Dressage riders!! How do you...

[MooMoo]

come back from a really poor performance? I dont really feel that i want to post exactly what went wrong on the open forum but if any one's good at this sort of thing then PM me.

Basically i did everything i could but horse (not mine-riding school's) decided not to co-operate today. Which sucks because in the lessons i've had practising this we've done nothing but improve and my instructor was happy i'd do well. On the day though, i have no idea what got into him.
It was more "oh look she's trying really hard" rather than the "ooh she's getting him(riding school plod) going well" that i was hoping for, which, in practise i was!

Now i feel pretty naff about it, and was wondering what you guys do when things dont go how you hoped.

 

[monica987]

Feel free to PM me -I will do what I can to help..

 

[carthorse]

A very sad post and we have all been there . I have been through the tantrums and tears , the 'I don't understand ' to 'B****y horse' and then you go home , no one else cares how you did and you go out another day and its great.
Have another go , don't worry about anyone else just feel s o proud to be there and OWN that arena. Be positive, if one thing goes wrong ride even better in the next movement to make up for it.
I promise you everyone is only worried about their own score and they don't see your bad bits like you do. Cheer up and keep working at it. Hard work pays off, I promise you.
HUGS

 

[H's mum]

It sounds to me like you've been trying too hard and perhaps over riding?
You sound really pent-up perhaps this transferred to your horse and he just backed off from you?
If it's your first outing together I'd put it down to experience - It takes a bit of ring practice for the two of you to click out competing - My bomb proof cob turned into a spooky giddy wreck at his first dressage comp - it was a bit of a shock! LOL!
Book into your next comp and put it down to experience
Kate x

 

[MooMoo]

Thanks for the hugs!! When i'm feeling a bit better i'll kick myself up the back side and start think about how i can learn from the whole thing. I'm not from a horsey family and although they do their best its nice to talk to people who really understand and have had the same sort of experience.

 

[Halfstep]

I've been there too. Practice, practice, and lots of lessons help! Believe me, I have some seriously shocking tests sheets in a bottom drawer never to be looked at again

.

 

[ponyclubnicole]

I have been there loads of times too, just keep going and don't give up! There will even be times when you think you've done really well and still get a rubbish score, happened to me loads of time and then all of a sudden you get a good score and it makes you feel great and gives you so much confidence. My mum alsways shouts to me when I am warming up ... accuracy, elbows and sit up! Winds me up but the accuracy part is vital lol and you often loose loads of marks if you are not accurate. I also look at my test and work out where all the scores are and especaily the double ones so I know where I really really need to try harder like free walk and back to contact without jogging. Really good luck though, i've been through it with mine so many times but I never get angry with them but it did get me down for a long time and then the good score came and I was over the moon. Yours will come! xx

 

[Oldred]

Actually, a bad outing takes the pressure off in some ways! I've been doing quite well score-wise so each time I am expecting a little bit more as the mare is improving. Then two tests ago we had a horrible day. The warm up was rubbish and the test worse. Scores came crashing down and so did my spirits. But the next test out, all I had to achieve was something better than the low score I had before to make me feel we were on the up! Easy, I couldn't do worse. Maybe with the pressure off a bit it helped and we got the best score ever - 68% in this case.

So it not all bad news and its just part of the learning curve we all go through.

 

[Flint12]

I did my first dressage test the other day. Had alot of lessons and practise before the day. I was really thinking i would do it really well as we had come on really well. I think i over rode on the day and u fluffed it up. I felt awful!

I have since bounced back with more determination and drive to go and make things that we did badly go right, me and my horse are coming on every lesson we have now. The bad things we go through, in my eyes give us something to work on and improov and show you what you need to concentrate on. I hope it all gets better, and you bounce up and keep on striving to go out and get that score you wanted