Welsh D's and Dressage

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kylie88

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ok so im just wondering in general do welsh d's do well at dressage! I know alot is down to schooling etc but as a breed are they quite successful in the dressage arena x
 
I think so, most have naturally good natural head carige and big expressive paces
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and to (sort of) prove my point, here is a pic of my girl
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This was only after 2 months of beeing re backed, I had done no work at all on head carrige at this point and was just concentrated on getting her going fowards. After a few months of this I worked on getting her nose to come in a little more
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We had a small section D and she does really well on her they are only doing Prelim and is always placed. But she working to novice and elementary at home as my sister is only 10 were not pushing her to compete out at a higher level.
 
awww shes lovely,
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my boy is only 5 and did his 1st walk trot test in the summer (hes a late starter) we came 3rd i was v pleased but the competion wasnt great to be honest! we have lesson with a dressage instructor 2 and she thinks he great, so i guess then the breed is quite good for dressage
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kylie88 thankyou, that was when she was 7 and she's 13 now, we only did a bit of dressage but always got good results
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Unfortunatly she's had lameness issues over the last 6 months but I cant wait for her to get better so we can get back into it.
Good luck with your up and coming dressage star
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I think they can be very good at it. I sold my Welsh D earlier this year sadly but had him and my other (TB x Luso) horse competing for a few years. Funny thing is that my TB x felt the best, he feels flexible and is very easy to ride etc. but the Welsh D felt dreadful in a snaffle (I normally rode him in a kimblewick) and was quite difficult to get quick off the aids (he was very clever - he knew when I only had a snaffle and no whip so he would be rather strong but also dead to the leg!!). I ALWAYS got good marks with the Welsh D and really struggle to do so with my TB x. I think its purely because my Welsh D looked impressive, he had the natual high head carriage etc. Its made me hate dressage even more because I dont see how if it feels right then the marks are so horrendous and vice versa!
 
It took me ages to work out how to post photos and it is quite time consuming aswel, jesspickle has done a good post in picture gallery which explanes how to do it but photobucket has changed since she made the post I think you have to copy and paste the img code which is 4th down not 3rd
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<a href="http://s743.photobucket.com/albums/xx74/kylieaustin88/?action=view&current=troy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx74/kylieaustin88/troy.jpg" border="0" alt="Troy"></a>

I hope this works
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nope opps!!
 
My friend has a Welsh Section D and she gets placed every time in Dressage
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They have such a lovely movement and such a high knee action.
He always comes up home 1st
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I had a welsh D cross pony (well still own him but he loaned out from home) who I did a lot of dressage with. His paces weren't the flashiest but they were correct and with good judges we got some very good scores, generally infact the higher level the judge the better the scores (couple of list 1 judges loved him!) as they looked past the lack of WB type 'sparkle' to see his paces were correct and regular.

Happily competed to affiliated Elementary and were messing around with changes etc in my last few years of ponies.
 
My yard owner/instructor/boss has a Welsh D which she competed to Grand Prix level. Now he's a riding school horse and he is way too clever - he knows exactly when he can get away with murder and when to behave.
 
Frankie has so far always (touch wood!) been placed decently at whatever level dressage he has competed at: so far prelim and walk/trot, although we WILL get to a novice competition soon as he is working at that level now!

He was flipping hard work to school at times, can be obnoxious and argumentative, is built like a carthorse, 90% of his weight on his front end, but all that means is he is impressive when he does manage to sit back, and he appears to love getting into the arena and showing himself off.

I'd say the breed isn't the easiest, but is the most impressive of the natives to get in the dressage arena.

(Other native enthusiasts please don't jump on me! They're all lovely too!)
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As a rule I think they do seem to do well in the dressage arena - provided they haven't been overschooled for the show ring....My D always gets good marks for his paces and always gets well placed with his sharer (not with me, i'm not a good enough rider!!) The one area where they can struggle is canter work, because they are natrually built on the forehand (lots were bred to drive) it can make the finnesse of the canter more difficult to acheive, but with time and patience they can do it!
Also, they are not the easiest of horse's to ride - mine knows exactly when he can get away with backing off the leg and is a lazy little so and so, but is also very sensitive - thankfully his sharer loves a challenge!! here's a couple of pics from one of his early tests..his sharer wants to have a go at novice this year and see how they get on!

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As long as you can get the best out of them then yes. I know a few that compete to Elementary level and a food few more that would do well if only they would get off the forehand more lol
 
Oh my your almost swearing my d was never on the forehand had exceptional paces his best being canter by far, did very littel dressage but in prelim gaining 70% plus and in his first novice scoring 66%, he is now with a new mum and is working at medium level at home - with his lateral work being very easy for him. Schooling correctly gets them off the forehand as has been said before they have very strong active hind legs to be used for pushing them forwards not downwards. Oh and he was an exception to the rule he was very easy to ride too. This is him in the pics
Trot
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Canter
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Perfectly uphill and balanced, the canter picture was taking in the May he started schooling in the March
 
My Welsh D is built down hill. Long hind legs that throw her forward, and then short front legs in comparison meaning that she is often on the forehand and struggles to maintain a dressage friendly canter.

On the other hand, she has a scopey jump and is v speedy. !!
 
Like everyone has already said...they aren't the easiest of breeds to work with as they can be very strong willed and bloody minded! But they do often have fab movement and with the right training can do just as well as any other horse!!

Here's my 7yr old D, he's had time off through injury this year, at our last prelim we got 73% we're now competing at Novice, although we've only done 2 tests he's got over 66% both times! So now we're working towards Elementary at home.

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Our favourite thing to do....medium trot everywhere!
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[ QUOTE ]
My Welsh D is built down hill. Long hind legs that throw her forward, and then short front legs in comparison meaning that she is often on the forehand and struggles to maintain a dressage friendly canter.

On the other hand, she has a scopey jump and is v speedy. !!

[/ QUOTE ]

Same as my little mare - which is good as dressage is boring
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I have a Welsh D x and done a little bit of dressage with her.

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Trouble is she is very lazy in the school, she hates it and she hates shows, so I only bother occassionally
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She is only interested in Hunting
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this is my old Welshie - when i first got him he was very on the forehand and overbent - he has the biggest front i've ever seen, but with a few months of correct schooling he came up in front and was amazing. His highest score at BD was 70%, but he got 83% once unaffiliated. He competed to Medium aged 20 before retiring after the BD Winter Champs which is where he got his 70% from a List One judge. He was ultra reliable, mr.sensible, fabulous rhythm if not the WOW paces. He struggled a bit with lateral work as he is a real leg at each corner cob and so even trying his hardest to cross he couldn't quite do it!



this was his first ever novice with me:


at the Winter Champs - you'd never say this was on his forehand!



and this is my new one - bit of a screw loose compared to the old one, but seriously fantastic paces. got him last year having done nothing and he was scared stiff of the boards first time in an arena as you can see here!

this is him now though - he is working Elem/Med at home, but still competing Pre/Nov because he's still a bit of a twat in the arena and liable to go all tense and run aorund like a headless chicken or just back off my leg completely so we're still working on arena confidence before risking competing at the higher levels. I'm hoping he'll go Advanced in a few yrs time as he's only 7. oh yeah, and this one doesn't quite look like a Welsh - he's a bit more refined and would be rubbish in the show ring, but he makes a super smart dressage horse! never had an on the forehand comment with him






and this is what he loves when he's not dressaging:

 
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