Age for Child to Begin Dressage?

8yo is not too young to start dressage. I know of at least two 8yo kids who have earned a USDF bronze medal, which requires scores at Third Level. I would suggest you research available barns and lesson programs in your area to see what resources you have. Pony Club is an excellent way to go, if available. A dressage-only barn with lesson horses available would also be excellent, and I’ve found that dressage and eventing barns with mostly adults can be very welcoming and encouraging to young kids – it all depends on the person who heads up the barn as to the tenor of the atmosphere there. And, no, saddle seat doesn’t provide a solid foundation for overall good horsemanship as a general rule. Depending on where you live, if you can find a barn that attends one of the three yearly Young Dressage Festivals (NY, Atlanta, Michigan) staged by Dressage4Kids, that would be a plus and provide a “team” environment.

WOW!
I know quite a few 8 yr olds that I would consider excellent riders for that age. They are showing quite succesfully in the small/medium hunters, but I can’t imagine that they’d be physically or mentally capable of riding a decent 3rd level test.

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You won’t get much love for saddleseat on this forum. Take it with a grain of salt. I rode saddleseat as a kid/adult and now starting dressage somewhat seriously. I still hate dressage saddles, they are so constricting and sticky. I prefer my slick cutback. I still have my balanced seat, can sit a spook, ride forward, and show my instructor some tricks with a double bridle. Took me 2-3 rides to get used to the head being low and not using my thighs the same. She will be fine in whatever direction she goes. I agree pony club is great, let her ride as many disciplines as she can and just have fun.

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I actually wish that I began riding dressage first and at a very young age. I honestly think it would have made me a better rider. I’ve lived in and been to other countries where children are started off with dressage training and I think it is valuable and can give them an advantage.

So I’d absolutely let my kid take dressage lessons.

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If I knew a kid who wanted to do dressage, or really start riding in any discipline, I’d recommend to start them in vaulting. It’s a great foundation for riding, because they learn balance & an independent seat so can be very confident at controlling their own bodies on a moving horse before they start trying to influence the horse. Also, with all the dismounts they do, they learn good skills for safely parting ways with a horse. Starting with vaulting for kids (before dressage & jumping) is common Germany. Closer to home, Akiko Yamizaki’s (Steffen Peters’ owner) daughter vaulted at a high level (including WEG 2014) when she was little, then started showing in dressage at FEI pony level more recently. Plus, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper as vaulters don’t really own their own horses unless they vault at a really high individual level.

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8 isn’t too young to start dressage. I would recommend finding your local United States Pony Club chapter. It’s a great way to learn and be social outside of weekly lessons. They can help get you ready for eventually owning a horse, and they offer dressage and eventing tracks of learning. If they aren’t based out if a lesson barn they can definitely still point you in the right direction.

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All of this is exactly what my 11 year old is going through right now! Four years of lessons plus 2 years of hunter jumper shows and that the 1st cross country event she tried she was hooked! Dressage has been challenging, almost starting over from scratch, and it’s been challenging finding an instructor who was as good as her hunter jumper coach who had the right balance of firmness and reassurance. She’s still determined to continue with eventing though so I’m not holding her back. We just also joined pony club which has been great! Highly recommend!

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About Pony Club - if your daughter isn’t big on jumping, she may be seen as the weirdo and get ostracized from the other kids who only see dressage as that necessary annoyance before flying around cross country. Something to keep an eye out for.

If she wants to do dressage only, it is possible to find barns whether they enjoy seeing the future of our sport grow. 8 year olds can definitely do dressage!

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The problem with saddleseat is that so many aspects of it are very different from dressage and huntseat. So there is more “undoing” than with a kid started well huntseat. But I will say at many saddleseat barns, the riders learn to be bold, balanced, and not afraid of a snorty horse/

I agree with finding an eventing type barn with a lesson program if possible.

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Some years ago there was a video online of the daughter of Ingrid Klimke, age 5, doing flying changes on a pony. Age five!

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Since this is an old thread, I wonder how the now-maybe-13-year-old is doing.

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My first login for years! Happy to post an update.

Age 8 - 10, my daughter lessoned at an eventing barn where the focus was mostly on jumping, and a bit on dressage. She loved it all and grew a lot there as a rider.

Age 10 - 13 (present), she rides at a hunter/jumper barn and competes on their IEA team. (This proud mom must mention that she’s a Zone Qualifier.)

While dressage has yet to be a focus, I imagine it will be one day. And she’ll probably check out other disciplines too. She just loves horses!

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For heaven’s sake, dressage is just learning to ride a horse properly, the requirements just become more difficult as you improve. You carry your education into most other activities.

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@Equibrit Dressage = Training. But it really does help to have lessons from a trainer who really does know how to both ride and to teach. It is very difficult to find good teachers. Too often, the children are put under the care of a young person who is able to pootle around an arena but completely lacks the tool kit and skills needed to teach well. One of the great regrets of my life is that I didn’t have excellent teaching until I was in my 20s: a new world opened up.

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Technically, yes, that’s the translation. But when the average 8- to 10-year-old is doing the riding, it’s rarely training. It’s learning to ride. The same would apply to anyone of any age just starting out.

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My people are dressage people; the trainer works with the horses and adults, and she has an assistant that runs their junior program.The horses and ponies they use for lessons know the ropes. They get some little little kids (6-8) and just start them from the beginning! They had one this year that got to do a couple schooling shows in the Lead Line class and she just had a blast.

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So great to have an update!

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We are all constantly learning, every time we get on a horse. Sometimes “teaching”, sometimes “training”, sometimes “coaching” and too often brain death when being repetitively drilled into the arena dust.

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