Taking a warmblood up through the dressage levels - timescale?

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eva

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Hello all,

Just curious to know how long has it taken you to bring on your warmblood, say from when you bought it to competing successfully, and which level were you doing at which age. I realise that every horse/rider combo are different, just interested to know. I have bought my 7 yo gelding 5 months ago and only now feeling like we're starting to understand each other so beginning to feel I can do something with him now. Just done our first Prelim test and a little worried that we're somewhat a failure training wise:/ 5 months to start at square one, too long or normal? In Germany they were selling him as Advanced horse but I can't squeeze those movements out of him for the life of me:(
 
I tend to progress very slowly. I got Rusky at 6 when he had already done Elementaries with his professional rider, but it took me until he was 14 to get to flying changes (with 2 years lost in the middle due to injury). Freddy I got at 5 with little competition experience and he is now 11 and doing flying changes and about to compete at Medium, so again glacial progress!

What is your experience like? Have you competed at advanced before? I think that makes a huge difference. Are you getting lessons on the new horse? It does take a while to find all the buttons and taking a step back is not a bad idea.
 
Pretty much what Bb said - it takes experience and education to do things correctly and that takes time.

Does the horse go correctly for your instructor? Has it competed to that level with more than one person? Did it show you more when you tried it? Is the problem in the way of going.

While all training systems should have a common goal they are not identical in application. Then you have individual differences in horses.

If the horse goes well for your trainer then it's likely a matter of time and practice. You may find it's useful to have the horse set up for you, especially if he's a laid back type.
 
If someone bought a F1 car, would they be able to compete at Formula One right away (or ever)? No, of course not. Just because the work might be "installed" doesn't mean someone who isn't experienced will automatically be able to ride it.
 
Don't feel like a failure. It takes time to "click" with a new horse, and to understand how they tick. My trainer says it takes a year to really bond with a horse, so don't worry if you haven't got every thing figured out yet. It sounds like you are moving in the right direction, and progressing.

Also I am way behind with my mare she is coming 9 and we are going to do 2nd level (sorry no idea what BD level this is, but it has shoulder in Haunches in and out and medium gaits) this up coming show season. But its fine, I ride to have fun and that is what we are doing!

So as long as your having fun it doesn't matter if you are working on Advanced level or not.
 
it happens when it happens, when you and the horse are ready.

how many horses have you produced up the grades? it tends to get easier with each horse as you know how the movements fit together and how they affect the more collected work (never again will you allow a sloppy walk to trot transition when you realise that years down the line this will become the start of your passage etc)

they all go at diff rates and often plateau at a level then shoot up again-mine shot to advanced by the time he was 6, then spent 2 years solidifying the PSG work and now as a 9yo will move up to inter 1 and hopefully inter 2 by the end of this year but then i imagine will take a year or 2 to solidify before moving to GP, its often 2 steps forward, hang around a bit, 1 back, 2 forward etc.

enjoy the journey :)
 
Dont worry about what everyone else is doing - take it at your own pace and dont concern yourself with how 'fast' you should be progressing. The most important thing is that you get his training right, that you do it safely without risking injury to your horse or yourself. If you start pushing for too much, that's when injuries happen. So if your own pace is glacial, then that's absolutely fine :)

And just think, does your horse know what level he is competing at? No. Does he care what level he is competing at? Probably not. To him a competition is a competition, he doesnt understand the differences between the dressage levels so it is only us humans who trouble ourselves with 'levels'. He doesnt mind either way as long as he is sound and physically capable of what is being asked of him.

The Germans you bought him off were probably professionals or professional dealers, so their training is much faster than your standard horse owner will achieve. Carl Hester aims to have his horse at GP around the 10 age mark but again this varies by horse and can often be later. So generally with a 'pro' horse they wont even do prelim because the riders are at too high a level to ride at prelim, some come out at Novice with the yards younger riders, some dont bother at just do some young horse classes before going straight to Medium. So by 6 a 'pro' horse would be capable of flying changes, some collection in the paces, half pass, shoulder in, travers, some extensions in the paces, medium paces etc.

Is that realistic for an amateur? Most likely not. Try not to concern yourself with what the pro's are doing, they get their horses going a heck of a lot faster than any of us normal folk - one former head girl at a pro dressage yard was telling me the horses would come off the lorry from Holland or Germany aged 4, as soon as they step off they'd have a saddle on their back, head girl would jump on and they'd walk across the yard - if she didnt get thrown off then the horse was 'broken in' and they'd begin work the next day. And this is a relatively well known dressage rider and trainer who is still competing today.

You have only just got your horse, it is still new and your riding ability is going to be the main factor in progressing up the levels. Most horses can produce a medium trot with the right rider, most can learn shoulder in or travers with the right rider. Even half pass should come relatively easily providing the horse is supple and the rider knows what they are doing. So your ability will determine how fast you progress, and of course the horse staying sound and injury free.

As long as you have a trainer and are getting regular instruction from the ground, I think you will progress at a reasonable pace and will be pleasantly surprised with what you can achieve. And if it makes you feel any better, I've just started with the greenest 7 year old WB x Appy you've ever seen, we wouldnt even be able to do a walk trot test at the moment - getting him on the lorry would be the biggest issue! Followed by him not being able to leave an arena when others horses are in there, we'd never get out of the warm up arena!
 
Thanks for the replies guys. My trainer says this type of a horse takes a while to get the relationship going but then when he will start working for you it will be great. My previous horse was Spanish that I trained to solid Medium with beginnings of all PSG movements had an entirely different mindset:) this one has the power but doesn't necessarily want to use it for you whereas the Spanish one had no real power but tried his heart out every time. Still I am glad I bit the bullet and changed rides, it's a challenge. I guess I expected the WB to be better suited to dressage than Spanish was, hopefully one day that will be true:)
 
with your past experience you may well find it takes a while to get him on side mentally, but then because you know what to expect/work on/look for you will shoot up to medium quite briskly, maybe loiter around adv med/PSG for a bit, and then shoot up to working GP quite quickly again.

dont panic because of his age, NMT's fig only stopped racing as a 7yo so started dressage as an 8yo.

he is now 10yo, competing medium, will debut adv med in the autumn and next year will hopefully step up to advanced and then PSG. PSG as an 11yo is above average for most amateurs anyway, so he's lost nothing by starting a bit late :)
 
It's taken my Wb/Welsh 4 years (he's 7 now) to begin novice work. I had him for a year, lost confidence, put him on loan for a year, got him back, managed to get out and compete over winter No3, he was off work with injury from Feb to June '13 and in the end of August he went and competed for the first time that year, winning his Prelim and would have won his first novice had I not gone HC. So all in all I'd say had it not all gone wrong from the get-go we would have reached novice by the end of year 2 possibly? He was very immature and took a lot of work to come nice and I am expecting us to be very slow in progressing which is why we're not affiliated, with no transport added into the mix I feel my money would be totally wasted on the 2/3 shows we'd attend each year?
 
Aww guys it's exactly what I was hoping to hear:) in the meantime have taken him out for his first two Prelims - got 63% in first and 69% a week later:) hoping this rate of improvement will be a trend:) finally it is starting to feel like we are working together as opposed to fighting all the time. Fingers crossed it's onwards and upwards!
 
If your previous horse was Spanish, then you are in for a massive change! I went the opposite way, from all WB to all PRE and I prefer the Spanish horse's mindset and passion for work, but then I no longer do competitive dressage and don't need all that elasticity and power that are standard with the WB.

In general, and bearing in mind that all horses are different of course, it will take longer for a WB to "get" the lessons, and you may have to repeat endlessly (in contrast to our lovely quick and clever PRE's), but the WB will be more physically able and less tense in it's body. They're like chalk and cheese, but the progression should be steady and less liable to moments of "Duende" and plain old Latin emotion.
 
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