Schooling/ Dressage Advice Needed Please!

[Doreys_Mum]

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*waits patiently for the "Oh but the best dressage horses are kept like that" excuse*

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But all the best dressage horses have compitent riders...

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Blimey - thats a bit rich, take it you are PSG standard then

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I don't starve my horse so it competes better... in fact, I'm very, VERY narky about people who starve my horses.........

PG did NOT say she gave adlib hay, she said no turnout, little hay and more hardfeed. Which is basically the recipe for colic and or the horse causing itself serious injury when it is finally let outside!

And if she's going to say things like that, she is going to get unhappy responces!

So the mare looks good in RL, PG is obvious a liar on the forum - any horse on that living routine would be pretty much dead and or off it's head.

She also claims it's ridden for 2 hours in draw reins... doesn't know how to get her own horses head down?

Trying to imatate the routines of top riders only works if you can actually ride the horse you have.

Perhaps PG is lying again, and she is a completely compitent rider, but the impression we've had so far is that she knows nothing about riding and nothing about general horse care.

 

[dieseldog]

Just a tip, when you are trying to be horrible about someone learn how to spell the 'big' words you are using

 

[Sal_E]

I don't agree with PG's response but I have a feeling it was typed with not enough thought rather than through ignorance - and we've all done that before, haven't we? There's potentially truth in what she's saying if she had qualified it a bit more - i.e. don't allow too much lush grass, don't let the horse get bloated on food, try a higher energy food if the horse appears lethargic. All fair enough points when combined with schooling exercises to help the problem. Maybe PG should have asked open questions before handing out potentially dangerous advice, we know novice people read these posts but it sounds as if the original poster is pretty competant & is therefore able to correctly interpret PG's views.

You can rely on a few of the old favourites to rip someone apart though, given half a chance! Nothing like giving someone the benefit of the doubt! Bitchy as ever, jumping to conclusions as ever.

 

[BBs]

FFS round and round and round we go again!!!

How PG has worded her reply doesnt sound good, however, this I dont think is the point she was trying to make!

I too have a lazy great lump as an eventer! and if it wasnt down to money, he too would be brought in at night during the eventing season to give him half a chance of being far more motivated!

Im not one for cutting down hay, I feel they should have adlib - however, different if you are feeging haylage.

Im stuck in a rut with if i feed him loads of heating food he just puts on weight, but if i dont give him anything (for the amount of work he is doing) he wont be able to perform well. So......

His work is kept to 1-2 hours a day, be it hacking, schooling, jumping, grid, fast work - if i school i only do so for maximum of 30 minutes as i usually combine it with hacking - hacking should be fun and interesting, same as schooling - lots of transistion - add pole work if you dont want to jump use raised trotting poles.

I read an interesting artical - i think it was in Horse magazine where the guy who rides Blue Circle Boy - somebody Pearson is it??? he has the same problems with his horse - keeping him motivated - he had some really interesting tips on keeping your horse forward and reposive! cant remember which month it was in tho!

Maybe change your feed - have a word with some of the feed companies - I use Micro Feed in the winter and then change it to Performance Concentrate which is still high in oats but is less fattening! This way its a balanced diet and i dont have to add to it - if i just feed oats i end up bulking him up with chaff etc and other vit/mins.

I would definitely agree to either, bring your horse in a couple of hours a day or, like what i do is section off a part of my field.

Oops and also forgot! do you get regular, massage/chiro treatments? an equisssage or similar might also help your horse if they are stiff on one side or another - winston is and i have a cheapish massage pad which i use to good effect! Plus using a pessoa might help (lunging is also good to add into your training). Not a huge fan of anything else, drawreins etc but i know alot of ppl use them - but thats just my opinion. Oh and dont forget to get yourself checked out by the chiro too - if your stiff down one side your horse will be too.

Good luck.

And as for some of you, you really are bloody nasty!

 

[Sal_E]

ha ha BB's - your reply is virtually the same message as mine - crossed in the internet etha I think!

It's Lee Pearson.

 

[BBs]

Thank you!

Yes Ive just read your reply lol but mine was a long winded version - as perusual lol

 

[Halfstep]

ETS - not aimed at anyone in particular, just a response to the whole thread....

Wow - breathtaking how nasty some of these responses are! Some people need to take a deep breath and think how hurtful these posts can be. P_G is being given a hard time on three simultaneous threads; it looks very like a witchhunt to me. I wonder what has happened to basic tolerance and giving people the benefit of the doubt. We all type without thinking of all the ways we could be (mis)understood - and should not be attacked for doing so. Leave P_G alone unless you want to engage in a constructive argument (i.e. no personal attacks or ad hominum mudslinging).

(This is why I don't post about competitions!)

Breath.....

 

[Tempi]

ive been bitting my tongue (so to speak) as to not reply to this thread - you had me reduced to tears yesterday morning, which is not why i am part of this forum.

Yes what i wrote came out a bit wrong - i was meaning that sometimes less grass is the key to a lazy horse (as in if its out 24/7 perhaps bring it in at night). I dont 'pump' my horse with hard feed, she has half a scoop of dressage mix once a day with a bit of alfa-a original. If i did she would be totally unrideable, this is why she gets less grass so that she dosent spend her days stuffing herself silly and therefore being lazy in the evenings - this also wouldnt be good for her. She has a large haynet during the day of haylage plus her feedball. She is in every other day, she dosent crib/weave/box walk/windsuck or have ANY vices.

All suppliments Bloss is on are advised by my vet, she has a severe pollen allergy - what do you want me to do, make her suffer instead of giving her a suppliment to help it? Believe me she wouldnt be on any suppliments if she didnt need to be.

She is ridden in draw reins to help her develop properly, not because i cant 'get her head down' - How would i be winning at elementary if i cant ride her not in draw reins??????

My horse is extremely happy and healthy you can ask anyone that knows me, Piaffe has met her and seen me competing, and everyone has seen pictures of her.

I have not lied about ANYTHING.

You are a cruel and evil person, and i hope someday you get what you deserve.

 

[Sparklet]

So how to you explain the lack of colic, lack of injury and the sucess she has had competing? Her way does not work for every horse but it certainly does for her.

If you want to criticise her feeding methods in a thread about feeding go ahead but to say she is not a comp e tent rider is completely off topic and clearly untrue.

 

[_jetset_]

I am absolutely shocked at some of the responses on this post!

You claim P_G is lying about how competant a rider she is... I don't suppose you ever bother looking at some of the photos she posts of her competing Bloss? Obviously not, because otherwise you would realise you are very wrong. Only a competent rider would have got to the level she has in dressage!

As for the feed suggestion, like some others (Sal_E and BBs) have already suggested, what P_G said does make perfect sense, only perhaps she did not include as much detail as she should have done seeing as novice people do read this forum. Sometimes we all forget that the replies are not just read by those asking the questions.

It is a shame that people's posts get ripped apart and bitched about by some people on this forum when they are only trying to offer some advice. Whether the person takes it or not is up to them, not up to those select few who think they have a right to upset people and cause trouble.

If my horse was a bit sluggish being out at grass (which she can be in summer) and she was competing at the level that Bloss does, then I would reduce her grazing and feed her feeds with a higher energy content to improve her performance. I know many dressage riders do just this if competing a lot, as the horses need much more than just grass at this level!

I do not enjoy writing this kind of post, but in this case I felt I had to after the disgraceful way some people had responded. We are all adults (well, a fair few of us anyway) so I think it is about time we behaved like them! You would never dream of saying all you have posted to someone's face, so it should be no different because you are typing it. People's feelings are hurt whether in text or voice, just try to remember that next time!

 

[Tempi]

thank you.........

 

[MrsMagoo]

FFS, get a reality check and live in the real world for once...if you bothered to speak to P_G about how she manages her horse then maybe you would have found out abit more, rather then attacking her straight of!!!.....

Think the picture your getting here is not many people agree with you on this one - oh dear

 

[piaffe]

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Think the picture your getting here is not many people agree with you on this one - oh dear


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Seems to be happening a lot at the mo!

 

[MillionDollar]

I don't think you are horrible at all!! I've seen pictures of your horse and she is stunning and looks very happy.

I simply did not agree with your first post, however, now you have explained i do agree with the not turning out 24/7. Its just your first post sounded as though you kept your horse in 24/7, with very little hay and lots of hard feed, which is obviously not the case- especially as you are winnning at elementary.

Some of the replys have been ridiculous and very nasty. Everyone deserves their own opinion and not to be shot down.

Please don't be upset just because a few people can't take advice, you know you look after your horse well and that shes happy, thats all that matters

 

[Tempi]

i wasnt aiming it a you hun anyways, dont worry!! I know i worded it a bit wrong - question of typing and not thinking on my part!!!!

 

[MillionDollar]

I know you weren't aiming at me i just wanted to explain myself, and to say that i totally agree with everyone that SOME people are pathetic- probably very very jealous of you and your gorgeous horse, lol!

 

[piaffe]

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i totally agree with everyone that SOME people are pathetic- probably very very jealous of you and your gorgeous horse, lol!


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I think that is half of the problem too!

 

[kick_On]

here ...here .... well said

P_G
your horse is wonderful and you do her proud, so i peronnally can't wait to read your next comp report.
When i read your original posting, i knew where you were coming from and there is no way that you would be doing the level of competetion if in any way where not managaing Blossy equine needs correctly
So head held girly onwards and upwards

 

[Tempi]

thanx hun

 

[MissDeMeena]

Having seen pics of both of you riding.. i know who i'd rather send my horse to if i needed to PG

 

[SirenaXVI]

P_G please don't let one spoilt nasty jealous person reduce you to tears, they really are not worth it.

Don't give this person the time of day and there is no need to explain why you feed your horse the way you do, you don't need to justify anything you do with your horse - who by the way looks a picture of health

 

[piaffe]

you already know my thoughts on this hun!

Just carry on doing what you, obviously do so well.

 

[Doreys_Mum]

lol

if I were cruel and evil, why would I keep ending up with the horses everyone else has disguarded?

Like the one with laryngeal paralysis due to being overbent. Ever wonder WHY i'm so anti draw reins and overbending? WHY I'm so pro natural outline?

Because too much ruins a horses breathing - and a horse that can't breath, well, do I need to explain that?

Then there's the fact that two of my horses were prone to colic. one due to her age, and one due to his lack of worming before we got him.

Neither could afford to miss out on grazing time, especially as the wormy one also has COPD and the old one was missing enough teeth to make hay and dry feed very hard to get her remaining teeth into.

Not that it would have mattered much with the older one, she went suicidal in a stable anyways.

so all my horses are on nil hard feed, either 12 or 24 hours grazing every day and ad lib hay over night...

And yet a heavyweight cob with a broken wind can still win at whatever level he's at now...

Now work that one out...

If he can do it, why could Bloss not do it living on the same routine?

 

[Tempi]

OMG - you really are stupid, ALL HORSES ARE DIFFERENT. what works for some dosent work for others. If she had ad lib haylage and was on grass ALL DAY AND NIGHT she'd be HUGE - shes a total pig, and would stuff herself until she gave herself COLIC, exactly what YOU keep banging on about.

Except the fact you are wrong, you havent got a clue what you are on about and everyone agrees with me not you. END OF.

 

[MrsMagoo]

Here Here

 

[kick_On]

please please see that poeple can have different ways of looking after there gg's

Your routine works for yours!! and

P_G routine works for her girly

so please agreed to have differnces and let it go please.........
ta

 

[MillionDollar]

Like P_G has said all horses are different and have to be looked after differently.

My horses are out 24/7 with one that comes in in the day due to a pollen allergy. i have 3 natives so they have to go on a starvation paddock. But i do find that all my horses are better behaved and conditioned for being turned out 24/7 including my warmblood.

However, I know some horses that actually hate being turned out, and some horses do pig themselves and get huge, so every horse needs a different routine. And i don't think its wrong to keep a horse in as long as the horse is happy (no stable vices) and healthy (not developing colic).

So please Dorseys_Mum don't criticise how other people look after their horses, as it obviously works for them.

 

[pootler]

I have spent years tearing my hair out over my horse who is incredibly lazy and not particulary balanced (v on forehand). One thing that has worked miracles for me recently is getting him pesso'd. It has helped him to sort out his own balance and work through from behind.

Also if he is lazy he's bumped up the bum by rear ropes which send him forward. In fact, I guarantee you that you'll see me piping up with pessoa him/her, pessoa him/her now! on many future threads (no I'm not on commission).

Fitness and weight do pay a large part in how lazy horses perform. I have been almost evil in my attempts to manage his weight. I have put him on the anti-lam topspec feedbalancer (not laminitic just a massively good doer) with a handful of chaff. He is in during the day for 7 hours, he only gets 2 kgs of hay at about 11. He is then out overnight. I don't want to bring him in for longer due to other health issues I have with him.

Ride 6 days a week if you can, even if it kills you, oh and pessoa twice a week for the next 3 months!!!!!!!