hmmmmm winter dressage

L

lilym

Guest
now, most of you by now will know that i'm a crap rider.....i will never profess to being anything but...
i would really like to take the lad out and do some indooor dressage over the winter BUT his canter is still weak, now i don't see the point in doing nothing but walk and trot canter is the problem and if he's in a new place he will be more forward anyway, when i mentioned this today, some rude old bag butted in and asked me what the point of doing prelim was if i wasn't winning walk and trots??? (this woman does nothing but walk and trot??!!) she put my riding down and is always putting my boy down as well as making comments DURING my test such as "that horse would go better with a proper rider!" that may be true i know, but i feel i can't complain to the riding club involved as this woman is on the comittee....but i really will explode one day!! the facilities this club use are excellent and just up the road so cheap on the fuel..

anyway sorry to waffle, but what would you do?? prelim and aim to improve or same old same old walk and trot??
 
Prelim........practice makes perfect and all that!!!
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Stuff the woman, she probably hasn't got the nerve to progress, so makes herself feel better by putting others down.
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if you're doubting because of that woman then dont. as you said she only does walk and trot. shes probably jealous and doesnt want you to do better than her!! i think its worth a shot at prelim, it might go horribly wrong but you can always improve. perhaps a lesson might help? dont let that silly woman get in the way of doing what you want to do.
 
^^^ I agree! I would give a prelim a go and see what happens. After all, unaffiliated prelims should be pretty low key. My TB is very tense (as am I!) but we did prelims anyway, not very prettily, but we got some rosettes and I don't think we ever came last! Go and see how it goes.
 
I agree with ChristmasSparkle. Stuff what that lady says - it's your horse, not her's!
Have a go at doing a Prelim, if he messes up with his canter make sure you ride the rest of the test as accurately as you can, you can still get a decent result. You won't get better and neither will your horse if you don't push yourselves out of your comfort zone. A winter season of dressage might be just what you need to improve, although I bet you are quite a competent rider already.
Good luck!
 
She's just plain rude in my opinion. Fancy talking during your test so that you can hear her. Our canter is pants as well but we are doing the P tests. canter is only part of the test, and you can pick up valuable marks during the walk parts. eg, FWLR is double marks. Go for it.
 
is it just a weak canter or that you cant get him into canter in the first place?

if the former than just go for it. lets face it if the critic wass any good she'd be doing far more than W and T tests.

From you're description she sounds like what I refer to as 'pot hunters' purposfully goes out in easier tests to win and do the whole 'look and me, arnt i great' bit.

I'd have smacked her by now!
 
Go for the Prelims. Don't be put off by anybody. Agree with other posts, canter is only a small part of the test and you can still get great test marks.

I bet after a winters worth of prelims and practising, you'll have conquered your canter hiccups.

Go for it.
 
do the prelim. our canter is naff at the moment, it's far too fast but we started with prelims as there were no W&T tests around. Have now done 2 W&T's and come 4th and 1st but only coz there weren't many in the class! I dont think you need to be winning at the level below to do the next level up and TBH probably never will if there's pot hunters like that around.
 
Go for the Prelims. I've done 2 walk and trot tests now and by some strange fluke won them both so now I have to do Prelim or it would be taking the P!$$.

We can compare notes lol
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Ignore the old cow - she's probably jealous that she can't do it and is making herself feel better at your expense.
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Have a go at prelim. Work on the canter transitions at home first. Remember that one of the joys of dressage is that you can look at your sheet after the test and find out the things the judge thinks you need to work on. You can then try to improve your percentage next time!
Try to ignore the 'nasty piece of work' and she will have a shock when you are out and winning.
I had a similar situation many years ago when I won my first combined training and a bitch of a girl described it as 'a fluke.' I smiled sweetly and then made such progress that I won the clubs points award 5 years in a row. She must have felt stupid!
I hope you do something similar and can then smile sweetly at the cow.
 
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