Dressage GAH!!! Report, confusions and musings!!

Supanova said:
The only reason i keep banging on about these type of techniques is because you sound exactly like me in that 1) you care a lot; 2) you try too hard physically; 3) you think you are rubbish and beat yourself up. I think fundamentally you are a very good rider and its these little things that will make the difference and push you up to the next level. These are things that most instructers never really pick up on and therefore we never change, unless we try to read about it and do it ourselves.
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I agree a lot with the above post. Are you anywhere near Ashen EC (Sudbury, Suffolk)? A few of us from here went for a session on Strider, and afterwards my dressage instructor couldn't believe how much my position had improved. He kept saying it for weeks, and about how it was allowing Bill to be better and I was now giving Bill every opportunity to shine, rather than hindering :o :o :o. I must admit I had a thought along the lines of "well why didn't you tell me to work on this before?" :rolleyes: :confused: but it brought home to me the fact that instructors are often trying to work on improving the horse's way of going, and sometimes don't always step back and see what impact we are having upon the horse ourselves.

I don't mean to keep harping on about position as I think you have a nice position and I don't think those photos on this thread do you justice at all. It's just that riding position is my personal bug bear for myself and I keep trying and trying to make myself better but only sometimes do I seem to succeed. I think I'm so fixated about it that I assume everyone else must be too :p
 
I hadn't realised you rode in a GP. Lucinda Green calls them 'generally purposeless' saddles, and I tend to agree! There is a world of difference between where the stirrup bars are set on a jump saddle and on a dressage saddle - and this has a massive impact on where your leg will end up. I can't help thinking you're fighting a battle you don't need to have by using a saddle that's not designed for anything much other than hacking in. Now you are starting to want to do more, it's not surprising if you end up thinking you want more specific tools to do a good job. You can say a bad workman blames their tools as much as you like, but you can bet your bottom dollar your OH found it a hell of a lot easier to run his company using a computer rather than a pen and paper. He's no less capable a person, but he would have disadvantaged himself if he'd chosen to use pen and paper, and for no good reason.....
 
Firewell said:
Hey, if you read all my replies to all the posts you will see that I'm not afraid of changing. That is what I want to do otherwise I wouldn't of posted this? I'm trying to have lessons, im trying to find the right person to help and I have appreciated the advice people have given me. I know that horses is all a constant learning curve.

In regards to my saddle I do think that I should be able to ride a nice test in whatever saddle at only Novice level. I am sure a dressage saddle will help but I do actually like my saddle and besides I'm trying to save up for a horsebox. I can't just go and buy something new every time I feel like it and I take part in a lot of different activities not just dressage.

If people are going to turn their nose up because I dont have a dressage saddle and say i'm refusing to change because i wont get a dressage saddle then I dont think they really get the idea of what I am trying to achieve all? I'm sure Carl Hester, WFP or whatever decent rider would do a bloody nice test in whatever saddle they sit on.

If I can do a decent test in my event saddle then won't i find it easy when I do eventually get a dressage saddle?

I do fix my forearms, I realised this morning when schooling that I think I resist with my arms in order to create a contact that isn't actually there. My horse has a tendancy to go behind the bridle even when he is moving forwards and I think I hide that by pulling back more so it feels like I have him in my hand and then I ask him to move forwards and then soften. So i'm doing it the wrong way round. Lightbulb moment and I figured that out myself.

I'm doing everything I can to better myself and i'd rather pay the money for lessons than a new saddle.

I think some people put too much emphasis on what colour their bandages are, how patent their noseband is and how expensive their saddle is. Thats nice for them but i'd rather spend the money on lessons, obviously i could do with them :p. Then when I win on my TB, with my GP and my brown bridle I know I will have done well.
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i think the last part of that quote is really bloody unfair and a bit of a low dig at people-at no point has ANYONE suggested that anything as silly as different bandages or some bling might help! people suggesting a better saddle is like the difference between someone saying "proper running trainers will help you run faster then flip flops" (true) and saying "pink shoes will help you run faster than blue one" (ridiculous).

spotted cat, LEC and scarlett are all right and you also need to bear in mind that to be competing WELL at novice, your horse needs to be schooling high elem, low medium and you cant possibly ride that degree of collection in a GP.
 
Firewell said:
I'm sure Carl Hester, WFP or whatever decent rider would do a bloody nice test in whatever saddle they sit on.

If I can do a decent test in my event saddle then won't i find it easy when I do eventually get a dressage saddle?
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Do you have any idea at all how totally stupid that first statement is in relation to your situation?!?!
Yes, of course they could. Either could probably do a 100x better job bareback than you or I could do in the best saddle we could possibly have! But we are not talking about top class international riders with enviable balance, etc etc etc. We are talking about YOU, and, bluntly, because you don't seem to be taking on board the really good advice that's been given by lots of people, your position in that saddle is not impressive. Look at those pictures. Look at your seat, how your legs hang (or not), the way you are gripping with your knees. It is not helping you AT ALL.

Firewell said:
I'm doing everything I can to better myself and i'd rather pay the money for lessons than a new saddle.

I think some people put too much emphasis on what colour their bandages are, how patent their noseband is and how expensive their saddle is. Thats nice for them but i'd rather spend the money on lessons, obviously i could do with them :p. Then when I win on my TB, with my GP and my brown bridle I know I will have done well.
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A saddle that helps you to have a better position will make your lessons more useful.
WHO has said 'go and buy matchy-matchy and then you'll ride like a GP rider? I've lost count of the people who have said "ditch the General Purposeless saddle and get yourself a dressage saddle to make things far easier for yourself" but that is great straightforward advice.
 
GP saddles are useless things IMO. I jump and hack, however I have just bought a dressage saddle as I need to sort my flatwork out and this is nigh on impossible in a jump saddle with forward placed stirrup bars. It is evident from your photos that you have dropped your stirrups to attempt to have a longer, more effective for dressage leg...GPs are not designed for this, you would be better off raising your stirrups to the correct length for the saddle, then at least you would be positioned in the saddle correctly.

Saddles are important, I have seen horses vastly improve time and again from a simple saddle change. They become more rideable and therefore the rider can be more effective too. Please don't dismiss the idea, hell I am hoping and praying mine solves my problems and I don't even compete at dressage!

You say you have an effective seat as you don't fall off...that is not what an effective, independent seat means. Kick out your stirrups, knot your reins and sit on your horse. Can you ride him in the direction you want to go, start and stop? Can you go up and down within paces and through paces? Can you, through seat alone, assist your horse in working over the back? These are the things that tell whether your seat is independent or not. Try it!
 
I do appreciate the fact that people took time to reply to me, sorry if I was a bit horrible I was feeling ratty yesterday.

The thing is that I have had specialist jumping and dressage saddles in the past. My OH bought me a beautiful albion K2 and an ideal susannah and they both gave my old horse a bad back and really didnt help at all! (They were missold). I had to sell them and lost a ton of money.

Since then it has been a saddle saga which culminated in my black country quantum jump saddle sitting jacknifed on Jaes back because it didn't fit yet the saddler said it was fine blah blah blah.

Basically saddles have been a nightmare for me. This saddle really isnt that bad, Tarrsteps rode in it and she even commented on how nice it was to ride in. It was brand new last year and a lot of thought went into it. I couldn't get a specialist jump saddle because J has big shoulders and a forward girth groove and his bigger shoulder was shoving the saddle right. So I needed something that I could jump in BUT would sit behind his shoulder and that had big enough gullet and panels so if it did move around it wouldn't bruise his spine. He is crocked (sp?) after being broken in at 2 to race, he is so much better now but it is a weakness he has that we manage. I tried 50 saddles no joke, out of 50 saddles 3 fitted him and this was the best one.

I am really loathe to go through all that again. I do know that a properly fitted dressage saddle would be better to do dressage of course it would be. However I am not so much into dressage that it is worth that.

In fact hacking this morning I decided that I won't renew my BD membership. I am going to continue with lessons and my mum is going to help me work on myself on the lunge and without stirrups ect so I can improve myself for me and Jae. However I don't think i'm a pure dressage sort of person.

I think I thought it would be fun to get some points and stuff and I only wanted 1 dressage point so I knew I could get 60% at affilliated novice if I wanted, now I have two and if we can pick up a couple more before my membership expires tbh i'd be happy with that.

I don't have the patience for dressage full time, sometimes I go in the school and I just cannot be @rsed, so go for a slop round the village or a canter round the field instead. Othertimes I love schooling him and teaching him new things. It just depends on what mood i'm in.

I am pretty sure I have just got into the habit of overanalysing things. I am going to take advice from this definitly and I will continue training. However I think if I relaxed and stopped trying so hard at everything it would probably happen a lot better anyway! I do think I just need to take a deep breath, not be so controlling, relax my arms and my seat and my whole body jumping and dressage and just stop worrying.
 
Weezy said:
I hear you, I do not have the aptitude for dressage either - give me a hunting field, a fun ride, a SJ round or a XC round ANY day :D
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Me three! I personally don't think dressage is good for people who tend to over-analyse and worry, hence why I don't concentrate on it :D
 
That sounds a very sensible course.

I don't think anyone was saying 'you have to change your saddle' they were saying ' if the goal is to consistently improve your marks, a saddle designed for the job will help you do that'. As you say, you're not that fussed, the saddle fits you and the horse for your daily riding, and it is simply not worth the hassle! Perfectly reasonable!

I often say to people that there is no right path/answer/tack/horse/etc. BUT you have to adjust your expectations accordingly. If you want to win, you have to manage the margins. Otherwise, so long as you are not damaging the horse or endangering either of you, keep on keeping on.
 
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