Walk/trot tests. When to move on

Brandy

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I would like to do some more walk/trot tests with the idiot welsh, but when I mentioned this to a friend she thought I shouldn't and should do the prelim becuase we have been well placed and won walk trot tests. My issue though is that the welsh boy is a bit of an idiot, and there is no way I could take him out and canter in a strange place without chaos ensuing! When we did the walk/trot tests before, I was at livery with a school, so was able to school most days, and I went each month to the local college where the shows were, entered the walk trot, and a prelim (but didn;t canter in the prelim, just did it for experience) and gradually built up to doing the walk trot, two prelims and cantering, though the canter left a lot to be desired. He bursts into canter and motorbikes round. This was getting better but now I don;t have a school, but would like to get him out a few times over winter and to walk trot tests.

I am more than capable of doing a decent dressage test, just not with the idiot.

So, who are walk trot tests for and would I be wrong to enter?
 

ThePony

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We did walk and trot tests when we were both starting out (both as green as grass and never watched let alone ridden a test!) as there was no canter and I generally had a total breakdown! We started crap, then got a couple of placings and eventually won two tests - then we moved onto prelim.

Our first prelim tests were considered a sucess if we got any canter shown (wether asked for or not!!), and we built on it from there. I felt we should move up as although her way of going and my riding was still green, the walk and trot was still reasnoble and we could generally be sure of getting through a test. Spent some time at the bottom of results in prelims, but the canter is slowly getting there and we get less 'no canter shown' comments!!!
 

Brandy

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Yes you see this is what I was doing, when I had the school. Welsh is very spooky in a strange place, and nervy, so if I were to go to somewhere new (which it would be) i wouldn;t be happy cantering. And I would have to go to the same place a few times for him to get to know it before cantering. I am not novice myself but he is just very difficult. However, when he holds it together, he does a fantastic walk trot test and is very eyecatching, so will be well placed. I hadn;t thought about it til a friend seemed to think I would be trophy hunting, but no one in their right mind would think that if they saw us attempt canter!
 

ThePony

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It is a tricky jump, and nerve racking! If you need to get him used to somewhere then if it were me I would go hc in the walk and trot, and aim to get going in the prelims. If you don't manage canter in the prelim it doesn't actually matter - they aren't going to shout or anything, you just won't get marks for those couple of movements, not the end of the world!
Good luck!
 

crabbymare

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Why not enter a W&T and a prelim, that way even if you win the W&Tif the prelim marks are going to be as bad as you expect it would show why you don't just do prelims :)
 

Brandy

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Good point! I probably wouldn;t actually canter at all in the prelim unless by accident or spook induced, and maybe my very quiet riding and grim look on my face would get the message across?? :eek:
 

crabbymare

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You may as well do the canter, why waste the sole use of a school when you can have a practice of something that needs work ;) Plus it would then be the judge with the odd look on their face :D
 

Brandy

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aagh, because it would be like a wall of death with random dashes into the middle if there are adverts on the walls.......but yes you are quite right. And it would clearly demonstrate my need to do walk trots!
 

Elbie

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How about hiring the school of the place holding the competition before hand so you can see how he copes without being in a competition environment?
 

JFTDWS

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Most places round here restrict W/T classes to those never to have won any test / been placed at prelim. Personally, I don't see the point in competing at a level you are that comfortable with. I would enter the prelim and trot the canter if I felt cantering would be unwise / dangerous, or more likely perform a rubbishy canter and use it as a schooling exercise. I've just never got a buzz out of a placing I don't think is well earned.
 

noodle_

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i would rather enter prelim (and have)!

even if my canter was shakey!.... were still borderline walk/trot/prelim - but im now onto prelims....



first one i did i thought i was going to die (take off round the school)! but if in doubt just trot!!!! they may be better than you think!

mine was - she broke instead of tanking :)
 

acw295

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I have an idiot Welsh!

Love her, but her canter is/was (has marginally improved) mental!

We always did an Intro and a Prelim - shocking marks for the canter element (4's were a very good day) but I found it constructive and we have improved. I moved on to 2 prelims at the end of last year even though was nowhere near top 3 for Intro but I felt it wrong to continue.

Intro's are meant for novice horses and or rider combo's and once you can win or top 3 consistently you really should move up, even if it is to bottom of the pile at Prelim otherwise you look like a pot hunter. But you may be surprised at prelim anyway. I have got top 10 placings in Prelim even with the shocking canter as our walk and trot work is actually quite good now! It's only a small proportion of the marks really, and yes sometimes I can't stop but hey ho.

We got comments like "this is dressage not a jump-off" but meh :D

Actually hasn't taken long (well 2 years but we only go about 4 times a year) and we have now had some 6's for canter work and managed the dizzy heights of 60% :D. We don't have a proper school to ride in either so I don't get to practice properly.
 

Natch

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Yes you see this is what I was doing, when I had the school. Welsh is very spooky in a strange place, and nervy, so if I were to go to somewhere new (which it would be) i wouldn;t be happy cantering. And I would have to go to the same place a few times for him to get to know it before cantering. I am not novice myself but he is just very difficult. However, when he holds it together, he does a fantastic walk trot test and is very eyecatching, so will be well placed. I hadn;t thought about it til a friend seemed to think I would be trophy hunting, but no one in their right mind would think that if they saw us attempt canter!

I know all about welshes who you are trying to do dressage with who have wall of death canters :rolleyes:

However I think your friend has a point; if you can do the walk trot tests and get placed 1st and second, you should move up. If you are not trophy hunting and you really really really can't face doing a canter for the experience (I think you should!) then the answer is simple, enter the walk trot H/C :)
 

Brandy

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Ah fellow welsh people, you know exactly what I am on about. Ok, well maybe I should do two prelims then, or HC in the walk/trot. I really am not trophy hunting, but this pony has really dented my confidence - I am normally a fairly confident rider, and the welsh is the new boy (had him nearly 4 yrs...) to take over from my loony ex polo pony. The confidence issue relates just to him though, not anyother horse!

I was actually quite surprised at one of the walk trots that we won, as the welsh was like a coiled spring - he was really tense, and I felt sure that we would get hopeless marks, but apparently a really tense welsh looks quite good as long as it doesn't spook! It was quite a decent judge too!
 

Kat

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Your canter will never improve if you keep avoiding it. Get out there, enter the prelim and have a go. Your horse needs to learn that it is just another part of the test and that he has to canter sensibly in a strange environment. He can't do that unless you start cantering in a competition environment.

I've done prelim tests (before intro was invented) with horses that were awful in canter, you actually don't lose many marks. With a horse that bucked and skipped over the white boards during the canter I still got over 50% overall......
 

Natch

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Yes, you have my compete sympathy for a Welsh canter. My judges' comments were always so polite, too, made me laugh! After one particular test in which we cantered 20m with an approximate angle of 45 degrees and a velocity of terminal, the judge simply said "Could be more balanced". :D

We also always got >50%, and only once did we do less than 60%.
 
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acw295

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Weeeeee! Says Molly - shoving head up to maximise the effect
MKEC8.jpg


and not at all tense in the transition back to trot....haha
MKEC5.jpg


Seriously, go and have a go. Just start planning transition back to trot as soon as they strike off. I find if I start asking then I stand some hope......
 
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Hedwards

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For me I think the simple answer is - whenever you feel ready, and if you want to...

There is absoluetly nothing wrong with never moving on to Prelim if you dont want to. However you could always enter a Prelim HC - speak to the judge and say what the problem is and that you are entering purely to get the experience, you never know you may be suprised and after a few goes feel you're ready to enter competitively.

I've just started riding a new horse, 17.2 and a chunk - his canter is very unbalanced and veeery big, its taken me almost a week just to learn to sit to it. When/If i go out and do some dressage, we'll definitley start with w&t, and probably enter the Prelim just to find out what happens - if it all goes to pot - back to the drawing board.

Its all supposed to be fun at the level we're riding at, and if prelim wont be fun for you, then dont do it! Best of luck OP!
 

Brandy

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Oh it must be welsh that are black with a white star and three little socks.........mine is just like that but smaller. (also with a drop noseband!) I usually get comments such as 'sensitively ridden' and 'could be more relaxed' but have also had a drawing of a circle to demonstrate the shape I shoudl aim for.......

Truth is, I don't feel ready and I don't want to. :eek:

I know I have to introduce the canter, I just want to build up to it, and it would do my confidence a world of good to have as much of an uneventful walk trot test first.
 

ester

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The more you do the better he will get, I think it might be easy to get in to the trap that canter is this exciting thing that we don't do away from home whereas if he does it every time it becomes less of a 'thing' my welsh boy certainly spooks less the faster he is going but equally they can be convinced that it isn't all too spooky that you can't do a nice test. (well unless there is an audience at C like in our last music test.. that gets a bit :eek:!)

however it is also important that you enjoy yourself, def no point otherwise!

Do/can you take him for lessons anywhere? this would get him used to going to different places and give you some help with how to deal with him. As he has knocked your confidence a bit and you probably anticipate his behaviour I would imagine you are getting pretty tense before you even attempt to canter.. unfortunately welshies are VERY good at reacting to this and you really need to retrain yourself to be 10x more chilled than they are :).
 

Brandy

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You are quite right, the more he does the better he will get, thats what I plan anyway! Don't get me wrong, I don't want to do this forever, but he hasn't been out for a couple of years, I no longer have a school so struggle in the winter, but really want to start doing stuff again. I do lose/gain confidence quickly, and would certainly want to do more than one walk trot test so would do a prelim in walk trot and if it was sensible a bit of canter anyway.

Also, I will add that he is fine on sponsered rides - so its not that I won't canter him away from home at all.

i feel sure that if i had a couple of outings that went ok, I would soon be wanting to do more.
 

georgiegirl

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Well I guess you never know until you try!

At the end of the day canter is only a small part of prelim tests so I would find one where they do it in a nice enclosed arena where you would feel safe and then if hes feeling sweet go for it! If hes tense/naughty or anything like that just skip bits of the canter out or shorten them its not the end of the world! I think if you keep at it and keep pushing yourself to do it you will both come on huge leaps and bounds in this respect.

good luck! :)
 

ester

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sounds like a sensible plan I think, don't put stupid pressure on yourself to canter in the prelim just see how it goes and fab re the sponsored rides :) one assumes that is easier work and more fun and therefore there is less reason to find things to spook at to try and avoid proper work (I think that's how mine works anyway.. def less spooky when sj in the same arena!)

I don't have an arena either and it is a real pain during the winter hence our lesson trips as it means we get to ride on an arena too! (we also def make the most of warm up arenas at comps!)
 

acw295

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Oh it must be welsh that are black with a white star and three little socks.........mine is just like that but smaller. (also with a drop noseband!) I usually get comments such as 'sensitively ridden' and 'could be more relaxed' but have also had a drawing of a circle to demonstrate the shape I shoudl aim for.......

Truth is, I don't feel ready and I don't want to. :eek:

I know I have to introduce the canter, I just want to build up to it, and it would do my confidence a world of good to have as much of an uneventful walk trot test first.

My RI gave me an almighty kick up the arse and told me to get on with it. So I did. It was no where near as bad as I thought it would be really. So I say enter a prelim then in the test try the first canter, and if it goes bdly wrong then don't do the 2nd canter - just trot it. You've got nothing to lose, honestly!

I also found if I did a walk, trot first then did a prelim the 2nd test was much better overall as she had relaxed (a bit!) :)

Post a pic of yours :) my Molly is only 14.2hh, I'm just small haha
 

Brandy

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Yes also much less spooky when jumping, and the cantering doesn't bother me either! Although i do have to trot toward the first one :eek: But when jumping, he either flies round happily or if he doesn't like a jump, will tell me from about 6 strides away so no real sudden moves!

I am keen to conquer the fear so will be aiming at a walk trot and a prelim first time I think. :)
 
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