Hi there! I am doing something a bit different today to go and look at this dressage test Jax and I recently competed. I feel like I’m being a bit brave here putting an entire dressage test (that wasn’t great) online for all to tear apart…so be kind folks. I’m here to learn and grow…and I hope you are too! Dressage is…as a friend recently said to me…a sport of inches. I would go so far as it’s a sport of millimeters! Any single thing can cause a number of issues to chain down the line to cause a not so perfect test. Now this test included is not a terrible one, but it’s certainly not very good. It’s USDF 3rd Level Test 3. We scored a 62%. What’s interesting to me about this test is analyzing how it felt to ride vs. how it looks vs. the test sheet vs. the hints of what I felt coming out in the visual of a test. I’m looking at this one both as a rider wanting to get better and wanting to have a better understanding of how judges see things that might not be so obvious to the regular viewer. There were a number of 7s on this test but also a few 5s and a 4. I’m going to note what the judge said about the lower marks below as well.
Lets go through this here.
What I felt: Jax was SUPER tense. He would not release or relax over his back in the warm up, and that continued into the tests (both of them). Half halts were not going through and I did my best to ride the test and keep the appearance of him being on the bit as it were. He was not. He was bouncing from being heavy in the hand and trying to run off…to behind my leg and not going anywhere. The ride didn’t feel light and effortless…but felt like I was doing everything I could to keep it all together. This felt like one of my worst rides ever on Jax. This second test was better, but it was still rough. I felt pretty beat up physically and emotionally afterward.
What the video looks like on first view: Nothing majorly bad happened in the test. The changes weren’t great, but they weren’t horrible either. There were no off courses, no disobedience either major or minor, no head tossing, going above the bit or hugely obvious signs of tension. He took a few wonkey steps in the trot in a few places. The canter looks very labored and loses rhythm quite a lot. The rider (me) looks a bit uncomfortable.
What the judge said: I should mention the judge called me over after the first test and said she almost rang us out for him being lame, but she was giving me the benefit of the doubt. “Still some irregular steps behind in left turns, but much improved. Canter needs more jump/forward feel.”
HXF – Change Rein, Medium Trot F – Score of 5 – Note: irregular steps at start and over CL
E-X – Half Circle Right 10m X-B – Half Circle Left 10m – Score of 5 – Note: Irregular Steps
Transitions at M & K – Score of 5.5 – Note: Slightly Irregular
I-R – Half circle Right 10m R-K – Change rein, flying change of lead near centerline – Score of 4 – Note: losing impulsion and clarity at canter, 1 step of trot
H – Collected Trot – Score of 5 – Note: lost impulsion, steps quite short
Everything else was a 6, 6.5 or 7. 7s were earned on Centerline/Halt, Extended Trot, Halt/Rein Back, Walk Turn on the Haunches left, Medium Walk, Canter Half Pass Right, Extended Canter, Centerline/Halt. We did get a 6.5 on the first lead change which I was pretty happy about.
Analysis: First I want to say how thrilled I was on a few points.
1. The walk turn on the haunches. These were 100% the best we’ve ever done these. Ditto the Halt/RB.
2. One of our lead changes got a 6.5…which is a huge step in the right direction for us on changes even if the other had a trot step.
3. The half passes are getting confirmed at this level of difficulty. With 6s and 7s for them in both tests.
4. The entire walk portion of the test was solid with 6s, 6.5s and 7s.
Now onto the tricky bits. So you can put together from the judges comments and my feelings on the ride that there was a major issue with tension. Because Jax was unable to relax his back for me and get through, the half halts weren’t able to get through. In fact every time I half halted him in the trot you can see it in that he suddenly looks uneven/lame behind. The extended trot that earned a 7? Well I’d learned in the medium that if I tried to re-balance, he would go wonkey instead of re-balancing…so I didn’t give him a single aid in that extension other than telling him to go.
Comments with Timestamps (embedding the video again for ease of viewing):
0:37 – you can see when we go into the corner and I half halt I get a funny step. Also twice in the medium trot he looks like he takes a lame step behind.
1:22 – you can see in the bend change when I ask for a re-balance he gets uneven behind again.
4:14 – canter depart. It’s obvious to me at least how tight his back is. He almost looks lateral (which he has a tendancy to do when he gets very tight over his back). This bit here made me go home and work on the canter with my trainer for a whole lesson. Granted he wasn’t tight and tense at home so everything looked and felt so much better.
4:35 – You can see in the middle of this half circle I kick and get after him the tiniest bit to get more canter and it does improve the canter enough for us to make this change a clean one (even if quite crooked).
5:28 – the bad change. He does like to sneak in this extra step this direction A LOT. It’s something we’ve been working on for a long time now. When the situation gets stressful, he goes back to what’s easy…which is this.
6:04 – you can see this transition is dodgy and he doesn’t want to do it..and when I re-balance in the trot I immediately get funny steps behind.
So now that all the analysis is done of the test…what can be made of it? What can be done next time? Well as horses are horses and you just NEVER know on any given day it was certainly very situational as none of these problems (minus the changes) occur at home. What was the problem? Was it because he hasn’t been to a show in 7 months? Was it because he had to pee? He immediately peed as soon as I dismounted at the trailer…so was the tight back simply because he had a full bladder? Perhaps. I’ve seen it happen to other riders before. Or perhaps it was the tussle he got into with the blanketing guy that morning? He felt a bit tight for the first few rides after the show especially bending to the right…but the chiropractor only found the issues in the normal places and said he looked and felt pretty good for his baseline. Is it the ulcers we thought we treated? Maybe. We’re treating him again…and I’m adding some other supplements and going to dose him on the next show. Was it the fact that he isn’t’ used to getting ridden so close to dark? In an arena with light coming in and creating blind spots (the blind spots in the first test were even worse)? Was it the fact that most of the horses were gone? That he didn’t have any buddies in the trailer. Honestly…who knows. It could have been any of these…or none of these…or some combination of these.
However it gave me things to work on for the next one. Namely making sure my canter is clear and forward and really working on making sure my half halts are coming from my seat rather than my hands and that he is staying through and forward even with distractions. It all comes down to basics after all!
We’re giving it another go in a couple of weeks to see what we can do.
Do you see anything in this test that I missed? That the judge missed? Have you ever had to deal with so much tension from your horse at a horse show you weren’t really sure what to do? What are your tips for getting a horse to release over the topline when they are struggling with being nervous?