ponies vs horses? dressage advice and opinions please

C

Cinders

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 October 2005
Messages
334
Visit site
got a feeling this could be a long post so get comfy! lol

Basically i m 17 and have a 14hh pony. We've been having a go at unaff dressage for about 2 years now and to be honest we've never got to a point where we're consistantly doing well as its been such a big learning curve for both of us. When we first started i was clueless and my pony's flatwork was so bad that she couldn't even bend properly on a circle let alone work correctly!

last year we went to trailblazer finals for prelim and came 8th on the first day, major achievement for us. this year being naive i thought we would qualify again as our flatwork is a hundred times better and she's really beginning to work nicely in an outline. however its definately proving harder than i thought as this year i m now a senior and the standard seems stupidly high and we're only talking about prelim here.

i am actually looking for a horse to move onto as i ve gotten rather tall for my pony but i had hoped to carry on competing her along side a horse. some people though have told me basically to give up with my pony as now i m a senior i dont stand a chance against these bigger warmblood type horses as my pony is never going to be able to move like they do, guess thats sort of true!

dont know what this post is getting at, i guess i m after a kick up the bum to carry on improving my ponies flatwork as i still feel she's got a lot more to offer, or have people tell me give up and move onto horses lol

also, would anyone be able to tell me how the horse would need to be going to achieve 7s and 8s in a prelim test?

thanks in advance!
 
yep! these's aren't the best pics as there stills off the video of our latest dressage test. Only recent pics i have!

kdsaslda.jpg


owjehrem.jpg


peiruth.jpg


psikdf.jpg
 
I think in prelim they need to move forward without tension ,in a soft round outline.My horse on the left in my siggie gets really good marks from all judges and is not 5 yet [photo a year old he is a little softer now ] .He is a very relaxed horse and if you ask for more he says 'ok, I'll try' we have not asked for any collection at all yet ,just forward,straight and calm in a rounded outline and judges like it,he got three 8's at the winter champs from one judge .My other horse is a tense chap and is scared [or pretends he is]of everything and goes stiff through his back if you ask too much,he can get good marks when he relaxes but he can also get pants ones
 
Well from those pics she looks to be a nice type of pony that shouldn't struggle too hard to do dressage! You have to remember that the advantages the big horses have in terms of impressive paces are often counterbalanced by lack of balance and calm temperament! Judging from your photos I think you probably need to encourage your pony on a bit more and get her to lengthen her stride, but there is nothing in her make-up which suggests you shouldn't be able to improve your marks
laugh.gif
.
 
Don't give up on your pony. I didn't! One of my best moments ever was when I was in my late teens and I couldn't go to the National RC ODE qualifier because my horse was injured (that wasn't the good part by the way), anyway we had to transport someone else with there horse to poplar park from london and I decided to enter my pony for a laugh, now I succesfully competed him along side my horse in SJ but had never done anything like this before, anyway the little welsh dude won the qualifier outright and we went to the finals...I tell you not alot of people were impressed that this little welsh cobby thing trashed the pants off of them! He was 7th after Dressage, moved to 5th after show jumping and was the only one in the top 5 going into the XC to come in within the time (he galloped and jumped his little butt off for me!)
grin.gif
 
In your photos he looks a bit short in the neck and the last one looks like the canter may be verging on 4 time ,which will lower the marks quite a lot. But it is difficult to see from the photos.Not trying to criticise just observe and help
 
thanks very much for everyones thoughts!!

think whats letting us down now is although we've got the outline coming she's a typical chestnut mare and can get quite arguementative and i struggle to maintain the outline as she likes to toss her head up. think this inconsistency in the outline drops our marks quite a bit! also i find it hard to get her to "give" as she tends to soften a bit but still stays tense in her jaw and over her back, we dont get complete softeness. i m quite will to accept that this is probably down to rider error rather than pony error!

horsegroupie- well done! glad you had success with your pony!

carthorse- dont worry i wont be offended as i m desperate to improve, criticise all you want! i know photos aren;t the best but if it helps this is the video of the test? http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=419530664765050509
 
Dont give up ! The more we school the better we become. Do you have a regular instructor who could help you with the softening issue? This is something which can be overcome. Are you riding 'forwards' and using leg for impulsion - this is what the judges are looking for at this level.

At Prelim so many riders have lack of impulsion time and time again on their sheets as they dont use their legs and create tension over the back and neck. This is where marks are lost.

Also on entering, the centre line is often straight, but not on the line. Accuracy will gain you higher marks.

Dont worry about the chestnut attitude. The horses that give you the most trouble often turn out to be the best.

Lots of luck
grin.gif
 
Dont think you should try and make your pony be something he isnt.i.e a big horse because thats not going to happen. What he is is a very nice type that you should be able to do very well on regardless. As many of the other posts have quite rightly said you need to concentrate on his way of going with regards to the 'scales of training' and at prelim ;relaxation and rhythm are paramount.
I train a 11yr old girl who has a 14hh pony and who frequently kicks the butt of many a warmblood at novice affiliated. She was placed 8th in the novice regional music at Addington and last summer at the regionals she was 10th in the prelim also at Addington.
There have been several national champions that have been ponies too especially at the lower levels.
So dont give up! Get your backside out there learn as much as you can on the pony you know and have cofidence in so that when you move to horses you will have a clear understanding of the principles and they stay the same regardless!! Go for it he looks smashing and you look to have a promising position.
smile.gif
 
I love your pony, its perfectly possible to do well affiliated on a pony- my one and only affiliated dressage test was on a 13.2 and we came 3rd and got a point and he is just a hairy shuffly thing!
If you're happy on her then stay on her, I dont think there should be any pressure to move up to horses, unless you want to have a flashy warmblood and do well at medium or above your pony will be fine. You have to remember that at trailblazers prelim level there are lots of people with more money than talent so there are some blooming nice horses youre up against.

My advice would be to affiliate her, step her up to novice and see what sort of scores you get then decide (or try a few aff novices on a ticket)
 
thanks so much for the encouragement!

Llyyncwn- yes i have weekly lessons and so she's helping me alot with the flat work. some good points raised! will definately work on impulsion as i thought we had improved it a lot but my last test we only got a 5 or 6 for it so obviouslt we're still lacking in it! will work on centre lines as well, our centre lines tend to be straight be not always bang on the centre line!

partoow- thank you! thats exactly what my instructor says, will try and learn all i can on my pony and then when the time comes to move onto horses it'll be ten times easier.

Bossanova- thanks! its very true, there are some stupidly nice horses doing trailblazer prelim and also a lot of pot hunting, quite a few horses i see could easily win a novice class and probably already are. they could also easily go affiliated! dressage isn't something i live for so i definately would go out and buy a horse which would let me win on but it would be nice to start getting placed on my pony lol would love to take your advice but i dont think we're good enough to affiliate, judges seem pretty tough unaff. so they'd probably rip us apart affiliated! lol also we currently cant doing any medium trot or canter which novice tests have. We are working on it though as it seems a brilliant way to open up her paces!
 
You'd be suprised- the judging is far better at aff and they are very constructive with their comments. No harm trying, thats always my philosophy!
 
You don't have to have a big warmblood to do well dressage. My previous horse was IDxTB who hated workin from behind, and was built on the forehand but we affliated him, he part qualified for the summer and winter regionals, was placed everytime out and we went to the area festivals all at novice level.
I am now going to affliate Honey was our marks at unaffliated are so inconsistant when she does not vary that much in her going.
 
being a 20 year old pony owner i say please dont give up on your pony... i know for dressage its not such the case but competing a pony as an adult at anything other than RC elvel is a struggle but not for your chose discipline

If you buy a horse problems could be more, they could be harder to work with, you may not get a bond etc.

Stick with your pony work harder and you will spend less money on feed etc than a big ol' warmblood
laugh.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top