# Standardbreds in dressage?



## Connemara93 (Nov 7, 2008)

I'd never really thought that standardbreds would be any good in dressage until I bought my horse a couple of months ago. She is a 9 yr old standardbred mare and is excellent at dressage - the standardbred's springy and energetic trot really marks well at competitions! I was just wondering if there are any other people out there havig success in dressage with their standardbreds?


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## jazzyrider (Sep 16, 2007)

its not particularly common for standies to be seen in dressage. i personally would love to get one as a foal before its been trained in any way for racing. some of the have lovely movement and stepping like you said. getting them to canter is usually the hardest part if they are off the track. oh and getting them to trot if they have been pacers  i love standies


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## Connemara93 (Nov 7, 2008)

jazzyrider said:


> its not particularly common for standies to be seen in dressage. i personally would love to get one as a foal before its been trained in any way for racing. some of the have lovely movement and stepping like you said. getting them to canter is usually the hardest part if they are off the track. oh and getting them to trot if they have been pacers  i love standies


Yeah, she is off the track so at first it was hard to get her to canter without getting that MASSIVE trot that they have in races - trust me, *not comfortable* to sit to!  But we got it working in the end


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## jazzyrider (Sep 16, 2007)

yeah we have a 26 year old standie. hes my husbands first/confidence horse. hes a champ but richard has to work so hard just to get a few strides of canter out of him lol if you carry a crop and give him a little tap on the neck he takes off like a bat out of hell but otherwise hes just happy to do his waddling pace lol hes so old now though we dont bother what he does as long as hes happy. he paces around with his head in the air and has a great time so we let him be that way


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## servinator (Oct 13, 2008)

I don't ride dressage, but I have an 18 yr. standard bred that has a beautiful gate, even when walking. I always feel like I am in a parade! It seems to me like she would be great in dressage.


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## jazzyrider (Sep 16, 2007)

i have a friend with a stunning 6 month old standie colt. has gorgeous movement and conformation and ive been trying to convince them to let me buy him but alas they want to break him to harness as he was intended to be a pacer  i think he has huge potential for dressage. he carries himself just beauitfully too


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## whitetrashwarmblood (Aug 24, 2008)

i have an 8 y/o standie that I hope to do some light dressage work with.
I think that they are able to do it, but probably not at high levels.


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## equineangel91 (Oct 8, 2008)

My standie is still in training for jumpers....but im sure he could be trained for dressage if we put the time into it. .... he's still learning to carry himself tho argh


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

I love dressage, and have always wanted to get into it... I now have a large SB gelding who an elevated trot, and moves incredibly well... with natural carriage which has made going into a working frame so much easier for him... he's going off to my mate for a month's worth of dressage training and then coming home!! My wee mare that I recently got is also going to be a dressage and showing horse... she may not be everyone's cup of tea but she's got a lovely trot. 

My best friend rides in the Standardbred ring here in Canterbury... all of her horses are multi champions and are all based with a solid dressage foundation... her main star is schooling at home at Elementary levels... I've recently been very privileged to ride him a few times to help me come to grips with schooling a horse properly. 

I heard awhile back (whether it's true or not) that people overseas were breeding their SB mares to warmblood stallions... to produce a really good trot in the offspring... I guess there are some good things about the standie's big spring trots eh? Lol.
x


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## Misty'sGirl (Oct 22, 2007)

I have a Standie mare, and she was competed in dressage before I owned her, and she won her share of comps, but then she was retired as a broodmare and now I'm having to start all over again with her. But, we'll get there! I hope


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## Gimme A Dream (Aug 21, 2008)

I have a Standardbred filly off the track. She must have hated the track and the pace because the minute she was let loose in the field the the trot and canter became as natural for her as if she was never trained. She distrusted terribly so I gave her a year off. She was too young anyway. Now I ride her bitless when I want to western ride and snaffle when I want English. I haven't tried dressage with her but I'm working with her ground work on some of the pass over steps. She seems anxious to learn now as a four year old. She my darlin'!


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## Connemara93 (Nov 7, 2008)

ohmyitschelle said:


> I heard awhile back (whether it's true or not) that people overseas were breeding their SB mares to warmblood stallions... to produce a really good trot in the offspring... I guess there are some good things about the standie's big spring trots eh? Lol.
> x


That's really interesting actually cause at my riding school there is this BEAUTIFUL Hanoverian Warmblood stallion that we might breed Galina to in a few years time. He's a *lovely* boy, he's really sweet and quiet and also very good at dressage, so i think it would be really good to foal him and Galina together. Very exciting! My mum's already thought of a name for the foal too =P The stallion's name is Galanthus, and my mare's name is Galina, so we figured it had to start with "Gal". So mum's decided to call the foal Galiano!! Haha she has an obsession with alcoholic names for pets... her horse was called Brandy.. our dog is called Bailey... and now Galiano =D


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

Connemara93 said:


> That's really interesting actually cause at my riding school there is this BEAUTIFUL Hanoverian Warmblood stallion that we might breed Galina to in a few years time. He's a *lovely* boy, he's really sweet and quiet and also very good at dressage, so i think it would be really good to foal him and Galina together. Very exciting! My mum's already thought of a name for the foal too =P The stallion's name is Galanthus, and my mare's name is Galina, so we figured it had to start with "Gal". So mum's decided to call the foal Galiano!! Haha she has an obsession with alcoholic names for pets... her horse was called Brandy.. our dog is called Bailey... and now Galiano =D


Haha!! People ask me if I'm obsessed with Baileys... my mare is called that. And I'm allergic to alcohol!!
Yeah I remember that conversation with my friend about that so vividly... she was explaining to me how the Standardbred trot was being used to improve and elevate the trot on WBs... I always believed WBs were quite elevated, but the few I have met have really bad trots... so I guess it could be true! I've recently seen Clydie's being crossed with SBs, in fact a lot of the SB mares here in NZ are producing a lot of crossbreds, purely for the trot that Standardbreds have! Woohoo for the breed lol!
x


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

ohmyitschelle said:


> I always believed WBs were quite elevated, but the few I have met have really bad trots... so I guess it could be true!


I missed the edit time limit! I'm not personally slamming the breed at all, I'm just using personal experience... I actually happen to like Warmbloods on a whole... although know I personally couldn't ride one, their movement would be bigger than my elevated gelding, and he's enough thanks!!!
x


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

ohmyitschelle said:


> I heard awhile back (whether it's true or not) that people overseas were breeding their SB mares to warmblood stallions... to produce a really good trot in the offspring... I guess there are some good things about the standie's big spring trots eh? Lol.
> x


Not over the seas here at least.. O__o must be some other place..
Standies are so hated because of their trot it's incredible.. I've never heard anyone say anything nice about it untill I got here.. :3

And frankly I agree on that point.. >_> standies are lovely horses but their trot is awful when it comes to collection and dressage.. it takes tons of training to get it right..
But it sure is pretty when they run free in the pasture..


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

Zab said:


> Not over the seas here at least.. O__o must be some other place..
> Standies are so hated because of their trot it's incredible.. I've never heard anyone say anything nice about it untill I got here.. :3
> 
> And frankly I agree on that point.. >_> standies are lovely horses but their trot is awful when it comes to collection and dressage.. it takes tons of training to get it right..
> But it sure is pretty when they run free in the pasture..


I have to disagree with you... my gelding's trot is bouncy and big and hard to ride but when you ask him into a working frame, it's like sitting on a big beautiful floating animal who feels so amazing! He was made for dressage, in my opinion, and thats the path he's heading down!
And my mate's horse who is schooling Elementary at home has recently learnt collection and I've had the pleasure of being able to ride it... WOW... he feels soo fantastic in the trot - something that I've always struggled with on him cos I suck with my balance (heavy rider with knee injury)... but I've become a better rider and am just blown away with his movement... he feels nothing like the stupid 'Standardbreds and their awful trot' routine.... I guess maybe that's why he's a multi champion under saddle in the show ring and has even been placed very well in the park hack ring then!! :lol:
I actually have only ridden one Standardbred over here who's trot wasn't the best... and I owned her lol. She'd always do a half trot, half canter thing when warming up... and then once she was settled she'd have this big lovely trot... it was just a pain having to ride her through her "but I want to canter and nowwww" stuff in the beginning  She's now a little girls horse because as much as I wanted to do dressage with her, she was more of a let's jump and canter kind of horse 
Like I've said in my other post... over here in NZ you'll be surprised by the amount of Standardbreds being used in the show ring and have dressage foundations... there's a lot competing in the dressage scene too! All horses have something that needs to be improved on... and with that improvement Standies can excel in dressage quite well 
x


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

I think they can, but it's my firm belief they need way more training than other horses.
I don't even like regular dressage, so I'm not complaining anyway


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

Regular dressage? 
I'm all about classical... so I'm assuming you mean modern dressage? I'm not interested what so ever in modern dressage. 
x


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## Zab (Oct 4, 2008)

I mean modern, yes


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## stsjade (Feb 12, 2011)

standardbreds are pretty good in dressage - they usually have a good trot for it


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