Dressage video please critque

[jowyles]

This was from my uni competition today only half of it tho, never ridden the horse before had 7 mins uninstructed warm up what do you think? I scored 142/240
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhfLTDN-hwg

[NatalieR]

OMG i would never be able to ride a dressage test after riding a "unknown" horse for only 7mins u did absolutly brilliant!!!

[No_Angel]

I did dressage at uni today on a horse that looked similar to yours id hadnt ridden mine before and was quite pleased with how we did considering.

To me, you look like your working a bit to hard in trot, legs look a bit flappy suggesting horse is a bit behind the leg.
If it were me, id do quick assessment of horse in all paces, and then maybe work on lots of transitions to get horse off your leg

[NatalieR]

Originally Posted by No_Angel

I did dressage at uni today on a horse that looked similar to yours id hadnt ridden mine before and was quite pleased with how we did considering.

To me, you look like your working a bit to hard in trot, legs look a bit flappy suggesting horse is a bit behind the leg.
If it were me, id do quick assessment of horse in all paces, and then maybe work on lots of transitions to get horse off your leg

the exact help i would of given if i wasn't so amazed

[jowyles]

not as bad as the jumping 2ft9 course on a horse youve been on for 5 mins and only jumped over 4 jumps, the first time I jumped mine today it refused dishonestly! Only had one knockdown the and that got discounted due to horse error at that fence as all competitors had that fence down on my horse

[Skyhuntress]

Not bad for only riding him once!

It's kinda hard to critique it knowing that, because after all, you didn't know the horse, so I think you did a great job. The horse himself lacks any impulsion whatever (I wiould agree that he's behind your leg), and he's also majorly in front of the vertical, meaning that he hasn't accepted the bit at all - probably because of a lack of strength in his hind end, so that makes your job harder.

But other then that, well done

[coss]

agree with stormarion... horse looked lazy and was not accepting the bit, looked like a novice test so the judges would have been looking for some degree of outline but because you had only ridden the horse for a short amount of time that isn't your fault.
after a couple of minutes of assessing the horse i probably would have asked for a stick (wouldn't necessarily use it) just to let the horse know i want a bit more action. it wouldn't have been as hard work keeping the trot.
Well done though, it looked like you had a decent rein contact, the horse just didn't accept it

[Pink's lady]

only jumped over 4 jumps

you get four jumps? our taskmaster of a president (and self appointed warm-up supervisor ) allows up ONE jump before shoo-ing us off to the course

Nice looking horse

I've ridden a lot of horses in comps like that. The most important thing is the warm up and sussing your horse. If it's at all lazy, take a stick and get it going forwards - you can't do a nice test it your having to nag (which it appeared in this case). If they're sensitive/sharp get them bending and listening to YOU with loads of transitions and changes of bend (5m figures of 8 are useful, as is really pushing them into the corners).

For the test accuracy is vital. You looks fairly accurate in that test with good school use. There is no way you can re-school a horse in the 10min your on so work with what you've got. Cutting corners is a stupid way to loose marks. Not that I would ever do that Straight centre lines with no head weaving and a good bend on the turn is an easy way to pick up 2 extra points. Turning across the diagonals at the right spot etc.

But it's all too easy to say but when you're doing it and the horse has suddenly decided it's a giraffe (or in one case, terrified of it's own shadow and bolting) it tends to fall to bits. I always get m tests read out else I forget and get lost

The jumpings much more fun.........

[jowyles]

Yes i agree hate the dressage wish the jumping lasted as long lol! I did have a stick a rather long dressage whip but horse was abit bone idle and unresponsive, tho the lad after me got the horse working beautifully! Why is it always the lads that do the best!!!

[LesleyR]

Originally Posted by jowyles

Yes i agree hate the dressage wish the jumping lasted as long lol! I did have a stick a rather long dressage whip but horse was abit bone idle and unresponsive, tho the lad after me got the horse working beautifully! Why is it always the lads that do the best!!!

Maybe 'cos you'd already warmed it up for him?

Is it normal in uni competitions to have such a short warm up? I wouldn't expect ANY horse to be going well/accepting the bit in such a short space of time let alone one I'd never sat on before! I mean when I warm my own horse up I don't even take up a contact until he's had a good ten minutes to stretch over his back!

[xox stace xox]

do you allways get put on an uknown horse is that part of it sorry for the dumb question

but you did gr8

[jowyles]

yes thats the idea! 4 teams of four and four horses so one person from each team rides each horse, 1st person gets 10 mins and the rest get 7. Only at home comps do you ride a horse you may have ridden before but in my case that probably wont happen! Its all down to rider ability and being able to ride different types of horses...unfortunatly in some cases it means and unsporting person who puls the horses head in can do alot better because it looks like they have an outline and with the rest of the riders it isnt but thats just the way things are!

[HorseManiac]

Umm all i can say is your CONSTANTLY nudging that horse[well kicking - ish]]

Anneli xxx

[KateWooten]

so, is there a point to this sort of competition ? It seems to go against everything that's good ni horsemanship.

[jowyles]

Yes its basically the only was we can have an inter university competition that everyone can compete in fairly, as in if you had to own you own horse pretty much no one would compete in inter uni competitions, it also gives alot of people the chance to compete that never have had before 3 of our team had never competed outside riding school before and ive only done little bits at local shows, its actually quite enjoyable when you get over the initial nerves!

[Daffy Dilly]

All the horses are warmed up before the classes begin, as they're "shown off" so the teams can decide who they think is best riding what. So they warm up, then get put through their paces, then get "warmed up" again before each person competes, although that's obviously more for the benefit of the rider.

Looked like a good test to me. To say he looked pretty balanced he looked like hard work to keep going, but it'd be boring if they were all push button.

Agree on the accuracy front, my 6's were for overshooting the centre line, twice! and having a rather small 15metre circle. If it'd been the A team test, I'm sure they do a 10m one

Unlike you, I would much prefer to ride two dressage tests and skip the jumping!

Oh and got 6's for the medium trot too, but I might struggle to improve on that one

[KateWooten]

Yeah, I'm with Daffy on that one ! I can just about imagine trying to ride a dressage test on an unknown horse... but jumping one I'd be running fast in the other direction !!

[neen]

It was in a BUSA competition that I had my scary jumping experience that still troubles me now, 18 years on. I've never jumped since. I saw your thread on this, too, Daffy -- take it from me, don't agree to anything just because you don't want to let your team down, make sure you're really happy with it first.

[Daffy Dilly]

I suppose they're all riding school horses, so you can be mostly confident they wont kill you, and you do see them ridden by other people first - their ability is shown off. The cob I rode to try and jump yesterday, had done some bsja, so he was more than capable of the 2'9 fences, and soared over them with all the other riders.

The dressage though, was great fun. I was on a really speedy pony. Not push button, if you didn't get the contact right it would throw its head around, but great fun to ride.

I would've said that all of the horses had an issue or two that needed work, for me on the flat it was speed, that trot was really quick. One of the horses was an ex eventer, and extremely strong, another was very unbalanced, and one was a little lazy.

Jumping wise, there was the cob that needed a bit of leg (so no real issues, other than it being a "boring cob" in the eyes of some), a really fast jumping pony that didn't like being held back, a horse that needed a good rider and very good approaches or it'd refuse, and a novice pony. All capable, but all with quirks to prove we can ride I guess.

[Daffy Dilly]

Originally Posted by neen

It was in a BUSA competition that I had my scary jumping experience that still troubles me now, 18 years on. I've never jumped since. I saw your thread on this, too, Daffy -- take it from me, don't agree to anything just because you don't want to let your team down, make sure you're really happy with it first.

No need to worry about that! I would've been really annoyed with myself if I hadn't tried it, so I had to give it a shot, but the obvious rider-reason behind the refusal was confirmation for me that I definately wasn't ready. However, I plan to ride the dressage test every day for the next few, and hopefully next time I can pay more attention to the size of my circles.