Starting dressage

[ness]

I want to do some practicing before my first dressage lesson. Please can anyone advise me what exercises I can do to help me prepere? i could do with a lessson to prepare me for the lessson!:lol:

[flambards]

Practice your figures and riding very accurately and work on transitions. Dressage is all about relaxation and rhythm in the beginning, so count during all your work to keep a steady rhythm and keep yourself breathing well. I'm sure you'll do great! :D

[Lorraine]

Practice your turns onto the centre line - it's easy to overshoot and then not get a straight line down the middle so practice this over and over. Think of it as doing a 10 metre semi circle as you come towards the end of the arena onto the centre line, rather than riding round the track and suddenly turning onto the centre line. Make sure your ride down the centre line is straight, not drifiting from side to side.

Practice your halt. Make sure the horse stays straight as you halt, no swinging the quarters out to either side. Also practice getting your halt square, feeling when it is or isn't and correcting when it isn't.

Practice your trot - keeping it active and in an even rhythm, do circles and diagonals and another other movements in the test, keeping the same rhythm throughout including through the turns.

Same with your canter, practice around the track onto a circle and around the track keeping the same rhythm throughout - some horses tend to speed up when on they go onto the track coming out from a circle/slow down when coming off the track onto a circle.

Practice sections of the test over and over to get them right, then run through the whole test a couple of times.

As flambards says relax. Hard I know but it does make a difference. When doing the test if you don't stay relaxed it's easy to over-ride the horse, just ride and try to relax just as you would at home.

[Smoke on the Water]

Impulsion and rhythm are the key to dressage! Lots of working from your leg into hand, develop a nice steady rhythm.

Also transitions to get your horse sitting back on their hocks and pushing through from behind. I do hundreds of transition every session, walk-halt-walk, walk-trot-walk, trot-walk-trot, walk-canter-walk, trot-canter-trot. I swear by them!

Most of all don't fret about it.

[ness]

Thanks for the replies-I can't wait to get started!

[Frankie]

Ooooooh we will be competing at the same competitions!

[ness]

Ooooooh we will be competing at the same competitions!

I think you will be way ahead of me, Frankie!