Advice please - Second Walk & Trot Test Results

[Silly Filly]

Diego was much more relaxed yesterday and we got 56.8% (2 weeks ago we got 51.3% for our first Walk & Trot test). The judge said he has lots of presence and a nice rhythm. However, he is very forward going (jogs etc), although this weekend he has been really chilled out! Almost like a different horse! So I'm hoping the more I do with him the more chilled out he will be? Comments to work towards for our next test are:

short steps (i.e. he needs to stretch out more)
tense
hollow
outline

Please can I have some advice on how to work on the 4 things above.

[heartofrainbow]

i guess by hollow and outline they would be talking about contact, getting the horse to accept the contact, and work from behind!

try to relax yourself and the horse before the test to minimise being tense

try and encourage the horse to go forward at a good pace to avoid short steps!

[andreaB]

for walk & trot level i would look to work on the short steps & tense comments first, which will almost certainly be linked , as you will not achieve the later two well without sorting the first two , so don't worry too much about 'outline' for now

try to work him on a long rein , ask him to stretch his neck out & take longer steps , but be careful not to hurry him , you don't want jogging

also try not to ask for too much to avoid him becoming tense

one your horse learns to relax more & move forward fluently you can start to pick him up into kore of a contact

obviously some horses can become tense at a competition , try to treat the warm up as you would a schooling session , set yourself a routine of things you want to do for his warm up & make sure you have plenty of time to do them , use this as his warmup at home & competitions , hopefully he should gain a little confidence from the familiarity of the routine & relax more

dressage can be very slow progress so don't worry if it all seems to take time , the 5.5% increase you got on your last test was very good!

[KateWooten]

I hate to ask this as it makes me sound like a complete snob but .... who is your instructor and what do they say ? There, I asked it ! I hated it when people used to say that to me, but then once I eventually did find an instructor who worked for me it all made sense - especially at the walk-trot level. I just think you need someone on the ground the first time through to tell you exactly when the horse is tracking up, exactly when he's workikng through his back etc exactly when to release and when to ask for more. It's just not easy until you know what you're looking for, to tell when the horse is working forward and freely, with his neck stretched out and down - and when he's rooting the reins out of your hands - for example.