What to do with a mare bored of schooling and dressage?

sidesaddlegirl

sidesaddlegirl

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Hattie has been schooling so well this month getting ready for our first side saddle dressage test on Sunday but then yesterday, she got it into her head to ignore my leg and stick and not go any faster than a walk!!!

She did the same today but one of the other liveries at the yard where I school said to try a long schooling whip which I did, and she perked up a bit.

The trouble is, why all of a sudden has she gone all sour?

We school 3x a week for 30 minutes, she has Monday, Tuesday and most Sundays off (although if I have time, I'll lunge on Monday and Tuesday for about 1/2 hour) and we hack on a Saturday (more often in the summer).

She isn't lame and her saddle fits (well, as well as it can despite her weird confirmation) and when I hack her out she is fine, listening and going forward. Infact, I hacked her out before we schooled to "clear her mind" and she was fine.
It's as soon as she enters the menage, she goes into plod school horse mode now!
She was fine hacking back home too and did some nice active trots and trasistions.
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I don't think dressage is her favorite thing to be honest, she does like her jumping but unfortunately, my ailments prevent me from doing alot of jumping except for the odd little pole. So except for the odd low clear round jumping show, it's not something I can really do anymore.

We have a test on Sunday so it's really quite annoying as she's been schooling well all month and now has decided that she doesn't want to work at all.
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What can I do to make schooling more "fun" for her??
 
I'd cut down on the schooling a little or make it a little bit more unusual. I always think of been made to have piano lessons at an early age, you switch off after awhile if you find it boring and put off music rest of life.
 
It sounds as if she is getting a bit bored and stale. I alternate schooling with hacking. Lunging is a no no as we both detest it!! Is there any one else around that you could trust enough to jump her for you occasionally?
 
Is there anyway you can school when your out hacking, say 10 mins in a nice field somewhere and just gently run through your test rather than too much intense schooling, then carry on with your hack, I'm sure they will all get bored at some point if you only tend to concentrate on one thing, variety is the spice of life.

What about some pole work?

I prefer to school when I come back from a hack, well seem to get better results that way, even if its just 15 minutes, because they already warmed up without it being a chore and they enjoyed a nice hack out...even if its just round the village for brisk walk, plus they don't get into a habit of rushing back because they know their work is not done until the saddle comes off.
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Thanks guys, you all said what I've been thinking. We have a dressage test this Sunday and next Sunday as well so it's a bit of a bummer with Hattie deciding that she's bored with it all though!

We're booked in to school tomorrow so it's too late to cancel, but I'll make it a very easy and short schooling session and then hack out afterwards. I also thought about cancelling all the schooling next week and hacking only. Maybe that will keep her fresh for out test next Sunday then.

None of my friends jump (LOL, they are all into dressage or happy hackers), I'm the only one that has any jumping experience! One of my friends said that she would hack out with me on Saturday and then we could try some little jumps in her field (she is just starting to get the courage to jump) so that may keep Hattie fresh for this Sunday hopefully.
 
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Is there any one else around that you could trust enough to jump her for you occasionally?

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I agree.. think she might like a bit of jumping for variety
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Good luck with her...
 
Sounds like she is bored of the school, as the others have said. I'd give her a break from the school between now and your test - maybe take her for a couple of fun fast hacks and a couple of hacks where you sneak in a bit of schooling. If you can, try out a few new routes as well to really cheer her up and get her interested in work again. Hopefully a good week out of the school and she'll be quite happy to go back in their and perform nicely on the day of your test.
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I'd hack her out a bit more, and maybe try a bit of schooling while you're out. What about loose schooling over jumps if you don't feel you can do her justice yourself and no one else is around.
 
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