No kidding, just irrelevant to the topic.
Not much sarcasm at all actually.
So at age 63 I finally got my dream horse: beautiful, kind, well trained, calm and gentle, stunning, trained through fourth. I am old and have had a broken pelvis. I can’t sit his trot well without shutting him down. I can ride better if I can post. I pay big bucks to show but just can’t bear to do first level again so I stay home. I would love to go ride my stunning horse at the levels we can do if I could do some rising trot.
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Are you going this weekend? I’m taking my young horse over as a noncompeting horse for experience.
Yes we are going as non-competing on Fri and Sat weekend as well to get in all the rings. I didn’t sign up in time to compete in the dressage show, and our classes look to go late on Sunday in the hunters and I wouldn’t have a coach available. We are also doing a clinic with Will Rogers tomorrow so it would be a lot to show on top of that. I wanted to try another overnight trip with no pressure.
Totally agree with Lorilu about knee and back seeming to correlate, though also of course breed and traits related to how the horse uses its body also can. The chestnut with very little white has aong back and almost no knee. Easiest trot I’ve ever ridden, unless you want to post and that is a challenge with her! We always joked about how her trot looked normal but felt gaited it was so smooth.
Blingy chestnut is in the middle. She’s the biggest mover overall, but with reach and suspension rather than a ton of knee. Medium back. She is pretty easy to sit, but I do have to get her swinging before I sit every ride. I warmup posting anyway, so easy enough.
The dark bay thoroughbred has the hardest trot I’ve ever tried to sit, and my trainer wouldn’t sit it for years; it became easier when he learned to REALLY come uphill and swing. Way above lower/mid level carriage to become rideable. He has knee action and a short back.
(Also, it’s amazing how much easier it is to sit when holding your arms in a correct position… my drunk monkey arms in two of these pics… were not helping anything!)
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When I first saw this thread title my reaction was a bit of horror. But then I read the Lamping piece and thought about and I think it’s fine. If it’s a disaster or there are unforeseen issues, it can be changed back. Lamping’s proposal will see a lot of resistance from the old guard, I bet.
The difference posting likely to make in score outcomes is marginal. So judges can still do the top priority thing they need to do: get the horses ranked in the right order. It doesn’t HURT horses. And it doesn’t hurt riders. It may or may not be more difficult–depends on the pair.
I’m far more disturbed by allowing the double at third, tbh. (Have they changed that back? I’ve been out of the game a looooong time.)
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I’m with you on this! I’ve seen more than a couple of people skip 2nd altogether because they “needed” a double. Interesting correlation, they also struggled to sit the trot, any trot.
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Because their horses weren’t ready for Third, whatever bit(s) were used. This is meant to address rider issues not horses pushed upwards before they are ready. I am sure judges will see that and act accordingly.
Interestingly enough, in two of the examples I personally saw, the horses were already successfully being shown at 3rd and above by the trainers. In those cases, it was the rider not the horse that wasn’t ready IMO.
Granted, these are anecdotes and not data.
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I mentioned the Natalie Lamping proposal to a rodeo rider friend, and she said that she’d be a much bigger supporter of dressage if we allowed posting, as it would be much easier on the horses. With all the flak that rodeo gets, I thought it was interesting.
I support the proposed rule change, although my initial reaction was WTF.
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They didn’t actually ban a Dr Bristol. The middle link in a Dr Bristol lies flat on the tongue.
Patented by Dr John S Bristol Aug 11th 1908 https://patents.google.com/patent/US895419
Their illustration;
The rule book in several places in DR121 specifically says Dr. Bristol and french link are not allowed.
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One of the basic requirements of competing in dressage competitions is that you are able to ride a horse.
If you can’t do that, just don’t bother until you have acquired that skill. Works better for all inolved. Unfortunately some of those aspiring to achieve greatness at any cost, can’t be bothered to put in the graft. (It REALLY doesn’t help when money is involved.)
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This is not correct. The Dr Bristol is not permitted.
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I really thought dressage tests were about judging the HORSE. And I thought dressage in general was about training the HORSE. (I do realize there is one score in the collectives for rider, and the rider ability is inherent in all the individual movement scores, but in general, it’s about showing the horse. )
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Training thru 3rd and possibly 4th, though most of the riders aiming for FEI level skip 4th and go directly to Prix St George in my neck of the wood, is the domain of grassroot amateur riders (kids and adults). Most of the riders in the lower levels here don’t ride mid 5 figure plus horses. Over the last 10 yrs the number of riders in the non-FEI classes have been getting smaller and smaller. If the grassroot rider numbers aren’t there the sport withers. I know a number of riders who decided working equitation, western dressage and even the lower level of 3 day eventing were more appealing then continuing showing lower level dressage. The number of FEI level riders has stayed the same over this time period. The grassroot riders pay for the shows.
As for not bothering to show until you can sit the trot correctly, well that would be very few riders. Even some of the professional North American riders are unable to do it correctly. Besides, open classes could require sitting and adult amateur classes could be posting/sitting. Bottom line the welfare of the horse should be top priority and posting is more horse friendly.
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Yes they did.
DR121.2.a.4 and DR121.2.b.3 say
Dr. Bristol and French link bits are not allowed.
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Why do people so often assume the worst about adult amateur riders? I agree with the bolded above that there are “professional” riders that aren’t great but I feel the standard should be the standard.
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I’m an adult amateur. There are many good amateur riders. But there are amateurs who for physical reasons find sitting painful, or find the natural trot on their beloved horse makes it very hard to sit, or have a coach/trainer who is not correcting their equitation and the rider is unaware that their equitation is bad, or are unwilling to put in the time to get a good, independent seat or what ever other reason that makes a rider not sit the trot correctly. Why should the welfare of the horse pay the price for the feeling that ‘the standard should be the standard’? My coach recently attended a clinic with an American BNT who provided some exercises to help get a rider’s leg and seat in the correct position so the rider could feel the correct alignment. I’m the only client who is willing to do it every lesson. It has tweaked my position so I can be a more effective leader. The others find it too difficult or are happy with how they ride, or whatever other reason given. Not everyone is willing to put in the hard work or move out of their comfort zone in order to improve. Again why should their horse, the silent partner, be punished or made uncomfortable because trot work can only be sat at 3rd and 4th level and their rider doesn’t sit correctly?
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My point is that if you’re going to let ammies post, why not let the “pros?” There should be one standard, IMO. You said yourself there are pros that cannot post correctly so why should those horses suffer?
