Does anyone else have a horse that stresses in Dressage

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walkandtrot

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I love my boy to bits and would never part with him, he loves jumping and XC but after another humiliation last night at a local Dressage comp, as i look around I'm thinking I'm the only person who's horse boils over in the arena! I've persevered with him for 2 years but now i think I'm goin to have to admit defeat and forget about Dressage, he school's well at home, but i think he has some deeprooted issue with the whole dressage thing! does anyone else have this problem??
 
Yes me!

My horse can get very tense but it getting better. Same as your fine at home and her last test was i thougt good but i got loads or tense marks when she didnt feel tense.

When isay she used to be tense im talking violet spooking, exiting the arena and generally being difficult.

If you want comft to know you are not along i can show you our dressage how it used to be- now thats tense!
 
He warms up nice and relaxed, but one the horn goes you can feel him tensing up, almost to the point of shaking and its really difficult to keep him going forward, you can usually get him as far as the second canter of the test then he just has a breakdown, last night he started bronking and rearing then just stopped dead, I just speak to him calmly and we managed to finish our test, after which he gets made a fuss as I try to make it a pleasureable experience for him.
 
Mine too. It's really embarrassing because we usually (always!) end up last. I keep persevering but it'd be really nice if just for once she'd settle and trip trap round like a proper, well behaved horse. The only time she hasn't been really spooky/left arena/refused to go near the judges box/ crashed into the boards/gone near the letter B is after a day's hunting. I think she was too knackered to argue but I rode like a complete ar*e because I was too busy worrying about what was wrong with her!

I still wouldn't swap her for the world though (well, maybe a Lehel lorry)
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Are you sure it's him that is tensing up and not you? I have to say I used to stress soo much doing a test as I don't really enjoy dressage/schooling and just wanted to do the xc & sj elements really. However a lot of it i think was cos I used to go blank part way through a test (and I normally have a good memory!)

I now make sure i know the test blindfold so don't worry about it and my horse is alot more relaxed (he used to always get "rather tense" comments on his sheet) and I am a lot better and don't stress anymore.

If you say he work fine at home and warming up then personally i would say it's you that are tensing up - you may not realise it. Try and think of anything else - find something to look at and concentrate on (not your horse). It could be something as simple as that. It is a vicious circle cos the more you stress about how he's going to be the worse he'll be!

my pony used to be a prat but then he was for everything but he is ultra ultra sensitive to nerves and freaks out even if a strange person gets on him (he's just weird though! hee hee)
 
Echo LadyT, the only way the horse 'knows' it's doing a test is via the rider. If you get tense in yuour test, then this will transfer to the horse who will eventually start to associate the judge ringing the bell with tension and react accordingly. Event horses sometimes get tense even with relaxed riders because they associate the dressage with jumping. It's called conditioning. You have inadvertently conditioned your horse to beconme tense in a test. The good news is that you can re-condition him
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This might take time though, you first need to work on maintianing relaxation your self. Try and ride exactly the same in the test as you do at home (easier said than done I know). You will need to set up some mock competitions for your horse where you move from riding in one arena to another. Or set up an arena at home and get someone to park a car outside and beep the horn at intervals. Ignore any tension in the horse, but when he relaxes, reward him - ie ignore the behaviour you dont want, reward the behaviour you do.


If all fails sedatives may help in the short term (for both of you
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I do agree i rider can have an effect on the horse but i felt my last test was great yet the judge told me the test was spoiled by tension?. My inst ( who is a list 3 BD judge ) said the test sheet was tosh and it needs to be send into BD.

I dont think a tense horse can always be blamed on the rider- some just dont want to play ball and then it goes wrong.

I have had my fair share of "tactfully ridden" comments.

Dont worry guys im also always placed last or at the very bottom somewhere. It doesnt help when your riding a basic test and have loads of flash horses/riders in the class who are there to win and do becuas eit well below the level of test they should be riding.

Dont lose heart you arent the only one

Inst is great tho and is new so hoping to improve on this
 
Thanks, that really helps, I agree with you totally, the class I was riding in was supposed to be for beginners, and I was totally disheartened when I watched the girl after me, (as I was cooling my boy off telling him he was the best!) she forgot her test, had a nice chat with the judge, didnt ride any 20m circles, cut accross the arena and didnt manage to even canter a full circle, but got placed,. Its so ironic!
 
Hee hee, I get that "tactfully ridden" when on my sister's horse as me and him aren't used to doing dressage together. To be fair I've only done one in an ODE, not done much schooling, windy day and he hates being away from his 'buddy'! Test resulted in a considerable amount of squeaking by him, not wanting to trot after a canter and me trying to remain smiling throughout although I thought at any time he was going to bugger off! On the plus side I stayed in the arena! Not good marks but I couldn't really blame him and just had to laugh it off. He was brilliant SJ & x-country just he doesn't concentrate in dressage.

Thankfully my horse (aged 17 now) has learnt that once you're in those white markers if you hold you head in a certain way and do things when asked you get rewarded and bless him he's so clever I think he knows all the ODE dressage tests off by heart and quite frankly he's a show off and likes to look 'pretty' in front of the judge. Was shocked that time I got 32 dressage score - shame he decided 2 of the x-country fences were terrifying and warranted a good look at first before he'd jump them! If only I could have combined the two horses' scores...........!
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Yes, and I don't think its all me! (although I won't deny that my tension level does go up). As soon as he sees the white boards, the judge's car and the markers its like he's in front of the firing squad - he sticks his nose in the air and goes stiff as a board. His turns into the 'pas de deux' and its flippin' awful, not to mention embarrassing. 'Inattentive', 'tense' or just 4s are the story of my life.

However I will say that the more I do it, the better he gets - my last PN was a definite improvement (but nothing to boast about). Like you his SJ and XC are really fab and I just endure the dressage to do the rest. Keep at it - you're not alone!!!!
 
mine sees the white boards and does tense up. i have tried and tried to relax myself and now feel pretty chilled going in but he tries to pick a fight going in and then gets stressed. he does chill out a bit in canter so i now canter round the arena before the test until the bell goies. tried it for the last few tests and he seemed better.
 
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