Short/Long Arena

[CentrestageSHS]

Hellooooo!

Right I have just become a member of BD and I have bought the entire folder of tests and I am sat reading though them to see which ones I think will suit my horse and what things to practise. However I didn't realise that some tests are held in Long arenas right from Prelim!!!

Now we have just had a brand new school built and it is 30mx50m or 20mx40m when it has the dressage boards in. What I want to know is how some people manage to practise in a 20x40 for a test that is being held in a 20x60. I have heard people on here saying that they have never ridden though the test because they only have a short arena and that when they are doing it in a competition it is the first time they have ran through it properly. Do you get the test called to you or just remeber it in your head even though you haven't practised?? I was thinking about setting up a 20x60 in the field, but it won't be entirely flat and might be a litle soggy in this weather!!! Do you think if I put the markers up for a long arena in our 20mx50m school it would work or be better than the field?? It just seems all the centres around me are running the tests in the long arena right from Novice level!!! I am searching for a venue that is running a test in a short arena but I am going to have to wait a little while and I am impatient!!!

Also do you think it is better to focus on one or two tests and get them really good and just go and do these tests at different venues or just enter what you want and go in different tests every time???

 

[Little_Mare]

I only have access to a 20mx40m but I rarely ride through whole tests to practise anyway - I just do the individual elements, so although they won't be placed at the right markers most fit in a 20x40. If you think you need to practise the whole thing in order to learn it then I'd put the markers up in the 20x50 school and just be aware that things might be a little squashed and don't ride the test that way at the comp!

I ride a few different tests as I haven't really found one that particulary suits us but the number of novices that we can do comfortably at the moment is quite limited anyway

If the centres near you keep running the same tests then you can just learn a couple - this is good for direct comparison of your performance...

 

[WFL]

I would love to have a go at a long arena test, but I would probably get lost with all those extra letters!

 

[CentrestageSHS]

Hmm yes Dr James, that is why I am a little worried!!! I don't think I would like to do a test in a long arena without actually riding through the test with the markers before!!! I am so annoyed that the school isn't that extra 10m long!!! When it was built I was doing BSJA and it is great for jumping being a little wider and longer than a 20x40 but it is slightly annoying that it is too small by only a little bit!!! I was considering having it extend to be a 30mx60m but they have put all the drainage in and it would be a little difficult to dig all the pipes up again that were sunk, plus we have lovely little conifer bushes and ornamental trees all the way around the edge which makes it very pretty and private, but I don't really want to have to dig them all up again as well as they are quite big now!!! They were put in also to stop the horses jumping out when we loose school them even though the fence is really high, we didn't want loose stallions running around!!! We do have a flat area in the fields where we could put a 20x60 arena but I am not too keen in working in a humungous hay field!!! My dad says he going to mow the area out and paint stripes on the floor like a footie pitch as he has a new road white-lining machine thingy and is dying to use it! LOL

P.s he is not wierd he has is for when the car park is finished!! LOL