Making the move, Eventing to Pure dressage, lost my mojo..

gingerlegs

gingerlegs

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Sorry this might turn a little bit 'woe is me' and long so I apologise in advance..

After several years of riding tricky, young and difficult horses and attempting to event.. being dropped on the floor a few times and the constant heartache of never even managing to get 2 out of 3 to go well (despite having the ability) and then having a super school master who was helping me progress drop dead in the field at 16 ... I can officially say it's taken it's toll and I've fallen out of love eventing.

I had the joys of taking my friends super horse to an event and although I thoroughly enjoyed riding him and smiled over fences for the first time in a long while, I could have been anywhere else.

I'm lucky to have my 5yo bargain basement ex racehorse who seems to have a natural talent over fences, good brain and trainability, and even move very well... but it seems he isn't keen on the idea of eventing either! We have had some difficulties fitting a jump saddle to him and his huge shoulders that he is comfortable in, he has also had some confidence issues xc and both things combined has left us both defensive.
So new dressage career for both of us it seems and for at least a year while he grows and changes, gets stronger and has a bit more trust in me.
I'm not going to lie, I'm not looking forward to flatwork forever.. We have a fantastic trainer who gives us plenty to do but I have a competitive head and need to have a competition plan.

I know of the ROR series and will be looking in to that a bit more but what else can we work towards? Affiliated and unaffiliated. We will be aiming for Novice in the new year (maybe sooner) have our pure dressage debut at Keysoe tomorrow evening as a starting point to work from.

At the few events he's done, he's scored 32's and had 8's for his paces so I'm hoping we can be competitive, after years of being rosette free out eventing!!! (I know that's not what it's about ;) )

And finally, has anyone else lost their mojo and managed to get back in to it after a break?
I was looking for a second horse, an eventing schoolmaster perhaps but wondering if just having 'something' I can do some SJing with to keep my eye in would be a better idea and come away from eventing completely?!
Not going to lie, I'm gutted I had so little interest in being at an event and competing :(

Chips and chocolate if you made it this far!
 
I suppose I had this with SJ, my old mare would either go out & win or go out & not go near a pole on the floor, frustrating but I learnt to work with it. She would have been an amazing eventer but sadly dressage away from home blew her brains too much ! :(
I gave up for 6 months after she broke down & then realised a life without horses was pants.
Since then I have broken & produced my own, very lucky to seem to have a skill at it even with the difficult 1s & it has given me a passion & a drive again. I event the 1s I produce now & the SJ is now the phase I enjoy the least... so a bit of a turnaround !

I think sometimes a change is as good as a rest ! :) also I think if you set yourself little goals & achieve them & get even small successes it gives you that motivation back !!
 
If you affiliate you have 2 routes - Area Festivals or Regionals/Nationals.
Here is the info on Area Festivals:
http://www.britishdressage.co.uk/competitions/area_festivals

Here is regionals/nationals:
http://www.britishdressage.co.uk/up...er and winter regional championships 2015.pdf

And here is some info from BD on the RoR series:
http://www.britishdressage.co.uk/competitions/ror_series

Unaffiliated you have Trailblazers as the main 'big' competition people aim for, you enter a 1st round, have to get 58% or more then you qualify for 2nd rounds, and then the top 6 (I think, might be top 5) out of the 2nd round class go through to the finals at Stoneleigh. Cricklands do something similar, you enter a qualifier at a local venue, and if you get 58% or more you are through to the finals at Cricklands. Both run classes from Prelim to Ele.

Then there are a few others but a bit harder to get into/may depend on your location - Badminton do unaff dressage http://www.badmintondressage.co.uk/, as do Hickstead http://www.dressageathickstead.com/unaffiliated/

Always worth looking at your local riding clubs or dressage venues, they often hold their own 'series' and some qualify for bigger championships so have a look at what your local venues offer as well.

Flatwork forever isnt so bad you know.....you might just find you get the bug and you'll be blinging up your browband in no time!

What I love about dressage is you need to be a real perfectionist, you soon learn to find so much pleasure in the tiniest of improvements in your horse, it isnt about jumping bigger or going faster, its achieving that magic feel when you and the horse are in total harmony, horse in self carriage and only the slightest tweaks from you are needed to get the perfect movement. When you feel that moment, whether you're just trying to get a good bend on a 20m circle or your doing your first steps of piaffe....when it all comes together and you and the horse *get* it, that soon becomes addictive and you get so much pleasure from it.

So dont write off boring old flatwork, when you start to work towards your competitions, and get that feedback from the judge you'll soon get the bug and want to be working on those movements to get your mark from a 7 to an 8....if you are naturally a competitive person I think when you start going out and competing, you'll get a bit addicted to wanting to improve and get even an extra .5 of a mark!

Good luck for your debut at Keysoe!
 
KC100 pretty much says it all but I would add you can do regionals and area festivals, just not at the same level. AF must be at least a level higher than regionals.
As a long term showjumper turned eventer turned dressage diva I've found each has it's own appeal, highs and lows.
 
Kassieg - I think that's my concern that it won't be something I REALLY enjoy doing again after becoming more of a chore! Either way we'll be having a break from it which I'm hoping will help.

KC100 - Thank you, I think there is somewhere local doing trailblazers so we can have a go with that.
I am definitely competitive and a little bit OCD about things being right! So I'm sure we'll start to enjoy it soon enough but I find the lower levels a bit repetitive (too many years of the same 3 eventing tests I think!).
I definitely have to have something to aim for, a bigger goal, thank you for that bit of reading :) hopefully find something to get stuck in to!

And I'll hopefully have a nice report from our first attempt..
 
kc100 said:
What I love about dressage is you need to be a real perfectionist, you soon learn to find so much pleasure in the tiniest of improvements in your horse, it isnt about jumping bigger or going faster, its achieving that magic feel when you and the horse are in total harmony, horse in self carriage and only the slightest tweaks from you are needed to get the perfect movement. When you feel that moment, whether you're just trying to get a good bend on a 20m circle or your doing your first steps of piaffe....when it all comes together and you and the horse *get* it, that soon becomes addictive and you get so much pleasure from it.
Click to expand...

^^ this :D Nothing beats the adrenalin rush in the start box, but dressage has its own rewards and this sums it up.

I also had to give up eventing after 5 years of reasonable results up to Novice level - I ran out of funds and couldn't keep it up. Initially I felt really sad, and then gradually I learnt to love dressage. I'd still go eventing at a low level with a young horse - just for the fabulous all round education it gives... my previous-event-horse is very worldly. But I really do enjoy the flatwork now.

Lots and lots of things to aim for to keep your competitive brain satisfied.
 
I love Eventing. The problem is we are both (well, more me than her) pants at showjumping. So I focus on dressage now, and belt around a few hunter trials during hunter trial season :) We still do a bit of everything at home,and do unaff ODEs for fun.

I honestly love the focus that comes with dressage. I have clear goals, and every time I compete I have a script of our strengths and weaknesses, and an action plan of what I need to work on. Also, with dressage, there is so much theory behind it that I find I can bulk up my knowledge in between lessons reading. And usually, if I try something and it works on one horse... It tends to work on the next too. For the most part :)
 
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Quite simply eventing is too expensive and hard work to do if you are not enjoying it and I don't mean not enjoying a specific event cause of the weather or you have a bad day but not enjoying any of it.

Go do dressage and maybe some SJ if you miss eventing it is not going anywhere but if not you will certainly be better off!

Never keep doing anything just because you think you should!

Good luck with the dressage, look forward to the first report.
 
Thank you all for your thoughts and support.

Horsemad12 - Quite right, it's blooming expensive!

We are feeling reasonably prepared for our debut this evening, have picked out a bit of bling and ditched the tweed so we fit in ;)
I will post a report and hopefully have some plans in action to get us going for qualifiers!
 
Get out competing, and push yourself. Dressage can be very competitive, and VERY addictive ;) I wouldn't buy another until you've tried dressage for a bit. You never know - this might be your thing!

I would seriously recommend having a schoolmaster lesson, or even just a brief sit on an established horse. It's really exciting, because it reveals the depth of dressage training, and you know that one day, your horse could go that beautifully. That in itself is a good driving force, even without the competitive element. When I ride mine now, even just out hacking, he is an absolute pleasure, because he is so soft and quick off the aids - such a good feeling.

It's easy to stagnate at prelim, which is admittedly boring. So my advice would be crack on through the levels as soon as you're sure you won't totally embarrass yourself! My tb gets better and better as the tests get more complex, he needs his mind occupied! ;)
 
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Sorry to hear you have lost your eventing mojo :( give the dressage a try and see how you get on. You can always do some sj and hunter trails alongside it if you dont fancy full on eventing again. Sadly my eventer broke this season so will be donning a life of dressage when he can come back into work, have to admit thou i knew i couldnt cope without eventing/jumping so i went out and brought a youngster to event next season with my main lad doing dressage alongside it should hopefully be a packed out year! Im no dressage rider but i was starting to enjoy it with my main lad when we were training for the eventing so im hoping together we can enjoy it more and he will be happy with it as a second career.... Not sure i will ever go as far as buying him bling thou! Best of luck for you debut! :)
 
I lost my show jumping mojo and got into showing and more recently dressage. Lots to go for - just done the ROR champs with mine and whilst I miss the excitement of jumping off against the clock the work involved in dressage training is hugely rewarding in itself when suddenly something all comes right. Can yours still show jump or does the saddle problem exclude that as you could look at doing the ROR challenge which is broadly like a working hunter class.
 
humblepie - we are going to aim for the ROR bits but sadly no jump saddle, until he has filled out and I can go made to measure.
**UPDATE** We went out for our debut, Prelim 4 at Keysoe and won on 67.7%!
He was a bit tense and wobbly, and resorted to his 'safe place' so low at the poll at times but otherwise I was happy with how he got on with it :)
So we are now in the ROR regional league for the Central region and will see what we can do to add up some points before end of December!

Video is here if anyone is interested, constructive criticism welcome.. we are a work in progress though :)

https://youtu.be/g6upmQt82PU
 
Looks a lovely sort and good attitude. Yes mine too has a default of too low in the poll, get very few comments on it now but he does look like he spent his life in draw reins not racing for 8 years! It will become addictive!

Edited to add well done on the win!
 
I know nothing about dressage, other than that I can't do it, so can't help you there!

On the eventing front, I think, it's too big a commitment (emotional, financial, of time and of energy) to do it if you are not utterly convinced that it's what you absolutely want to be doing. A lot of it is about having a horse who enjoys it.

Good luck.
 
I can't event anymore either. I too have a lovely chestnut TB who took to eventing like a duck to water. He makes it feel very easy and we came 2nd at affilliated last time we went.
However with two kids aged under 2.5yrs and the format where I live being 3 days I can't do it. I simply cannot commit the time or the energy. I also get so nervous that despite having a point and shoot horse I started to wonder if the 4 mins of excitement going XC was worth the 4 days of gut wrenching nerves!
Luckily my horse likes dressage and he loves showjumping (especially the jump offs!) So for now we are sticking with training at home with plans to get out and do some more affilliated dressage and showjumping next year.
I think with eventing you have to be 100% committed and 100% loving it to do it. It's a very expensive, time consuming and dangerous sport to dabble in half heartedly.
 
The more effort I've put into the dressage side of things the more fun I've been having with it. I started working on the dressage to improve my eventing scores. Ironically I'm now enjoying the dressage more than the eventing. I feel like I've reached my horse's limit eventing yet we're still improving dressage wise and are now competing Advanced Medium, aiming towards Advanced next year. Very conscious of his age (16 now) and that I don't want to break him by pushing him up the levels when Novice is pushing his scope and confidence plus very much enjoying the dressage. We'll still do some eventing for fun and I really enjoy the training side of things but I've just got a bit fed up of the long days and huge amounts of money that eventing requires. Mojo may well return next season when I see everyone else out and about again!
 
No need to beat yourself up, and remember that you can return to it later if circumstances change. In the meantime, you're in good company, switching: Reiner Klimke was on the German Olympic Eventing team in 1960, before turning to pure dressage (apparently the time commitment of Eventing was too much for his professional career) to ride in another 5 Olympics. You can't do better than that! :)
 
I made the move 18 months ago, after eventing up to 2* level previously. I'd always struggled with my jumping confidence, and I was super lucky to find 'the one' who carried me through my eventing career. I experienced gutting heartbreak after he received a career ending injury XC schooling. Strike one for eventing, it's hard on the horses. I faffed for a few years on OTTBs producing and selling them. I had a super star jumper, he was a freak, thought I'd found my next star. That was, until, I had a miss over a big jump and he showed me he didn't have the brain engaged enough to save us... because he made that mistake twice more. My confidence jumping completely shattered. Into a million tiny bits. Sold him as a top class low level Eventer (he was stunning, dead quiet, would win the dressage by miles and jump double clear). I'd been taking classical dressage lessons for a while and the whole idea of holistically training a horse to use itself properly, to get the most out of itself, and to preserve their soundness really inspired me. So I bought a WB, a fat, round orange thing. I've never looked back! The training and preparation is so much easier, and it's simplified my life. Instead of trying to fit in jumping lessons, XC schools, dressage lessons, gallop work and two day comps, I simply school 3 times a week, hack out and lunge. Comps are also day trips at civilized venues, instead of far flung sheep paddocks hours from home and the nearest sanitation. You don't have to give it up completely, backing the pressure off will be the best thing for you. I took my boy XC a few weeks ago, he's had no formal education jumping apart from a sneaky x rail or two, and no talent what so ever, but he gets an A+ for enthusiasm. He doesn't know he's hopeless!. He tried his heart out popping the weeny fences, if he ran out, who cares! I had fun, he did too. I snuck into the jump paddock the other day (complete in my match matchy) and the orange beast had a ball, ended up jumping some tractor tires, a size I'd never thought I'd jump again! I don't want to go back and event, I've fallen in love with dressage. But it's been nice to banish a few demons. Dressage is a massive challenge, you can't 'wing it', you have to be disciplined, and I find a thrill in getting that harmony, striving for perfection.
 
Thank you all for your kind words and support.
I am hoping he will step up to Novice soon as we are starting to work towards Elementary at home which will all help my enthusiasm!
Definitely going to book myself a school master dressage lesson or two to help develop more feel, and I am looking forward to it :)
Struggling to re-plan my weekly schedule ... no fast work, jumping or real fitness work required! I think we need to get a feel for how often we school, hack or lunge,
First outing was incredibly strange arriving, riding and leaving all within an hour... that only ever happened once eventing, when I had to withdraw after dressage.!

You are all quite right, it is an expensive and time consuming game, not even considering the fact it's supposed to be a hobby and should be fun!!
We are cracking on and will hopefully be able to share come exciting reports soon :)
 
gingerlegs said:
Struggling to re-plan my weekly schedule ... no fast work, jumping or real fitness work required! I think we need to get a feel for how often we school, hack or lunge,
Click to expand...

Reiner Klimke's book, supplemented by Ingrid Klimke, contains some 6-week gymnastic gridwork plans at the back, including one aimed at dressage horses specifically, IIRC. It might be worth a look, and you'd keep your hand in jumping!
 
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