MerryMaker
Well-Known Member
Hi Everyone,
I'm Gertie and mummy thinks I'm a dressage star! But there are a few pointers I'd like to share with my other fellow pony friends to help them acheive success in the show ring and wow the judges;
1- When warming up, I like to lull mummy into a false sense of security. I pretty much do what I'm told at all the right times. However, I have to keep her on her toes as she can get a bit cocky, so a HUGE shy and a daddy-sized buck when going past a darker blade of grass can often help.
2- You have to intimidate the other horses which can be done in many ways. I like to pirouette in canter when they come too close, just to remind them I'm brilliant. Again, this wakes my mummy up if she's too relaxed.
3-When you're in the ring, you have to catch the judges eye. I do this by going NEIIIIIIIIIIIGHHHHHHHHHHHHH NEIIIIGHHHHHH RAWRRRRRRRRR.
4- When you have their attention, you then have to impress them with your movement. Although I'm not an arab, I find their trick of putting my tail right up and flaring my nostrils quite effective whilst piaffing and passaging.
5- Centre Line is rather boring as all you have to do is "proceed in collected canter" so I decided to liven the move up by doing a big rear AND a buck at the same time when moving on from halt.
6- Halt is also a bit of a boring move so this can be livened up by a bit of piaffe, which never fails to impress the judges.
If you're lucky, you might get a comment like mummy did at her competition this weekend
"Well, your hrose certainly makes the spanish riding school look boring!"
I hasten to add, I was (almost) impeccable in the warm up arena, and I was purely feeling "well"! No judges were harmed during my research, except one who had possible heart failure.
I'm Gertie and mummy thinks I'm a dressage star! But there are a few pointers I'd like to share with my other fellow pony friends to help them acheive success in the show ring and wow the judges;
1- When warming up, I like to lull mummy into a false sense of security. I pretty much do what I'm told at all the right times. However, I have to keep her on her toes as she can get a bit cocky, so a HUGE shy and a daddy-sized buck when going past a darker blade of grass can often help.
2- You have to intimidate the other horses which can be done in many ways. I like to pirouette in canter when they come too close, just to remind them I'm brilliant. Again, this wakes my mummy up if she's too relaxed.
3-When you're in the ring, you have to catch the judges eye. I do this by going NEIIIIIIIIIIIGHHHHHHHHHHHHH NEIIIIGHHHHHH RAWRRRRRRRRR.
4- When you have their attention, you then have to impress them with your movement. Although I'm not an arab, I find their trick of putting my tail right up and flaring my nostrils quite effective whilst piaffing and passaging.
5- Centre Line is rather boring as all you have to do is "proceed in collected canter" so I decided to liven the move up by doing a big rear AND a buck at the same time when moving on from halt.
6- Halt is also a bit of a boring move so this can be livened up by a bit of piaffe, which never fails to impress the judges.
If you're lucky, you might get a comment like mummy did at her competition this weekend
"Well, your hrose certainly makes the spanish riding school look boring!"
I hasten to add, I was (almost) impeccable in the warm up arena, and I was purely feeling "well"! No judges were harmed during my research, except one who had possible heart failure.
