dressage horses vs. cross country horses in competitions

[lindiak007]

i am not sure where to put this subject...so i decide to put it here.....

are there differences between horses that participate in dressage and cross country horses competitions??? are dressage / cross country horses trained differently for each type of competition?????
i mean regard to aids etc....or it is really depending only on the horse....
thank you

 

[beating_hooves]

I think some horses are naturally suited to different things like XC horses are bold and careful jumpers (obv.!)
And dressage horses are obedient and have very floaty paces.
But you can train horses to do both, one and three day eventing is proof!
But you must make sure your horse can actually cope with the jumps, they just might not have the right breeding to be a jumper, it depends on a lot really!

 

[Iron Maiden]

I've been jumping a friend's lovely dressage horse a bit recently & I find it really hard work. He is SO obedient but he won't take the initiative and take me into a fence the way I'm used to with the not-so-obedient horses I usually ride, he almost waits for me to press 'go' before he takes off. As an experiment I rode him really quietly into a fence & didn't move a muscle, he barely took off & took it out at the roots! Not what I'm used to at all. I'm not sure how typical he is of dressage horses, but I have to confess that I do prefer a horse that takes the initiative, thinks for itself & doesn't depend on me to get it right every time (because I won't!)!

 

[lindiak007]

I've been jumping a friend's lovely dressage horse a bit recently & I find it really hard work. He is SO obedient but he won't take the initiative and take me into a fence the way I'm used to with the not-so-obedient horses I usually ride, he almost waits for me to press 'go' before he takes off. As an experiment I rode him really quietly into a fence & didn't move a muscle, he barely took off & took it out at the roots! Not what I'm used to at all. I'm not sure how typical he is of dressage horses, but I have to confess that I do prefer a horse that takes the initiative, thinks for itself & doesn't depend on me to get it right every time (because I won't!)!

yes...this is it probably....i had another thread about a dressage horse who was sooo well trained that was waiting for perfect aids every time and finished on the wall when I tried to stopped him;-((( That horse is definitely trained better than I am....but I was tired

I was jumping another horses (baaaasic small jumps ) and actually i let the horses do what they need to do and i concentrated on stable position and a head up, 2 point at the jump and sitting trot / canter before and everything was perfect....they speeded up naturally with no leg work, actually my trainer told me to halt like 15 feets before the jump and ...perfect....And yes...the horses i have jumped were not dressage horses....

 

[ClaireBear_nz]

My boy does both dressage and eventing (and show-jumping in the bargain!) and he is trained differently for both. On the flat, I think I do a lot more work, he's better trained over fences so lots of work on bending/stretching/circles etc and also, I'm directing this. I ask for transitions, stretching down.

Over fences, I throw everything away and Tally takes me over. We basically trade places and I'm a bit of a passenger really, I don't use a hell of a lot of aids except the occasional "ahhhhhhhhhhhh slow dowwwwwwwn" aids. He also goes in a different frame jumping to dressage.

On the flat

Over fences

Personally I prefer a horse that takes me over things, both of mine have been like that. My sister had a half Warmblood who was a rather nice dressage horse but the worlds most terrible jumper. He just couldn't cope with having his feet off the floor like that. It was very funny to watch as his mind slowly boggled before he attempted to take off

 

[lindiak007]

My boy does both dressage and eventing (and show-jumping in the bargain!) and he is trained differently for both. On the flat, I think I do a lot more work, he's better trained over fences so lots of work on bending/stretching/circles etc and also, I'm directing this. I ask for transitions, stretching down.

Over fences, I throw everything away and Tally takes me over. We basically trade places and I'm a bit of a passenger really, I don't use a hell of a lot of aids except the occasional "ahhhhhhhhhhhh slow dowwwwwwwn" aids. He also goes in a different frame jumping to dressage.

On the flat

Over fences

Personally I prefer a horse that takes me over things, both of mine have been like that. My sister had a half Warmblood who was a rather nice dressage horse but the worlds most terrible jumper. He just couldn't cope with having his feet off the floor like that. It was very funny to watch as his mind slowly boggled before he attempted to take off

Yes, me too...and I am riding just a year. at this moment i am a passanger as well.

nice horses...which breed are they?

 

[Lgd]

The basic aids for everything are similar but a horse doing higher level dressage - eventing dressage or pure dressage - can be quite difficult to ride for the inexperienced rider.

Mostly because they are trained to a much lighter/more precise aid and they trend to be very sensitive to the seat/weight aids. The older of my two dressage horses evented until she was an 8yo, but her talent lies far more in the dressage. She is the kindest horse imaginable and would never drop anyone but she will not walk in a straight line unless you sit straight and ride her straight. A small shift in the seat in canter will earn you a flying change, too much weight down the inside leg and a canter pirouette ensues.

My younger mare is not quite so sensitive to the seat but will still take the mick out of a novice rider albeit in the nicest possible way. She jumps for fun, although she has had a leg injury this year which means that she is no longer allowed to jump.

Basically the higher they go, the more buttons they have for you to push.

 

[lindiak007]

The basic aids for everything are similar but a horse doing higher level dressage - eventing dressage or pure dressage - can be quite difficult to ride for the inexperienced rider.

Mostly because they are trained to a much lighter/more precise aid and they trend to be very sensitive to the seat/weight aids. The older of my two dressage horses evented until she was an 8yo, but her talent lies far more in the dressage. She is the kindest horse imaginable and would never drop anyone but she will not walk in a straight line unless you sit straight and ride her straight. A small shift in the seat in canter will earn you a flying change, too much weight down the inside leg and a canter pirouette ensues.

My younger mare is not quite so sensitive to the seat but will still take the mick out of a novice rider albeit in the nicest possible way. She jumps for fun, although she has had a leg injury this year which means that she is no longer allowed to jump.

Basically the higher they go, the more buttons they have for you to push.

thank you...
that looks challenging for a beginner rider