This was my first dressage show with my new horse Anastasia a Danish Warmblood Hanoverian. She just turned 4 in April and I purchased her in January. I just started asking her to come round on Monday, and I have never ridden her in an outside ring (our ring is right next to the rode, to conquer her fear of cars is our next challenge) So with that and this being her first show I was fairly happy. I did intro A and intro B, for intro A she was very racy, stiff and not very supple, intro B went much better the judge told me to work on loosening my upper body. Please let me know what you think:) (Also some pointers on different exercises you think I should be doing to build up certain muscles. She is looking much better than the gangly 3 year old she was haha)

I have a just turned 5 year old Hanoverian mare named Lori and especially during the summer, work gets serious. However, I work sometimes 7 hours a day in the sun and I’m too tired ride. What are some good exercises to do on the ground?

And here’s just a picture of her now that summer is coming!

This is Mollie my 16 year old QH mare and I this past weekend. Unfortunately the person taking pictures was only there for the first 20 minutes of my ride so I didn’t get any photos of more collected work but wanted to post these for now. Thanks!

Pony and I did our first novice event this weekend. Our dressage wasn’t super as he was busy looking at the clay wall off to the side (you can see it in the canter shot). He is still pretty new to dressage so I think he is coming along nicely! He is a tad small for me, especially in dressage because he is so narrow, but we make it work

So quick update:

Since the last time I posted a picture (link) we’ve been to 2 more competitions and another schooling show at our stables. He’s really been going amazing lately, working through his body and on the bit, been starting some counter canter and lateral work with him and he is excellent

On our first ever competition (in the link) we did a pretty long warmup and he ended up being really tired by the time we came to the ring, but this time (on the 2nd competition) we took that into account and did a shorter warmup but he ended up being a bit hot, the day before was rainy and I only lunged him so I guess he was a bit excited anyway the test went okay and we got 62%, placed in the middle. That was supposed to be a two day competition but the second day got cancelled because the rain came back again…

Then there was the schooling show at our stable, it was awesome

We actually had more crowd in that show than in the regular shows and they were all lined up against one of the long sides. This horse will stay quiet as an old dog outside of home and at places he’s never been but noooo, he spooks at the crowd at home lol

Anyway I didn’t give in to his spooks like I would have with my previous horse (untypically spooky Friesian mare) and I rode him super forward across the crowds, the moment we entered at A he shut down to all outside distractions and we had the best test ever! I was so proud of him and myself, we were so brave

We ended up winning the class with 75%!!

This is a picture from our last show last weekend, it went okay as well. Forgot my spurs at home and did the whole warmup without any (such a lazy horse!) and only borrowed from another girl before I went into the test and I guess it kind of annoyed him because they were longer than I usually wear so he started tensing when I used them…

Anyway it was an okay test, maybe a tiny bit hurried and tense at some moments but we ended up 6th with 63% and that was enough to qualify us to the National Championships!

I know a picture is harder to judge than a video, but do your best

I will try to put up a video soon!

Hi Karen, I’m sure you probably get these two questions a lot but i’m pretty new to the dressage scene and i had two questions.

1. Today for my lesson my horse was stiff through the neck only to  the right so we did leg yields, spiraling circles and counter bend on the circle and once he loosed up he was really great. It took us about 10-15 minutes to warm up. Is there anything we could be doing differently that could loosen him up better or quicker?

2. The second; what is exactly a blanked seat? I ride with my instructor who has taken my horse and i far and we’re having a blast but she teaches so much differently than how my friend has me ride her horses. In my lessons, my thigh, knee or calf are not tight against the horse where as my friend (who is a dressage instructor) wants me to ride with my thigh, knee, and calf tight and not swinging. Which is more correct? I know if a few other comments you have said the leg should be draped against the horse but how do you allow your leg to drape without sliding all over the place? Are you supposed to hold with your thigh?

On a side note-i began reading the book Riding in the Moment and the concept of mechanical and cognitive riding is very interesting! Thanks for the reading suggestion =)

This is DeLovely, my 3 year old Hanoverian mare and I during her sixth ride ever. This was only the second time I have asked her to canter so it was a bit of a race but she tried her best! She has been just wonderful about everything and I am so excited about her!