Annagain
Well-Known Member
I am not a dressage expert by any stretch of the imagination, but went to my riding club's dressage today and did prelim 7 and 13. In 13, there are 4 movements where you commence a circle at A/C and then do a transition "before X". Each time I did my transition about halfway between A/C and X and i got marked down as my transitions were "too early".
I asked the judge about this at the end and she said it should be two or three strides before, despite the fact that in an earlier movement it specifically says to come back to walk between 2 and 5 strides before X and then trot at X. When I asked why one was specific and one wasn't, she had no answer but wouldn't accept my point that before X means that as long as the transition is complete by the time you get to X, it's correct.
At the very least, it's not very clear, especially considering it's a prelim and therefore done by people who may not be experts in dressage terms. About half the class had this issue, not just me.
So could somebody clarify what "before X" actually means please?
I asked the judge about this at the end and she said it should be two or three strides before, despite the fact that in an earlier movement it specifically says to come back to walk between 2 and 5 strides before X and then trot at X. When I asked why one was specific and one wasn't, she had no answer but wouldn't accept my point that before X means that as long as the transition is complete by the time you get to X, it's correct.
At the very least, it's not very clear, especially considering it's a prelim and therefore done by people who may not be experts in dressage terms. About half the class had this issue, not just me.
So could somebody clarify what "before X" actually means please?