Is it too late for us?

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fur&feathers

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I have had my Dales/Apaloosa gelding for 8 years now (age 16 now) is it too late to introduce him to dressage,he has done abit of everything but neither of us are knowlegable in anything except going fast & cruising the countryside.I would like to have something new to work towards although we are playing our way through level 2/3 of Parelli & developing many things I would not have dreamt possible.
 
No way!! I'm 42 and hacked all my ridden life (38 years!!) and did my first dressage 2 years ago!!! Stupidly tried it on Little Cob (9 year old hacker/hunter/throw himself round a XC course sometimes if I'm brave enough) who did the first half of the test very nicely but farting...then decided it was boring and everyone needed a laugh so went from walk to flat out gallop doing wall of death (still farting btw). So I now do occational tests on Big Cob who's a gentleman who would never embarrass his mother in such a manner but sadly doesn't quiet have the same movements as Little Cob does!:rolleyes:

I just have a friend shout out the test for a few practices then leave it at that, worry about it more on the day!!! No point going to too much effort if you are only doing Prelim or Novice, just learn the test and wing it on the day...works for me we usually get placed fairly high (unless LC decides to be a nutter!!)

Go for it and enjoy!!
 
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As everyone else has said it is never too late. I have regretted not doing much with my horse and now he is 15. I am going to join my local riding club and do some competitions. Give it a go then you can't say you missed out. Good Luck and let us know how you get on :) x
 
Join your local riding club - you get discounted lessons and discounted show entries - plus you will gets lots of advice and meet people just starting out too. Always very useful when you are trying something new - far less scary that way!
 
never too late to have fun!!

I'm coming 46 so if its not too late for me ok I have a young horse BUT you know your horse really well, so its swings and round abouts


ENJOY!!
 
As others have said it's never too late. If you can't have too many lessons and you have access to a school then my tip would be to not focus on getting your horse to work in an outline or anything like that. Concentrate on your basic transitions (up and down) and getting them as accurate as you can. Practice circles at walk trot and canter and work on getting the diameter of the circle smaller and larger.

Also do things like serpentines and think about keeping rythym and changing your diagonals. It's just basic stuff really. Run through some practice tests - what you want to aim for is getting all the 'moves' in the right places as opposed to whether your horse looks pretty or not - that can be helpled with lessons.

All in all just enjoy it, go out and have fun!
 
Thankyou,always felt like a bit of a yee ha rider which I am happy with but dressage not for the likes of me - will have a go ,my very competitive 12 year old daughter I am sure will volunteer to be at hand to (constructively)criticise us.:D
 
You might have to shop around a bit to find the right Riding Club. Some just organise shows and do little else. Others organise clinics, members only shows and dressage to encourage riders new to competition. We even had a 1' 9" jumping class last summer (guess who took part!)

Ours also does clinics when about 4 or 5 riders take part, which is much cheaper individually. It is also interesting to see what other people do and you get to know the other members.
 
We are members of a very friendly riding club but they don't do alot of tuition,mostly fun hacks etc I shall suggest it though AGM next week so see how it goes.I hope you are the people at our first competition! & not the snotty ones I dread :eek:
 
Don't worry about snotty. I was riding an extremely hairy little cob for someone at a local dressage competition - not a particularly easy ride and as we whizzed round the warm up area I wondered why I was bothering, looking at all the beautiful horses doing a beautiful warm up. Needn't have worried as we finished 3rd inthe class and I asked the owner what had happened to all the others that were warming up with him. "They looked beautiful in the collection ring but it all fell apart when they went in the arena." So you have just as good a chance as anyone else.
 
It's absolutely not too late!

If you're the slightest bit worried, why not look round for a venue that offers a walk/trot class? Quite often the snotty ones deem themselves to be too good for a walk/trot class and consequently they avoid it - but it could be a great, gentle intro for you and your horse!
 
Some excellent suggestions.

I would do a few practice tests, go out to a couple of competitions, and see what comments you get so that you know what to progress on.

I took my baby out (she'd only been backed a couple of months and wasn't cantering), did a walk/trot test and she came 2nd. I was amazed that we got round with no hiccups so thrilled with that!

Dressage is not as complicated as it seems. :) Have fun x
 
The one thing you need to remember with dressage it is NOT about how flashy your horse or its paces are it's about how accurate you and your horse as a partnership are performing the test. Too many people concentrate on forcing their horse in to what they think is a nice outline so it looks the part but actually they fail miserably at riding accurately. Judges do look at how you work together, how relaxed you are and how responsive your horse is. Sure you can work on suppling you horse up to help it and also learn yourself but the main idea is to have fun!

I am no dressage rider at all but now i sort of know what i am doing (ish) and realise my horse actually seems to enjoys it I have much more fun doing it and can even just about remember a test!!!! ha ha
 
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