[drivingpairs] Re: remembering tests
- From: "Diane Kastama" <dkastama@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2006 15:32:07 -0700
Helen said "When learning to do dressage tests and cones, I was taught to NOT
drive your horses to do the tests per se. "
There is another take on this. I like to walk my dressage test as a warm up.
I usually leave out the halts and backups. But this way I get to view my
marks, practice getting close to the rail and in my mind I say trot, collected
etc. I then will do the whole test at a working trot. By the time I'm done
the horse is warmed up and I remember the test. I then practice the test, and
I do drive the test exactly how it is. But if I don't make a good 20 meter
circle I do it again right then until I am satisfied. I feel that in a show
situation it can actually be helpful that the horse knows the test. And until
you are at the Advanced level you are driving different dressage test all the
time so it is hard for the horse to remember every one of them:-) But I have a
horse who likes to jig on the walk part mainly at a show when he is excited.
If I practice those exact transitions over and over at home it is so ingrained
in his mind that he will go ahead and just walk at the show in the test. But
outside the arena in warm up I couldn't even get him to walk. So it can pay
off. Places to watch out for are upward transistions, you can vary where you
ask for them if the horse begins to anticipate to much.
Just a few other ideas on how to remember a test. I will say I only practice
the tests when I'm on a dressage field (which is only a couple of times a
month). So in the grand scheme of things I don't really drive the test over
and over every day just the days I have a dressage field:-)
Diane Kastama
(Arroyo Grande, CA - where I'm getting ready for the Driven Dressage Festival)
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