Sympathetic hug & kick up the backside please

[little_critter]

I've spent the last year working on our basic way of going, no competing at all for over a year.
I thought we were improving.
I've been kidding myself.
I felt we were ready to get back to competing so booked an online dressage test to test the water.
It seems that doing a dressage test really 'tests' your abilities, no swanning around thinking you're doing ok, it highlights very clearly where you are lacking.
So now I'm feeling demoralised again, I thought we had improved, now it feels like we've done bugger all.

I know I should take this as a learning experience, and use the 'bad' bits of the test to identify what I need to work on...but by gosh it feels like a kick in the teeth!
And I've not even submitted the test yet...this is just from trying to ride it through and discovering that actually we weren't the dressage divas I thought we were.

 

[RachelFerd]

I've spent the last year working on our basic way of going, no competing at all for over a year.
I thought we were improving.
I've been kidding myself.
I felt we were ready to get back to competing so booked an online dressage test to test the water.
It seems that doing a dressage test really 'tests' your abilities, no swanning around thinking you're doing ok, it highlights very clearly where you are lacking.
So now I'm feeling demoralised again, I thought we had improved, now it feels like we've done bugger all.

I know I should take this as a learning experience, and use the 'bad' bits of the test to identify what I need to work on...but by gosh it feels like a kick in the teeth!
And I've not even submitted the test yet...this is just from trying to ride it through and discovering that actually we weren't the dressage divas I thought we were.

Have you been having regular help from the ground? It can be so important to help translate what something 'feels' like into what it looks like. Despite the fact that *most* of the time what feels good also looks good, it is also quite easy to think something feels good when it isn't actually quite right. It's also good to get into the habit of filming as much as you can, particularly if you don't have regular training input - so you can self assess.

The other tricky bit about test riding is that things suddenly have to happen in the right place. I think there's a process where, while you're initially teaching something you can work with the horse to time the way you ask for things to suit when the horse is feeling pliable and soft - so if a transition happens 10 strides after a marker, it doesn't matter. You've then got to graduate into having a more consistent rideability and practicing riding things at the markers, making sure your school shapes are accurate, and getting into your corners.

Full sympathy for that feeling of looking back at a video where you thought things were going ok, and it makes it very apparent they aren't as good as they felt - this happens tome *all* the time...

 

[Rumtytum]

I've spent the last year working on our basic way of going, no competing at all for over a year.
I thought we were improving.
I've been kidding myself.
I felt we were ready to get back to competing so booked an online dressage test to test the water.
It seems that doing a dressage test really 'tests' your abilities, no swanning around thinking you're doing ok, it highlights very clearly where you are lacking.
So now I'm feeling demoralised again, I thought we had improved, now it feels like we've done bugger all.

I know I should take this as a learning experience, and use the 'bad' bits of the test to identify what I need to work on...but by gosh it feels like a kick in the teeth!
And I've not even submitted the test yet...this is just from trying to ride it through and discovering that actually we weren't the dressage divas I thought we were.

Nowhere near the rider you are but crikey did your post hit a (sympathetic) nerve!
I‘M at a RS, have a couple of private lessons weekly, and am strictly Intro and Prelim level (they hold monthly BD tests). My instructor takes lots of videos, and I can honestly say after most of them I could throw myself off a cliff, they bear no resemblance to how I thought I’d ridden!
I swapped instructor recently and she has made an incredible difference; I was actually quite proud of the two vids she took.
I asked a member of the RS staff, a good and experienced rider, if she ever had bad videos. She rolled her eyes and said oh god yes. It was a relief to know I wasn’t alone

 

[j1ffy]

I've spent the last year working on our basic way of going, no competing at all for over a year.
I thought we were improving.
I've been kidding myself.
I felt we were ready to get back to competing so booked an online dressage test to test the water.
It seems that doing a dressage test really 'tests' your abilities, no swanning around thinking you're doing ok, it highlights very clearly where you are lacking.
So now I'm feeling demoralised again, I thought we had improved, now it feels like we've done bugger all.

I know I should take this as a learning experience, and use the 'bad' bits of the test to identify what I need to work on...but by gosh it feels like a kick in the teeth!
And I've not even submitted the test yet...this is just from trying to ride it through and discovering that actually we weren't the dressage divas I thought we were.

*sends hug and gentle slap*

Were you doing a test at the same level as you rode before the year of training, or a higher level? Also all the points RF made! Have you been training with eyes on the ground? Have you taken a different direction in the training or continued on the same path as previously? Have you been working to markers / shapes or been focusing on rideability.

I had something of a revelation last year, which I discussed with a sports psychologist at a BD camp in the Autumn. Often my first outing at the next level up felt ropey, I was having to ride more / things felt a bit more seat-of-the-pants than at the lower level. As I trained more, the test would feel easier and smoother yet the marks would rarely be as good as that first test! The psychologist helped me realise that I often sit too much in my comfort zone and resist that feeling of riding more to the edge (i.e. taking more risks).

It may not be directly relevant to your situation, but I do think that when things feel 'nice' we're sometimes not pushing for what looks 'good' to an observer. It plays into the discussions between competitive riding vs. training for the pleasure of it - do you want riding to feel light and easy or do you want to push the boundaries for higher marks?

Clearly there's a happy middle ground and we'd all love to achieve both, but the journey is rarely that smooth.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I feel your pain LC. I've been having regular lessons and going great guns. Doing well in comps as well. It seems as soon as I ask for more collected work it goes a bit wrong. I've recently changed trainers and I'm feeling so much better about my riding and training. First trainer was horse focused, this one is more focused on me which has made the world of difference. Horse is responding really well to the new way of riding. Unfortunately I'm poorly at the moment ( ongoing) so it's just training for us for the foreseeable buf I really look forward to my schooling sessions now.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

Firstly don't jump to conclusions. Test riding is a specific skill and you can improve the horse's way of going and build a really good foundation without that tranlsating to scores. The oposite is also true. I know a horse-rider combination who improved many points from 1 week to the next by riding more strategically! They were not that many points 'better' - just better at getting every single mark going. Ironically, I did a test over a year ago where we scored almost 70% In retrospect this was really unhelpful because it made me think our dressage was pretty good, when in fact I had just been taught how to mask problems by very active ride-every-stride and prepare early riding.

On the other hand we can sometimes not be self aware enough to know what are strengths are and where the work needs to be done. Eyes on the ground, video, regular 'bench-mark' outings to venues to get a score are all helpful.

The willingness to focus on schooling, not just competing, does you huge credit and you won't have wasted the year. But it may be that you need a test rding focus for a while now, to put it all together.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

You need someone on the ground that understands dressage I muddled along until I had lessons with a dressage rider, they just teach you how to be accurate and give you the skills you need to do a good test as well as ride better.

 

[little_critter]

Thanks everyone. I do have a trainer but she’s not interested in competing. She’s very much into classical riding. My hope is that the two aren’t mutually exclusive, that you can train in a classical way and still perform a reasonable dressage test.
I actually had a better session this evening, hopefully we were just having an off evening on Tuesday which made me doubt ourselves.
I realise we still have a lot to work on, but it didn’t feel like so much of a battle tonight.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Thanks everyone. I do have a trainer but she’s not interested in competing. She’s very much into classical riding. My hope is that the two aren’t mutually exclusive, that you can train in a classical way and still perform a reasonable dressage test.
I actually had a better session this evening, hopefully we were just having an off evening on Tuesday which made me doubt ourselves.
I realise we still have a lot to work on, but it didn’t feel like so much of a battle tonight.

LC your being really hard on yourself. I'm sure even if it's not the test you hoped for that it really wasn't that bad. If I were you I would get out and have some fun, whilst horse is sound etc etc. Hope you have a successful summer together.

 

[LEC]

Thanks everyone. I do have a trainer but she’s not interested in competing. She’s very much into classical riding. My hope is that the two aren’t mutually exclusive, that you can train in a classical way and still perform a reasonable dressage test.
I actually had a better session this evening, hopefully we were just having an off evening on Tuesday which made me doubt ourselves.
I realise we still have a lot to work on, but it didn’t feel like so much of a battle tonight.

Jessica Von Bredow-Wendl was classically trained by some of the greats so it doesn’t need to be but I think your trainer does need to understand that you want to compete. Everything will need to be sharper, on the letter, and correct to get good marks. Tbh 90% of my training is about good basics, 5% will be polish and then 5% will be about test riding. I will often say what tests I have upcoming and we might go through a few weak movements to see if we can get them sharper and better. If you haven’t ridden tests for a while I always find it takes a few to get back into the swing where you are a movement ahead in preparing while riding your current movement.