Is there any hope for dressage with this horse?

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mystiandsunny

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Works beautifully in the warm-up, tense and looky in the ring. Has been out loads and loads to try to desensitize but still doesn't like the actual test (rushes, wants head up, tense). Bags of talent, finds it all so so easy at home. Not bothered at home if she's the only one in the school either... SO frustrating!

So - do we just give up and take her jumping instead? Bizarrely, she loves to jump, never refuses unless the rider has royally mucked up, not frightened of fillers, happy and relaxed in the ring!
 
Sounds familiar...my mare is the same, and I intend to get her out to do 2 or 3 tests in a row, and potentially throw a couple of tests away to het the desirable behaviour and hopefully crack the cycle :)
 
jemima*askin said:
How is she with a different rider who's not anticipating her playing up during the test?
Click to expand...

This was my thought.

You may, subconsciously, be anticipating her playing up and as horses are frighteningly good at picking up any slight negativity she is going into her test with the same negativity.

How about a quick swig of Rescue Remedy to help relax you.
 
Is she different with indoor/outdoor schools? Are the tests indoors or outdoors at your local venue? Have you tried competing her with a different rider? Do you normally do one test only, or do you enter 2 tests each time you go out to compete?

I find with my horse that both me and him are tense and nervous for the first test, but if we have entered 2 then he is much better in the second because he has settled down, had a good look about the place and is more comfortable. Equally with indoor venues he is worse, there is one local venue where there is a spectator gallery and no matter how many times we go there he still gawps at it every time we go past! Whereas if we are outdoors doing our test he is fully focused and doesnt pay any attention to his surroundings, despite far more happening around us at the outdoor venue!

As the others have said, try getting another experienced dressage rider to compete her for you and see if it makes a difference.

Oh and working long and low at home so she learns to be relaxed at all times, so when she is out hopefully if you work her long and low in the warm up then she will not feel so tense.

And if none of that works, perhaps jumping may well be the way forward! I always think you should go with what the horse enjoys the most, to ensure that the horse is happy and you are not doing something just because you (as the human) enjoys is when the horse hates it.
 
I had/have the same issue with my gelding. Schooling at home or even going to local small dressage competitions he be completley relaxed, work correctly and get 70%+ in prelims and 65%+ in novice tests bringing home rosettes, but as soon as we go out eventing its a whole different story in the dressage arena! He tenses up, doesn't listen to my aids and becomes unbalanced as if hes telling me hes still green and cant do it! Being on grass has nothing to do with it as he has done some lovely tests on grass before at summer shows etc, and the atmosphere is no different to normal shows really (unless hes eyeing up the xc course!) So there was only one thing left.. ME! I do get nervous in the dressage phase because I really do not enjoy it, I just want to get it out the way and go sj and xc, so I get myself all worked up and then rush the test. There are lots of different factors, you may love dressage but still get nervous, so I would suggest some kind of nerve/calm relief, even if its just to rule out the problem being to do with the rider then atleast you can focus on your horse and solving the problem. Good luck! I look forward to reading your future posts about coming home with rosettes and money after winning some tests! :)
 
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