How exactly to begin?

[Haley]

Alright, this is an extremely general question. But, I was wondering, if I were to begin teaching a horse (hunter/jumper) a little basic dressage, how exactly would I begin? I've done a tad of dressage on my aunt's Morgan, but I have never attempted to train a horse how to perform some of the steps. Should I begin by having someone moving the horse from the ground (for instance, pushing the horse in order to do a side pass) while I would do the appropriate rider cues?

Any suggestions? I'm curious. :o

[Wild Horsefeathers]

Probably teach from the ground what you would do from the saddle. If you need to sidepass, teach them sidepassing from the ground, then do it in the saddle. :)

[silverleprichuan]

Start at the bottom of the training pyramid and work up.

Rhythm and Regularity (Takt)
Rhythm, gait, tempo, and regularity should be the same on straight and bending lines, through lateral work, and through transitions. Rhythm refers to the sequence of the footfalls, which should only include the pure walk, pure trot, and pure canter. The regularity, or purity, of the gait includes the evenness and levelness of the stride. Once a rider can obtain pure gaits, they are ready to learn difficult movements such as the piaffe, when the horse trots in place raising the front legs to where the hooves are level with the cannon bone.


Relaxation (Losgelassenheit)
The second level of the pyramid is relaxation (looseness). Signs of looseness in the horse may be seen by an even stride that is swinging through the back and causing the tail to swing like a pendulum, looseness at the poll, a soft chewing of the bit, and a relaxed blowing through the nose. The horse will make smooth transitions, be easy to position from side to side, and will willingly reach down into the contact as the reins are lengthened.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dressage#Rhythm_and_Regularity_.28Takt.29)