I was riding in the howling wind and on and off rain on Monday when suddenly a thought occurred to me.
As you all may know I am a dressage enthusiast and having just made the transition from Unaffiliated to Affiliated dressage I am finding new exercises to do with Ceaser that helps him look and feel more supple.
Before we made the step from unaffiliated to affiliated we were working at elementary level and doing really well. We were always placed in the top two and came out with some top end 60% scores.
For those who know me well will know I never practice my dressage test. I'm not one of these riders that spend hours in the menage the week before my dressage test practicing Elementary 44 before I'm due to do it the following Sunday.
Admittedly there have been occasions where I've felt like I could have done with the extra few days of practice and time to get that 10meter loop in from the track in canter perfected but with university commitments it means I have only been at home over the weekends lately and I just haven't had the time to practice. Friends that come with me to the dressage competitions will always say "Oh Sian, you're terrible" when I mention I haven't practiced but really is there a need?
I don't believe in boring your horse in to submission with endless attempts at perfecting your up and coming test and in stead I will unpick the dressage test I am due to ride and practice little fractions of it.
If I know I have a 10meter loop in the following weeks dressage test then I spend my schooling session with Ceaser the week before perfecting our 10meter loops and combining it into what other schooling exercises I had planned.
Also, if in my previous test I was told my 20meter circle was a little on the large side or my free walk on a long rein wasn't active enough then I practice that. Its the same for when I'm warming up at a competition. I don't panic and begin practicing my test there and then, I simply unpick the movements required of me for the test I am about to ride and insert them into my warming up plan.
I used to always get to a dressage competition and panic about the test I was about to ride, I'd make my test caller read out the up and coming test in the warm up and ring so I could quickly go through it.
Its okay "quickly going through" your test either the day before your due to compete, or in the warm up ring but is that setting your horse up correctly for the test you're about to ride?
Ceaser is a lovely 14.1h, 16 year-old gelding. I have owned him since he was 3 and to say we know each other inside out is quite a understatement. I know that look he gets when he's seen something worth investigating and he's planning on taking me for a skiing lesson whilst he runs off with me attached to the end of the lead rope whilst he checks it out. I know the tense feeling he gets when he is about to throw an almighty buck in or rear in frustration and on the contrary, he knows when I'm in a mood as usually that is when he misbehaves!
I'm under no circumstances here saying I claim to be a horse whisperer and Ceaser and I can talk to one another, what I am saying is we have a connection and to ride a good dressage test I think this is what is needed.
Having owned Ceaser for so long now I know his quirks, what he's afraid of and how to ride him through a particularly bad day. It has always been evident to me and my many of instructors that he is a pony that "likes to be kept busy". If he isn't kept busy you're likely to end up careering from one end of the school to another because a birds flapped its wings or a pony in the neighboring field has came close to the menage to have a look.
Recently a new riding instructor said to me "I've noticed you grab hold of him as soon as you get in the arena Sian, why?". I simply explained that he is a pony that for the first few minutes will test you out. Often in the first few minutes of riding I've found myself back at the gate quicker than a bird could fly out the hedge. So, I take a hold and just let him know we are there to work and then when I feel he has settled do
wn I allow a walk on a long rein.Again, lets go back to when I was riding on Monday; it was windy and ever so slightly sleeting. No other horses were out in the field and walking Ceaser down to the menage I knew he would be tense to ride that day and possibly spooky because of the wind. When we built the menage I asked for Dad to throw every possible object around the arena so we could desensitise the horses. Around it we've got banners, viewing galleries, conifer trees, a horse that can come up to the side, everything.
I don't believe in wanting to take your horse out competing if you do not desensitise them. I've been at a livery yard before where the owner had tried to enclose the arena off in case spooky ponies were ever ridden in there. Do not expect your horse to work correctly at a competition where it is seeing new unfamiliar objects if you do not work on getting him used to these objects at home.
Anyway, back to Monday. As I went to mount Ceaser he was already snorting at a leaf blowing across the arena and even walking round he was snorting with every foot fall he made. If I didn't know him I think I would have probably swiftly ridden for 5 minutes and got off. He was very tense and I knew I had a spooky pony on my hands.
Don't forget horses are herd animals, to them if they are taken away from their herd they become vulnerable and potentially are putting themselves in danger. What may be a simple leaf blowing across the arena to us could could potentially to a horse be a bear about to attack. Putting yourself in your horses position and theoretically looking through his eyes I believe can and will make you a better rider.
As I asked Ceaser to trot his head went between his legs and on went the snorting. Now, I could have just trotted around the arena several times which trust me I have seen many liveries do, but in stead I worked on what I knew was coming up in my dressage test the following sunday. Figures of eights, 3 loop serpentines, 20 meter circles, the lot. Often if I can feel I haven't got Ceaser 100% I ask him to leg-yield and shoulder in a few times. This takes a lot of concentration and usually after this a light in his head so to speak suddenly clicks and he knows he is there to work.
Yes, he was still snorting the whole way around the arena but after an initial spook at some birds in the field next to the arena I managed to then get him past that particular part without even so much as eying up the field. It took a few attempts but gradually the tense feeling he began with went and I had a pony beneath me that was working lovely, in an outline, tracking up correctly and listening to my every move and signal.
What I am suggesting or even saying (you decide) here is that too many riders get on and just trot endlessly around the arena, I've seen it so many times when I have been stood watching a livery. Trotting around the edge four or five times isn't getting your horse to work, you may as well have put it out in the field in stead of ridden.
Also, on the contrary I see too many riders getting that last minute test practice in by demanding their horse go through the test every day for a week leading up to their up and coming test.
DON'T! What will you achieve by doing this? Start again, unpick your test, think of areas you aren't strong in and work on them. Combine these exercises in to your schooling plan and keep your horse busy. It is amazing how many liveries or friends come up to me and say "Sian, my horse is being naughty". When I ask what they've done they simply tell me they've just been trying to go around the arena and maybe done the odd 20 meter circle. Stop and think for a second, put yourself in the position of your horse. Would we always run the same run whilst training for a marathon? Would we run around the garden daily to get our exercises?
I am sure many of you are sat there shaking your head and saying no. Runners will test themselves, they'll change the route of their run, they'll sprint half the way and jog the rest. They wont go to the same spot daily where the marathon is due to be held and run that same run. It'd get boring, repetitive and I'm sure after a few days you'd think "oh I can't be bothered anymore".
Don't treat your horse different to how you treat yourself. Think of interesting exercises to keep him focused, listening and right there underneath you. Don't practice your up and coming dressage test endless times before you're due to ride it. You could just well get to the day of test and your horse literally thinks "I'm fed up of this, I'm going to misbehave" because he is fed up of doing the same thing over and over again.
A better horse is one schooled correctly and consistently. Change exercises, take your horse out for a hack one day in stead of schooling. Pop some trotting poles out and change the way and tempo in which you approach and go over them.
A happy horse is one that owner and rider understands it.
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