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Dressage - what can we learn from a "bad" test


We all have off days, horses and humans.  The important thing is not to be disheartened, but to learn from it and move on

A couple of weeks ago Beau and I performed a dressage to music test at prelim level.  In theory this should have been easy, because we have all the elementary moves at home.  However that particular day Beau was having none of it

We are all taught from our first time in the saddle that if something goes wrong it's our fault and not the horse's.  This was true that day as much as any other, there would have been lots of tools in a better rider's kit to overcome his behaviour.  But... never forget you are riding a living, breathing, thinking, sentient being; in Beau's case a being with plenty of his own opinions.  On a good day he is like riding a machine - very sensitive and very easy.  On a bad day he reminds me that at 21 he hasn't just read the book on evasions - he wrote it!

We started well in the warm up - it was very very hot so I took it easy on us both.  He was soft, moving sideways from my leg, and working properly.  There was a short walk to the competition arena during which he squeezed in half a dozen spooks - out of character for him but i thought OK, we can work with this.  When we got to the arena though, the PA system let out a loud screech that made us both jump, and at that moment i completely lost him and could not get him back

The test felt like a disaster to me.  He was so tense we were about 20 metres behind our music by the turn at C!  He wouldn't stretch and he wouldn't accept my legs or hands.  It was like riding a picnic table.  It probably would have been fine if i'd had 5 minutes to canter round the outside and soften him, but we were first in so that didn't happen

After the test i took him back to the warm up - he could not be allowed to be naughty and then be rewarded by me getting off!  Confusingly he worked for 5 minutes like a star, so i called it a day

When I collected our sheet our score was 66%, which i was so disappointed with.  I have still yet to score 70% at prelim but have managed 69.81%, and have beaten 70% more than once at novice.  Go figure!

The score was what made me think properly about what had actually happened and what i needed to take away, and here's the learning:


  • A year ago I would have been so happy with 66%, so we must have improved for me to be so be disappointed
  • I must have learned along the way that the score doesn't actually matter - it's the feel during the test that counts, and that's what had upset me
  • Going forward I need to work on Beau's emotional suppleness - with Alison's help - and how to distract him
  • Beau must, in any situation, accept the contact.  We occasionally work now in a double bridle or loose draw reins at home, and that has worked miracles for him because even though I ride off the snaffle all the time, he has no easy escape route!
  • The warm up is key, but that continues all the way to the bell, I mustn't let him wander to the arena
  • The only reason we had an OK score at all is because I have now learned to push sideways into downwards trans
  • Having seen the photos i need to either lose weight or wear a jacket even in 30 degrees C!
  • Christine from Dressage Perspectives shared her insight:  The test was in parts perfect, in parts distracted and when distracted it was terrible!
  • Finally, the simplest lesson of all in a music test - if one end of the school is scary - don't use it!

I hope you can find some help and/or encouragement from what I learned that day - onwards and upwards.  Be More Charlotte!

Love and light, Tam and Beau x

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