Your aids

Teaching dressage has many advantages. One of the most helpful to my riding is the process of having to explain the aids necessary for a movement.

It is essential to our riding that we know the aids for a movement, why we are using those aids and how they differ from similar movements.

Here is a wonderful exercise to work on when you can't get out to the barn:

Write down the aids you use for EVERY test movement at your level, for example:  trot/halt, halt/trot, leg yield, shoulder in, haunches in, circle, trot/canter, walk/canter, ca 
1. Confirm that you know what each calf/knee/seat bone, hand should be doing in each of those movements.

2. Something to think about: How do the aids differ? What makes your canter/trot transition different than the canter/walk? halt/walk vs. halt/trot? Leg yield vs. shoulder in vs. trot/canter? And so on.