Dressage Club

In a bid to improve my dressage score I signed up to Dressage club this year. I was looking at clubs for ages and trying to work out which would be best for my money and which club we would enjoy the most. Having previously attended an adult riding club where I found everything to be a bit disappointing (no one was very friendly, the coaches didn’t work for me and it was expensive) I was worried about picking the right club.

My coach recommended this club to me as she has previously attended and friends of mine already go, including a very high level dressage judge. If that’s not recommendation enough I don’t know what is. My coach is very picky about other coaches too so if she says they are good then they usually are!

No pictures, so these are some from the last few weekends

Andrew was show jumping all weekend so I had to be brave and go on my own. Luckily another friend was also joining so I wasn’t going to be the only new kid. Really though I had no need to worry!

We were the first to arrive and I got Henry settled into a yard while we waited for something to happen. Pony club trained us to be early and prepared but adult riders are more relaxed and with only two arenas to set up we didn’t need to be as early as we were. Everyone was very friendly and introduced themselves during set up and I was enjoying myself before I even rode.

My first lesson as in a group with two other riders. Their horses were both older than Henry but the horses and riders were much greener than us. It didn’t matter though because the coach was great.  I got loads of useful things and we worked on what I normally do with my coach. It was perfect because it was similar but different phrasing really helped me and I got Henry going really well.

After a quick break and a chat I had a session on my own with the same coach and I ran through a dressage test. The instant feedback as I was going around complemented the plan I had come up with for the test and gave me a few more things to add in before the competition we had the next day. Plus I had an epiphany… I look up and around where I’m going in jumping, why the fuck don’t I do it in dressage! When I paid more attention and planned a head better I rode more accurately, threw away less easy points, and Henry went better.

Storm clouds from a few weeks ago

My main points from my lessons were to imagine I have a great big dinosaur tail and drape it on the left side of Henry. This allowed me to put more weight to the left and ride more evenly. I struggle with this and found that it was much easier imagining my tail than thinking to put more weight in the left stirrup.

My hands need to follow more at the walk and canter, and I need to think that the rein belongs to Henry. I need to think at all times if I can ask him to lower his pole and allow his to stretch down and out. As soon as I did this, his frame softened and he felt like butter in my hands. I also need to have a softer outside rein that can receive the contact and insist on flexion

Rosie loves swimming!

I need to ask quieter with my aides, half halt by stretching my heels down and sitting taller, ride accurately, and do more transitions. I practiced turning the canter on and off and it was so easy to do the rapid fire transitions but they needed more work to stay rounder and connected.

The main thing that I focussed on was to ride the horse, not the dressage test! Plus the coach said Henry has an 8 walk and I really need to highlight it in my tests. I have a tendency to rush it and he gets all his legs tangled. So that kinda fits in with the ride quieter mantra!

After I was done riding I sat around and chatted for a while before heading home. It was a really lovely day and I enjoyed it immensely. Everyone made me feel so welcome and they all thought Henry was the bee’s knees, so obviously I like them all for saying that!