Learning tests! Help please!

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Horses24-7

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Now I can tow on my own I really need to learn my tests so I can go out competing when I want to.

I just have a mental block! I can ride them in the arena at home and then get to the comp and I would struggle to remember my name ( thank god we have numbers! :) )

I NEED to get over this as I want to progress and it's truly holding me back. Give me a written exam and I can remember the lot! So frustrating- I think it's when the nerves kick in?

Any tips greatly received

Thanks all x
 
If you are going on your own there will always be someone you can ask to read for you if you panic at the last moment, I ended up reading for four people at a BD comp a while ago, they just asked and as I was not busy it was no problem.

Learn the test as well as you can but ride through it in practise in stages rather than all at once, so ride the entry and the first 2 movements then do something else and come back from where you left off and ride the next 2 or 3 movements then go off again, come back and do the next few. It sounds more complicated than it is but I find if you do this it will be more fixed in your mind then if you have a block you should be able to pick it back up anywhere in the test . I will also do just part from midway to the end then instead of halting do the first part again.
 
I go through it repeatedly in my head, tracing the test with my finger on a diagram. I learn the patterns NOT the letters, so there's less to learn...
e.g. I'll learn
Enter at trot, down centre line, turn left, 20m circle 1/2 way down long side, around the top, across diagonal in extended, walk in front of judge, across diagonal long rein walk, walk to canter in the corner...

that sort of thing, does that makes sense? I make sure I can go through it easily, repeatedly, without checking the test sheet to be sure.
Doing it on your feet works too, in miniature, imagining you are riding.
hope that helps!
 
kerilli said:
I go through it repeatedly in my head, tracing the test with my finger on a diagram. I learn the patterns NOT the letters, so there's less to learn...
e.g. I'll learn
Enter at trot, down centre line, turn left, 20m circle 1/2 way down long side, around the top, across diagonal in extended, walk in front of judge, across diagonal long rein walk, walk to canter in the corner...

that sort of thing, does that makes sense? I make sure I can go through it easily, repeatedly, without checking the test sheet to be sure.
Doing it on your feet works too, in miniature, imagining you are riding.
hope that helps!
Click to expand...

Echo the above about learning the pattern - however i 'draw' it with my finger on my leg, really seems to help me!

I feel your pain OP - nerves get the better of us so easily!
 
I do the same, except i draw mine out as im going because atleast then you can see where you are if you get confused of stuck... :confused:

But deffinatley love having a caller feels like a big weight off your shoulders.

Learning the test is more nerv racking than riding it lol
 
I tend to draw out an arena on a piece of paper and then draw the test out that way.

Also, when I get to venue I tend to do my initial free walk when warming up to the pattern of the test subconciously thinking 'trot here' or 'canter there' etc
 
I do exactly the same - I ride through the test in walk to relax myself and my horse but 'ride' it in my mind (here I would be trotting/cantering etc). I find it helps. Good luck! :)
 
I'm hopeless at learning tests - or rather I used to be. I have got lots better at it - and somehow the harder the test the easier it is it remember?

Anyway, I download the copy off dressage diagrams - and about a week or two before the test, I read it over a few times - find out what's on it and where roughly. I can usually remember where the circles should be and where the counter canter should start or whatever - so i start practicing the movements but not in any particular order.

I usually get the pattern down as much as I can first and the with the LA stuff I really try to work out the markers as early as I can because there's just so many of them! ;)

Then I draw it out a few times to try to mentally rehearse where it goes. The week of my test I'll ride thru it a few times as I know most of it - and the to sort of mentally solidify I'll draw it out and just think it thru as many times as I can. I literally start dreaming about it! LOL


I'm pretty sad but it's the only way I can remember tests!
 
Thanks for all the ideas will give them a go and see what happens!

Will update you with my progress- fingers crossed I won't make a total idiot of myself :)

Off to book in and get revising my tests round my front room!
 
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