Q's for beginning dressage

[Fancy_mover23]

My trainer is having all of us start some dressage, so that we can improve some of our core skills and stuff...but I'm so confused with all this. I'm a jumper, and the only other discipline I have ever done is barrel racing, and I know absolutely NOTHING about dressage. I know the saddle is different and stuff, but what good things can dressage do for your position?? Are there any exercises I can do with my horse to prepare me for my first dressage lesson??? I'm also kind of confused at all the terms they use, and how scoring works when you compete in dressage. Any tips would be helpful.
Stacey

[kyanya]

The term dressage comes from the French for 'training'. I think that tells you all you really need to know to get you on your way. Dressage shouldn't be all about competition - it's more about maximising the horses athletic potential and ability to perform.

Don't worry too much when you begin learning though - you're both learning together and if you're both having fun, that's all that matters :)

Oh, and scoring works at a mark out of 10 being given for each movement you do, and then a percentage is worked out from that at the end, with the highest percentage winning.

[Cabbitt]

Dressage is just basically about refining and correcting the things you do on the flat (which will greatly help jumping), not so much a different style of riding (at least a the lower levels). Although a dressage saddle is different, you can also do lower level dressage in a jumping or all purpose saddle.
I do 3 Day Eventing, which involves cross country jumping, stadium jumping, and dressage, and I feel dressage has been invaluable in improving my jumping skills. It will help you control your horse in a more refined way and be more aware of your own body, as well as improve the balance and coordination of you and your horse. Dressage rocks!

[Roheryn]

What kyanya and Cabbitt said. I started out in forward seat ages ago, and I've found that dressage does make me more aware of my body, and of the horse's, and of how we interact. It's like a physical conversation.

And it is fun!

[Fancy_mover23]

Thanks......the saddle feels alot different than my jumping saddle. Kinda weird

[Skyhuntress]

Honestly, I believe that every rider, no matter what discipline of english they do, should MINIMALLY be able to do 1st level, and I'm honestly surprised that trainers let kids jump without a full understanding of how to control their seat....because jumping should be considered as dressage with obstacles ;)

Ideally, dressage should really make you aware of each and every aid and get you used to the fact that your hands/ seat /legs are all independent from each other. You'll also learn to really be able to influence the horses' stride, which will help your jumping tremendously

[Roheryn]

Dressage saddles felt strange to me, too, the first couple of times I rode in them (about a year apart). But I liked them, they felt as secure as a western saddle, only I could feel the horse a lot better.

What kind are you riding in? The one I ride in now has a deep seat; the 2 others also had deeper seats than the GP/AP or forward-seat or saddle seat saddles I'd ridden in before.

"Dressage with jumps"--makes sense to me! (I mean, to me it does have some mental obstacles also, mostly having your brain coping with many things at once!)

[Skib]

To me dressage is synonymous with riding. Learn one and you learn the other even though you may not use the formal vocabulary.

I don't jump but serious riders who jump train their horses in dressage to improve their jumping? If you do a search on Amazon, I think you will find there is a book on dressage for jumpers?

Dressage will help to supple and collect the horse, help it to change direction fluently, and give you closer control.

Forget the marks and the competitive aspect. In the UK some people in Riding Clubs and the BHS dislike the emphasis on dressage - which depends so much on the build and often the cost of the horse. They would prefer riding competitions in which the rider's skills are what matters.

But if you learn dressage, your riding should improve. I hope that makes sense. My RI is a classical dressage teacher and her student staff regularly win the local riding competitions. (They jump well too.)

Dont feel you are being put back to the beginning. Riding skills are very transferable and if you have done barrell racing, one would imagine you will find some things very familiar?

[Morganna]

My classical dressage instructor tells me that dressage is the basis for all disciplines and having taken some time out from jumping and ridden under her instruction for two months before going near a jump again, I see her point. My riding has improved, and my horse no longer sees jumping as a way to give me a mini coronery. I can't believe the difference in us both and I was not in any way dressage inclined before. I had done a Prelim 7 test a while back but that was it, now I see the importance of dressage to both myself and my horse, I will be keeping up those regular lessons despite being more of a jumper myself. Hey, I might even try some more dressage tests just for the fun of it :D

[Fancy_mover23]

Thanks everyone. I took my second lesson...it was SOOOO much fun!!! He had some real dressage horses brought out. They are such pretty movers. I learned side passing, and we did lots of work at the 20 meter circle. I'm really enjoying it.

It felt kinda weird, because after my dressage lesson, my coach had me switch horses, and jump a bit, to see if I had any new found confidence in the saddle. I feel so much more comfortable already. It really restores your balance!!!

[BeachRiding]

Thats great news fancymover!!!

[Fancy_mover23]

Update:

Okay, so we tried to do some dressage with ET., and, well, lets just say, he stinks.

He is really bed at bending, and when we did all the transition stuff in the 20 meter circle, he got all confused. I think i'll stick with doing dressage on Sirius or another horse that knows what he's doing.

Et doesn't have a clue.

Stacey

[Roheryn]

Maybe your trainer could school ET and you could ride Sirius, and, as Sirius teaches you more, you could teach that to ET?

My guy knows more about dressage than I do, and in my lessons on him my trainer and I've worked on teaching me how to get him to do what he knows how to do. I've also had a lesson on my friend's green horse; that lesson consisted of my trainer telling me how to get the greenie to do stuff he didn't know how to do. At the end, he and I were both worn out, but we'd both learned a lot--it was fun to ride a greenie for a change from a schoolmaster.

Then again, there are horses who just don't like dressage.

[Fancy_mover23]

I've been working him a bit, and my trainer has been helping me with his bending issues. I did an entire lesson (jumping) on the 20 meter circle, so he gets used to it more. Usually if I try something with ET in the jumping ring, he applies it to everything else.