Changing the way I read a dressage test

[oldie48]

I've been having lessons with a different trainer (who was a working pupil with Carl Hester and who trains with C J-D) since I got Rose and she's really changing the way I look at test movements. We do stacks of transitions and movements to get Rose on her hind leg and she's got some great exercises that really get me thinking about using my seat and legs more and my hands less (much needed). I am finding myself looking at tests and seeing the movements as opportunities rather than just something to be got through, which probably my more experienced H&Hers do as a matter of course but for me is a bit of a relevation. You can't help but notice how C J-D rides her corners, I'm beginning to understand what she gets out of it and why it's really important.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Love a good light bulb moment, and I might have to steal your's and think about it a little more pro-actively than I currently do, thank you .

To add so I'm not just taking , my most recent fully lit up light bulb moment was that collected should be forward with the hind legs pushing more than in a working pace and I need to use my legs more to get that jump, (whilst making sure my hands were not blocking). I know everyone knows this but until I had an instructor spell it out to me it hadn't really sunk in, and because Topaz is so active behind I'd become complacent to just accept that was enough and not push for more from the hind legs.

Following this came my last small realisation, that I'm causing the explosions in the piaffe and changes by blocking in the contact and putting the head down in search of roundness through the back (people who ride horses who hold tension in their backs have my every sympathy, so hard to keep the softness with the harder movements), a tiny release at the crucial moment gets me a full on grown up on the spot piaffe and clean changes, if I let the shoulders up and keep the bum underneath us!

 

[oldie48]

Love a good light bulb moment, and I might have to steal your's and think about it a little more pro-actively than I currently do, thank you .

To add so I'm not just taking , my most recent fully lit up light bulb moment was that collected should be forward with the hind legs pushing more than in a working pace and I need to use my legs more to get that jump, (whilst making sure my hands were not blocking). I know everyone knows this but until I had an instructor spell it out to me it hadn't really sunk in, and because Topaz is so active behind I'd become complacent to just accept that was enough and not push for more from the hind legs.

Following this came my last small realisation, that I'm causing the explosions in the piaffe and changes by blocking in the contact and putting the head down in search of roundness through the back (people who ride horses who hold tension in their backs have my every sympathy, so hard to keep the softness with the harder movements), a tiny release at the crucial moment gets me a full on grown up on the spot piaffe and clean changes, if I let the shoulders up and keep the bum underneath us!

Glad my post was useful, I always worry i'm stating the bloomin obvious!

 

[blitznbobs]

The other thing that Carl taught me which was a light bulb moment for me is that it isn’t a whole test it’s a series of movements... each one an individual so trotting down the side of the school is just as valid as a perfect canter transition... this works on me two fold. Firstly RIDE the trot down the long side and take the hand break off... and secondly if you totally mess a move up you may have lost 2 or even 4 marks but don’t let it run on into the next move start the next move at the next letter and leave the mistake behind . This is why CJD wins when people say she messed up... she did... she lost those 4 marks but got another 9 on the next move rather than continuing at a 6 because she’s cross with herself... or panicking...

 

[Rowreach]

The other thing that Carl taught me which was a light bulb moment for me is that it isn’t a whole test it’s a series of movements... each one an individual so trotting down the side of the school is just as valid as a perfect canter transition... this works on me two fold. Firstly RIDE the trot down the long side and take the hand break off... and secondly if you totally mess a move up you may have lost 2 or even 4 marks but don’t let it run on into the next move start the next move at the next letter and leave the mistake behind . This is why CJD wins when people say she messed up... she did... she lost those 4 marks but got another 9 on the next move rather than continuing at a 6 because she’s cross with herself... or panicking...

This is a lesson to apply to so many things in life!

Many years ago at PC camp, Julian Seaman pointed out that the reason so many people knock down the last fence on the course is because they're not riding for the one after it. I've never forgotten that!

 

[ihatework]

This is a lesson to apply to so many things in life!

Many years ago at PC camp, Julian Seaman pointed out that the reason so many people knock down the last fence on the course is because they're not riding for the one after it. I've never forgotten that!

It’s a really useful skill to gain.
A good friend of mine went splat at a big event, and I very much remember a conversation we had shortly after. She knew what she had done wrong, ran through it in her head envisaging how she should have done it and then said ‘fail fast’. Put it in a box and move on, don’t dwell.
You need to do that every movement in a dressage test and every fence on a course.