# How do I make dressage fun???



## WelcomeStranger28 (Oct 21, 2009)

Hey there 

I know that there are a lot of people on HF that love dressage!!
I don't really like it, and neither does my horse!! 

I have been told by a dressage judge that I am good at it, and I think that is a good thing, and I have been practicing lots more since I was told that, but still I just don't Like it!!

Please help me cause I want to do it cause i know it is good for my horse!!


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

haha that was my problem when i first switched from jumping to dressage...it was soooooo boring! lol well, i dont really knwo any ways to make it fun, it grew on me and now i love dressage. to make it fun for your horse: make sure you do NOT circle and circle and circle, that will make him fall asleep. try to do lots of different patturns, and exercises that require him to stay listening really well, it will keep your focus on what to do and where your going, adn it will keep his focus to. 

haha i have to eact opposit problem as you, my horse loves dressage (weird mare!) and doesnt like jumping all that much.


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

Yeah, I agree with ridergirl123. You need to make dressage fun for both you and your horse. One idea _I _have is that you get your mum to donate a five dollar note or a coin could work and then you put it under your leg and to teach you to keep it still when you are doing sitting trot you've got to try and keep the money for however long and if you still have it in the end then you get to keep it. 

Its great, because you get to make some pony money as well! But you need very nice parents, offer to do some jobs around the house as well, it helps.


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## WelcomeStranger28 (Oct 21, 2009)

hahaha your mare sounds funny!!! That is my problem!! Both me and my horse don't like it!!! We both love Jumping!! thanks soo much! i will ask my instructor to help me with paterns, i know some like teardrop, and 3 loop serpitine !!!

Thanks SOOOOOO much!! I will report to you when and IF i get better with my problem!


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## CrazyChester (May 5, 2008)

WelcomeStranger28 said:


> Both me and my horse don't like it!!! We both love Jumping!!


How do you know your horse doesn't like it? You use dressage in jumping, warming up for jumping is dressage, walk, trot and canter is dressage...It is all basic dressage.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

CrazyChester said:


> How do you know your horse doesn't like it? You use dressage in jumping, warming up for jumping is dressage, walk, trot and canter is dressage...It is all basic dressage.


but theyre not focusing on it as much when they warm up to start jumping i think is what she means, and that her horse loves jumping wayy more then the warmup that has to come with it


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

Yes you are right ridergirl. She always warms up correctly, but she is enjoying it because she knows whats a head, and just does it for Nugget,


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## ThatNinjaHorse (Jul 26, 2009)

You could do:
-Figure of eights
-ride a large circle, wind in to make it smaller, then wind out again.
-leg yeilds
-lengthening and shortening strides- could also use ground poles for this also.
-Practice transitions, as well as the usual, walk to canter, halt to canter, canter to walk etc. 
- Bareback or no stirrups (although this may not be considered fun haha)
- You could make up your own dressage tests to ride, or write them and swap with friends etc.
- Getting someone to video you, then watch it back. (always motivates me because i can see what i need to improve on)
- Instead of riding circles ride squares, rectangles.
- serpentines.
- Snowman. Along with the normal figure of 8's, you can try one large circle then one small circle, maybe 20m and 10m..
- Practice canter lead changes.
- Sit trot

Hope these helped. Dressage is definatly not as exciting as jumping but in the long run it will improve your jumping alot! Good luck!


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## WelcomeStranger28 (Oct 21, 2009)

Thanks SOOOOOOOOOO much ThatNinjaHorse!! it haas helped sooo much!!

CrazyChester, my horse doesn't like dressage, because he doesn't like arenas, we don't jump in arena, but i jump in a fenced yard that has cavalettis, wings, XC jumps and jumps I made my self!! I know that I need dressage for jumping, and like I said, I don't like it but do it to make it better for jumping!! Just because I do it doesn't meam I like it!!


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Welcomestranger28, horses don't 'not like' things. Jumping is exciting because they get heated up getting to hoon around leaping over things, so it's going to appear as though they 'like jumping'. You are probably refering to dressage as going around and around in endless circles doing the same thing. NOT dressage, thats pony club flat work! Your horse probably 'doesn't like' it because he's just being made to go around and around doing the same thing over and over, dressage is intended to keep the horse thinking, she needs to be tuned into your aids, concentrating on waiting for you to tell her what to do next, not doing circles and straight lines where nothing is changed for each circle, thats when they get nappy because they start thinking of ways to evade the work because they've got the time to think about it!! The exercises ThatNinjaHorse put up are fantastic for keeping a horse thinking, so mix some of those up next time you intend to ride 'dressage'. 
Also as for your horse 'not liking' the arena, well tough. You don't like going school I bet, but you have to. You're parents don't let you stay home from school just because you don't like it, you're forced to go and you get there and if you're kept busy you realise it's not so bad. Same with the horse, bet she knows that if she's nappy and acts up in the arena, you won't work her in there and will take her out for a hoon over some jumps in the paddock. Don't avoid the arena, use it as much as you can, a few times a week work on your flatwork IN THE ARENA and then a couple of days go out and jump to mix it up a bit. The majority of serious eventers/showjumpers now days rarely jump there horses more than once to twice a week. They work heavily on their dressage because they know that by getting their horses performing at a decent level of dressage, their jumping will improve 10 fold. It's a very 'young' idea that to improve jumping you just jump! Very not true, you're not going to go out and do well at a showjumping comp or ODE at the higher grades if you can't do a reasonable dressage test, with the horse light, orr the forehand and sharp off your aids.


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## WelcomeStranger28 (Oct 21, 2009)

Okay there are lots of things wrong with that!! 
1. You don't know my horse, even my instructor agrees that he doesn't like dressage!!
2. I don't do ODEs yet because of this!
3. Please don't tell me what my Horse does or doesn't like!!!


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

WelcomeStranger28 said:


> Okay there are lots of things wrong with that!!
> 1. You don't know my horse, even my instructor agrees that he doesn't like dressage!!
> 2. I don't do ODEs yet because of this!
> 3. Please don't tell me what my Horse does or doesn't like!!!


Good point Zoe, is your instructor Georgia? I think what they are trying to say is horses "like" jumping because they get a feeling of being free. But with dressage they are constantly on the bit, so they don't get that free feeling as much. I'm not sure though, I know Chinga "loves" to jump and likes flat work, or at least he will tolirate it.


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## XivoShowjumper (Oct 16, 2009)

your horse should still have a contact with the bit whilst jumping- if your issue with dressage is circle work- well whatever you can do on the circle you can do on a straight line- ie. working on flexion is leg yielding try some shoulder in counter canter etc- and honestly you don't need to be in an arena to practice this- even on days i jump, between jumps i practice traver and renver, play with extensions and collection and even play with pirouettes to prepare for those rollback turns on course.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

ChingazMyBoy said:


> Good point Zoe, is your instructor Georgia? I think what they are trying to say is horses "like" jumping because they get a feeling of being free. But with dressage they are constantly on the bit, so they don't get that free feeling as much. I'm not sure though, I know Chinga "loves" to jump and likes flat work, or at least he will tolirate it.


very well said!! although my horse doesnt really appreciate jumping, and i know another horse that jsut stopped jumping altogether and now will only do flatwork (it was at a major jumper barn and dont worry, they made sure it was because the horses jsut didnt want to, no pain or anything!) my horse is happy to do dressage as long as i keep it interesting, but when we jump she just does NOT act happy at all, lol.


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## CrazyChester (May 5, 2008)

If the horse doesn't want to jump, tough cookies, unless he is in pain or ill he will do what I say. If I want to jump then I will jump, if I don't then I wont. I don't think it should really matter if the horse wants to or not, unless he is of course in pain.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

CrazyChester said:


> If the horse doesn't want to jump, tough cookies, unless he is in pain or ill he will do what I say. If I want to jump then I will jump, if I don't then I wont. I don't think it should really matter if the horse wants to or not, unless he is of course in pain.


they couldve made him, but that was supposed to be his career, and They knew he would never jump his best for them, which is what they needed. So now they sold him to somone who rides dressage with him... He has a lot of talent in dressage


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## CrazyChester (May 5, 2008)

I really don't get it..but OK.

Good luck WelcomeStranger28!


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

WelcomeStranger28 said:


> Okay there are lots of things wrong with that!!
> 1. You don't know my horse, even my instructor agrees that he doesn't like dressage!!
> 2. I don't do ODEs yet because of this!
> 3. Please don't tell me what my Horse does or doesn't like!!!


Calm down I was just generalising. I know that every horse I've come that the owner has said they 'dont like' something, the real reason is because the horse just acts up or gets bored because the rider is very repetitive with the work and doesn't mix it up to keep the horse thinking. That's all. But if you'd like to get defensive by all means, go for I'll sit back and listen


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## roro (Aug 14, 2009)

Kayty said:


> Welcomestranger28, horses don't 'not like' things. Jumping is exciting because they get heated up getting to hoon around leaping over things, so it's going to appear as though they 'like jumping'. You are probably refering to dressage as going around and around in endless circles doing the same thing. NOT dressage, thats pony club flat work! Your horse probably 'doesn't like' it because he's just being made to go around and around doing the same thing over and over, dressage is intended to keep the horse thinking, she needs to be tuned into your aids, concentrating on waiting for you to tell her what to do next, not doing circles and straight lines where nothing is changed for each circle, thats when they get nappy because they start thinking of ways to evade the work because they've got the time to think about it!! The exercises ThatNinjaHorse put up are fantastic for keeping a horse thinking, so mix some of those up next time you intend to ride 'dressage'.
> Also as for your horse 'not liking' the arena, well tough. You don't like going school I bet, but you have to. You're parents don't let you stay home from school just because you don't like it, you're forced to go and you get there and if you're kept busy you realise it's not so bad. Same with the horse, bet she knows that if she's nappy and acts up in the arena, you won't work her in there and will take her out for a hoon over some jumps in the paddock. Don't avoid the arena, use it as much as you can, a few times a week work on your flatwork IN THE ARENA and then a couple of days go out and jump to mix it up a bit. The majority of serious eventers/showjumpers now days rarely jump there horses more than once to twice a week. They work heavily on their dressage because they know that by getting their horses performing at a decent level of dressage, their jumping will improve 10 fold. It's a very 'young' idea that to improve jumping you just jump! Very not true, you're not going to go out and do well at a showjumping comp or ODE at the higher grades if you can't do a reasonable dressage test, with the horse light, orr the forehand and sharp off your aids.


I couldn't have said it better myself. Not much to add on here, but again, dressage is extremely important for jumping. If it appears that he 'doesn't like it' he is probably bored, try some of the exercises that have been suggested on this thread. Dressage is not meant to be a joy ride to make you happy, it is to train and improve the horse and rider. You should feel ultimately happy when you improve with dressage, as you are making his job a lot easier over the jumps as he learns to balance and collect himself with time.


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## IheartPheobe (Feb 15, 2009)

Slightly confused. So your horse is _only _happy when going over a jump? Doubting it. I hope you realize that dressage is anything OTHER than going over a jump. So cantering to a jump.. you are doing dressage. If you horse really does hate every second other than when you are doing jumps.. you shouldn't be riding him. 
I did ride a show jumper a year or so ago when I was training for a dressage comp. and when we would get into the dressage arena and start doing dressage tests, he would act up and start fighting with me. He kind of got bored. But he was fine with regular flat and such. 
Why can't you ride your horse in the field if he doesn't like arenas?? Just w/t/canter around the field and ride around the jumps.  No horse should be jumped every day.


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## WelcomeStranger28 (Oct 21, 2009)

All I asked is that IF you can give me IDEAS!! on how to help my horse and me to start to like it! Like ChingazMyBoy, she said that to practice sit trot sit money under your *** and see if it stays there!!

Ohhhhh yer I forgot to say that he doesn't do on the bit well..... ... ..... When I ask him he walks backward or shakes his head and gets confused! And NO I am not doing it the wrong way! My instuctor has told me how and my friend has helped me in getting it right on other horses!


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## gypsygirl (Oct 15, 2009)

it usually helps me a lot to have a goal/focus for my ride. make up a new one or two every ride or look up some specific exercises to do each day !


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

Ok ok ok settle down girl! We're not having a go!! How is your instructor asking you to put your horse on the bit? Just because an instructor says to do something, doesn't mean it's correct depending on who the instructor is. Dressage will help you put the horse on the bit, it's going to be hard for you to do it if all you do is jump. (not having a go so don't get snappy)
Jiggling on the reins and pulling while shoving your leg on won't do it. Transitions, lateral work (leg yield/shoulder in in particular), figure of 8's, serpentines etc etc etc will all supple your horse up and will build up those muscles that are absolutely essential to allow your horse to work for long periods on the bit  Ok, not having a go hun, just saying how it is so don't get stressed out about it I promise I'm not taking a shot xx


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## WelcomeStranger28 (Oct 21, 2009)

it usually helps me a lot to have a goal/focus for my ride. make up a new one or two every ride or look up some specific exercises to do each day !

Okay thanks soooo much! I will make a goal today! Make him canter on the left lead without throwing me off!! LOL


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## eventerwannabe (Jun 10, 2009)

Dont know if anyone already said this, but...

Jumping is dressage with speed bumps. It is nearly impossible to be a good jumper without have some kind of dressage training. I am self taught and the only training I have had was a few years of dressage lessons. I am SO glad! I wouldn't be nearly as far as I am without those years of dressage.

I myself have always found dressage to be fun and be a nice "get away" from jumping. I love my leg-yields, they are my favorite. Before you starting doing lateral work (if you aren't already) I say get a good dressage trainer to help you out with them. You don't want to start doing them and get them wrong. Anyways....

So I say do lots of patterns, keep it fun, and don't give up!


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

eventerwannabe said:


> Dont know if anyone already said this, but...
> 
> *Jumping is dressage with speed bumps.* It is nearly impossible to be a good jumper without have some kind of dressage training. I am self taught and the only training I have had was a few years of dressage lessons. I am SO glad! I wouldn't be nearly as far as I am without those years of dressage.
> 
> ...


I love this saying, one of the younger girls I help work with asked me why she can't jump. I explained to her that she wasn't ready and that jumping wasn't that special it was just dressage with speed bumps -- even though I'm addicted, in a good way.


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## WelcomeStranger28 (Oct 21, 2009)

okay!!! everyone has got this WRONG!!! are there any fun-ish excersises that any one uses?????!!!!!

I have used serptinies, teardrops, figures of 8 and maddie's game, sitting leaves or money underneath your *** and practice sit trot!!!!

We have been doing circle work in an open space with no fences, the circles went OK but he kept taking off to the side. Please I NEED IDEAS not critisism OR sayings about how jumping is just dressage with speed bumps!!! ( even though it was a good saying and i have to agree with it!!!


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## roro (Aug 14, 2009)

WelcomeStranger28 said:


> okay!!! everyone has got this WRONG!!! are there any fun-ish excersises that any one uses?????!!!!!
> 
> I have used serptinies, teardrops, figures of 8 and maddie's game, sitting leaves or money underneath your *** and practice sit trot!!!!
> 
> We have been doing circle work in an open space with no fences, the circles went OK but he kept taking off to the side. Please I NEED IDEAS not critisism OR sayings about how jumping is just dressage with speed bumps!!! ( even though it was a good saying and i have to agree with it!!!


A lot of different posters have offered a lot of advice and exercises. Nobody can make dressage fun for you, you have to acknowledge its importance and try to enjoy it as much as possible. The exercises suggested are intended to help you enjoy dressage, if they do not work for you then you will have to figure something out. It is not the poster's fault that you do not enjoy dressage, they are offering advice from what they have experienced and are trying to help you, you can't expect them to MAKE it fun for you. People are discussing the 'dressage speed bumps' because they are making the point that whether it is fun or not, it is something you have to do if you want to jump. If you enjoy jumping, you will need to bear with dressage and not avoid it because it isn't fun.


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## WelcomeStranger28 (Oct 21, 2009)

ohkay then
do you have any interesting exercises i could try, but make sure they DON'Trequire a long neck, Nugget doesn't have a long skinny one, but a short stubby one!!


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## Kayty (Sep 8, 2009)

No 'exercises 'require' a long neck or anything like that, other than the horse being built super down hill making it harder for them to take the weight over their hindquarters 

Try getting your transitions absolutely spot on. Doesn't sound very exciting, but it's a challenge! And it's so satisfying when you finish up and your horse will move off or come back from the lsightest pressure.


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## XivoShowjumper (Oct 16, 2009)

do you do sporting???? its common for me to practice laterals and pirouttes around poles..... ie instead of swerving through the line of bending- ask your horse to move sideways (half or sidepass) between them.... well i could probably think of more but thats all i got for now


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## ponyboy (Jul 24, 2008)

I used to ride a school horse who would start pulling when you led her to the jumping ring and balk when you tried to enter the dressage ring. Horses definitely have their preferences just like people. 

My advice would be to set up cavalletti around the ring and use them as part of your dressage exercises.


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## mswp27 (Nov 6, 2009)

how is dressage not fun???


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