1st time showing Western Dressage

[SilkSkotch]

As the title suggests this weekend will be my first time showing Western Dressage at a local dressage schooling show! I am so excited and nervous at the same time. It’s been a few years since I’ve been to the show pen!

The show is using the WDAA tests and going by the Morgan western dressage rules.

With that in mind my gelding has a long mane. Trying to decide whether to do a running braid, just let it down, or band it in some way. The Morgan rules just state that it doesn’t need to be braided.

Any words of advice for a first timer showing western dressage or dressage for that matter.

Hoping my gelding behaves and cooperates!

[Pocket_Pony]

Good luck! I think if your horse has a long and lovely mane, then why not let it down?

Advice for a first timer? Have fun, breathe, enjoy the atmosphere, get lots of pictures!

[gaitedincali]

Brush it out and leave it be. A western horse should never show with a braided mane.

[SilkSkotch]

Thanks so much for the replies! I do love the long mane!! And I’m fortunate that he has a long think tail to match!

[mvp]

Yeah, the mane should be left loose rather than braided. No braids for WD. That’s my opinion. I don’t think there are rules for that.

And a question:

When you WD types are doing that turn on the hauches followed by a turn on the forehand, what are you looking for?

For some, it seems to be the smoothness of the transition. And I think this means some horses will a “coke bottle” spin-- where both ends are moving and the horse’s center of rotation is somewhere underneath his barrel, like a carousel horse.

As a traditional dressagist, this strikes me as sloppy and wrong: You want to move one end or the other. You want precision in there because that’s demonstrates a broke horse.

Can anyone give me a verdict?

What do you guys think?

[SilkSkotch]

Thanks for the reply! We are doing basic test 1. There are no turns on the haunches or forehand yet.

We have been working on seemless transitions taking lessons from a dressage instructor.

Agreed with your assessment of turns on the forehand and haunches. Whatever end you are turning on should be stationary.

It will be interesting to see how many others are there to show WD. The past shows there have only been 2-4 entries from what I can see on the results.

[longride1]

The turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches are defined in the rules quite clearly. The forehand or haunches maintain the walk rhythm while either landing in the same “plate” or doing a circle no larger than 1 meter diameter. A pivot will not be penalized. Turning around the center is avoiding the exercise and cannot score better than a 4.

And just as a heads up, in doing presentations and clinics I’m finding a lot that think the jog is “slower than the trot and covers less ground.” This wording was dropped by the WDAA and we are currently working to get videos out that show the more forward jog shown by ranch horses as the working jog. This jog tracks up, especially noticeable at the free jog. True, it must never look rushed, but over tempo is a fault no matter what kind of dressage you do.

[dotneko]

As a judge, I would like to know how the rhythm is maintained while a pivot is allowed. By definition, a pivot is a planting of the foot so the walk rhythm is broken. There are a bunch of grey areas in these tests. I have judged probably 80western dressage tests this season and I am not a fan of either the flow - do you seriously need sooooo many movements in a walk-trot test? or the directives for judging the movements. What on earth is the point of the test with the canter to x, halt, turn on the forehand, canter off test? Its like dressage command class.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=longride1;7177396]
The turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches are defined in the rules quite clearly. The forehand or haunches maintain the walk rhythm while either landing in the same “plate” or doing a circle no larger than 1 meter diameter. A pivot will not be penalized. Turning around the center is avoiding the exercise and cannot score better than a 4.

And just as a heads up, in doing presentations and clinics I’m finding a lot that think the jog is “slower than the trot and covers less ground.” This wording was dropped by the WDAA and we are currently working to get videos out that show the more forward jog shown by ranch horses as the working jog. This jog tracks up, especially noticeable at the free jog. True, it must never look rushed, but over tempo is a fault no matter what kind of dressage you do.[/QUOTE]

Thank you. That makes sense to me-- both in what you wrote and in terms of how a dressagist would think.

With respect to the pivoting on the inside hind leg or both hind legs maintaining the gait’s rhythm, I suspect the “it’s ok to plant a hind leg” comes from reining. Oh, and IIRC, the Brannaman types plant the outside leg (for a short bit of time), not the inside one.

As an outsider to these specialized western disciplines, I don’t get it. But I do think everyone wants a horse engaging his hind end.

With the turn on the haunches to the turn on the forehand thing, I don’t let my horses get stuck. If they aren’t maintaining the walking rhythm, I fix that first. The old dressage emphasis on “if you don’t have forward, the rest doesn’t matter” is a habit that dies hard.

[longride1]

Dotneko, many years ago I was fortunate enough to clinic with Bengt Ljungquist. Every rider in the clinic was asked to do turn on the forehand to canter depart. At that time the turn on the forehand was still defined and performed as a pivot. It is a very demanding exercise for the rider, because the horse must be kept properly between hand and leg and the aids must be properly timed. A horse that dives onto it’s forehand, supporting itself on the rider’s hand can’t do this correctly. Otoh, done well, the horse is set up for the canter depart with the new inside leg already swinging underneath the horse and the body correctly positioned. I felt at the time that he used it to evaluate the riders, but in talking with others since have learned the gymnastic benefit as well.

I understand your concern about the rhythm if there is a pivot. I personally teach to keep the walk active and maintain the walk rhythm. In the 70s they were described as a pivot with the inside leg maintaining the walk rhythm, stepping in place. The hind feet take 6 equal strides for a full turn. It was to begin from a halt and end moving straight off without hesitation. Once mastered, the exercise could be retired. The horse would continue to use what it had been taught in other exercises. Because ranch horses never stop using the turn in the forehand it is included in Western tests. I agree there needs to be more clarity, since western riders keep the foot planted.

[Flash44]

So…how was the show???