue 2, August, 2014 | Page 32

Dressage as Applied to the Gaited Horse
A Riding Clinic with Jennie Jackson,
Pioneer of Dressage en Gaite

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oming from 28 years as a devoted dressage student riding
trotting horses, dressage is
not new to me. But applying
dressage training methods to my naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse has
raised a few questions: How do I ride a
head-shaking horse on-the-bit? Does the
dressage training pyramid apply to the
gaited horse? Can a gaited horse reach
high levels of dressage? Is it possible to
collect the gaited horse without trotting?
What about rider position?
In January 2013 I stumbled upon
Jennie Jackson’s Dressage en Gaite training DVDs and purchased them with my
Christmas money in hopes of finding
answers to these questions.
Jennie is the only person I’ve come to
know IN HISTORY who has trained and
shown a Tennessee Walking Horse to the
highest levels of dressage; piaffe en gait,
passage en gait, canter pirouettes, tempi
changes, and has developed the full range
of motion-collected through extended
walks, gaits, and canters.
Watching Jennie’s DVDs began to
answer my questions. That’s when I
invited her to teach a Dressage as Applied
to the Gaited Horse Clinic in Minnesota
last year. The clinic was a huge success.
So this year, I teamed with the Minnesota

32 • Walking On

Walking Horse Association for the 2014
Jennie Jackson Clinic held Friday - Saturday,
May 30 - June 1 in Proctor, Minnesota.
Not only is Jennie the pioneer of
Dressage en Gaite, she is an International
Walking Horse judge and clinician and
has a full scope of knowledge and experience with Tennessee Walking Horses from breeding through breaking, training
and finishing, in and out of the show ring:
English, western, trail obstacle, driving,
stadium jumping, cross-country, and
dressage. Plus, Jennie and her husband
Nate have been on the front lines fighting
soring and abuse for 30 years. What an
honor to have them in our midst!
Auditors, riders, gaited horses, and
a gaited mule came to the clinic from
various backgrounds: some from the
walking horse show world, others from
the trail, some new to dressage, and a
few returned for more advanced dressage
teaching.
Clinic riders and auditors experienced
the importance of: teaching the horse
relaxation, stretching and seeking a
snaffle bit contact; teaching the horse to
move away from the rider’s lower leg,
step across under its belly with its inside
hind leg, and into the outside indirect
rein through leg yield, turn on the fore,
and should in exercises; using ground

© Jennefir Klitzke

The auditors enjoyed watching those big ears flop
each time the gaited mule flat walked.

rails to break pace; using half halts to
discourage trot and establish a smooth
four beat gait; establishing correct canter
leads over ground rails; using travere
through counter canter to maintain lead;
collected walk-canter-walk transitions;
simple changes at “x”; applying the freshening canter to establish a true three-beat
canter in preparation for flying changes;
transitions between collected, medium,
flat walk, and running walk; turn on the
forehand; turn on the haunches; walk
pirouettes; leg yield to half pass; introducing the kinton noseband and its function;
introducing a double bridle and the function of the curb vs. the snaffle bit; plus
demonstration rides by Jennie on some
of the student’s horses to help riders,
horses, and auditors understand the
exercises she taught.

Ashley riding collected walk to canter
and counter-canter transitions

Becky learns to teach her horse how
to move away from her inside leg
to the outside indirect rein.

© Jennefir Klitzke

Sally beautifully demonstrating the perfect
softness and angle of leg yield along the
fence line as Jennie explains it

Jennifer Klitzke learns collected
walk-canter-walk transitions while
maintaining connection and
a still riding position.

A new student to dressage said,
“I didn’t realize that there was
so much to this style of riding.”

I hope everyone who attended the
clinic enjoyed it as much as I did. Thank
you Jennie and Nate Jackson for traveling
to Minnesota and to the MWHA for
sponsoring this clinic!
For more about Jennie Jackson
and Dressage en Gaite, visit
www.walkingonranch.com
For more clinic photos and stories visit
www.naturallygaited.com
– Jennifer Klitzke

© Jennefir Klitzke

Candice learns to teach her Spotted Saddle Horse
how to relax into a soft, stretching frame and
to seek a snaffle bit contact.

Rachal establishing canter, departs over
four ground rails spaced nine feet apart.

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