Relaxing/Breaking at Poll

Alot of the previous posters had excellent suggestions... I would just like to add that doing 20 m and 10 m circles will help both you and your horse condition yourselves for collection.

Circles help the horse gain balance and strengthen thier backs. A nice collected frame won't happen (or won't be consistent) with a weak back. If you notice in the video the horse's butt is dragging behind him and hollow through out his back.. He improves some what when she starts circling to the left because you can tell he feels more balanced to the left. On the first left circle infront of the jumps you can see him trying to stretch down and then again and when he does this he steps further underneath himself a little more because he is lengthening his stride and that would be a good starting point. Let your horse build up back and neck muscle first and then ask for more and more with smaller circles. The smaller the circle the more he is forced to bring the inside leg underneath him to stay balanced.

MIEventer is giving you a good example of what alot of riders are doing these days. I use to hear "leg to hand and seat to hand" and think "ok.... what does this mean?" If you look at MIEventer there are several frames where she is posting ahead of her horse. She isn't effectively using her seat and pushing him to her hand.

Lunge lessons always help to improve your seat and your legs which will also help you in your quest for collection.

Yeah, the 2nd vid isn't that great with my hands, but we had some good moments. Those were taken over 2 years ago, and allot has been achieved with clinics and learning to leave his face alone and driving back to front - but I tried to find some vids with moments of him softening.

The moment your horse gives, you've gotta give back.

The other vid posted, was a good example of quiet hands.

Exactly and great post. He loves to pop his shoulder i'll tell you what.

It is a long process, true collection does not happen just over night, it takes a long time of consistant, correct riding.

Learning how to ride seat to legs to hands takes a long time to achieve. David O'Connor says that it takes 1,000 times of repetative work to fix 1 bad habit. My bad habit are my hands - but after those vids were taken, I've learnt a whole whooie of allot about leaving the face alone, driving my horse under himself, forward movement, opening him up, allowing his back to lift and to come down into himself.

The back end always has to come first, the back can only lift after the back end engages and your horse tracks up. Balance is key, forward movement is key, support is key.

In the beginning I agree with the take then release method, but as your horse gets more educated and more advanced, if you are constantly taking pressure and dropping your reins or "giving them", then there is no stable place for your horse to push into the bridle. He will always wonder where it is he needs to be until the rider is able to maintain soft, even contact with the reins and allow the horse to reside comfortably, knowing where he is supposed to be.
In the beginning stages you teach them to give by immediately releasing, and repeat billions of times. There has to be somewhere for your horse to go to. Somewhere that is always the same, and always appealing.