So I only rode once this weekend...I've been rather lackluster about riding lately, partly because it sucks to ride in the cold/wet, and partly because dressage isn't really my favorite (and it's our default in general, and especially when the ground is hard).
I volunteered at the FenRidge dressage show on Saturday morning, which was pretty cool. So then I went to the barn inspired to get some good dressage work done. Kellar had other ideas, though. First he was a dork because I couldn't find my draw reins, so it was ridiculously easy for him to just ignore my hands and run around like a giraffe. Even after we found the draw reins, though, he was still very unhappy about the dressage thing. I don't mind his fussing with the bit (well, I do, but I know it's unlikely to change, and at least it's a sign that he's interested in it), but every few strides he'd toss his head, or hump his back (not in a about-to-buck sort of way, more in a "ew, this sucks, and I don't wanna" way). So we suffered through that for another half-hour or so before I finally just decided to screw it and just hack around. So we finished on a fairly good note, since 10min of cantering on him = 10 min of awesome. :) His canter rocks.
Still, the dressage thing is possibly a big deal. It's 1/3 of a horse trial, and it'd also be nice to be able to do some dressage schooling shows (like FenRidge, which I decided to skip because we'd both missed a good amount of practice beforehand). I don't mind having dressage be our weakest phase...it's certainly my weakest phase, and as many have said, you'll never die doing bad dressage. Having said that, I would like to get to the point where we can do a semi-pleasant test...i.e. not look like the pattern itself is torture.
Is there hope for us? Have you known horses who have really disliked dressage but learned to tolerate it? I know part of it is probably lack of muscle, so that'll help, but I don't think that'll necessarily fix everything. We've done hock injections and chiropractic stuff, so I don't think anything hurts anywhere.
Sorry for the novel, I just had a semi-grand plan of a bunch of horse trials we'd do this spring/summer, but if we can't even do a 20m circle without head tossing or losing our straightness, that might not happen after all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Skate hated dressage when I got him in August. He did the giraffe head, angry pony thing for a while. He still doesn't love it, but he tolerates it and even looks cute and pleasant doing it sometimes.
Do you have an instructor? I couldn't have even begun to make any progress without a lesson here and there on how to deal with Skate's evasions in the proper manner.
Yes, I've got a trainer. Life would really suck if I didn't. :) Still, knowing the options for dealing with evasiveness (go from light contact, transitions, lots of turns for bending, etc) doesn't necessarily help...he still seems generally unhappy about the whole thing.
Sorry to hear you are frustrated! Back in 1997, during the time that I had my wonderful schoolmaster, was eventing, and things were going great, I got a second horse who had never done dressage. He came from a hunter jumper background, and did not like going in a dressage frame. With some work and patience, though, he came around. He got to the point that he was doing quite nicely. When I sold him, I did sell him back into the hunter jumper world because I recognized that he still liked that best, but he was an improved horse because of the dressage!
Hopefully you guys can find some middle ground. Maybe do dressage everyother day or end with some jumping as a reward?
Yes, I do know some horses that hated dressage, who've come to tolerate it...not love it, or like it, but tolerate it. In fact, I know 2 very well...Surf and Huey :) Huey especially just tolerates dressage...for short intervals...and has apparently always been that way (according to Julia). He's gotten a little better over the years, but he's never really come to like it...which is evidenced in his scores :P It didn't keep him from eventing though, since he went all the way to Intermediate and did a ** :)
I've had the same struggles with Surfie...and dressage continues to be a battleground. However, we moved up eventhough our dressage isn't stellar, as the jumping became too easy...and I figure we'll get better at actual dressage tests at some point. The basics of dressage that help with the jumping have gotten stronger over the past year, but we still don't have some of the tricks like "extended canter on a 20m circle" :P
Pro certainly didn't enjoy dressage when we started because he just wanted to get left the hell alone. But now he seems to really enjoy the work. Is there a more dressage-type horse you could take lessons on occasionally so that you can work on your dressage separate of him?
Yeah, there's a gelding at the barn who's apparently super awesome (and would make a kick-butt eventer except his owner doesn't want him jumping at all b/c she doesn't jump), so I'll probably take some lessons on him, if only to get the feel of it.
If I can fake my way through the dressage enough to not make a fool of myself, that's fine. ;) I just want to get enough settled that we can have a tolerable time in the dressage ring, not look like an idiot, and not get eliminated before we can run cross-country/show jump.
Hannah - thanks for the hope! I'm not a huge fan of dressage (though when it goes well, it does feel awesome), so it'd be nice if at least one of us likes it. But I suppose we can suffer through it together and have a blast out on cross-country!
I'm going to actually disagree and say that bad dressage CAN potentially kill you...if you event. I agree that it'd be pretty hard to get killed if you just do dressage, but dressage is SO interwoven into x-country and stadium that it's critical to safety. It's a phase for a reason (and in my opinion, the absolute most important phase) and it's purpose is to show that the rider can effectively balance the horse, adjust strides, and communicate clearly. Just my opinion, as a former eventer. ;)
Going off what Gayle has said, I think there are two kinds of horses who are "unhappy/bad" doing dressage - those who have a rider that's doing it wrong, and those who are physically/mentally unsuitable. I thought Pro was the latter, but it turns out that I was doing it wrong. Now that I'm getting better, he LOVES it...when I'm correct. Gayle's seen other horses who aren't physically suited and can't be fixed, and others who are unhappy even when correct. It's just a matter of finding an expert to be able to figure out where your horse fits into that. Good luck!
DON'T focus on dressage. Focus on groundpoles or cavalletis and practice dressage moves that way.
Bandit (my first horse) HATED dressage. And I was doing it correctly. He COULD hold himself up in a frame and go around, but he HATED dressage. It probably didn't help that I thought it was boring too. (I totally don't mind having a dressage lesson mixed in with a jumping lesson or two, but 4 straight years of dressage nearly killed both of us!)
Anyway, what I did with him was use the ground poles and cavalleti as 'jumps.' This way it seemed MUCH more like a jumping lesson, but you could still keep solid and still enough while going over your 'fences' that you had immediate control over your body when coming off the 'jump' and could make changes as needed. (When you're learning something new and really jumping, it can sometimes take a few strides out of the jump to get your body back to where you're trying to get it back to...and those few strides can give your horse a LOT of time to put you back where HE wants you!! ;) )
For instance, if we were practicing 20 meter circles, we'd set up a figure eight with a cavalleti or ground pole in the middle. Because we both had to think about where the pole was in relation to the circle AND to where we were, it actually HELPED me get and keep his rhythm. Also, because you have a VERY definite center point, it makes you very aware of how egg or circle-shaped your circles really are!!
Hope that helps!!!!
Post a Comment