Test Riding [long]

[clipclop]

I took my horse to a prelin dressage test the other day and she did a very nice little test. Her main crittisism by the judge was that she loosed the impulsion on the turns and bends and appeared stiff.

At home I also notice she does this as well (not on 20 meter circles) Are there any exercises i can do to improve this.

If i ask for more impulsion in general this is when it seems to occur but we can keep the same rythem if I ask for slightly less impulsion.


One other thing. As i said she did quite a nice test was moving forward with impulsion and in a willing round frame. I expected to get 60-62% However i got 54%.

What exactly are the judges looking for as I also watched a cobby tyupe of horse compete in the same test with his head stook out in front of him and he pulled himself along through the whole test. And went round on the wrong leg in canter. He had no impulsion but he did had rythem. He got over 60%.

My horse is quite capable of more advanced movements and is not a youngster the reason for competing at prelim level is that we are both new to dressage competitions and she is also very spooky.

My instructor took her to a couple of tests earlier this year and got 57% in prelim but 65% in the Novice. Am I competing at the wrong level as she has a lovely collected trot but we seem to struggle to find the right balance to please the judges for a good working trot.

WHere do i go from here?

[Heather]

HI Clipclop,

Oh dear, you are in a bit of a cleft stick here. It sounds to me as if your horse is obviously quite a good schoolmaster for you, and would benefit from competing at a level befitting her training, but you are not yet quite ready for it yourself.

Impulsion is sometihng that can only really be generated when the horse is up off his shoulders and propelling himself forward with his back end, not pulling himself along on the forehand. So many judges seem to think that if the horse is not tanking round at 300mph, there is not enough impulsion. Rubbish!! Sending the horse faster is not the answer, as it will flatten the expression and also make it far harder to get the horse to bend!

A horse runnning on in trot, will want to go around corners like a boat at anchor, swinging the hindquarters out or falling in. Running on lenthens the base of the horse, whereas a more shortened and collected trot also shortens the base of the horse and makes it easier to create and maintain the bend- a bit like having a long wheelbase or short wheelbase vehicel- the latter being easier to turn.

Riding a true bend is actually one of the more difficult skills to learn - I have just spent two months getting my quite talented working student to learn to correctly bend a horse! - and he had already been a working student of a well known establishment with a good Classical trainer for six months!-

I will come back to this and give you a more in depth answer on bending/turning later as I have to go and check a saddle on a horse locally that my yard manager bred, and she wants to come with me, and is now yelling up the stairs that she is ready to go!



Heather

[clipclop]

Thanks Heather.

[Hels]

ooh good. I have just started working on getting Carrie to bend correctly and need some pointers! I was going to read up on it in EE again!

[Heather]

Right folks, bending.

The problem with learning to get the correct bend is that it is something that is especially badly taught!

The weight aids are seldom taught in this country, as is the correct use of the outside aids.

To initiate the turn, think of pointing your inside hip in the direction of the turn- ie your hipbone, the top of the pelvis. however don't 'jam' it forward, just allow it still to move with the horse, but accentuate by advancing the inside hip a little more than the outside hip at each stride.

Flex the horse to the inside, by raising the inside hand slightly, and squeezing the reins with the fingers, ( fingers curled around the reins) to increase a little tension- then release, squeeze a couple of times then release by slightly uncurling, but not straightening, the fingers. You shouldn't be able to see more than the horse's inside eye and nostril, but these should be clearly visible to the rider from the saddle.

The outside hand should be slightly lowered, fingers turned a little outwards to bring the rein to lie along, and touching, the length of the neck. Again, slightly squeezing the outside rein with the fingers, will cause the rein to nudge against the neck. The horse soon learns that this means- move away from the pressure and will bend his neck to the inside, but from behind the shoulder, not jack knifing by beniding through the base of the neck which will cause him to drift through the outside shoulder.

The outside leg comes slightly behind the girth and keeps the quarters from swinging out and turning therefore, like a boat at anchor, instead of bending evenly from poll to tail.

The inside leg is very important, and one of the prime causes of the horse not bending sufficiently. The inside leg is used quite strongly if the horse is not easy to get to bend, really encouraging to step into the corner, and not trying to fall in and cut the corner.

Think of the outside aids, sort of banana-ing the horse around your inside leg, which acts like a post to bend th horse around. Practise bending in this way and your turns and circles should soon be much more accurate, and especially your turns up the centre line, which catch out so many riders, because they pull back with the inside rein and turn the shoulders/hips to the inside. This causes the weight to go onto the outside seatbone and the horse drifts to that side, and missees the centre line by a mile! Turning in the way that I have described will produce much crisper, tighter and more accurate turns. Hope this helps-

Heather

[clipclop]

Thanks Heather.

I read your book about the inside hip so i am quite used to doing this. I thought about what I could be doing wrong and I wasnnn't sure if I was allowing with my outside rein. A instructor once told me that I tended to help my horse to much on the turns etc and that I should use my hands as if i were turning a wheelbarrow. I practised this yuesterday but I can honestly say I don't think it made any difference.

She bends and flexes OK. BUt if we were say riding large around the arena and then went into a 15 meter circle she will tend to slow down and become slightly unbalanced at the start of the new school figure. We can ride 15 meter circles in both trot and canter quite well but the problem is when we go from a larger school figure to a smaller one. If we stayed on a 10 or 15 meter circle for a few circuits she is fine but more collected. Maybe she has a habit of collecting on smaller circles I don't know, but it doesn't do our prelim marks much good.

We can do lovely walk pirouettes. Walk to canter and collected trot and canter and even showing signs of early passage.

THe other thing I tried yesterday with her was to ask her to lenghten slightly on the shorter sides of the school and ask her to go on a bit more this helped a little. I also have tried turning her down the centre line when lunging her and this has helped a little to.

We also do carrot stetches every day and she is a professor at these. Shes turned round nibbling her sides before I can get the carrots out.

[clipclop]

up

[Kerry's Partner]

I've just re-read Heather's post - and the day after I managed to get Kerry to "bend" really well. Well if my home-based instructor's comments were anything to go by - plus my feel, and Kerry's absolute delight at herself we did manage something much better than usual anyway.

I wasn't using my hands properly I realise now I've re-read Heather's post but that means things could be even better - wow!!