Intro dressage test tips please!

tobiano1984

tobiano1984

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I'm taking my 5 yo home produced fat bobbity cow cob out for the first time next weekend, for an intro dressage test - I've not done intro before only prelim and novice but his canter is a 'work in progress' so thought we'd give ourselves a chance and start out at Intro!
So - any tips for this level? Outline/ how much contact etc? He should do quite well on paces as despite his fatness he has a ridiculous 18hh warmblood trot (he's 15hh) and a very active walk (a solid 9 according to a bd judge instructor we had a lesson with a couple months ago - remains to be seen if we actually get anywhere near that!). He's extremely relaxed and loose, unlike my old horse who was always marked down for tenseness. Our weakness lies in his wobbliness and inability to hold a straight line! It's like sitting on a blancmange with an engine in it.

I'm also a bit ropey as haven't done much hard work since getting back in the saddle 8 weeks ago following a horrible accident in Jan (lost my lovely Rupert in a road accident as some of you may recall) - my balance is shot due to recovering broken foot and arm and lack of fitness so I don't help him much!

But - it's only for a bit of fun and I'm really keen to get him out as despite his funny looks he has bags of potential for dressage and just want to see what they say :-) plus if it goes well it might stimulate me into pushing myself a bit harder!

So any tips/words of wisdom would be much appreciated - what to focus on etc as I tend to just panic when I go in the arena and just rush through it! xx
 
I've only recently started taking my 8yr old to dressage. He's quite green and was unknown quantity out and about so I did Intro B and prelim 4 on our first outing. I would say from my limited experience that intro was tougher than the prelim test in some respects - accuracy is certainly important and you have to hit your transitions on the letter more than in prelim. Judges are looking for good shapes and in B a nice stretch down into the contact on 20m circle. Sounds like your horse is a relaxed character and this will help with free walk and the stretch. My boy was a bit 'eyes about' and didn't really show any nice free steps. However, accuracy and a nice rhythmic trot/ good walk should get you at least 60% - good luck and enjoy yourselves!
 
Number one tip after writing for judges - forget about the head. The two I have written for have got so tetchy at the amount of people fiddling and hauling to get the heads in. It is an intro test, not Grand Prix :)

Make sure your paces are going somewhere, and you are accurate and the rest will follow :)

Oh, and remember to breath and smile!
 
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