Calming pony for dressage?

L

Liloandstitch

Active Member
Joined
14 May 2015
Messages
36
Visit site
A lot of people were talking about their ponies being not as calm as they would like in their dressage tests and I seem to be having the same problem! Our last test we did was an intermediate and to put it straight: we cantered down the centre line.. Sideways! And managed to pull off a trot in the free walk! Good thing the judge was nice and saw the funny side of it and suprisingly the worst mark we got was only a 4 and we still managed a 7! In the end the mark was 54% so not very good at all! But this time we managed to stay in the arena! (Yayy! Pony doesn't really like staying IN it!) so... Any tips for a ode coming up that I'm hoping to do?! I'm not aware if they allow you to lunge but will try to find out as that might help me get energy out (she will never run out of energy she went to a camp and didn't sweat ONCE!) calmers don't seem to have an effect on her either:( she isn't strong either but likes to bring her energy from her legs to her head too, if that makes sense?! She gets quite worked up and I think might have slight stage fright bless her:") any tips would be much appreciated and thank you in advance! :)
 
If you are at a PC ODE they will probably not allow you to lunge (that said loads of people do it - usually in the car park. Not safe!!) But exhausting her won't work more than a few times. All you do is make her fitter which makes her stronger!

Getting good support from an instructor who really understands her will help. Getting your warm up routine sorted really helps too. My daughter's PC Eventer is very hot and excitable. He needs a longer warm up so he can stare at everything and mess about. But then he also needs a lot of lateral work and more advanced moves because, having stared at everything, he gets bored . He also needs to only ride one test -fine for eventing of course, but annoys the DC who thinks a warm up test is essential for pure dressage.

There might be some scope for a different dressage legal bit to encourage her to relax her jaw. And lots of training - for you both - to be soft and round. With any competition nerves - also for both of you- just get out and keep doing it until it becomes routine. Not boring - you can turn ponies sour. Just not as fantastically exciting.
 
Am only at prelim/elem unaffiliated but found that softening the reins a bit helps my horse be more relaxed as stress makes me take a stronger contact than at home. But then she is not expecting to go cross country afterwards so much easier :). I don't soften when she spooks though as it gets counterproductive, so it's a matter to get the right balance at the right time.

PS: also keeping the horse's mind busy, like if I feel she starts thinking of spooking or not obeying me, I ask for a small flexion to the side so she hopefully gets the thinking cap back on and collects a bit more.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top