Drea16
Active Member
I have 2 small dressage reports and a few questions, its good to be able to share my problems with you horsey lot! Please bare with me, this could be long!
My welsh D is 6yrs old and hasnt really dont too much, lots of stop start work. The past 7 months i have been concentrating on bringing him back to work and just recently (past 7 weeks) have been schooling him and having lessons twice per month. Our canter needs work, striking off on the wrong leg on the left rein is main issue or running into canter and loosing balance! also when he gets stressed he has a tendancy to toss his head about - normally when hes asked to walk he will do this (although he is getting better and doing it less)
We had dressage last saturday at a local venue, unaffiliated. There was about 12 in the classes i did. We did the intro and i won with 68%, felt the test went well and he was going nicely despite my worries with him the day before in the school! we then did a prelim and got 65% with a 5th placing. Again marks seemed fair if not a little generous as our canter isn't quite up to scratch.
We are also a member in an unaffiliated dressage venue, this venue holds a lot of BD and a few of the bigger championship classes, this was our 2nd dressage yesterday that i have done here. The judges are all listed and they judge to the BD affiliated standards. When i first came around 3 weeks ago we got 64% in intro (3rd place), i thought this was very fair and totally reflected how i felt the teat went. I also did the prelim and i buggered up the canter, he got stressed and panicked and we ended up out the arena so was disqualified - up until this we had 6s and 7s on our sheet and a few good comments. I felt pretty good after this outing as he went well and i excepted the canter was something we are currently working on and was to be expected. So fast forward to yesterday and we where awful - 5 and 6s in intro A! he went round like a slug, hollow and felt horrid, hanging onto the left rein and not bending. We got 61 % :/ we had the prelim still to do which was an hour later. Got on half hour before the prelim and remembered everything from lessons, really pushed him on, lots of circles and spirals and got him working well and listening to me, he was soon going beautifully and light and felt so much nicer. Managed to canter on the correct lead on both reins so all good. Took him in and the first part went well, then we got the wrong leg in canter which he then did a flying change and ended up disunited - on then he got all worked up and went hollow and took a bit to get him to relax and come back to me, canter on the other rein wasn't too bad but he was still unbalanced, Walk on a long rein he started his head shaking terribly then everything went out the window again - ended up with a few 7s and 6s at the top of the sheet which dropped to 4s and 5s on the end. Got 60% - worst result to date!
Went home feeling slightly deflated but hung onto the fact that he did warm up lovely and it was the canter and the walk which let us down (again!) we have no more outings planned now and TBH i feel a little hesitant to do anymore till we crack our basic problems! (the canter, walking without losing concentration and head tossing, getting him to relax etc)
So, i have another lesson next week (2 per month) then we are away on hols for 2 weeks the week after. Whilst i am away I am thinking of giving him the first week off then paying my instructor to ride him for me for the last week before i am back and then have 2 lessons for 2 days when i get back straight after. I feel he would really benefit a few sessions with instructor (when instructor rides him he feels so much nicer afterward and he really listens (instructor gets on for 15 mins) even after a few days he still feels good. I don't feel like i am doing him any favours, i dont think i am a bad rider - i just dont think i am a strong rider. I do enjoy riding him and we dont always school, maybe once per week? maybe this is not enough? the rest is hacking out. I think after holiday and when he has had his sessions i may see how i feel about the dressage and may have a break till after xmas and do something else like XC schooling and jumping (hes not done either!) and add some fun into the mix.
Any input?
My welsh D is 6yrs old and hasnt really dont too much, lots of stop start work. The past 7 months i have been concentrating on bringing him back to work and just recently (past 7 weeks) have been schooling him and having lessons twice per month. Our canter needs work, striking off on the wrong leg on the left rein is main issue or running into canter and loosing balance! also when he gets stressed he has a tendancy to toss his head about - normally when hes asked to walk he will do this (although he is getting better and doing it less)
We had dressage last saturday at a local venue, unaffiliated. There was about 12 in the classes i did. We did the intro and i won with 68%, felt the test went well and he was going nicely despite my worries with him the day before in the school! we then did a prelim and got 65% with a 5th placing. Again marks seemed fair if not a little generous as our canter isn't quite up to scratch.
We are also a member in an unaffiliated dressage venue, this venue holds a lot of BD and a few of the bigger championship classes, this was our 2nd dressage yesterday that i have done here. The judges are all listed and they judge to the BD affiliated standards. When i first came around 3 weeks ago we got 64% in intro (3rd place), i thought this was very fair and totally reflected how i felt the teat went. I also did the prelim and i buggered up the canter, he got stressed and panicked and we ended up out the arena so was disqualified - up until this we had 6s and 7s on our sheet and a few good comments. I felt pretty good after this outing as he went well and i excepted the canter was something we are currently working on and was to be expected. So fast forward to yesterday and we where awful - 5 and 6s in intro A! he went round like a slug, hollow and felt horrid, hanging onto the left rein and not bending. We got 61 % :/ we had the prelim still to do which was an hour later. Got on half hour before the prelim and remembered everything from lessons, really pushed him on, lots of circles and spirals and got him working well and listening to me, he was soon going beautifully and light and felt so much nicer. Managed to canter on the correct lead on both reins so all good. Took him in and the first part went well, then we got the wrong leg in canter which he then did a flying change and ended up disunited - on then he got all worked up and went hollow and took a bit to get him to relax and come back to me, canter on the other rein wasn't too bad but he was still unbalanced, Walk on a long rein he started his head shaking terribly then everything went out the window again - ended up with a few 7s and 6s at the top of the sheet which dropped to 4s and 5s on the end. Got 60% - worst result to date!
Went home feeling slightly deflated but hung onto the fact that he did warm up lovely and it was the canter and the walk which let us down (again!) we have no more outings planned now and TBH i feel a little hesitant to do anymore till we crack our basic problems! (the canter, walking without losing concentration and head tossing, getting him to relax etc)
So, i have another lesson next week (2 per month) then we are away on hols for 2 weeks the week after. Whilst i am away I am thinking of giving him the first week off then paying my instructor to ride him for me for the last week before i am back and then have 2 lessons for 2 days when i get back straight after. I feel he would really benefit a few sessions with instructor (when instructor rides him he feels so much nicer afterward and he really listens (instructor gets on for 15 mins) even after a few days he still feels good. I don't feel like i am doing him any favours, i dont think i am a bad rider - i just dont think i am a strong rider. I do enjoy riding him and we dont always school, maybe once per week? maybe this is not enough? the rest is hacking out. I think after holiday and when he has had his sessions i may see how i feel about the dressage and may have a break till after xmas and do something else like XC schooling and jumping (hes not done either!) and add some fun into the mix.
Any input?