We had a couple opportunities this weekend to practice the USEA Starter dressage test, with the help of our new recorded ride guides. And I’m really glad for it, and especially for videoing the first session on my helmet camera.
d’aww flashback to the weediest biscuit circa winter 2023
Realistically, I haven’t done much dedicated ‘test practice’ with Doozy bc the juice never really felt like it was worth the squeeze. Like, we all knew she’d be a wild animal at the show so why even bother, right? Better to just practice the general basics and then take what we get in the actual dressage ring.
slightly more robust version two years later <3
But ya know. The horse *IS* growing up and becoming more schooled, and actually put together quite a nice (IMHO) set of tests at BCHC a couple weeks ago. It feels like we’re finally getting closer to a point where the horse is more or less going to go the way I ride her. Which, naturally, means it’s **my** responsibility to ride as clean of a test as **I’m** capable of doing.
not gonna win any awards for this video (or test, LOL)
but it gets the job done for recording our practice!
Which… Turn out, I’m nottt quite picking up that slack yet. Above is a video from our first test run through this weekend, after a reasonably successful warm up facilitated by my new favorite ride guides. And it’s pretty easy to see in the video that Doozy is going along quite nicely.
anyway. today’s pictures are all blurry brown blobs. sorry? at least it sorta masks how i’m losing her shoulder around this circle LOL
Her rhythm is much more consistent, and she’s mostly quite obedient for all the transitions, especially the downward canter-trot transitions that are historically more of a challenge for us.
recording our practice is so helpful!
But… It’s still not actually that great of a test, but **finally** for reasons that are fairly easy to pin on the rider instead of the horse. My favorite type of problems, yay!
Namely, the whole test looks a little bit behind the leg IMO. I don’t really have Doozy on the aids, and it’s especially apparent in three key places:
1. Our entry tour past the judge on the way to the first trot circle is fairly wobbly
2. Similarly, picking up after the free walk is too tentative, reins too long
3. Canter transitions were a little sticky, especially the right lead
pictured: a pretty decent canter trot downward transition, rider still collapses tho
Now I want to be completely clear here: if I got a test that looked like the above video at an actual three phase horse trial? I’d be happy LOL!
But! It was also fairly apparent to me watching that video that I am still overall too tentative riding the test. Like. Emma. C’mon. We’re in the quiet indoor at home alone. Ride every.step of the test, it’s literally not a big deal.
soooooo our free walk has gotten a bit curled recently, womp
So I came back out the next day and repeated the whole exercise, tho I didn’t fuss with the camera on this day.
New areas of focus included being a bit more assertive about pushing the mare into the aids. I tried to imagine Doozy as a balloon — I just wanted a little more air, puff her up just a little bit more — while still trying to find a fluid forward balance in the contact.
trying so hard to not fall apart in second half of test
Especially for that right lead canter depart. There’s something to how I’m riding that pattern from free walk to trot circle to canter depart that’s creating the right conditions for the mare to fuss and kick out, bc she’s generally not doing that at any other time in these rides.
I also need to be a bit more disciplined in overall geometry in general, and riding corners in particular. In fact, I could do myself a favor and fit more foot steps into every long side by riding deeper into the corners. This is especially apparent in the entry of the test, where we ride the short side past the judge, and then again as we pick up after the free walk.
the rest of the circle was actually fine tho!
Finally, my last big takeaway is that I need to push harder on my position. Even with the ride guides, I’m still often sitting off to the right, with my hands too low and reins too long.
anyway here’s a gif of doozy being fascinated with the steward’s pug from loch moy, as a reward for looking at all the blurry brown blobs
It’s not ALL bad news, tho! A couple areas from these practice rides went really well — especially the canter-trot transitions. With the help of the recording, I’m thinking about preparing for that transition into the corner instead of coming out onto the long side — and that seems to work a lot better for Doozy.
Practicing the final center line pattern to halt has also been helpful. Doozy often is thinking ‘canter’ at that particular moment, but I think she’s figuring out the pattern and learning to anticipate a halt instead.
yer a good mare, dooz!
Honestly it’s kinda amazing how enlightening intentional dedicated practice can be, LOL…. Who woulda thunk. I’ll probably ride the test a couple more times this week too.
Idk if next weekend will be our last time riding the test or not, but regardless I’d like to see improvement from past efforts. Or at least, I don’t want to unnecessarily leave points on the table for not riding my best if Doozy happens to be particularly well behaved haha. We can all hope!!
Everyone says not to test ride too much on hot, intelligent horses who like to anticipate, but I actually found the opposite to be true with Arwen - it's important not to test ride *too little*. She will anticipate after doing the test twice, but after doing it ten times, she knows it well enough to know *exactly* where that transition will be, and we can practice waiting and steadiness. The more we ride our tests, the LESS anticipation we get - if we can get through the very dodgy and excited 3rd or 4th repetition lol (Not all in one day, obviously)
Yea I’m honestly coming to the same conclusion tbh. And the more I think about it, I’m not sure I even agree with the original premise that “you shouldn’t ride the test too much” in the first place bc 1) realistically we riders need practice bc knowing a thing isn’t the same as doing a thing, and the better we can DO it, the better our horses will go 2) in my experience horses are generally happier in the work when they know what to expect
I thought the same re your canter-trot transitions, they were pretty excellent! Thinking back to my Goggles days, the "ooze" into feeling would be super helpful. I don't think my little melty pat of butter needs to be anymore oozy than he already is though LOL
Anyways, how fun to be able to ride every stride. That shows huge progress from both of you!
lol thanks! And yea the “ooze” idea isn’t great for every horse, like Charlie needed to be more crispy haha… but yes it’s clear the horse is ready for me to step up my own game, very exciting ! Also exciting — looks like a great weekend at stableview, looking forward to reading about it!!!
So smart of you to video your very intentional practice rides. It always looks a lot different than it feels so it's nice to be able to have both. You two have made so much progress this summer. You wouldn't have been able to focus on all the little things that you are now a few months back.
Everyone says not to test ride too much on hot, intelligent horses who like to anticipate, but I actually found the opposite to be true with Arwen - it's important not to test ride *too little*. She will anticipate after doing the test twice, but after doing it ten times, she knows it well enough to know *exactly* where that transition will be, and we can practice waiting and steadiness. The more we ride our tests, the LESS anticipation we get - if we can get through the very dodgy and excited 3rd or 4th repetition lol
ReplyDelete(Not all in one day, obviously)
Yea I’m honestly coming to the same conclusion tbh. And the more I think about it, I’m not sure I even agree with the original premise that “you shouldn’t ride the test too much” in the first place bc
Delete1) realistically we riders need practice bc knowing a thing isn’t the same as doing a thing, and the better we can DO it, the better our horses will go
2) in my experience horses are generally happier in the work when they know what to expect
I thought the same re your canter-trot transitions, they were pretty excellent! Thinking back to my Goggles days, the "ooze" into feeling would be super helpful. I don't think my little melty pat of butter needs to be anymore oozy than he already is though LOL
ReplyDeleteAnyways, how fun to be able to ride every stride. That shows huge progress from both of you!
lol thanks! And yea the “ooze” idea isn’t great for every horse, like Charlie needed to be more crispy haha… but yes it’s clear the horse is ready for me to step up my own game, very exciting ! Also exciting — looks like a great weekend at stableview, looking forward to reading about it!!!
DeleteWOW the difference in her body in two years actually stopped me in my tracks...
ReplyDeleteSo smart of you to video your very intentional practice rides. It always looks a lot different than it feels so it's nice to be able to have both. You two have made so much progress this summer. You wouldn't have been able to focus on all the little things that you are now a few months back.
ReplyDelete