The Compass Assessment Tools
Find your heading.
Seven assessment tools — one for the horse you actually ride. Every one of them answers the same question: where do we really stand, and what is the next thing to work on?
Try the free reading See what is inside
Buy once, keep it, use it on every horse you own — no subscription. See prices ›
What it is
An honest map, not a mark.
Your horse stands in the middle of his own compass. He should move forwards, backwards, sideways and diagonally — at any energy, in any gait — and do each of them softly, willingly and reliably.
You rate each item from not yet to soft, willing and reliable. The tool does the rest: a score for every section, the weakest heading named, and your lowest-rated items handed back to you as a to-do list in order. A low number is not a failure — it is simply where the next work lives.
Start with the walk.
Twelve honest questions about the walk — about three minutes — and you will get a real reading back. It is the same engine as the paid tools, just a small slice of it. Take it now on the horse you have in mind, then read the rest of this page knowing exactly what you are looking at.
The Horse Flow Compass
Where are you and your horse, really?
Your horse stands in the middle of his own compass. He should be able to move forwards, backwards, sideways and diagonally — at any energy, in any gait — and do each of those three ways: softly, willingly, reliably. This free reading keeps it to the walk — head and neck, shoulders and hindquarters. Twelve honest statements. Three minutes. The Compass shows you which direction is missing, and which of the three is letting it down.
Find your headingYour heading
Keep this reading
We will email it to you, so you have it in the barn — and so you can compare it with the next one.
This is the free mini Compass — walk only, twelve questions. The full Compass Assessment Tools are the framework Ray uses on client yards: seven of them, one for the horse you actually ride — Foundation, Dressage, Showjumping, Cross-Country, Eventing, Western and Trail & Terrain. Every discipline tool includes the Foundation Compass, saves a chart for each of your horses, and hands you your next job in order.
What is inside
So what are all
those things to rate?
Fair question — a number on its own tells you nothing. Every item is one specific thing your horse either can or cannot do yet, written plainly enough that you can stand in the barn aisle and answer it honestly. These are real ones, lifted straight out of the tools.
Foundation
Standstill — the hub
10 items in this section
Nothing else is real until he is soft standing still.
Dressage
Lateral work (two-track)
24 items in this section
Right down to piaffe, passage and the airs above the ground.
Showjumping
Fillers, colour & atmosphere
15 items in this section
This is the section that finds the gap between careful at home and sticky at a show.
Cross-Country
The questions
13 items in this section
Boldness is easy to claim. These are the ones that test it.
Western
Body control
15 items in this section
One of nine western sections — reining and cow work through to roping.
Trail & Terrain
Water, rivers & crossings
15 items in this section
“He is fine with water” usually means one particular stream.
The whole scale
Four answers. That is all it asks.
One tap per item, on your phone, in the barn aisle. It saves as you go.
Not yet
He cannot do it, or not without a fight. An honest zero is the most useful answer on here.
Developing
It happens sometimes, with help, on a good day.
Consistent
He does it, reliably, but it still costs him something.
Soft, willing & reliable
Asked quietly, offered freely, every time. This is the whole point.
Anything that genuinely does not apply to your horse, you mark N/A and it is left out of the score entirely — so a happy hacker is never marked down for not piaffing. Foundation alone is 354 of these. Add the discipline you ride and you are somewhere between 456 and 845, depending which one.
Why seven
Because a reiner and a
dressage rider are asking different questions.
Shoulder-in matters enormously — if you ride dressage. A sliding stop matters enormously — if you ride reining. Putting them in the same list helps nobody. So each discipline now has its own tool, written properly and in full depth, and you only ever see the one you ride.
How it works
Three minutes to start.
A record that lasts for years.
Add your horse
Each horse gets his own chart, saved to your account. Add every horse you own, keep or ride — and nothing is ever lost.
Rate honestly
Work through a section at a time. Not yet, developing, consistent, or soft, willing and reliable. Anything that does not apply, mark N/A — it is left out of the score.
Read it, ride it, re-take it
You get a score per section, your weakest heading named, and your lowest items as a to-do list. Work two of them, come back in a few weeks, and watch the number climb.
Choose your compass
Start with the foundation.
Then add your discipline.
Every discipline tool includes the Foundation Compass — nothing in any sport works without it. Buy the one you ride and the foundation comes with it.
Start here · included with every discipline
The Foundation Compass
Everything that has to be true before a discipline is even a question.
354 things to rate · 7 levels
See the Foundation CompassDressage
From the first straight centre line to the airs above the ground.
199 to rate · 3 levels
See this CompassTrail & Terrain
The same foundations, out in the real world.
183 to rate · 3 levels
See this CompassThree ways in
Buy the one you ride.
Or take the lot.
No subscription on any of them. Buy once, keep it, and use it on every horse you own.
Just the foundation
If you hack out, work in hand, or simply want an honest picture.
- The Foundation Compass — 354 things to rate
- Life Skills, Groundwork, Liberty and Riding
- 7 levels
- The cheapest way in
Foundation + your discipline
You ride one thing and you want it properly, in depth.
- Any one discipline — dressage, showjumping, cross-country, eventing, western or trail
- The Foundation Compass free with it — all 354 items
- Between 456 and 845 things to rate, depending which you pick
- Add another discipline later; nothing you have rated is lost
The Complete Collection
Eventers, coaches, and anyone riding more than two.
- All seven compasses, unlocked at once
- 1,644 things to rate across 31 levels
- Cheaper than three bought separately — and an eventer needs four
- Every future addition included
An eventer needs Dressage, Showjumping, Cross-Country and Eventing — four tools. At that point the Collection costs less and unlocks three more on top.
What every compass includes
- ✓ The Foundation Compass — free with any discipline tool
- ✓ Every horse you own, each with his own saved chart
- ✓ Re-assess as often as you like — your history is kept
- ✓ A written reading emailed to you, and a chart you can print
- ✓ Your lowest-rated items ordered into a to-do list
- ✓ Yours to keep — no subscription
New to reading the Compass? Mastering the Compass — the course that teaches you to run it yourself — is coming to the academy.