Third Level?

[IrisSilverMoon]

anyone have any tips for showing at this level??? this will be my first year, i was supposed to start last year, but i guess it wasn't in the stars for me and my horse colicked before his big debut:p

so i think i'll be riding tests 2 and 3, or maybe i'll skip the second test and do the 4th level 1 test instead...heh. i'm just wondering what specific things i should really concentrate on in these tests, unfortunetly i'm riding in a small dressage arena which makes it hard for some of the transitions, they end up comming waaaaaay faster than they will in the actual full sized arena. IN any case, any help anyone can offer with these tests would be great :)

[Lgd]

I don't know the specific tests. Third level is approx equivalent to our two grades of Medium and Advanced Medium. Fourth covers the upper end of Advanced medium into lower level advanced tests.

Rough guide of movements in each of our test grades are:

Medium - All paces collected, medium, extended. Shoulder-in & travers in trot. Counter canter. Half walk pirouettes. Half-pass in trot and canter. The higher level mediums are technically more difficult in the links and angles of half-pass required. Rein back then proceed to trot or canter. Halt to canter. Canter to halt. 8 metre circles.

Advanced Medium - as Medium but greater degree of collection required plus single flying changes. Counter changes in trot half pass.

There are around 6 or 7 tests in each grade, degree of difficulty increases with higher numbers.

Advanced - lowest level requires 3 x 4 tempi changes, no canter pirouette. Degree of difficulty increases with each test to add in 5 x 4 tempi changes, 5x 3 tempi changes, counter change in canter half pass, half canter pirouettes. Once all these are added in the next test is the FEI PSG test.

From medium level up transitions are expected to be direct eg simple change must go canter-walk-canter with no trot steps. Test must be very accurate. Should be showing good self-carriage, engagement increases and collection increases up the levels. There are descriptions for each level for us which I can hunt up if you are interested. If you give me details of your tests I could compare them and be a bit more specific as to what the judges will be looking for.

[IrisSilverMoon]

Judges are looking for collections and extensions at all gaits, counter canter and flying changes, rein back to trot, half pass at the trot and canter, shoulder in and haunches in, piruette at the walk.

also, if anyone has any suggestions on how i could prepare for this in the small dressage arena easier that would be great. it's reall hard to do a half pass from L to S in our arena, it's a LOT faster, with a flying change almost immediately afterward, I'm going to have a lot more time in between movements in the big arena so i don't know if there's anything i can do there

[Lgd]

OK - so probably a bit like one of the early Advanced Medium tests.

I only have a short arena at home (at the moment - I want my long one NOW) so I've had plenty of practice at long arena tests in a small space (You can do the PSG and Inter 1 tests in a short arena, tight but do-able!). For the L to S half pass go from G to H, it will be near enough the same distance (24 metres forward and 10 metres lateral), if you have a gap between the end of the half pass and the flying change just make the half pass angle a little bit more acute and give yourself a couple of metres to ride straight before the change. Other than that most bits of the test can be practised comfortably in a short arena (just imagine the RSVP markers being half way between quarter and half markers), it is actually an advantage in some ways, because if you are used to setting up moves in the short arena just think how much more time you will have in the full size arena. If you can find somewhere with a full size arena it may be worth hiring it as a one-off to have a final practice before a competition.

I don't tend to practice the full test in order at home because my 'little mule' learns the tests very easily and starts to anticipate the moves, particularly the changes and upward transitions from walk. Makes life a bit difficult as the FEI don't change the tests very often - this is the third season with the same PSG test and the darn horse knows it better than me now!