Mary Wanless’s Dressage Training TV a Comprehensive Review

Since we’ve had a 50 degree temperature drop and I’m letting the boys adjust a little since I value my life, I thought I would do a review of the online program at DRESSAGE TRAINING TV.  I’ve been a subscriber for a few months on the monthly payment plan, which runs a little over $20 a month at the current exchange rate.  

I started out, as recommended with The How of Riding, hosted by Peter Dove, that goes over in simple terms the basics of Mary Wanless’s principles.  Each video in the series goes step by step, taking the rider through the process of getting aligned, toned, and more straight.

I then moved on to the certification courses.  These are also step by step and if you wish to pursue your certificate you submit videos.  I chose not to do that but went step by step through the courses.  The groundwork course is just fantastic, based on Equitation Science, and directly relates to the aids you use under saddle.  The videos for both courses are in short chunks and it was easy to watch a couple, go try it that day, and keep building.

While I was working my way through the certification course I also dipped into the MW webinar series.  These are longer video with demo riders, that again start with rider alignment and tone and go from there.  These can get pretty technical but really increased my understanding of how horse and rider bodies work.

After I had gone through all of that viewing, I found Real Life Riders.  There are multiple videos for each rider and horse, some starting out pretty rough, and you see the progression of skill building.  Ali Wakelin teaches in most of them and even though I’ve just dipped my toe, I’ve found them super helpful.  Packed with all the principles of MW but with a lot of great horse training advice mixed in.

I’ve spent between 50-100 hours at least on this site and I’m not even close to tapping out.  As you can see from the quick guide above, there are so many avenues to pursue.  I love the fact that there are multiple instructors but they all use the same principles.  Every video you watch reinforces these principles and as you keep watching the lightbulbs keep going off.  I’ve also been fortunate that my instructor, SW, uses these same principles and was the one to recommend Dressage Training TV to me.  I have found the site packed with great information, consistent in its learning theory, easy to use, and oh so helpful.  I cannot recommend it enough!