Novice Dressage

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BobbyMondeo

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Hiya :D

Basically, at my yard we having a dressage competition and my loaner wants to do the prelim but aparently the same horse cant compete in the same class twice so either i do the novice she does the prelim OR i do the prelim OR she does the prelim.

We would both like to be able to do it.
Sooo what does a novice test involve?
Im not sure of the actual test number yet so cant get a sheet, but if i can practice some of things it will involve i will have a better idea of if i can do it or not!! Eeek!

Thanks in advance
 
Just do the novice - what's the worst that can happen? :D I've done them on my very un-dressage cob (in that he's not schooled for dressage, not that cobs generally can't!).

The main things are medium trot and canter (depending on test) and a few trickier patterns sometimes. I used to just get 5s for "running" or "no MT shown" but the rest of the marks were respectable so we normally averaged 60ish%. Provided you're not expecting to win (you never know :D) and are just doing it for fun, go for it!
 
I was thinking this but i dont want to look stupid!! Only just moved to the yard and it all takes place in the big indoor arena where loads of people can watch you...

Gah i hate stuff like this i get in a flap and then the horse goes ****** you mum im just going to be a giraffe :)
 
BobbyMondeo said:
I was thinking this but i dont want to look stupid!! Only just moved to the yard and it all takes place in the big indoor arena where loads of people can watch you...

Gah i hate stuff like this i get in a flap and then the horse goes ****** you mum im just going to be a giraffe :)
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Don't be daft, you just need a good, professional sounding excuse (It's FAR too dark in that indoor - everyone knows XXX-bred (name posh sounding sire/tenuous relation/made up horse) horses don't like doing dressage in the dark - don't you know ANYTHING? :rolleyes: ). You probably won't be the worst, and even if you are - who cares? You're unlikely to perform the worst test in history - I've probably ridden worse :p
 
Haha!! I like it!
I just don't want to face him with something that he cant do that is all :) Will have to get which test it is and get practicing i think. I just bought a new dressage saddle so i need to try i out.
Poor horse wont know what has hit him

And i can probably compete for the worst test in history title and i was only a walk trot :D
 
BobbyMondeo said:
Haha!! I like it!
I just don't want to face him with something that he cant do that is all :) Will have to get which test it is and get practicing i think. I just bought a new dressage saddle so i need to try i out.
Poor horse wont know what has hit him

And i can probably compete for the worst test in history title and i was only a walk trot :D
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If you have a dressage saddle, you already fit in more than me, especially if you have a "real horse" rather than me on my hairy cob or Highland pony...

If you think it will stress him out to ask for medium, just continue in working and pretend you're as useless as people like me (who ask but don't normally get :D). The rest of it isn't very complicated (imo but i'm hardly a DR expert!)
 
Go on do it! :D I did one with my boy when he was still very green away from home as it was super cheap :o. It had medium trot (we got a 7 for this :D) and medium canter and a change of leg through trot across the diaganal (sp?). Apart from that it wasnt much diffrent to prelim but you skip the trot around the arena bussiness and go straight to the next movment and transitions are more likley to be at a marker than between.
 
Im already feeling more confident about this, even though i WILL make a fool of myself because there is a lot of dressage-y people on my yard who all look very posh and composed riding round :D

I think i will find it hard not to swear at him
 
Go for it!

You can't look any worse than me and my lad when we do dressage. I remember on one occasion I started going up the centre line something spooked him so we did the wonderful movement of 'enter arena at A and promptly leave at C.'
 
Novice tests may have 'show some medium trot strides' in it, just remember that it's 'show' not at that specific marker must be medium trot from there to wherever the movement finishes, at novice level it's progressive and you only have to show a few strides.
Depending on the novice test and the prelim test there may not be that much difference in them, probably just more circles and changes of rein in the novice, but again depends on the prelim test as some of them have quite a lot in them.
 
Kokopelli said:
Go for it!

You can't look any worse than me and my lad when we do dressage. I remember on one occasion I started going up the centre line something spooked him so we did the wonderful movement of 'enter arena at A and promptly leave at C.'
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I love it :)

I think i did most of my first test backwards it was hilarious :)

Im just worried because its not like i have done many prelims.....ive done 2 i think and neither were very good
 
Have a go - they are not that much different from prelims. We did our first one a while ago on my pony and got 3% less for the novice than I did for the prelim.

I got 'Running in trot' when I was supposed to be doing MT - but still got a 5 for it which isn't that bad. Oh and we got a 3 for out free walk as he spooked and ran for the gate! :)
 
Kokopelli, I've done the "Enter at A, proceed down the centre line in working trot, exit at C in pig headed llama trot in direction of gate" movement, which is probably similar to your "spook and exit" movement. Amazingly I got away with it as the judge and writer were both peering at the sheet (Oh yes, my dressage skills are so immense that during an unscheduled movement I can turn around to see if the judge noticed :D).

In my highland's first novice the other week, he actually got 10% more in the novice than he got in the prelim. Possibly due to the prelim containing one of my other favourite movements "continue in working trot, oblivious to the OHL transition to walk you're meant to be riding, trot past judge, overhear judge say to writer "she missed that movement, didn't she?", swear loudly"...
 
I actually prefer Novice because while the movements are not significantly different to Prelim, there are more of them and they come quicker, which keeps most horses' attention better than Prelim where they switch off doing acres of 20m circles and trotting round the arena.

I'm doing 2 Novice tests (one long, one short arena) in a couple of weeks, simply because the timing of the Prelim tests doesn't suit my schedule and I can't get to the yard in time. I usually do Prelim long arena and Novice short arena but I figure, hey, might as well have a go. Even if I come last, I'll have a really good benchmark against which to work. Bit nervous about the G&R the rein in canter over X, but as long as we don't leave the arena we should be fine :D
Medium canter down the long side might generate lift also :D :D :D

Good luck!
 
HI - GO FOR IT.
We did our first novice dressage recently and have done a few since and actually we seem to do just as well in them as we do in the prelims, I think the horses find them more interesting as there are more movements and it keeps mine switched on - which is nice as he has a VERY faulty on switch ! we always canter when I ask for medium trot - I think my boy just says silly womans got the canter aids wrong again, I'll just do it anyway. which as in prelim we often dont get canter at all is a little frustrating. Get someone to read it for you though as seems complicated after prelims ( although since having my baby can barely remember W+T tests ), but do learn it so you can prepare for the movements.
 
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