what level dressage at what horse age

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rowy

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hi sorry another topic :P

what level dressage would you expect what age horse to be at depending on what the aim of the horse was.
i.e. prelim, novice 4years
elem 5 years
med 6 years

what level becomes too much for a certain age. i was browsing youtube and found a 7 year old doing prix-st george, do you think this is too much or is this normal for those trying to achieve grand prix?

just looking for your personal opinions :)
 
depends on whether the horse was pushed to get there, or just finds the work naturally easy and has progressed there without being pushed.

i imagine mine will be schooling PSG by the time he is 7, as he is currently 5 and competing elem, schooling medium and also does a change each way.he will do 6yo tests and mediums next year, maybe an adv med at the end of the year, so if he continues at current rate will be schooling PSG as a 7yo. (its no biggies if he's not BTW, this horse has NOT been pushed in any way)

i think most 4yo's ridden by pro's work at novice from day one as they are set up correctly to lengthen/shorten/be supple/consistant in the contact etc. they then tend to go one and do elem as a 5yo,med as a 6yo,take a year out and come out as an 8yo solid at PSG/inter I.

for amateurs, i see a lot of 6/7yo's at novice and elem, which is nothing to be ashamed of as horse and rider have to learn together a bit and the higher levels can sometimes be blind leading the blind! bearing in mind that there are plenty of late teens and early twenties even at PSG-GP nationally, theres no rush for the one horse owner.
 
It hugely depends. The FEI young horse tests are basically, novice standard for 4 yr olds, elementary standard for 5 yr olds and medium with flying changes but without canter half passes for 6 yr olds. The assumption being that the horse will then come out at PSG as a 7 yr old and start GP rising 9. But that is for the elite of the elite of both horse and rider. With impeccable training and riding, and a horse with perfect conformation for the job, this work schedule shouldn't be a problem.

However, most horses DO come with issues or are not perfectly ridden. Hence everything taking more time! There is no perfect time scheme. Do what the horse needs! for example, the Iberian schools teach piaffe and passage very early (4 yrs old), but those horses have bodies that are built for collection. The Germanic school that modern competitive dressage follows is based on the warmblood/tb horse, hence more emphasis on developing "connection", suppleness and the medium gaits while the horse is young, and a slower development towards collection as an end point.
 
I was writing for PSG recently & noticed that at the top of the score sheet it said horses must be at least 7 years old.
 
I agree with what has been said above - it definately depends on the horse and rider and the training. Some horses take longer to mature than others, especially the bigger horses so they will take longer to progress correctly through the levels. Whereas other horses mature a lot quicker.
 
Like the others have said, depends on horse and rider.

Also if rider has past experience/abilities/training to go up the levels quickly.

Personally mine is a 6yo competing Novice BD, working elementary at home, so hope to do at least a few Elementaries by the end of the year. I have no past experience, all I've done is hacking/hunting up until now, and horse has only been schooled for 14 months and is a Welsh D so not naturally gifted esp. lateral work ;)
 
Agree with Halfstep & Tempi, all horses are individuals just like us. My 10yo is competing Medium & working Adv. He had to have 2 years off dressage when i bought him as a 5yo as he had been pushed to destruction as a young big horse. He didnt stop growing till he was 7yo took ages to mature.

MillionDollar, Welsh D's are more than capable at dressage & most have amazing paces,i teach a lady on one who rivals any WB.
 
Agree it totally depends on the individual horse, rider and the past experience/education of the horse. A lot of bigger moving substantial young horses take a lot more time than others, they don't generally physically mature until 7/8 yrs old.
 
I don't like to put an age on it either. I am not a pro and don't need to rush my horse. I would feel terrible if I "broke" my horse at an early age just for my own means. The old Masters always advocated that between the ages of 4-6 the horse should not be specialised in one discipline but should have an allround education. I try and keep that mindset with me more than "I need to be at this stage by this time".

Especially with big moving WBs, so many seem to hit a sticky spot early on. I know my WB did when he was 5/rising 6... he was working really well, lateral work, started changes, but always focusing on long and low and in baby style rather than pushing him. Then it all went wrong! Full load of tests at Liphook and the only conclusion was "growing pains!" So we turned him out for a while and so far, fingers crossed, we've not had a recurrence of the previous problems. Now he's 7 he looks like a very different horse.

Some young horses may be able to piaffe beautifully in-hand at 3 or 4 years old, but that doesn't mean they are strong enough to carry out all other advanced work. I hate seeing talented young horses pushed for that little bit more expression or a bigger medium trot, those things can come later!
 
yes i agree as well that horses shouldn't be pushed further than they want to go. I do agree that the horse that grows taller also needs more time to mature, especially if it is a warmblood.
its good with dressage that the horse can still do it at an older age, my mare is 17 and still compete though only at prelim but maybe she can do novice when she gets over her fear of white boards :P
I'm only hoping to get my 2 year old up to advanced but if he shows potential or wants to go higher then thats fantatic :) just gonna take it slow as i've never been past prelim before so it'll be a learning curve for us both together :)

so i guess for the professionals/ semi professionals its basically up a level each year.
 
Again, it depends on the horse and rider - but you already knew that :)

Other than the fact that it depends on whether the rider is a pro or has done high levels before and so on, it also depends on the horse.
Ex-racers for instance, often have to "catch up" as it were. Mine is an ex-racer. He's 6 and doing Novice, hopefully to go Elementary soon. It doesn't sound fantastic (heheh and it isn't) but at the same time, I got him as he was rising 5..

So there's horses like him who come off the track and have to be re-taught the very basics by an amateur (mine couldn't canter on the lunge, or pick of the left leg at all for instance, nor change rein through a circle in trot) at 5ish or older will obviously not be at the same level as a WB started by a pro at say, 3, with the basics on the lunge etc already in place.

Buuuut physically I would've thought 7 or 8 is fine for PSG. I seem to remember one dressage horse at the last olympics being 9? I could be wrong though, but I remember them mentioning that it was a very good test for quite a young horse :)
 
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