Intro BD, and etiquette

[Gamebird]

So tell me about intro BD tests. Acceptable to canter in the warmup of not??

For context I've been doing a few unaff BD intro tests with my RoR horse. Largely because although we can canter, I'm not happy enough yet with our ability to strike off on the correct leg at the correct marker to enter a prelim.

My horse is a lot softer in his back and tracks up better after a canter. Yet I get daggers for having a wee canter in the warmup. Is it an acceptable thing, and people have just entered a walk/trot because canter makes them very anxious, and it's not for them but ok for you, or if you enter a walk/trot test should you confine your warmup to walk and trot?

Answers on a postcard!!

 

[shortstuff99]

I've cantered in the warm up for intro

 

[shortstuff99]

Plus there are plenty of combinations that do an Intro and Prelim.

 

[ihatework]

Of course it’s acceptable.

 

[teapot]

If you were only allowed to do what's in the test, I feel a lot of people would be in a pickle in the warm ups 'oh let's half pass here before our prelim'

Crack on! (and where are the pics?)

 

[SEL]

I'd just make sure you're not cantering near anything particularly green - I wonder if that's why you were getting the looks.

This time last year I was taking my then rising 5yo out to his first intro tests and we were a warm up full of babies - with one child cantering round and round winding them all up. Everyone else was being very considerate, keeping a distance, checking in to see if other riders were ok but child plus mother were all about themselves.

 

[dominobrown]

Yes of course. It helps a lot of horses to loosen up and move forward, like it does for your horse. Having a controlled canter in the warm up isn't any different for the other horses in the warm up either. I wouldn't blink at a 'working' leg yield or shoulder in... for example not necessarily show worthy but get your horse to bend and move away from the leg.

 

[TheMule]

It’s fine, but I do risk assess the warm up before I do….. I have avoided it in the past if there’s clearly something very green and wired, or a tiny kid with not much steering for example

 

[Gamebird]

It’s fine, but I do risk assess the warm up before I do….. I have avoided it in the past if there’s clearly something very green and wired, or a tiny kid with not much steering for example

That's my approach, and we have a polite enough canter - we're certainly not yeehaa-ing our way round, but I've literally never seen anyone else canter in an intro warmup, and we have got some very disapproving looks. Obviously there's no actual rule against it (and to agree with the others I usually do some leg yield in walk and trot too), but there certainly seems to be an unwritten one! Ironically my horse is generally the greenest there in terms of competition experience - I suspect most of the other entrants are restricting themselves to intro for the benefit of the jockey, not the horse.

 

[Gamebird]

Crack on! (and where are the pics?)

Generally on my own, so none! But am heading to the RoR Winter Dressage Champs next week (we are in no way of Championship calibre, just going for the craic!) so there may be a photographer there.

 

[nikkimariet]

Yes. No different to doing leg field for prelim / nov or working piris for med / am.

 

[Supercalifragilistic]

Of course you can canter - you might well be working in with horses doing tests at a higher level anyway if there’s more than one arena and/or you are towards the end of a class. Usual rules apply to give each other space etc but if someone can’t cope with another horse cantering in the warmup then possibly they shouldn’t be out competing yet (and I say this as someone with a reactive horse - I consider this my problem not a problem for those sharing the warmup).

 

[maya2008]

A controlled canter, avoiding obviously nervous/reactive horses and wobbly kids on small ponies? Fine. Ten minutes of endless laps nearly running kids over and passing too close to youngsters causing carnage? Nope. I’m sure you do the first option, so good to go! Your fellow competitors might be expecting option B, because that is what far too many people do, at dressage and SJ. Show them you’re not like that and the looks will fade.

 

[SEL]

Another thing I've wondered about from the dirty looks perspective if other riders think you should be in prelim if you've got an established canter. I can never understand the "trophy hunters" at the lower levels of dressage but they out there stealing all the pretty rosettes!!

Personally I can't wait until we've reliably cracked right canter strike off - with only 3 Intro tests it's getting dull.

 

[Gamebird]

They can wonder all they like - I'm on an ex-racehorse with next to zero competition experience (he has done 4 tests in total, so two outings). At the moment I want him to go out and have a nice time without the pressure of having to do something he currently finds hard - ie. getting the right strike off in a specified place in a small arena. He can get a little stressed about it if he gets the wrong one, and I'd rather practice that at home until it's something he's confident with, rather than set him up to fail. Intro tests exist for a reason, and I feel like this is exactly the reason! We'll be moving up very shortly, with the benefit of some nice tests/experiences under our belts. Until then I'm pretty much unbothered whether people think we are pot-hunting or not - unless you're sitting in the saddle you've no idea how green the horse really is.

 

[canteron]

Only if you are completely sure you are not upsetting anyone else. Intro dressage are for people wanting a relatively gentle introduction to dressage. That is why the class was introduced.

Maybe, if you are getting bad looks there is a good reason if you aren’t being respectful of the spirit of the intro test.

 

[abbijay]

Of course you can!! I competed in the associated champs once in intro and prelim a few years ago but my horse was competing unaff elementary and working medium at home but it was my first year affiliated and the only chance I'd ever get for a championship placing. I definitely cantered before the intro for the same reasons as you do. I remember coming in for the prelim and he needed more "oomph" so I did walk to canter, huge medium canter, simple change and a huge medium the other way. Disappeared off to the ring, asked for trot but got canter so I entered by cantering round outside the white boards. I have since done prelim tests where I'd warm up with all the lateral work, what you do before to set your horse up is your business!

 

[nikkimariet]

Isn’t intro for the horse to have a relatively gentle introduction to dressage also?

There’s always the option to go H/C, OP, if in any doubt.

Only if you are completely sure you are not upsetting anyone else. Intro dressage are for people wanting a relatively gentle introduction to dressage. That is why the class was introduced.

Maybe, if you are getting bad looks there is a good reason if you aren’t being respectful of the spirit of the intro test.

 

[criso]

I've been at venues with 2 or 3 rings with people warming up for different tests so there will be movements not included in your test happening around you.

And a horse getting anxious and bucking or similar in trot is more likely to upset a sensitive horse than a calm controlled canter.

Also even it's it only a single ring with classes in ascending order, they will be a warmup overlap with the last few intros and the first few prelims

 

[SEL]

Isn’t intro for the horse to have a relatively gentle introduction to dressage also?

There’s always the option to go H/C, OP, if in any doubt.

That's why I use it. Pony gets so anxious in new places that steering round in walk and trot is all I want to ask of him.