What to expect from Dressage??

Question

so i just started riding a beautiful lippazzner named Anna. She is third in the nation and a fabulous warmblood. but, im a begginer at dressage and she is not. how do i make myself in control without loosing my stability and posture?? keep in mind im 5' 3" and shes 17 hands.

Answer 1

Congratulations.  How wonderful to have a schoolmaster to teach you.  Try to relax and do the best you can.  The size of your horse and your size is irrelevant.  However, big horses have big movements so you will have to "learn" to feel her as it will be different from riding a smaller horse.   My WB is 17.3 and it was quite an adjustment to ride him but I love his power and grace.   You should progress very quickly.  Have fun.

Answer 2

I'm 5'1"....and the best thing I've found is to have confidence in yourself, sit up tall, keep your shoulders back, and work on feeling her with your seat.

You will learn a lot from her if you let her teach you!  You're so lucky to be able to learn dressage on an experienced horse!

Answer 3

Just relax. Don't tense up, and as someone else had mentioned-work on feeling her with your seat. She will be able to teach you a ton. What an opportunity! I must say I'm jealous =]

Answer 4

It is wonderful that you have the opportunity to ride a such a super dressage school mistress. Enjoy her, she will teach you so much. Don't overload yourself. It all takes time. Just listen to your trainer/instructor and take things a little at a time. You are small, but you are gaining experience all the time. Relax and enjoy.

Answer 5

I would say make sure you take some lessons.

Your size does not matter. That is all in your head, the horse will listen to you if you are confident and firm. I am 5'4 and I have worked with huge draft horses and small ponies, they listen to me because even when I am scared I do my best not to show it and be firm with them. Don't let the horse get away with pushing you around.

Dressage is not that different from regular english riding, until you get to the very high level stuff. If you are new at it, you should be starting at training level patterns then moving up to the higher levels.

If she is well trained, and it sounds like it, even if you fuzzy up the training a bit, it can be ironed out later.

I leased out my horse to a 4-H kid, and when she was just starting to ride I had to go out to the barn every month or so and ride her just to tune her up. She is still very responsive and well trained even after having trained three 4-H kids. I just make sure I tune her up ever so often and that the kids take lessons.

I also think you should relax a bit, riding is supposed to be fun! Dressage is not a scary hard thing, it just takes practice like every other style of riding.

Answer 6

What a fantastic opportunity.  You might try the book Riding Logic, which explains much of what this mare probably already knows.