Getting ready to do my first dressage test!

[kppony]

Hi everyone,

My instructor has suggested that it's about time I did my first dressage test and that I should start buying some show gear!

I have only been riding since around Feb last year so I'm so excited! BUT what do I and my share horse wear?! She has a navy numnah with white edging is that ok? (She's grey btw) I know her tack is dressage legal. Can she wear boots? (she has typical TB legs!)

Also, how do you memorise a test? My instructor is going to set me one and do a practice in one of my lessons.

Help!

 

[Burnttoast]

For you: tweed jacket, tie, beige jods/breeches, long black boots or short boots with gaiters, hat, gloves! OR black/navy jacket with white stock, white or beige jods/breeches, boots etc as above.

For Pony: boots or bandages allowed for working in, but not in the test. No martingale but a breastplate is ok. The colour of your numnah doesn't matter but sober is good! White gives the best impression.

Learning a test - I draw the arena on a piece of paper and trace the test with my finger, saying the pace, transitions etc out loud (unless I have an audience...), then visualise yourself riding it - imagine it going really well, just how you would like it to.

Hope this helps! Enjoy yourself and good luck - am sure you'll have a fab time!

 

[kppony]

Great thanks! I'll have to do some ebaying to find all of this.

Do you think white looks ok on a virtually white horse?! How long does a test usually take to ride and how many movements are in it?

I've thought of so many questions since my instructor mentioned it and I don't have a lesson until next week and I want to start getting organised.

I always wanted to ride as a child and I wasn't allowed so this last year has been such a dream come true for me! I feel like a kid on christmas eve! I haven't even entered yet as I want to make sure I'm def ready and prepared.... but it's still exciting!

 

[night_mare]

Long boots or jodhpur boots and gaiters. White, beige or cream jodhpurs. Conservative coloured or tweed jacket. Shirt with stock or tie. White gloves. Riding hat or skull cap with black/brown/navy peaked silk.

Your horse can have boots, etc for working in but not for the test.

If you can't remember the test you can always have someone call the test for you as you ride it.

 

[Mistletoe-Kiss]

Great thanks! I'll have to do some ebaying to find all of this.

Do you think white looks ok on a virtually white horse?! How long does a test usually take to ride and how many movements are in it?

I've thought of so many questions since my instructor mentioned it and I don't have a lesson until next week and I want to start getting organised.

I always wanted to ride as a child and I wasn't allowed so this last year has been such a dream come true for me! I feel like a kid on christmas eve! I haven't even entered yet as I want to make sure I'm def ready and prepared.... but it's still exciting!

See my post in the photo gallery, white looks fine on light greys.
Time taken depends on the level of the test, the size of stride of the horse/pony, and level of impulsion (or excitement )
You can start learning your test now, I like to visualize the movements I have to make by literally sitting on a chair imagining what I have to do.

 

[blitznbobs]

Just remember that a dressage test is just a series of circles and straight lines - all of which are easy right? and the WORST that can happen is that you get a rubbish score - and tbh unless your name is Jill and you live in a 1950s children's novel you are likely to get anyway (this is not a comment on your riding or your pony/horse but more a comment on life in general!)

Blitz

 

[kppony]

Thanks for the advice It's so nerve wracking! i've come to riding late-ish (i'm 22) and it all a little overwhelming.

I get comfortable with doing one activity and then my instructor encourages me to do something else. Sometimes its something small like trying a different exercise or hack and sometimes it's something petrifying like my first competition! I guess thats the mark of a good instructor though!

How does it work when actually at the competition? How do you know when to go in etc? And is it always left shoulder to left shoulder when warming up? And is there something like motorway lanes according to speed. It sounds really stupid but I don't know how to explain it! As in fastest moving on the outside?