Can't seem to ride my own pony dressage

[Titchy Reindeer]

Not sure why I'm writing this really, the most obvious solution isn't easy to apply. Maybe someone has some out the box ideas?...
I'm in tears tonight after my dressage lesson on Little Madam. I was a group lesson that runs like a competition practice, so everyone warms up and then does their dressage test and receives feedback from the instructor. We did the same thing on Wednesday but I was riding Granny Eventer, a riding school horse that I happen to adore and I don't think I've ever done a test on her before. It went surprisingly well: Granny Eventer can get wound up and over excited very easily and can be prone to cantering on the spot or reversing at speed when that happens. We got away with just falling into canter when trying to extend the trot.
Anyway back to tonight and Little Madam. She's looking the best she has in a long time (if a little rotund at the moment) and her feet are also the best they've been in years (fingers crossed for that to continue). She was in my opinion pretty good in the warm up: Responsive, light, balanced (disclaimer, this is only my opinion as I don't have eyes on the ground at that point). But just couldn't get anything right during the actual test. At the start I got told I was rushing her and to take my time to do the figures correctly. Later on got told that there wasn't enough activity. My leg yields where rubbish. Lost a whole corner in canter because I struggle to get the transition. I just can't seem to ride a test on her. I don't think she enjoys it which I've mentioned to my instructor who doesn't think a horse can not enjoy dressage (I don't see why not if they're allowed to not enjoy jumping or hacking or going in water...) and it's up to me to make it enjoyable for Little Madam. Only she didn't have any suggestions to make it enjoyable and I've no idea how I can make doing the same thing in the same place over and over again any more enjoyable than last time. Our problem today seemed to be rhythm and activity but we haven't worked on that in forever. I feel like I'm not getting what I need out of my lessons as everyone else competes on the horse they ride in the lesson and I don't. I feel like Little Madam and I are missing some going back to basics. I know the obvious solution is to change instructor, but I've no clue where to find one, I'm in a bit of a "dead" area when it come to horse professionals. I'm going to have to give up my dressage lesson next school year anyway, but that may help with my mood, but not with my riding.
We have a history with dressage tests where Little Madam just "dies" when entering the dressage arena, all energy goes out of her and I just want to cry because instead of my beautiful little pony, all the judge gets to see is a dead to the leg nag. This is why I've stopped riding her competitively in dressage and will only do so again if I can get her out to a ODE. One time were she went well in a dressage competition, I asked my instructor about trying to go up a level, but she shut it down, wanting a better test first. That really knocked me: basically my best test wasn't enough to attempt the next step. So we've been doing the same test, either competitively or at home for 4 or 5 years now. I'm sick to the back teeth of it and I wouldn't be surprised if Little Madam could do it without me if she felt so inclined (she isn't!).
For information, over here in France, there is only one test per level, and the difference between levels is pretty steep. So you're pretty stuck with nothing else to do. They change the tests every blue moon (we're talking about 4 or 5 years here) and even then it's sometimes just a tweak, hardly worth going to the effort of changing it at all. I ride in "club" which is the lowest category and comes in 4 levels. Club 3, the lowest with transitions, circles and diagonals. Club 2, which is what I normally ride Little Madam in, with legs yields, medium trot and counter canter "loops". Club 1, that I ride Mr Metronome in, which has a full counter canter serpentine, canter to walk transitions and quarters in on a 5m circle in walk. Club Elite that I've never even bothered reading the test for but I think may include a flying change.
Well done if you've managed to read through my rant. If you have any ideas I may not have though of, I would be happy to hear them. I'm just so fed up of hopping on random school horses and doing better than anything I can do on my own pony.

 

[SpeedyPony]

Some horses just don't enjoy dressage IME, but it also sounds like she has become sour repeating the same test over and over - could it be worth taking a break from dressage lessons on her for a few months and just hacking and schooling yourself to see what piques her interest in the school? One of mine gets very bored schooling (tbf so do I) but he will brighten up a bit if we have poles or school in a bigger area- the whole field rather than a fenced off "school". The youngster is also much happier with something that she can see the point of or that is a bit more interesting, so I've set up little mounted games style things, like a "gate" made of jump wings and string, a take the flag from one place to another and bending poles, which got her much more engaged and allowed me to work on the actual bending/transitions/control within a gait, because she could see the point to it and didn't just shut down. Granted, that was at a very low "baby pony learning the aids" level, but it might work for you to help her feel a bit less sour in the school.
It might also help to grab some different tests to try with- it will give you test riding practice but with a bit of variety- is there anyone (not necessarily an instructor) that could be eyes on the ground for you when you ride them and give you an idea of how she's looking, or perhaps they could video you?

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

Some horses just don't enjoy dressage IME, but it also sounds like she has become sour repeating the same test over and over - could it be worth taking a break from dressage lessons on her for a few months and just hacking and schooling yourself to see what piques her interest in the school? One of mine gets very bored schooling (tbf so do I) but he will brighten up a bit if we have poles or school in a bigger area- the whole field rather than a fenced off "school". The youngster is also much happier with something that she can see the point of or that is a bit more interesting, so I've set up little mounted games style things, like a "gate" made of jump wings and string, a take the flag from one place to another and bending poles, which got her much more engaged and allowed me to work on the actual bending/transitions/control within a gait, because she could see the point to it and didn't just shut down. Granted, that was at a very low "baby pony learning the aids" level, but it might work for you to help her feel a bit less sour in the school.
It might also help to grab some different tests to try with- it will give you test riding practice but with a bit of variety- is there anyone (not necessarily an instructor) that could be eyes on the ground for you when you ride them and give you an idea of how she's looking, or perhaps they could video you?

Thank you for taking the time to reply and for your suggestions. I have paid for my dressage lessons until the end of the school year so will stick with them until then. I will have to ride Little Madam in them otherwise she will miss out on a day's exercise a week, which won't do her belly any good! But yes I'll try to get back to schooling out hacking instead of in the school. I did think about pony games style exercises, I should give them a go (though I think she might enjoy actually racing someone else even more), I've just been too worried of looking even more "different" than I already do. She perks up at jumps and even more if you start doing tight turns between them, jump off style.
Good idea about tests, perhaps I should look up some UK ones. I don't know if I can find eyes on the ground, but I could ask.

 

[SpeedyPony]

You can download the pony club test PDF's here- https://pcuk.org/sports/dressage/dressage-tests/
And it might be worth asking around about working equitation- I've never done that myself, but from what I understand they also do a bit more obstacle based schooling- perhaps someone near you competes in that sort of event?

 

[smolmaus]

Good suggestions so far for fun variety but also... Can you go up a level with LM... anyway? You don't have to show your instructor but if shes bored then what have you got to lose by testing her brain a bit?

I'm a little different in my yard too but the more different you get the less you care about it. I do what my pony seems to enjoy and what I enjoy and try my absolute hardest not to be pressured into doing what I "should" be doing.

 

[Pippity]

Have you considered competing online? E-riders has a wide variety of tests of all levels, some incorporating polework or jumping, and their own tests are available free on their website. Dressage Anywhere has training classes, where the judge gives more detailed feedback, along with training suggestions, but they use BD tests, which you'd have to buy.

If LM is bored (which is understandable after doing the same test for so long) a bit of variety might give her a spark.

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

You can download the pony club test PDF's here- https://pcuk.org/sports/dressage/dressage-tests/
And it might be worth asking around about working equitation- I've never done that myself, but from what I understand they also do a bit more obstacle based schooling- perhaps someone near you competes in that sort of event?

Thank you for the link. Hadn't thought about working equitation, I'll have a look and see if there's any around here.

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

Good suggestions so far for fun variety but also... Can you go up a level with LM... anyway? You don't have to show your instructor but if shes bored then what have you got to lose by testing her brain a bit?

I'm a little different in my yard too but the more different you get the less you care about it. I do what my pony seems to enjoy and what I enjoy and try my absolute hardest not to be pressured into doing what I "should" be doing.

I suppose I could try going up a level, it'd definitely be a challenge. Or at least work on the different elements like the canter serpentine. (I'm still not entirely sure what the 1/2 circle with quarter's in is really supposed to look like).
Being different can be hard. I'm not actually "on" the yard anymore. My horses are at home and I take Little Madam in the trailer up to the yard for lessons and even to work on my own in the arena. It's actually within hacking distance, but we'd have to build up to hacking there, lesson and hacking back. I don't think she's fit enough at the moment. She was on livery there until August last year and she was born and bred there, making it even harder as they think they know what's best for her and can be quite old fashioned. Don't get my jumping instructor started on any new fangled "natural horsemanship" or you'll get a lecture. On the other hand they do really care about the horses and the people, my instructor offered to come and check on LM after her allergic reaction if I had to go to work the next day.

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

Have you considered competing online? E-riders has a wide variety of tests of all levels, some incorporating polework or jumping, and their own tests are available free on their website. Dressage Anywhere has training classes, where the judge gives more detailed feedback, along with training suggestions, but they use BD tests, which you'd have to buy.

If LM is bored (which is understandable after doing the same test for so long) a bit of variety might give her a spark.

I hadn't thought of competing online at all! Thank you for the suggestion. I didn't even know there were any tests incorporating polework, so I'll definitely have a look at those, they should keep LM interested for a while.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Are you giving her lots of praise for things done well?

I wonder if in dressage, we quietly reward the good and are maybe more obvious with our frustration (I mean through body language) when things don't go well.

If she warms up nicely and then changes in the arena, I wonder if the obvious change (as far as she is concerned) is that you've suddenly got a little tight because you know you are being judged and she thinks the next 5 mins are going to be lots of instructions and frustration. We all know how clever ponies are.

Agree with previous, a little break and a different way forward sounds like a good idea.

 

[maya2008]

Some ponies hate dressage. My pony hates it, her half brother loved it. Mine will do suppling etc exercises as a warm-up for jumping, but if you then don’t provide the jumps, she stops being so obedient and gets cross. We school out hacking plenty and that gets a much better reception from her. I think she finds schooling boring - plenty of humans feel the same so I do not think she is being unreasonable.

 

[Chianti]

Can you do different things with her in the arena, so it's not always schooling? Lunge on one and two reins, long rein, free school? Maybe do some clicker training with her and get her going over and round obstacles. Maybe she's just bored to death of going round in circles?

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

Are you giving her lots of praise for things done well?

I wonder if in dressage, we quietly reward the good and are maybe more obvious with our frustration (I mean through body language) when things don't go well.

If she warms up nicely and then changes in the arena, I wonder if the obvious change (as far as she is concerned) is that you've suddenly got a little tight because you know you are being judged and she thinks the next 5 mins are going to be lots of instructions and frustration. We all know how clever ponies are.

Agree with previous, a little break and a different way forward sounds like a good idea.

That is a good point. Once on the test, there is very little rewarding going on as I always have to be ready for the next element. Perhaps I need to break it up and reward sections of it and then try and string a couple of sections together and so on...

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

Some ponies hate dressage. My pony hates it, her half brother loved it. Mine will do suppling etc exercises as a warm-up for jumping, but if you then don’t provide the jumps, she stops being so obedient and gets cross. We school out hacking plenty and that gets a much better reception from her. I think she finds schooling boring - plenty of humans feel the same so I do not think she is being unreasonable.

A pony after my Little Madam's own heart!

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

Can you do different things with her in the arena, so it's not always schooling? Lunge on one and two reins, long rein, free school? Maybe do some clicker training with her and get her going over and round obstacles. Maybe she's just bored to death of going round in circles?

We don't just school in the arena, this is in the particular context of a group dressage lesson where I'm a bit limited into what I can do. We jump in the same arena on a saturday and I sometimes use it once in the week for flatwork or polework. She is a lot more receptive to more random figures and less predictability in what's coming next. I don't lunge much at the moment and its not in the same arena as this one is for riding only. We hack out at least twice a week. Clicker training has also been reduced lately because I normally do it after a lunge session and I haven't been lunging lately.

 

[SEL]

I was going to suggest e-riders online dressage too as variety. You can pick your test then.

I once had a share pony that would be amazing in the warm up and go completely dead in the arena. I thought it was me but she got sold and was the same with her new owner. Awesome jumping though. I'm not sure she could see the point of trotting in circles!

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

I was going to suggest e-riders online dressage too as variety. You can pick your test then.

I once had a share pony that would be amazing in the warm up and go completely dead in the arena. I thought it was me but she got sold and was the same with her new owner. Awesome jumping though. I'm not sure she could see the point of trotting in circles!

Thank you. It's nice to hear that there are other horses out there that sound similar to my Little Madam. She really does prefer jumping.

 

[tristar]

i`m often amazed at horses when i ask for something more, if its not going well do something different, if 20 m circle is crap i ride down the long side and do x 2 10m circles, one then straight then another, sometimes the challenge brings something out in them, and or sets them up and rebalances

try shoulder in, i do and it goes allover the place , we just laugh, but in a short while it will happen, with practice, they have to learn somehow

i find challenging a horse can be very surprising, they love it, and i would not keep doing the same thing

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

i`m often amazed at horses when i ask for something more, if its not going well do something different, if 20 m circle is crap i ride down the long side and do x 2 10m circles, one then straight then another, sometimes the challenge brings something out in them, and or sets them up and rebalances

try shoulder in, i do and it goes allover the place , we just laugh, but in a short while it will happen, with practice, they have to learn somehow

i find challenging a horse can be very surprising, they love it, and i would not keep doing the same thing

The thing is, Little Madam can do all the elements of the test, my problem is she doesn't appear to want to do the actual test. I get that she's bored, I am as well. I can work on all sorts when I'm on my own, but I'm still stuck when doing a group lesson.