I don’t mean this as a rude question. Who competes regularly in dressage competitions or trains at a medium level but also does “extra curriculars” including trail riding, hunter pacing, western stuff, etc?
We pretend to be hunters once a week. My horse, a fourth level schoolmaster who never jumped before I bought him, believes now that he was born to jump. :lol: It’s a great change of pace and mindset for both of us.
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My FEI horse started over fences this year (at 20!) and now goes around like a hunter if I can ever find the right distance, lol. Plus we haul out to the mountains as he’s a super bombproof trail horse. I want to find a combined test this winter! And get him a western saddle.
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Some of us like Working Equitation…paper chases…team penning…and recognized dressage every now and then.
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trail riding. Jumping.
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Trails, cavaletti/ground pole work, western, showmanship, ground driving, hand gallop practice in the field (helping a friend gain confidence with this). Would love to do an obstacle day and team penning or some kind of cow work.
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Go on trails once a week if I can. We also do what I call “pasture dressage”, riding between stands of trees, up and down hills while practicing changes of lead, lateral work and so forth. Mostly the downhill parts are walk/recoveries from what become mad gallops UP the hill!
My old gelding adores cavalletti work even though he cannot jump.
I used to take my dressage Arab to my cousin’s ranch to gather cattle in the fall. We evented, too. Did the same with my OTTB mare – she LOVED to work cattle!
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My FEI horse hacks in the woods every day that it isn’t raining before we ride in the ring. Twice a week we go trail riding or to the beach etc. Not scaling mountains but we go out galloping. My younger ones also go out trail riding as much as I have time for. They also jump little tiny things–logs in the woods etc.
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Trail riding in the mountains, combined driving, and just long drives down the road. I used to jump him and I’d love to try working eq, but honestly, there’s just not enough time.
I joke about my tack room like it’s an advert for ADD: dressage saddle, marathon harness, presentation harness, western saddle, hunter tack (finally in storage at home), full and snaffle bridle, three driving headstalls and a western snaffle headstall.
I get that some people like just ring work or taking a toodle around their pasture, but it seems rather unfulfilling for the horse and the rider.
”‹”‹”‹”‹
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Well my horse and I are still at Training level (hopefully moving up to First next year), but we also have done some rated Working Equitation shows, trail ride regularly, recently started cow penning, and also do some jumping! Oh and he also gives my 2 year old pony rides.
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We’ve always used trail riding for conditioning our horses including my FEI horses. While my son was growing up he competed in competitive trail competitions and I would always go as his buddy rider on one of my dressage horses. I still put 10 miles or more a week on mine. In addition we do hunter paces; so, my guys cannot claim to be drilled in the sand box all day every day…I’ve even used one of my dressage horses to check fences and round up cows when the neighbor needs it. I’m afraid no one informed him that welsh cobs weren’t supposed to be cowy but this guy is…LOL…if given a choice I think he’d eat a cow.
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My now 20 year old (and retired due to health issues) Dutch warmblood loves to jump and do cow work. I was shocked how natural the cow work seemed to be for him. In clinics he did better than the quarter horses breed to be cow horses ðŸ˜
My 5 year old OTTB is keen for anything. He loves trail rides and clicker training. I don’t have any cows but we do have a ‘cow’ flag to use which peaks his interest when others are using it. The plan is to start working with it this winter when we are stuck inside to keep him from getting board. I also do cavaletti work.
My dressage trainer who has one horse at GP, one at PSG and 2 at 3rd cross trains a number of her horses. They all hack around the property to warm up. A number of them have one over fences schooling a week. There are a few that don’t since they hate jumping and that is why they are no longer hunters and are now dressage horses. She has gone on paperchases and evented a client’s horse. For the client’s horse she will frequently jump him the day before a dressage show. He does better when jumped the day or two before a dressage competition. Client does not like to jump.
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Trail rides, not just hacking. Water, bridges, rocks, hills, etc. I would love to try cows with this mare but I don’t currently know anywhere I can go for that. I’ve taken her hiking (on a horse trail). Cavaletti work, obstacles or objects in the arena during rainy season (we have umbrellas, tarps, large horse play balls, pool noodles, all sorts of stuff).
I cannot imagine just riding around in circles in an arena every day, although there have been times when I did because there wasn’t anywhere else to ride. Dressage will always be my first love, but I switched to eventing a couple years ago in part because when I was cross-training a young (dressage) horse I remembered how much fun all the other things you can do with a horse are. Now I have OTTBs and they do it all!
I always did hack out my dressage horses when circumstances allowed though, and jump if they could. For the first three months I moved my horses home, I didn’t have an arena yet. My now-retiree was showing Grand Prix at the time, and I kept him going by schooling dressage out on the trails most of our rides. He was generally on the lazy side (when he wasn’t spooking, ha) so his piaffe/passage were way better out there than they’d ever be in an arena! It can be really beneficial to do tempis outside of the arena too, although those were always his strength anyway.
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My young mare and I are only at training currently, but we do a lot of cross-training. I try to jump her at least once every other week – often over the XC jumps we have on the property. We hunterpace, hope to go to the beach this winter, and trail ride at least 1-2x a week including a conditioning hand gallops. She gets stale if we drill in the ring too much so I like to keep variety as it keeps both of us much fresher and happier about work!
Trail riding in the hills a couple times a week at the very least.
I do! I spend about 50% of my time focused on dressage, and the rest on eventing, hacking out, trail rides, obstacles, hunter paces, etc
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I regularly school gymnastics and course work with my girl, also hack out. She may do an event or two next year depending on how intense our show schedule is (if and when they have dressage shows).
My FEI horse started life in Germany as a jumper. But as I don’t jump anymore, I love to play with liberty work with him. My previous horse was just awful at the mounting block. This one is so cool. I turn him loose in the arena (all tacked up) and go over to the mounting block and up the steps. He comes right to me when I call, swings himself sideways and puts the stirrup right at my foot so I can get on! 
He comes when he’s called. Walks at heel without a lead rope, stuff like that. Tons of fun. And, as he has no spook of any kind, he’s a great trail horse too! He goes Western and neck reins, as well.
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