those doing dressage-how did you start and why

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amandaco2

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just a really nosey question really
how did you get interested in dressage and start off?what was your first test and what level are you at now?
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and what level would you like to go to with your current horse?
 
started when I was tiny because it was an event PC did in Jersey and when living in Jersey you do everything you can as very boring to specialise in one discipline (BSJA once or twice a month in summer BD norm once a month at best).

Therefore can't remember my first test as was years and years ago
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but it would have been a badly performed PC test I would imagine! I have now competed to Medium but 'can' school advanced (when sitting on appropriate horse
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Before Dan's 'issues' I had him schooled at Advanced medium and if everything now goes right (which it well most certainly won't) my end aim would be to ride him at Advanced in top hat and tails!

Fleur is currently schooling Elementary and competing Novice on the rare occasions I actually compete in any derssage tests on her. But because of how she acted with ground last summer will hopefully BD this summer and have got my a*se in gear and am now having dressage lessons with her and instructor (who has previously held the summer novice national title) reckons she has the natural talent to go a long way if we can only persuade her thats what she wants to do
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Hi - not sure if I am the best person to answer first cos I am not sure if my horse and I even count as being on the first rung of the dressage ladder
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but anyway -

How did I get interested?
I took on an ex steeplechaser two years ago who had a damaged tendon so had to keep off work for 6 months and then bring on slowly. Once I started reschooling I obviously had to start his schooling knowledge from scratch and I realised that I actually love doing flat work (crazy I know)

What was my first test?
Two weeks ago! And it was prelim 17 but only a local unaffiliated dressage competition. We were an absolute disaster as my horse still thinks he is going racing when he sees more than two horses but at least we stayed in the arena
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What level would I like to go to?
Just to be able to ride a good prelim test which doesn't involve tantrums, spooking or general high jinks!
 
i was at a large local show doing the SJ when mum entered me in a 'clear round' prelim test and we got quite good marks.
a year later and had to do another test for the riding club teams and then realised i had a horse who was a natural. 2 years later and we're doing our first elemantary in about a month!
 
I used to event, my horse got injured and had a few months off. When we came back we did a test and David Stean came up and asked me about my horse ,he said I should do pure dressage and I tried it .Within two years we were doing PSG and I realised he was worth a lot of money .It broke my heart but I sold him and kept in touch with him.I never found another like him and hardly ride now.That was 15 years ago.
My daughter does all the competing now
 
sCostello - I am about the same level as you! Got my first ever test this Sunday, but easier Prelim 4, really nervous as dnk how he is gonna re-act with all the neddys there - but hey ho why not. I was happy hacker for a couple of years and then thought I need to do more. Will never be brill at it as just doing for fun really. Plus nearly 40 yrs of age and not been riding long (mid-life crisis decision) lol.
 
Makes two of us - half the time I think I just stick to the dressage because we make my instructor laugh so much
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What does make it embarassing though is that my horse is quite snazzy looking (well at least me as proud mother thinks so) plus I bought a smart dressage saddle as a Christmas treat for myself. So this means that when we turn up we probably look the part but then are an absolute disaster as soon as the test begins...

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i did my first test aged 7!! From the age of 12 i helped out on weekends at a riding school, the owner trained with Jennie L-Clarke. From 15 i worked there in the holidays and went out with the owner to groom at competitions and went with her to her lessons with Jennie. She had used to event and had a fab eventer called 'Bill Basset'. However he became ill and was forced to retire from eventing, so she let me do dressage on him! He was HUGE (well 17'1) and i was only around 5'8 and 16 at the time, but i learnt a lot with him.

They then gave me my own youngster to break in which i did dressage and showing with.

When i brought blossy i joined the riding club and they had dressage training with Kay (my old trainer) She got me into affliated with Bloss and i really learnt a lot with her.

Im currently competing medium level, however only HC as i dont want points at this level as otherwise il have to compete my youngster in the open part of elementary.

Archie (rising 6) is currently competing at novice/elementary but working more towards medium at home. we'l hopefully go to Grand Prix together.
 
Did my first test when I was about 16. Then had a long break from horses at uni/when starting my career. Now aiming at prelim/novice level with my horse. Hope to get him to Elementary level in the future.
 
I did my first test at pony club, many years ago. I think I did some prelims and novices.

I'm doing some dressage (unaff) with my current horses as Chloe has shown surprising ability for an older heavy horse - she did a couple of prelim tests last year, and I'm aiming to do novice/elementary with her this year. It's also one of the few disciplines that I can compete in with her, as she's too heavy to jump, and is not a show horse by any stretch of the imagination.
I did a prelim test with Meg last year to give her some show experience. I'm aiming to make her into a good all-rounder, and I think the dressage will help her with this. She's probably just about working at prelim level at home, but is proving to be a very slow learner. I'd like to get her to elementary level eventually - she's not got the confirmation or talent to go any higher
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Yes you do look very professional, and he is gorgeous. They will know I am a beginner when I turn up in a trailer that is older than me!!
 
I show jumped throughout my teens at BSJA level because thats what my friends did and thats what my parents pushed me into (not that i minded btw!) but i always loved watching people work on the flat.

One of the showjumpers i was bought in my later teens had been overface at a very young age and wasn't making much in the way of a jumper. However, he'd come over from Holland and the horses there tend to be started with decent flatwork regardless of what they're aimed for..... I loved riding that horse so much because he made me feel like a dressage rider (laugh as i look back mind
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In my early twenties i ended up, quite by accident, as a livery with a grand prix rider and I spent hours and hours watching her ride. I had some lessons on my mare at the time but the fact of the matter was, I was getting more and more into dressage and she was a jumping horse - although she took me to elementary level.

A horse appeared on my trainers yard (right next door to my mare) that had belonged to my trainer when she first left Goodwood and was now in to be sold again. She'd trained him to PSG and then sold him and in the mean time, he'd been through a number of showjumping homes. While his dressage was slightly rusty as he'd not been doing it for a while, the movements were still there and his paces were still lovely.

My lovely trainer managed to nag my OH enough until he gave in and agree'd to buy the horse for me. That was 18 months ago and he's taught me so so much and theres no way I will ever go back to jumping now. Jumping gave me a buzz... but nothing like that feeling you get when a horse is really tuned into you and working well. We're just about at the same level as each other now after quite a lot of intensive training (I was a much poorer rider before I got this horse) although I need a while longer before i could really compete at the level he's at, but fingers crossed and we'll keep going :P

Quite a few of my friends actually started as either SJers or eventers oddly enough! Maybe its one of those things you mature into?
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Well I bought Louis as I wanted to BSJA and my first horse was more of a family plod! Louis and I started off our careers SJ together and learning the ropes together. He was very green so we went back to basics with schooling to get him more balanced..etc

People kept commenting on how lovely his natural paces were etc and saying we should try some dressage, having done non myself before we started off quite slowley doing unaff and he started doing well so I continued doing it every now and then in combination with SJ. 2 yrs after that I had a new instructor who encouraged me to try some affiliated since he was doing so well unaff novice, that was about 3yrs ago, so we did and he carried on doing really well in Novice Affil and I gradually lost interest in SJ. Moved yards about 1yr half ago and YO is a dressage rider/trainer and really inspired me to take the whole thing more seriously and gave me a lot of confidence. I went out with him to a few comps in his horsebox and we started winning quite a bit (to my surprise!) and he encouraged me to move up to elementary. Now I have my trailer I am out most weekends and we are competing elementary and hoping to move up to medium in about 5/6months. I am now hooked
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Love dressage and will prob not go back to BSJA, we do do the odd SJ comp but I am more interested in the BD now! I hope to get Louis to Advanced Medium at some point in the future
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Started as a happy hacker with my old pony and got into showing and unaff dressage with him. Bought a 4 year old Connemara to show, had several successful years showing up to county level, qualifying for Ponies UK Summer Champs etc whilst still doing unaff dressage mainly in the winter. Patrick then got a bone infection which led to laminitis and an operation to have the bony lump resulting from the bone infection removed and was out of work for about 6 - 7 months. Unfortuntely the lump grew back after the operation but he was completely sound, obviously showing was out of the question so I affiliated to BD and we are currently working at Nov level hoping to move up to Elementary by the end of the year. Very pleased as last year I thought I'd lost him.
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Hi!!!

I started in dressage when I got a New forest pony and moved to a friends house. She was having lessons with a woman called Claire Morrison (BYRDS Chef D'Equipe). We started having lessons with her and cos we wanted (and won) the Performance Pony of the Year award, we started to do BD dressage and did superbly well with little pony - he had a real knack for anything!! We did Prelim to Elementary with him.

When he was too small for me, we had to decide what we were doing with a horse and we weren't staying in UK so it was either dressage or jumping. I chose dressage and we bought a horse which we competed at Novice level in UK.

We moved out to Spain in 2003 and have since carried on with said horse, who was bronze medal in the Malaga champs as a 5 yr old but sadly went lame and has had a year off but is back in work now
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He is at advanced Medium but also loves to jump so we do a bit of that too.

I have a super German trainer who is keen for me to get to Grand Prix so have bought another 2 horses, one 6 and 1 4. They are both destined for Prix St Georg and Intermidiare I. At the moment I am at about Advanced Medium so a LONG way to go!!
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[ QUOTE ]
Another one who came from BSJA! :P

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Yup...there's no looking back
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I agree with you that I also got a thrill from SJing and still do it every now and then but to me I am addicted to that amazing sense off satisfaction and pride that you get when doing dressage when everything comes together perfectly. I loved SJing too in the past but I feel for me I get more from dressage, I feel much closer to my horse as well as we have learnt so much together and become a little team
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When I was younger I always did showing or jumping, I would never do a dressage test!.

I had a mare on loan who I used to event, but she was quite good (rc level) at Dressage and as I pushed on with her I started to have moments of a great feeling on the flat. I did my first dressage test on her P10! Didn't go particularly well but I was hooked.

I bought my current horse to event and go further with the dressage and we only made it cross country schooling once- he is so fab and all I wanted to do was dressage. I dont even hack!

When I got him he could trot a 20m circle just about. He is now graded Medium and working Advanced Medium. He will go at least to PSG, possibly further, we will just see how it goes.
 
As a child all I wanted to do was jump, jump, jump...and had a pony that had a fantastic pop in her. We did pony club stuff, SJ and XC but other than the odd test at a ODE never really did any dressage which was just as well as we were appalling! We once got a mark of 1 for attempting a halt at C with immobility for 4 seconds and she fidgeted and fidgeted and we ended up halting half way back round the corner!
Anyway when we retired the pony from competing I went to Uni and didn't get another horse until 1998. I did the odd test with her but still mostly jumped. Sadly she was PTS after being hit by a car out hacking and then I got my current horse Jenny in 2002. Initially we did nothing but jump and affiliated and did a few british novices BSJA. She then developed a back problem which caused some quite serious bad behaviour - it took me a shamingly long length of time to get to the bottom of the problem and once she had the go ahead to start working her again I thought I needed to improve our flatwork before returning to jumping. I started having lessons with an ex- listed dressage judge. She instilled a reall interest and passion in dressage that I never had before. She got us from scores in 40's to scores in 60'5 prelim - the best being 68% recently and so now we are all set to affiliate this year and get going with the dressage. I am jumping again as of the last few months and do hope to be able to do both - the dressage is definitely paying off with the jumping, and I've found now I've started jumping again its helping the dressage so we seem to be going great guns.
 
I only discovered dressage less than 3 years ago. Up until that time I thought I could ride, having been in the saddle for over 40 years
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I was very fortunate to get a trainer to come to the yard who had competed at Inter I, and things just took off (very slowly I might add) from there.

I hated working in the school as I couldnt get a tune out of her. We both got frustrated with each other and Cass would motorbike in the trot on a 20m circle. It was only when my instructor was there that things just seemed to go right. She has told me that Cass would have no probs going to Advanced, but she tends to get hysterical at times - and this is what we have to work on. There is a long way to go yet and I am in a hurry (age thingy) but there are no quick fixes. If you dont put the work in ......

I have now taken up unafilliated judging at local level which is such an eye opener, and I would encourage anyone interested in furthering their dressage careers to have a go, or even to write for the judges. You can learn so much, then take it home and use it
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I started as I used to take my first pony SJing, and went to the local instructor for lessons. I then moved to her yard and she does affiliated dressage, I've always tried to watch her ride as she rides fab, and I started going out to clinics with people like Jennie L-C, John Lassetter and Natalie Hobday to groom for my YO. I must have decided along the way that I wanted to ride like YO does, and this combined with finally resigning myself to the fact that I'm too much of a wuss to jump over 3', made me decide to do dressage instead!
My ultimate ambition now is to ride a GP test
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I started with a walk and trot test, first proper BD test (unaff) was prelim 4. With my next horse I am currently at about novice and competing at prelim, hope to do some affiliated prelims with her before we move up. I compete novice on my friend's horse when I'm allowed, and I suppose I ride at about elementary standard ish. Maiden won't get past novice but I hope to be able to persuade my friend to take her horse to some aff novices on a day ticket and do some elementaries before she gets too old!
 
I had a horse who used to get really wound up when i took him jumping so I took him to dressage as a calming experience. My other horse used to jump but hated it. One day first horse had lost a shoe so I thought id take other one instead but thought he'll just be stupid and spooky all the time. He loved it and came third in his first test!! After that i just did dressage on him as he loved the fact he didnt have to do scary things like jumping. I think if it was now he would have gone a long way as he really was talented. He was still doing well at 21 but had a field accident and never totally recovered. Hes now 31 and retired!!The trouble is I wasnt that experienced and dressage was a new thing. Most dressage took place in the week and never happened in the school hols! Think it was just for middle class mothers to keep their offsprings hunters fit while they were at boarding school.
 
My instructor found a lovely little horse years ago when I was 16, we had been looking for a horse for me for months but couldnt find the right one, he bought it for me and took it home, first time I saw him was when I walked in to the yard and saw him looking over his door at me, couldnt belive it when I found out he was mine. He was a true dressage schoolmaster and taught me loads. We went up to elementary, but then I had to sell him as I was off to college.
Then four years ago I got back into horses and 18 months ago came across a sad and sorry TBx, who looked ready to drop dead, at a dealers yard. I bought him on the spot took him home and watched him turn back into a horse. He has way more potential that I have, paces to die for. Had a lesson from a british event team trainer who thought he was a fantastic horse and was more than able to go advanced !!! However I dont really mind how far we go as long as we enjoy getting there.
Rode him today in the freezing cold, snowing like mad but wow does he feel good, instructor nagging like mad to get back into competing, and you know what ...I just might do that.
 
I had an ex JA pony that wouldn't jump- didn't get picked for any PC teams so started showing in show pony classes. Mother couldn't stand all the waiting around so made us do stressage instead (meanie!)
We went on to represent at area level and BYRDS- got a small hunter and dressaged out of season up to BD elementry and I still do a bit now although not at amazing levels as usually on young horses that are for sale
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I have a 7 yr old who I am going to keep for dressage and have been told would easily manage advanced medium with correct training- so thats the aim one day.
I have always enjoyed flat work, the feeling that you get when achieving a difficult movement and partnership with the horse is amazing. Would love to do more but I am usually grooming or riding other peoples so my horses have to wait there turn!
 
Hello
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I started riding in 1999 and did a bit of everything with my shaggy cob, who had to be retired and was PTS in 2002.

Had a T/B eventer on loan who proved too strong for me but I started doing some prelims on her and did ok.

Bought Finn in 2003 to event and do RC with. We were going quite well until i broke my ankle in 2004, so once I started riding again, spent the winter doing dressage and did quite well. Decided to affiliate him in 2005 due to a new pathological fear of jumping!

We qualified for the Regionals at prelim in our first affiliated comp. Bless him.

Am currently doing Novice and about to start elementary. Trainer thinks we'll manage medium by the end of the year (if i can find the right button for half pass, that is!)

We didn't do too much dressage last summer as I got quite in to showing, but I really plan to pull my finger out now, as **whispers** don't tell anyone, but he's 17.

We also do quite a lot for RC - am on the quadrille team this year and am doing the Elementary FSM.
 
I used to showjump and hated dressage with a passion
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I was looking for a live in horsey job and I was having real trouble because I had a dog. Then a friend of mine suggested I ring Bar Hammond as she was looking for a groom so I did and she very kindly let me bring my dog. She 'unfortunately' was a Dressage rider but I was so desparate for a job that I started working there and was put on to a wonderful Grand Prix schoolmaster. Bearing in mind I had done about 6 novice dressage tests in my life I was awful to start with but Bar and Chagall persevered with me and within a few months I was doing 'party tricks' and I absolutely loved it
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Since then I have been hooked on Dressage
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Sadley I haven't done anything up to that level since but I have a very nice youngster!
 
I started to concentrate on dressage when my event horse went as far as she was going to go eventing and I needed something else to do with her. Although we had done dressage for the eventing I really got hooked when I started to seriously understand the attention to detail and progression of training involved in pure dressage. Before it had just been the boring bit before the cross country!

That horse quickly went PSG and since then have trained one to Inter I (unfortunately he went lame and couldn't progress beyond that) and currently ride one that's just comming into Advanced Medium and hopefully PSG next year.

None of these horses have been expensive or purpose bred. My first horse was TB/NF, the Inter 1 horse was TB/Suffolk Punch and my current one is a coloured heinz 57 with some WB breeding.

I think that the more you learn about dressage the more intriguing it gets and the different problems that you encounter with different horses makes it fascinating to me.

I train riders/horses for a living and love seeing them progress and having those wonderful 'lightbulb' moments when something they've been struggling with suddenly falls into place. Also love judging though probably am only loved back by whoever's won the class!!
 
i'm just about to start. we're starting at elementary as she works to a pretty high level at home and is bored very easily with the novice stuff. i hope to try and get to medium with this horse...thats assuming i haven't sold her before we get to that stage! i'm doing it to broaden my equestrian cv and also to try something other than jumping which is all i've ever really done!
 
I used to ride at a dressage yard before I got own horse. I would spend all day there and learnt loads from just watching and helping out. 5 years ago a gorgeous little shaggy WB came to the yard to be schooled. A year later she was still there and was up for sale. I scraped all my money together and bought her. Up until last year I would occasionally get a lift to an unaff dressage. We won our first ever test which was P4!
Last summer I bought my own transport and affiliated her. Since then we have been competing prelim and novice and have qualified for the summer regionals at novice. We are doing our first elementary next sunday and working medium at home. We will compete medium as soon as I get my arse into gear and improve the sitting trot. (Having problems sitting to her huge medium) Once we master that I hope to go as far as we can.
 
just did a test coz was told horse had been good at it with previous owner and wasn't keen on jumping and wanted to get him out. Was placed in all the tests we did with huge scores, so just carried on doing it and working up thelevels. Got to Medium and went to the BD Winter Champs at Novice coming 4th. Went lame last year and now is 21 anyway, so retired from dressage and being a happy hacker. I have ridden a grand prix horse and has inspired me to at least get to Advanced myself so I can ride in top hat and tails.
 
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