The first year a horse spends under saddle can determine the quality, ease, and longevity of its entire dressage career. While it may seem premature to think about collection—let alone movements like piaffe or passage—during these early months, every step taken in year one either brings the horse closer to those advanced expressions or delays them. Establishing a systematic, compassionate, and forward-thinking training approach from day one creates a pathway to both physical soundness and mental confidence. This is where long-term goals and short-term milestones must intertwine. At this stage, subtlety matters. Clarity matters. And above all, consistency lays the groundwork for excellence. At Messenger Hill Farm, where Freddie Vasquez equestrian reviews often cite the meticulous development of young horses, the first year is treated as a sacred phase in the journey from green mount to collected athlete.
The Mental Game: Cultivating Willingness Before Mechanics
Before the horse can lift its shoulders, sit on its haunches, or pulse with rhythm in a passage step, it must want to participate in the conversation. Early training is as much psychological as it is physical. A young horse must feel secure in its surroundings, trust the handler, and begin to develop curiosity rather than fear. The routine matters—introducing tacking up, grooming, and groundwork with steady repetition creates an environment where learning becomes second nature. In this year, the goal is not just obedience but comfort with the concept of being guided.
The best trainers take care to reward try, not perfection. A soft yield, an honest forward step, or a quiet moment of stillness becomes a building block. Resistance is never punished, only redirected. When the horse learns that the rider is a fair and consistent partner, its willingness to engage increases. That willingness is the spark behind every collected movement that will come later.
Balance Before Brilliance
Though images of expressive piaffe or lofty passage may flash in a trainer’s mind, the reality is that year one should be devoted almost entirely to finding balance. The green horse does not yet understand how to manage its own body with a rider aboard. The spine, joints, and muscles are adapting to new demands. The rider’s weight, the bit’s presence, and the enclosed arena all change the horse’s natural posture. Rushing this phase risks not only frustration but long-term physical compensation that undermines future quality.
Balance, in this phase, begins with rhythm. That regularity of stride that gives the horse something to trust. Once rhythm is established, transitions can begin to clarify the horse’s understanding of forward and down—of lightness and gravity. Training sessions focus less on patterns or shapes and more on feel. Can the horse maintain a steady walk without support? Can it trot forward from the leg without hollowing? These are the questions that guide early rides. Only when the horse begins to organize its own body under the rider can real athletic shaping occur.
Elasticity Over Elevation
The temptation to pursue early signs of collection—arching necks or fancy steps—can lead young horses into false frames and guarded movement. The first year under saddle should prioritize elasticity: the horse’s ability to stretch forward and downward into the contact without resistance. This lengthening phase builds trust in the bit, strengthens the topline, and invites the horse to step under with greater ease.
Elasticity in the back enables the hind legs to engage without strain. Rather than asking the horse to shorten its frame, the rider rewards the reach of the neck, the swing of the back, and the softness of the jaw. These elements are not ornamental—they are vital. Without this longitudinal flexibility, the horse cannot later compress the body into true collection. Length must precede lift.
Correct use of long-and-low work, combined with carefully monitored transitions, gives the horse the ability to lift its core and shift its balance naturally over time. When the horse learns that stretch leads to relief, and that effort leads to softness, it begins to seek the connection rather than avoid it. This desire to engage is a quiet preview of what piaffe and passage require.
Developing Push: The Engine Behind Collection
In dressage, collection is not about containment but about propulsion. The hind legs become the engine, pushing energy forward and upward into an elevated yet controlled gait. During the first year, the goal is to teach the horse how to push without falling. Ground poles, gentle hill work, and purposeful straight lines in trot and canter build strength in the hind end while preserving forward intent.
Transitions play a critical role in developing this push. Asking for trot-to-halt, walk-to-trot, and early canter departs—with plenty of space and reward—helps the horse begin to feel the shift in weight and learn to initiate movement from behind. These transitions are not about obedience to the cue, but about awakening the body’s coordination and balance. Each well-executed upward or downward transition becomes a rehearsal for collected movement later.
The young horse does not need to show sit or lift yet, but it must develop the muscle memory and strength to bear weight differently. Each time the horse engages its hind end with softness and straightness, it stores potential that can be shaped into brilliance in future years.
Straightness as a Guiding Line
Horses, like humans, are naturally crooked. The early under-saddle months provide an opportunity to gently correct these tendencies before they become habits. Straightness does not mean rigidity; it means alignment. The shoulders, spine, and hips should follow the same track. This allows the energy from the hind legs to travel directly forward without leakage.
Circles, serpentines, and shallow loops become invaluable tools—not to force bend, but to test balance. Is the horse falling inward? Is the outside shoulder drifting? These questions help the rider make subtle corrections that bring the horse into better coordination. A straight horse is an efficient horse, and one that is capable of generating real power from the hindquarters.
Correcting crookedness early prevents later breakdowns in the training pyramid. Without straightness, collection turns into compromise, and advanced movements become skewed or strained. Year one is the best time to instill a sense of body awareness and responsibility in the horse’s own alignment.
The Mind as a Muscle
Perhaps the most overlooked element of early training is mental stamina. Dressage requires focus, but the young horse’s attention span is limited. Sessions must be short, purposeful, and end on a positive note. Progress is not linear, and days will come when the horse regresses or resists. These are not failures—they are part of the educational arc.
A mentally sound horse is one that is not just obedient, but confident in its understanding of what is being asked. It takes time for the horse to interpret rein aids, understand weight shifts, and distinguish between signals. That mental processing requires space and patience.
Introducing variety—hacking out, light cavalletti work, or even trail exposure—supports emotional development. It also builds the horse’s ability to handle new environments, pressure, and stimulus, all of which are essential for future performance in competition. The mind must be just as strong and flexible as the body for true collection to occur.
Patience as a Strategy, Not a Delay
The first year under saddle is not about rushing to milestones or checking off training boxes. It is about shaping the horse into an athlete and a partner. Every decision made during these months echoes throughout the horse’s career. Collection may not be visible in this phase, but its roots are growing deep in the work of rhythm, balance, suppleness, and strength.
Trainers who respect the process know that brilliance comes from restraint, not haste. Asking less in the beginning allows the horse to give more later. When a horse moves with joy, understanding, and trust, the brilliance of collection appears not as a demand, but as a gift.
Conclusion: Investing in the Future One Ride at a Time
In the pursuit of advanced movements like piaffe and passage, the most successful riders look backward before they look forward. They understand that those movements are not trained in a single moment, but grown through months of thoughtful preparation.
The first year under saddle is the soil in which all future elevation is planted. With attention to rhythm, suppleness, elasticity, and mental stability, the young horse becomes physically prepared and emotionally willing. It is here that true dressage begins—not with the spectacular, but with the subtle. And in the quiet consistency of the early rides, the future of collection is quietly, powerfully, and patiently born.