A question about schooling and dressage!

[lucky7]

I have been quietly ticking along with my welsh D and he's really feeling so much better every time i school him now. Its all of a sudden clicked in with what he has to do - as soon as he gets into the school he feels like he lights up and he's listening, its not a battle to get him working correctly, he's not resisting, he's easy - the work we Used to get after 30 mins is now taking shape after 10 mins, he's still wobbly and his canter needs alot of work but hes much more forward, consistent and just feels lovely so pleased with todays schooling session and we have not had a lesson since October. Loved watching our reflection in the mirror, really stepping under himself, light in front and really focusing on me! lovely and stretchy at the end of the session - really stretching his nose down to the floor and lengthening his stride. However he is still very much easily distracted, as soon as another horse comes past or enters the school hes very looky and loses concentration. However despite this I really want to get him out now as i feel he could probably manage a prelim test without being really awful! BUT his problem is he goes to pieces as soon as he gets in the dressage boards, he's behind the leg, stiff, tense and very spooky! so i have the idea of taking him schooling at the venue before our test - say 2 x before the test date so he gets used to it. Just have to pick my venue!
Its nice to feel excited about him again after so many low points today was a good day!
A quick question - I am aiming to register for BD up to elementary level (starting at prelim) HOPING for winter time depending on how we get on over the summer. The plan is to get him out from May onwards doing some unaffiliated stuff and see how we go. I am thinking around the 65% mark would be good to aim for consistantly (last year we did 3 prelims and getting around 61 - 63% but canter was terrible and he wasn't going anywhere near as good as he is now) When i feel confident we are progressing in the right direction we will go ahead and register for BD. I just want to make sure we are ready as i know it is expensive and want to do okay and make it worth while
So based on the above info how many schooling sessions would you be doing per week? just coming out of winter i have been mainly hacking and schooling probably 1 x per week - sometimes less than this! if he's ridden 5 - 6 x per week would it be suffice to do 2 x 40mins schooling per week? one session would be a lesson. I don't want to drive him mad with schooling and make him sour but at the same time i want to make sure i am schooling enough!

 

[scats]

I also have a tourist for a dressage pony. She enjoys sight seeing and is notoriously difficult to keep focused. She's never silly or naughty with it, but her concentration and attention just goes. She works brilliantly at home but as yet I haven't managed to get her working even half as well out competing because she's usually too busy nosing around or shrieking her head off.

She gets very school stale, so she is schooled twice a week and hacked the rest.

 

[milliepops]

Totally horses for courses, try it and see how you get on. You can always practice your schoolwork on hacks if you're that way inclined.
I'm not; for me hacking is downtime. My sec d is happier in the school than on hacks though... We do 4 days a week in the school on average (now competing med /working adv med-ish)

Great to hear that you're pleased with the progress though, hope you have a fab season

 

[iknowmyvalue]

It totally depends on your horse! I've got one who was very bored and school sour so we have to be a bit careful that he doesn't go back to that, as he now really enjoys schooling which is great. Something we've been doing that we've found to work well is to do 1 or 2x "proper" flat schooling sessions per week, and the on another day we will do a 20-30min hack first to warm up and get him thinking forward, and then do about 20mins in the school afterwards.

We do spend more days in the school than that though, especially over winter, but doing poles/grids/jumps etc but still often go for a short hack before or after if it's light enough, to warm up/cool down.

Sounds like you've got everything heading in the right direction though! Good luck with your competing

 

[lucky7]

Thank you everyone! going to increase to 2 definate sessions per week then do a 3rd every 2 weeks
I have our first Dressage clinic booked which is on the tuesday prior to the dressage comp which is on the saturday, its at the same venue in the indoor school so fingers crossed it will help get used to the surroundings!
Never been to a clinic before - and its with someone totally new, excited!!