Dressage Disaster!

Silver-Moon

Silver-Moon

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Ok so I was a brave girl today and attmepted our second dressage test and lets just say it was somewhat interesting!

Curly Wurly's and a rum and coke for anyone who manages to read the missive below :p

Knobber 5yo horse hacked to the venue (passed big scary farm machinery, cows, tigers...yes seriously tigers at the local wildlife park) and was a star, warmed up really nicely with the others and going forwards, outline...everything and then came the disaster!!

attempted to go into the school however he had other ideas! eventually got in there and the meltdown continued! I never actually realised that there were lateral movements in prelim classes (oh hang on...there aren't :eek:)

we had a half pass across the A end, reversed into the corner and then managed the change of rein, took the inside track all the way around fell in, fell out, did shoulder in, rein back, turn on the quarters (none of which were actually in the test lol :D) however on the plus side we did manage to get canter on both reins which has previously been an issue!!

can someone please reassure me that it does get better! and masochist that I am I'm going to do it all again in 2 weeks time :rolleyes:

sorry for the whinge...feels better to get that off my chest!!
 
I know he is, and he is quite green as I was poorly last year so we didn't go out at all and we did minimal schooling as a 4yo so I guess he is a year behind in his education.

I do put a lot of pressure on myself as I have had so many people tell me I am useless and that I will ruin him and I want to prove them wrong :D I know it will come and as you say I just need to keep going out and doing it

Thank you everyone x
 
Well screw them! He's your horse, you managed to get him there, and in an out line when warming up, a lot of young horses don't work in outlines very easily.

I think it was Carl Hester who would load up his youngsters and take them to comps without actually competing to get them used to the atmosphere, it can be very stressful especially when they aren't used to it.

Different species but when I take my cat anywhere she goes wide eyed and runs for cover, and they don't have a big flight instinct.

You could always get a trainer if you haven't allready, this may help to ease the pressure, and reinforce what you are doing right and where you can improve. If only to give you the confidence to know that you are doing extremely well, and not useless.

Plus it's most likely jealousy that you have an obviously talented youngster :)
 
The first dressage test i had was interesting :rolleyes:
did most things wrong and she baulked, shied and refused to canter unless i allowed her to impersonate a giraffe but mostly in the general direction of the test, but the serpentine we got an eight on!
The judge wrote in the comments section 'Bravely Ridden' rofl!

The next one was slightly better but she still spooked at everything (the white pipes round the outside especially!), the plants, the people watching and even the judges, while i hung on for dear life, trying to steer her in at least the general direction of where we were meant to be going, trying to smile while she cavorted round the ring like she had never been in one before. She spent more time looking outside of the ring than actually listening to me...:D Comment on that one was 'Nice little horse and has potential, but not always attending!' hehehe

Made the entire warmup ring laugh though when i came out and said 'bloody hell! that was a good workout, im knackered!'

Cant remember the total scores, so they must have been bad, but the comments have always stuck in my mind.

She did eventually get better though but didnt really have it in her to be a dressage horse so stuck to showing instead, which was a bit more to her liking.
 
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Hey anyone who can get their horse to hack past tigers is doing something right :eek::D

It'll get better - next time, he'll say - oh, I've been here before and wasn't eaten. Keep at it - 2 steps forward and 3 backwards.
 
ooooh it makes me feel so much better knowing I'm not alone!!

and yes Tigers!!!! proper striped tigers!!! he was stalking us along the fence and baby hoss just looked at it and didn't bat an eyelid!:D

thank you everyone maybe there is hope for us after all!!
 
I hacked my friends horse to his second dressage today too - I don't expect too much, an improvement on jumping out of the arena was all I was after! I went back to basics from P7 last time to introB today and 58% :D

I considered today to be more schooling/education than a competition though, just getting him used to the other horses and their behaviour is a good start!

The more they go, the more they will get used to it and relax :)

Well done with the tigers :P
 
Ha sounds like my first test. Seriously embarrassing!! But I think most of us been there at some point.. Practice makes perfect
 
Practice definitely does make perfect! Mine is ok these days and I can actually ride the test but in the past, oh my god we've had some embarrassing moments, cantering down the centre line to start a prelim, cantering the free walk although it was outdoors and hailing! Halting and saluting at M! At one comp the judge wrote "you deserve 10/10 for bravery", which was nice of her but not what you want to see in the comments!!! Stick at it x
 
I once did a prelim test and when I finished the judge got out of his hut and congratulated me on my horse's tempi changes and expressed his admiration of my ability to sit a series of bucks ...

I do think that a lot of horses behave differently in a test situation because of their rider's tension.

Keep trying - I'm sure things will improve with experience.
 
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