Impulsion

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NicandLiv

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So at home when riding lovely lovely, most of the time, mare has a tendency to rush and takes a good 10 minutes to relax and settle down into work and listen to me. Sensitive to the leg, so most gentle of aids and she is off, I rarely have to keep using leg to keep her in a trot.

Been taking her out every 7 weeks or so for the past three months to dressage and we have a slight problem. We get there, she is good as gold, cool as a cucumber, take her in the warm up and she is listening to me straight, away really relaxed just really easy which is lovely don't get me wrong but omg I get into the test and it's like riding a plod along pony, I feel like during a trot she is going to die on me any minute so in turn on our prelim we've been struggling because there hasn't been enough energy there for her to get into a canter. (She is 14, and up until 2 months ago she wasn't cantered in the school with a rider on). At home she's coming on really nicely with the canter as she's much more forward so when I'm asking for it she has it there, whereas out and about she is just so bloomin' lazy.

Any ideas? :] I don't use spurs or schooling whip, she's ridding in a snaffle with no accessories. I was half tempted to use a schooling whip in the warm up next time to get her quicker off the leg, wouldn't be able to use it in the test though as she kicks out everytime I use it (I literally just touch her with it).
 
Where do you use the schooling whip? Have you tried using a short whip on her shoulder? I would try the use of a whip before spurs as she might be backing away from you if she is unsure of her new surroundings. It's quite unusual to have a horse who is more forward at than it is away at a show!
 
I have tried using it on her hindquarters, where my leg is and where her shoulder is, she is more accepting of it on her shoulder she just puts her ears back but we get less kicking out.
 
If she feels good in the warm up but goes dead in the test, it could be she's picking up something from you? If you get a bit nervous it could be passing on? My older horse always had a tendency to get hot, so with my new girl when i first took her out i tensed up, expecting her to be more forward, almost riding with the handbrake on if you like. This resulted in her completely downing tools on me in the test and not going forwards. It totally threw me and i rode like a muppet!
 
Sis' horse was like this. You don't say how big she is/what arena she's used to - ours is a big long beastie and was used to schooling in bigger than 20x40, so when he went into the arena he felt like he couldn't go forward as not enough space. Once he got the hang of it, he's been much better.

It may be that you have to sacrifice a test - by which I mean take her out to a comp with the sole intention of making her go forwards in the test arena, rather than aiming to score well in the test. Do whatever it takes - schooling whip (even if she reacts to it), pony club kick if needed etc.

It is advisable to warn the judge what you're doing though!
 
stilltrying said:
If she feels good in the warm up but goes dead in the test, it could be she's picking up something from you? If you get a bit nervous it could be passing on? My older horse always had a tendency to get hot, so with my new girl when i first took her out i tensed up, expecting her to be more forward, almost riding with the handbrake on if you like. This resulted in her completely downing tools on me in the test and not going forwards. It totally threw me and i rode like a muppet!
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I was wondering if you are holding her back a little bit in the dressage arena in order to make her appear more collected and this is having a detrimental effect, like still trying says, riding with the hand brake on.

My horse is the opposite, he is dead to the leg warming up, really can't be arsed to do anything to the point it is embarrassing, and yet as soon as that bell or horn goes he is off with loads of ethusiasm and mnost times does a really nice test.
 
smja said:
It may be that you have to sacrifice a test - by which I mean take her out to a comp with the sole intention of making her go forwards in the test arena, rather than aiming to score well in the test. Do whatever it takes - schooling whip (even if she reacts to it), pony club kick if needed etc.
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this is a good idea. It's tempting to cover up problems in the ring, but if you treat it as a schooling exercise then you might make a useful discovery about how to approach future tests.

also consider whether she's fit enough - travelling takes a lot out of some horses, as can the stress of a new environment. You mention she's only recently started cantering in the school so I'm guessing she's not established at the level or in mega hard fitness. Perhaps by the time she's warmed up (however long you are allowing for that) she's pooped by the time you get in the arena.

My little mare is like this - I tend to win the warm up and then end up too flat in the test. I've been working on her fitness at home and it has made a big differnce, but I'm also not afraid to correct her in the test if she gets behind me etc.
 
Thanks for all your replies. She is a 14.1hh irish cob mare, fairly lightweight. She is ridden on average 5 times a week, 3 hacking, 2 schooling 1 of which would be a lesson. She spent the first 10 years of her life doing nothing basically, so she was never schooled and wasn't ridden for 2 years before I got her because she was bought and the lady who bought her lost her confidence and didn't ride her (she was a bit of a handful then).
So I guess it's an element of "why the **** should I do it" thrown in there too :)

She is fit enough, we are doing only intro tests walk and trot because I don't want to set her up to fail by doing a prelim and we really mess up the canter as it's going so well at home at the moment transitions are lovely, on the correct leg and she has stopped rushing through it now which is great. School is 20x40 and the one at home I think is a bit longer 20x60. I might try to incorporate more fitness out on our hacks doing interval training, we have two paces on the forest, walk and canter lol. Sometimes it's like riding a TB!

In the warm up I walk her around on a very light contact for a couple of minutes, see how she is feeling, do some leg yielding, a couple of times on each rein, and a couple of walk to trot transitions but that's about it really. I don't tend to warm her up for long.

We've been to the same place for our past three tests just because of locality really, it's lovely really nice place for beginners like myself coming into the sport so the next one I go to in January I'm going to take her somewhere a bit different as well.

I've done these intro's so many times (practicing parts, or using other people's horses, hiring horses at a local comp etc) that I'm not really nervous at all when I go in and ride, on a 20m circle I had to give her the rein then take it back, soon as I gave it to her she just stopped and started to walk, "go pony go!"


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