Why is dressage more scary than Sj?

[siennamiller]

Eeek, have entered a dressage, only prelim 15, not even sure why now, as I will have to hack there and back.
Does anyone have a copy of the test, and is anyone else going to belmoredean 18th may?

 

[khalswitz]

Eeek, have entered a dressage, only prelim 15, not even sure why now, as I will have to hack there and back.
Does anyone have a copy of the test, and is anyone else going to belmoredean 18th may?

Sympathise on the hacking, that's what we have to do too. It's nice for dressage though as a nice calm warm up before getting in the warm up arena and getting going...

However very much disagree on DR being more scary than SJ. SJ has COLOURED POLES and FILLERS and sometimes even COLOURED WINGS which are very scary. Whereas DR white boards are very easy to jump (as Geoff has demonstrated in the past), and the only really scary thing is the judge in the car, which can be forgotten about pretty quickly when it is decided it is more fun to try and go really fast round the arena. Because that is what dressage is for.

 

[Mavis007]

Watch out, I started out as a showjumper but have now turned to the dark side of dressage- it becomes addictive! Good luck!

 

[nikicb]

You see I don't understand it at all. Give me dressage any day. We even jump over the boards sometimes. But ask me to jump a 3 inch cross pole intentionally and I will be heading off in the other direction.

Signed,
Old and fragile of West Berkshire. x

 

[PaddyMonty]

Op - your question is very easy to answer.
SJ is either hero (you win) or zero (you dont win). Thus at the end of the day there is one hero and then everyone else. If you're the hero it doesn't matter how pretty, correct, rythmical, fluent, relaxed etc it look. The job was done. If you're not the hero then you are just one of a big group and nothing shows how good or bad you were.

Stressage you have those beady eyes watching you from the moment you entered the areana. This assumes you survived the icy stares from the other competitors in the warm up and remembered that circles give way to straight bits, sideways stuff tops everything else.
In the areana you are scrutinised every step of the way. If the aim is perfection (Clear in SJ but a 10 in dressage) then you know you have failed before you start. Not only that, you get to fail every movement.
having endured the ordeal of the test you then have a scoreboard showing just how badly you failed relative to everyone else. All are ranked from the highest hero (who still only manages 7 out of 10) to the lowest zero whos marks show to all the world that they are barely sufficient.
If that wasn't bad enough you then get a report telling you every mistake you made and with a nice little extra section, the collectives, which are there to grind in the level of failure of both the rider and the horse.

Yep DR is scary. Give me a 1.20mtr SJ course any day!

 

[khalswitz]

Op - your question is very easy to answer.
SJ is either hero (you win) or zero (you dont win). Thus at the end of the day there is one hero and then everyone else. If you're the hero it doesn't matter how pretty, correct, rythmical, fluent, relaxed etc it look. The job was done. If you're not the hero then you are just one of a big group and nothing shows how good or bad you were.

Stressage you have those beady eyes watching you from the moment you entered the areana. This assumes you survived the icy stares from the other competitors in the warm up and remembered that circles give way to straight bits, sideways stuff tops everything else.
In the areana you are scrutinised every step of the way. If the aim is perfection (Clear in SJ but a 10 in dressage) then you know you have failed before you start. Not only that, you get to fail every movement.
having endured the ordeal of the test you then have a scoreboard showing just how badly you failed relative to everyone else. All are ranked from the highest hero (who still only manages 7 out of 10) to the lowest zero whos marks show to all the world that they are barely sufficient.
If that wasn't bad enough you then get a report telling you every mistake you made and with a nice little extra section, the collectives, which are there to grind in the level of failure of both the rider and the horse.

Yep DR is scary. Give me a 1.20mtr SJ course any day!

Oh no, SJ results in me upside down in fences (great bat impression), or horrific deer leaping, or lots of swearing. Dressage is all very calm and sedate, and the big dreaded E is never an issue. I'd rather have low dressage scores than a line of E's in the SJ as per our usual line of work...

 

[PaddyMonty]

Dressage is all very calm and sedate, and the big dreaded E is never an issue. ...

You haven't met my boy have you. Calm and sedate? As for the big E, we risk that every time we have to canter towards the boards. 9" boards vs 18hh ISH, the boards present little barrier to exit.

 

[montanna]

Op - your question is very easy to answer.
SJ is either hero (you win) or zero (you dont win). Thus at the end of the day there is one hero and then everyone else. If you're the hero it doesn't matter how pretty, correct, rythmical, fluent, relaxed etc it look. The job was done. If you're not the hero then you are just one of a big group and nothing shows how good or bad you were.

Stressage you have those beady eyes watching you from the moment you entered the areana. This assumes you survived the icy stares from the other competitors in the warm up and remembered that circles give way to straight bits, sideways stuff tops everything else.
In the areana you are scrutinised every step of the way. If the aim is perfection (Clear in SJ but a 10 in dressage) then you know you have failed before you start. Not only that, you get to fail every movement.
having endured the ordeal of the test you then have a scoreboard showing just how badly you failed relative to everyone else. All are ranked from the highest hero (who still only manages 7 out of 10) to the lowest zero whos marks show to all the world that they are barely sufficient.
If that wasn't bad enough you then get a report telling you every mistake you made and with a nice little extra section, the collectives, which are there to grind in the level of failure of both the rider and the horse.

Yep DR is scary. Give me a 1.20mtr SJ course any day!

Haha I totally agree! I am toying with taking my 4yo out to do a prelim and the thought terrifies me. Even though we have been already been out round a XC course, done her first affiliated SJ etc etc.

It's funny as I LOVE my trainers/instructors to absolutely scrutinise me... I definitely thrive on the 'tell it as' teaching method rather than the nicey nicey approach. But the thought on being scrutinised in 'public' horrifies me!

 

[khalswitz]

You haven't met my boy have you. Calm and sedate? As for the big E, we risk that every time we have to canter towards the boards. 9" boards vs 18hh ISH, the boards present little barrier to exit.

Geoff does like jumping the boards as well if given the option - typical that he won't jump a jump but would happily pop a dressage board... My secret weapon for overcoming 'leaving-the-arena-syndrome' was long arena tests!! Suddenly we had ROOOM

 

[PaddyMonty]

Still only 20 mtrs wide though. I would prefer a 60x40 areana then life might be calm and sedate.
Owner is taking the big boy out to play this weekend and doing 2 short areana tests. Good luck with that one!

 

[humblepie]

Paddymonty has hit it on the head - brilliant description. Mind you the more you do, the less scary it becomes,

 

[spookypony]

The Spooky Pony thought "E" was for "Exit" for a while. Now we don't do dressage any more! Ballerina Mare knows her job: it's to sidle past the judge, and otherwise co-operate. But generally, the test itself is fine; it's all the milling-around beforehand that worries me!

 

[vam]

Op - your question is very easy to answer.
SJ is either hero (you win) or zero (you dont win). Thus at the end of the day there is one hero and then everyone else. If you're the hero it doesn't matter how pretty, correct, rythmical, fluent, relaxed etc it look. The job was done. If you're not the hero then you are just one of a big group and nothing shows how good or bad you were.

Stressage you have those beady eyes watching you from the moment you entered the areana. This assumes you survived the icy stares from the other competitors in the warm up and remembered that circles give way to straight bits, sideways stuff tops everything else.
In the areana you are scrutinised every step of the way. If the aim is perfection (Clear in SJ but a 10 in dressage) then you know you have failed before you start. Not only that, you get to fail every movement.
having endured the ordeal of the test you then have a scoreboard showing just how badly you failed relative to everyone else. All are ranked from the highest hero (who still only manages 7 out of 10) to the lowest zero whos marks show to all the world that they are barely sufficient.
If that wasn't bad enough you then get a report telling you every mistake you made and with a nice little extra section, the collectives, which are there to grind in the level of failure of both the rider and the horse.

Yep DR is scary. Give me a 1.20mtr SJ course any day!

Good answer, dressage terrifies me! The thought of trotting down the centre line towards a judge brings me out in a cold sweat, it’s like being called out to the front of the class at school or worse the assembly in front of everyone! You know the feeling, people waiting for you to trip up, fall flat on your face and the teacher just glaring at you, maybe that was just my school then?
Anyway I find jumping more black and white, while yes you get the people at the side saying your position and technique are questionable but if your clear your clear, you have one down then well that’s that. Don’t get me wrong I can come out of a ring and pull myself apart with the best of them just as any dressage rider can, I suppose the difference is its not written down and scored for all to see. Your bad day might not be what other people see just as their interesting riding might win the class, mind you I suppose that’s where dressage has its pluses!
I understand that dressage judges are there to mark and encourage but to me, it feels as if they are picking fault. I'm happy to play about at home and enjoy flatwork schooling and having my instructor pick out all my failings, you just couldn’t pay me enough to do an actual test!

 

[SaffronWelshDragon]

Op - your question is very easy to answer.
SJ is either hero (you win) or zero (you dont win). Thus at the end of the day there is one hero and then everyone else. If you're the hero it doesn't matter how pretty, correct, rythmical, fluent, relaxed etc it look. The job was done. If you're not the hero then you are just one of a big group and nothing shows how good or bad you were.

Stressage you have those beady eyes watching you from the moment you entered the areana. This assumes you survived the icy stares from the other competitors in the warm up and remembered that circles give way to straight bits, sideways stuff tops everything else.
In the areana you are scrutinised every step of the way. If the aim is perfection (Clear in SJ but a 10 in dressage) then you know you have failed before you start. Not only that, you get to fail every movement.
having endured the ordeal of the test you then have a scoreboard showing just how badly you failed relative to everyone else. All are ranked from the highest hero (who still only manages 7 out of 10) to the lowest zero whos marks show to all the world that they are barely sufficient.
If that wasn't bad enough you then get a report telling you every mistake you made and with a nice little extra section, the collectives, which are there to grind in the level of failure of both the rider and the horse.

Yep DR is scary. Give me a 1.20mtr SJ course any day!

Haha! I may have to steal this for Facebook! Absolute classic!

 

[siennamiller]

These replies have made me laugh so much . Also, they have made me realise that I am not the only one. Does anyone have a copy of prelim 15 they can pm me?
Also, I have to plait don't I. Triple eeekkk!