jumping pony doing dressage - or rather, not doing it . . .

[can't_decide]

we-ll, my YO has gone on holiday and her daughter asked me to exercise one of her ponies whilst she's away. It's only for a week but I'm keen to see if i can make a difference - plus I've been wanting to work this pony for AGES and i don't want to waste the chance! it's a 14hh tbxwelsh mare, they're on the junior event team for the local PC branch and are doing pretty well, they've been placed every event at 2ft6 and recently 2ft9. She always goes clear sj and x country so it's the dressage that let's them down and it's that i've been asked to practise.

Thing is, the daughter loves jumping with a passion and despises dressage (and is 11, so with happy simplicity jumps every day) with the result that the pony is a fab jumper, completely push button, and the dressage has . . . er . . . suffered. Transitions are good but apart from that I'm not very enthused. She looks good at first glance but when you look closer/get on her, she's very stuffy and there's no adaptability or softness to her outline. She doesn't really move through her back and hindlegs sufficently or bend properly. Gosh, she sounds awful but is working well for her level, better than i have made her sound!

So, my plan of action is: lunge every day with sidereins, asking her to work long and low, because she's not at all in the habit of working in any kind of a dressage outline. Then ride , working a lot on turns and circles, and changes within the pace to try to get her working through. I rode her for the second time today, and she was already less stuffy - i think it's because she's very forward going when jumping so is in the habit of being held back. I have her in a rugby pelham but only because i love them, i have faith in my brakes so i'm going to try her with some other bits, perhaps hanging cheek french link.

Any thoughts? She has been sooooooo overjumped and I've never been in this situation before. I'm hoping when her rider gets back she'll let me help her with the dressage as she's pretty competitive and it seems silly for her to have this brilliant jumper whose dressage lets her down. Does what i plan to do sound sensible in the short term, and how about long term plans?

Thanks, sorry, this has ended up longer than i thought . . .

[helenc]

Personally I prefer not to lunge but get straight on with the ridden stuff, I just find it easier to teach the horse new things when ridden.

What you have planned sounds fine for starters although I definitely wouldn't lunge every day with a horse that has no basic schooling.

I would start off in the school doing as you said - plenty of circles, serpentines, changes of direction, changes of pace, changes of speed within the paces using half halts etc. Since this pony has not done any real flatwork remember that he/she will need plenty of small breaks where they can have a stretch, it will be quite hard work.

I would also go for at least one hack & probably go for a short hack after a schooling session so that I could put some of the schooling into practice whilst out & about in a more relaxed atmosphere.

The pony may well be less forward going during flatwork so it is a must that you have a good active pace at all times.

Hope it goes well.

[Mehitabel]

echo helen - lungeing *and* riding every day sounds like too much for the horse's current state.

since she doesn't have the right muscle to work in a decent outline, that will make her sore and stiff if done every day for a week.

if it were me, i'd just ride, spend a lot of time in walk working on bend and transitions to step under and get the back and back end loosened up. although she's fit for what she does currently, dressage will use a whole new set of muscles and she'll find it almost as hard as if she were completely unfit. also hacking out for a change of pace and for some fun for the pony.

[helenc]

How are you getting on can't_decide?

[cvb]

just wondering about the choice of bit, as it won't be the bit she uses in dressage ??

yes it may help you with the remedial work, but you need to be sure it will translate back into a dressage-legal bit.

[can't_decide]

well, my week is up and i hope i made some improvement :cool:

yeah, the pelham didn't prove to be much use for remedial work either so i changed it pretty soon into a hanging cheek snaffle with a french link, in which i found it much easier to connect with her mouth. Trouble is, I don't think her usual rider will be able to hold her in that when she's jumping or hacking so I'm going to work hard to persuade her to use it for flatwork!

I took her out quickly before and after i schooled her, as i found she concentrated more after she'd had a canter :rolleyes: and then worked her a lot in walk, asking her to work through her back, doing loads of turns and circles etc as you guys suggested. By the end of the week she was going much better, still not immensely well but she had some flex through her and her head was in a much better place, as were her hindlegs. So I'm pretty happy, really, though i wish I'd had longer as I could have done rather a lot more.

I'm just really really really hoping she'll let me help her with the flatwork schooling - gosh, even if she wants to jump every day I'll do dressage every day! - because I can see the foundations I've attempted to build just being abandoned . . . .

Thanks for the help, hopefully we'll see some decent results in a while!