My journal for my horse Johnny as he comes out and experiences the world for the first time. Basically this is a how to on training young horses into little superstars.
Johnny is a 6 year old pure bred Connemara. He has never ever done anything oth...
Today me and Johnny did some dressage schooling in preparation for his first One Day Event on the 28th. The dressage test is 'The Pony Club Novice Eventing Test 2013' it's a test I have done many times with Starlight when he's competed for my pony club. Stars best score on this test is 25.4, an sorry to confuse you all - the lower the score in dressage (for eventing only) is better. Test is below for reference :)
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I am doing the Level 3, and this is the equivalent to a BE90. As its a pony club competition they do it in 'Levels' instead of BE as BE stands for British eventing and you have to be a member of BE to compete under BE (if that makes any sense) BE is also a national competition, where as the ODE is run under the pony club, it is also only an area 11 competition, (slightly smaller) I am representing my branch.
The dressage test is fairly complicated however this is a lot better for Johnny as it gives him something to think about. It's not too hard, just a bit twisty to keep Johnny on his toes. For dressage I also have to wear a specific outfit, so I must wear a tweed jacket (they can be any colour) a stock and stock pin (because I'm a senior) then long boots, and white jodhpurs. I also have to wear a tabard with my number on.
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Johnny then has to wear a certain bit, a clean bridle and saddle, and then either a saddle cloth with the pony club branch name on, or a white numnah (but only white numnah's allowed for dressage, not any other discipline) you can see this in the picture above, that is starlight, not Johnny as he hasn't done on yet, star has done plenty! Here star is wearing the Pony Club's numnah with the branch on his side as it was an area competition 🐴
When he is ridden and we are practicing dressage, we don't do the test, we just do certain parts of it. So I practice cantering circles, I practice tear drops in trot, I practice changes of reins and walking across the centre.
Johnny has been doing really well, and we are going to start back with the jumping on Friday hopefully :)
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For dressage he has to be ridden in a snaffle, and he is being ridden in something called an 'Egbutt Snaffle' that you can see in the picture above.
Johnny is also ridden in a grackle bridle, this is the cross on the nose, it meets on the nose and is a bit fluffy to stop any sores. It stops the horse from being able to cock their jaw, basically crossing the jaw causing them to go on the forehand (lean on your hand) we want to be able to go with a light contact and on a slight outline.
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For the actual competition Johnny will be plaited. You plait it first and then roll the plaits into 4 or 5 folds to make the 'balls'
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Hope you enjoyed a little insight into my training or my little almost conversation about my dressage hehe.
