Dressage, is it all it's cracked up to be?

[JackiAH]

Hello all!

Just a few questions about Dressage riding.

Is it true that it's sort of er, boring? I read somewhere that people who do dressage are the people who found ice-fishing too stimulating (lol).... I know that it's a very, very interesting sport and was wondering if anyone had any links to good dressage sites...

Cheers

[Maci]

I sometimes try my hand at dressage, and believe me, it may look boring, but when you're the rider, it is CHALLENGING (unless you have a near perfect horse)! You have to get the horse to do these "grand" movements with little, continuous flicks of the crop, minimal leg and hand, and you have to be GOOD with your seat and weight aids! It looks great, and I suppose if you're near pro at it, it could be a little boring, but I prefer jumping or cantering at high speeds bareback, etc! Something adrenilane pumping, yet safe!

Maci :)

PS- Type in "dressage" at about.com and other search engines, and you should get LOTS!

[Wally]

Yep dressage CAN be boring and it can bore the pants off a lot of people. It used to bore me ridgid. I have been doing much more using Heather's methods and I have had such amazing results that I'm inspired. My little looney horse used to be a real problem, since using Heather's methods on him he has improved in all aspects. He would be the last horse I'd imagine quietly doing shoulder in, relaxed and happy. He used to be a nervy hooligan.

Dressage can be elitist and all the "in speak" puts folk off, but once you cut the crap and speak plain English it is a fascinating discipline. After all you cannot do any other sport if your basic dressage isn't in place! I really think it should have it's name changed to something more simple like Ridden obedience or some such thing, just to take the mystery out of it. Travers, renvers, shoulder fore, piaffe, passage they are all a bit mysterious and don't suggest to the casual on-looker what is supposed to be going on do they?
Having said this, there is nothing quite like the feeling of a beautifully balanced horse doing a series of flying changes on command, or the first time you do a canter pirouette, for old chickens like me it's the next best thing to a cross country course!!

[floppy]

dressage boring..well i guess if that is all you ever do then yeh i would say it would be boring...i love doing dressage learning all the new things...all the turning and fancy moves..its hard work too!!! but id otn spend all my time doing it...i hack out and have jumping lessons too...
everything can get boring...if you rode everyday int he arena just doing walk trot and canter with no circles or anythign you would get bored too and want to do soemthing else or?i know i would...if you dont learn soemthing new or do something different it will bore you...

[Pam F]

Well said Wally - I couldn't agree more. I started taking dressage seriously 10 years ago because my new horse turned out to be a headshaker during the spring and was only happy in an indoor school at this time of year. Now we are both addicted, the more you learn the more interesting it gets and there is always the fun sides like dressage to music, quadrilles etc. Now when I take my horse out for a hack he is always disappointed when we ride past the track going to the indoor school and don't go up for a visit.

[k9 Equine]

I'm still renewing my basics, but hope to work in dressage as time goes by. As to "in-speak," every sport, activity, hobby has its own language, so don't hold it against the discipline of dressage. Just be glad there are people like Heather who put things in "layman's terms" i.e. plain English.

Dressage can be more than just the arena work. Classic kur is putting it to music. And then there is working equitation (relatively new) where dressage is combined with obstacle course work. Comparable to canine agility and flyball - for those of you who are doggy as well as horsey. Also combination training and eventing combines the best of all - think of it as a triathalon for horse and rider. Dressage, showjumping and cross-country "endurance" in a three day event (or do it on your own or with friends.)

Can't wait to start! :D

~ KE

[Mossy]

Fully agree with above. I can watch dressage experts for ever. True harmony between horse and rider, However for those, like me, whose riding aspirations are rather more humble, What is a turn on the forehand for apart from to open a gate, Leg yield gets you into a passing place on a narrow lane, and a horse which will move on leg command when you are riding one handed and hanging out of the saddle to deal with dog, low sprung gate latch, or a novice's girth or stirrup leather is invaluable. It is all dressage but not seen as such as it is not formal.
PS I have just realised I am writing this with chaff stuck to my nose, courtesy of Connie!

[Somethingroyal]

I am a big fan of jumping, but I also LOVE dressage. I was blessed with a very responsive mare, and it makes it really fun. Some people look at it and think it is circles and fancy footwork, which it is, but it is a huge challenge to train your horse to do everything. There is always something new to do, and unlike most jumping, where the reward is only self satisfaction, you feel true harmony with your horse. Call me weird (some ppl do) but I find dressage to be a blast, just because I love that feeling and am not that bad at it. As the other people have said, it is not all individual work. My friends and I made a quadrille team, and usually at the end of a practice we are in a laughing heap. Music is also fun, the horses seem to fall into beat with it. Not to mention your jumping skills improve by leaps and bounds.

[fionahogg]

Dressage is not boring!!!

(In my humble opinion!)

:)

Fiona

[Maci]

Yes! I think dressage is challenging when you're doing it! Although watching it can be fasinating for the first few hours, but then it gets boring with all the same movements.

Maci :)

[LindaAd]

In the early stages, dressage is just basic training - and agree with Mossy: a bit of dressage training makes a horse so much more agreeable to hack out.

I've never reached the stage of knowing the difference between renvers and travers, still less of attempting piaffe and the rest, but my teacher is a dressage fanatic, and so every lesson's a dressage lesson and it's endlessly fascinating because you're trying to improve your riding and the horse's way of going all the time.

It is detailed, though, and if you're the sort of person who's bored with details, I'd stick to .... what? Ponytrekking? Hunting? Because you won't get far with showjumping or cross-country if you haven't done some basic dressage....

[Liz E.]

I can understand why some think it's dull. I've only watched dressage tests a few times, but it seems like something that should be done in lessons for practice... not competetively. Then again, what's the use if it isn't an event?! Oh well, maybe it's just me but something about the constant quiet and ALL that memorization seems well... boring!

[Wally]

When Frances and I school, which, let's face it, is dressage traning, we have the music radio on, no silence but a great way to make sure your gaits are level, I'm sure the horses are helped too by the beat of the music.

[Liz E.]

People have admitted to the sport earning and maintaing a somewhat "stuffy" reputation... and who could blame the people who believe that?! I, for one, believe that the movements in Dressage are interesting, fascinating, and entertaining. It's the way the events are carried out that bothers me.

English Dressage is often compared to Western Reigning, and vice versa. However, in Reigning, audiences are allowed and encouraged to whoop and applaud during the event. In Dressage, your applaud is asked to be held untill the end of the test. Well that seems boring. You see a horse and rider in formal attire performing these cool movements, but the ring is SILENT. So it seems as if they are only carrying out this performance for themselves. Spectators are expected to pay attention but cannot show it.
*If no Western horses spook to their applause, who's to say all English horses will?!!*

I hope all you who participate in dressage are not offended by me. :( I'm not putting down the sport by any means. It's strictly the judge's rules I don't approve of. Some may counter that the rules have stayed the same for years and they don't need tobe tampered with. True... but we got along for hundreds of years without computers. That doesn't mean we shouldn't use them, right?
Just a thought.
~Liz
p.s. Sorry again, if that in any way seemed offensive. One of my favorite riders, Anky van Grunsven, and many of my friends do dressage. I AM NOT PUTTING THE SPORT DOWN.

[Heather]

HI Jackie,

As Classical dressage trainer, I couldn't agree more- watching paint dry can be infinitely more interesting than watching dressage done badly!! However, even a preliminary test, ridden skillfully, so that the whole test flows effortlessly from one movement to another, can be wonderful to watch.

I think that very few people, even those who know nothing about horses, would find watching the Spanish Riding School, or my particular favourite, the Alta Escola of Portugal, boring. Likewise, watching the very best in the world in competition dressage.What I hate to see, and see all too often in Britain, is horses being ridden through force by riders who are dricing with the seat, legs flailing heads nodding and thinking' don't I look wonderful!' The last time a couple of years agon now, that I spent three days at the National Championships, there were few riders there who wouldn't have benefitted from a spell on my Equisimulator, followed by a few daily sessions of lunging, then being taught to ride without the force displayed by so many. Invisible aids? Most of 'em wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about!Unless these riders, which are plain control freaks to my mind, come out of a lesson with a face like a beetroot and arms falling out of their sockets, they doon't feel that they have done good work.

I am off to Portugal again at the end of the month for a week's training, riding wonderful Lusitano stallions that respond almost to thoughts, right up to an including all of the Grand Prix movements. If you tried to ride in the way that many British competition riders favour, I think the stallions would sit down in protest.

This is what dressage is all about- when the partnership between horse and rider is so subtle that it is elavated to an art form. Then, it really is interesting and something you never stop learning about- the ultimate challenge of the partnership between man/woman and horse.



Heather

[JackiAH]

Wow Heather, I really never knew that about Dressage.

I always just thought it was some dressed-up rich person riding their expensive WB just trying to show off the horse's moves!! So it is really about balance, concentration, and being "one" with your horse... I'm going to try my hand at Dressage this summer, and I can't wait!

Thank you sooo much!!

Jacki

[floppy]

i use to ride a wonderful stallion in turkey that was the best horse since sliced bread for me! i used him mainly for jumping and even though he wasnt my horse we grew such a bond and we started to do dressage and it was wonderful..he was such a patience horse and learnt quickly..few happy stories have sad endings and this one does...he was put to sleep..
other than that a 3yr old hro sei rode was the best trained natural flowing hors ei have ridden too :)

[Liz E.]

I agree, Jacki. Thanks,Heather! It's great to have an author and such an experienced rider on the boards.

[Silvia]

Watching good dressage riders is absolutely wonderful. When I ride dressage I always try to keep the picture of my favourite Spanish riding school rider in mind. Invisible aids and the horse dancing under him. When I watched a performance for the first time I had tears in my eyes - it was so beautiful.

[clip-clop-oops-crash]

sumtimes i wish my mad horse would calm down enough 2 b able 2 do dressage!! - if only moves such as running backwards on her hind legs, the 'magic dissapearing head' or leaping off all fours (she does a fantastic frog immpresion!)couted i'm sure wed b pros!! - she does to an immpressive capriole (sp!) though! the point of this is (yes ther IS a point!) that even though i love the excitement of galloping and jumping - and 'anything' on my crazy mare! - there is still a wonderful sense of accomplishment when you and your horse achieve something in dressage.

[Fran_C]

I can tell you something, to do dressage brilliantly is much harder than to jump brilliantly, training a dressage horse takes time and understanding, but It is so much fun, kust as much fun as jumping and... don't laugh... Top Class dressage is so exiting to watch, to see how these horse just flow and seem to enjoy all that they do is breathtaking to watch, I was lucky enough to win tickets to the national championships and I can tell you it was just as exiting as going to Badminton Horse Trials, And about crowd noise, when I compete on my horse, I am soo glad the audience stay silent the slightest noise could just affect my ponies performance being the easily spooked type n I wouldn't want that to happen :)

[Sierramist]

I agree, dressage may LOOK boring, but usually it's a lot more interesting to WATCH at like, 2nd level or above. I have been riding it for a long while, and I really enjoy it... having a total connection feeling with your horse is the best thing in the world! =)

[Mossy]

I know I am repeating myself but dressage is just A levels for horses. I was out with Moss recently and, typical dartmoor lane, very narrow and very skinny passing place. Moss sasshayed into it beautifully. Had he turned into it his bum would have stuck out into the lane. Dressage in the real world.

[Maci]

Yeah! Sometimes when I try to get my horse to move over or something, while I'm in the process of doing that, he'll be doing a shoulder in or some complicated dressage move, and I won't even realise it!

Crazy I Tell You!
Maci :)

[Silvia]

Nikita will do a perfect leg yield when he is supposed to canter. But he won't do it when I want him to leg yield.
He is not being mean - he just doesn't understand my aids. I guess it will come in time. :rolleyes:

[floppy]

my 'dressage uneducated' haffie did a little flying lead change yesterday whilst out hacking :) completely out of th eblue

[JackiAH]

LOL Maci! I know exactly how you feel, when I was riding Pal a few days ago, I was trying to move him over to the fence annnnnnnnnnnd WooHoo! Perfect half-pass! And I didn't realize it!

Of course, then when you try and get them to do things like that they won't do it, right?

Jacki

[Maci]

It's like they can sense you thinking about it and how you're so determined to get it right, so they just do the opposite! :rolleyes:

Conclusion: "Thinking Too Hard Can Lead To Brain Failure!" LOL!
Maci :)

[Edited by Maci on 13th May 2001 at 05:14 PM]

[Wally]

When I first bought my nutter the last thing on earth you'd think he'd be able to do was dressage. He used to panic in the ring, he couldn't walk he just went fast in a mad rush. Now after a couple of years of taking things VERY slowly he is an absolute joy, he's calm, he listens, no more panic and now he has his ears pricked and he smiles! Dressage training can give a nervous horse so much confidence and faith in his ability. His shoulder in now is magical it used to be panic, panic, leap sideways, panic, bolt!!

[clip-clop-oops-crash]

suze can do a fabulous capriole during 1 of her (not so rare!) mad moments.....................