Making dressage interesting for the horse...

[maya2008]

Over the years I have had two who honestly liked it - who lit up when doing schooling and adored trotting down the centre line. One was limited by physical issues (but that was why she liked it - the schooling helped her live a more comfortable life) and the other belongs to my husband - he likes it because he is an anxious soul, and dressage is predictable and safe. He loves to get lost in the rider’s commands and not have to worry about anything else.

So... current mini mare doesn’t find schooling hard - she learns easily and with little effort. No particular interest in it though, she schools nicely because she wants to please me and that’s it.

How can I make her like it a bit more? She likes to jump - which we will do - but I would like to do some dressage also.

 

[Carrottom]

I like to school around poles and wing stands to make it a bit more interesting.

 

[splashgirl45]

jennie loriston clarke had a couple of jumps set up in her school which she used to use in between the dressage movements so the horses didnt get bored.. you could do similar quite easily...

 

[LEC]

I think some of it’s about inspiring them in their work. It’s one of the reasons dressage riders love hot horses because they are a bit more sensitive and energetic.

 

[Red-1]

I have always had horses who love it, but they have been competition bred and have loads of energy as well as finding it easy.

I have also worked with less able horses where variety and being very fair and prescriptive for a short amount of time has worked. They would work because they knew they would have to do their duty, but it wasn't;t for long, and they soon were happy enough to comply. I generally find that if they are comfortable, if they understand and if you are fair, they don't mind.

My latest horse is an aged cob with medical and physical issues. I started with just 10 minutes at walk. He really responded to "Good Boy" and that morphed onto celery in a positive reinforcement way. It made him appreciate the "Good Boy" more, if he thought that was a signal that celery would follow. It has been slow going TBH, but he is cheerful enough.

 

[milliepops]

Mine had no interest until we started getting up the levels a bit. Medium level exercises started to pique her interest, flying changes lit up her little world and she really bought into the advanced stuff.

So I'd say make sure you've got a good trainer and capitalise on the fact she finds learning easy ?

 

[AdorableAlice]

Doing the work outside the arena can be useful.

 

[maya2008]

Doing the work outside the arena can be useful.

I try to make it relevant to hacking/jumping etc as far as I can, so she can see the point in learning this stuff e.g. leg yielding to avoid trees or to move to better ground as we are cantering up a track.

I only need to show her anything once though and she’s got it, so we end up practising to build the right muscle rather than to ‘get the idea’. Her brother is less clever - takes him a few repetitions to get the idea fully, then he gets all pleased he’s understood and keen to show it off. She’s just like, ‘Yeah, I can do that. And...?’

Taking notes of all ideas though, then I can do lots of different things and hopefully one day she’ll start to find it interesting!

 

[maya2008]

Mine had no interest until we started getting up the levels a bit. Medium level exercises started to pique her interest, flying changes lit up her little world and she really bought into the advanced stuff.

So I'd say make sure you've got a good trainer and capitalise on the fact she finds learning easy ?

That’s really encouraging, thanks! Maybe once she has to work at it she’ll find it more fun!

 

[milliepops]

That’s really encouraging, thanks! Maybe once she has to work at it she’ll find it more fun!

Honestly mine is harder work pooling around doing easy stuff, she can't see the point. Find the thing that she enjoys

 

[J&S]

I found walk to canter had an energising effect on my NF mare.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Mine had no interest until we started getting up the levels a bit. Medium level exercises started to pique her interest, flying changes lit up her little world and she really bought into the advanced stuff.

So I'd say make sure you've got a good trainer and capitalise on the fact she finds learning easy ?

I find similar with one of mine he loves doing new difficult things, his favourite was learning medium and extended trot he absolutely loves that now he literally flies along, I use that to my advantage when he gets a bit stuffy it works brilliantly to get him thinking more forward.

 

[tatty_v]

I try and keep sessions short when they’re getting into it, lots of praise for things done well, mix in exercises that are challenging with exercises that they can do well, plenty of variety (it’s easy to get stuck in a rut - 101 schooling exercises book is good for combating this!), poles and etc. The whizzier stuff also helps - walk to canter, transitions etc.

My first horse had never been into flatwork before I got him but I converted him over time ? new boy is a worrier and hasn’t had much education either so I’m hoping in time he’ll enjoy it. (He has to, I’m not a big jumping fan and there’s a limit to how much hacking I can do!)