This one’s for those of you who are told that you may not be able to make it on your horse. My horse has never been the most expensive one in the barn, doesn’t have perfect conformation, and isn’t the most expressive unless I make the effort to manufacture his gaits. I got him when he was 5 and I was 12; some people told me that we were an impossible match and that I’d never get anywhere on such a psychologically unsound young horse. In the past year or so, though, we’ve accomplished being 2011 Region 3 4th Level JR/YR Champions and Prix St Georges Reserve Champions, qualified for and competed at NAJYRC, and are now the 2012 Region 3 Intermediare 1 JR/YR Champions. We’re moving on now to the I-2 this season and hope to start doing Brentina Cup by fall. It has never been an easy road with him, but this just proves that with a lot of hard work and a willing horse, you can make anything happen. Never give up!
Any and all critiques are welcome; I’m always willing to try to improve! Also, Heather, I took your advice and I’ve been working on those pirouettes. My scores for them came up 1-2 points each time this time around! 
Schooling tempi changes at Regional Championships.
Manufacturing that trot by using little piaffe transitions!
Riding the Intermediare 1 Championship Test
A teammate of mine from NAJYRC was the Reserve Champion, so we took our last victory gallop as Young Riders together!
Victory gallop! We hauled.
Congrats! Don’t see any major/obvious flaw in his conformation but I agree that no horse is perfect and partnership is what it is all about… plus a lot of hard work as you said!
Looking forward to see the next pictures of your endeavor and the pointers Heather will give you this time.
I’m glad you stuck with him! It takes the horse that isn’t perfect, the horse that you have to half halt every other stride to keep them on their haunches to make a true rider. Push buttons don’t teach you how to work through hard problems.
my instructor took her racing stock QH amazingly far. She was showing 1st level and was schooling Prix St. George before she went to college. Cassie, her horse, was visibly down hill, to the point where she had to half halt every other stride, and when she would get off her core would be so sore from half halting. Cassie had a habit of bolting at sounds when she first got on, but was very talented at piaffes and walk pirouettes. They even competed for two years after Cassie lost an eye to infection. They retired her when she broke her pelvis out in the field, but all the problems they had together made her an overall better rider and trainer.
So stick with your horse, it looks like he has a lot of understanding for dressage and for you, and is trying his best even though he may not be the ideal for dressage.
thanks, you guys.
when roux is moving, you usually can’t pick out his conformation oddities…which is a good thing, i guess. when he finished growing, his hind legs were a bit longer than the forelegs, tipping him slightly onto the forehand instead of being built uphill like the preferable dressage mount. this forces me to pay particular attention to his balance and him to be even stronger to hold himself up. over the years, he also started getting strangely over at the knees. it was a mystery and a concern as to why for the longest time, but with my trainer’s advice i sought out the help of a german orthopedic master farrier. since getting about six months’ worth of corrective shoeing, his knees are almost straight again…but they’re not always quite there. some people also comment on the fact that he has a smallish head for his body size, but i can’t imagine how that would really affect his quality of work. he’s a very beautiful horse even when he’s not under saddle, but there’ve just been a few things that i’ve had to pay particular attention to throughout the course of his training.
luxlight, that’s amazing that your trainer was able to compete her horse even without an eye. i feel like something like that would be game over for my guy. he’s far too spooky as it is! when we came up centerline in the championship test to do our shoulder in/volte/half-pass, we had a big old spook right there in front of both judges. luckily i could just push roux into the movement to keep him from running off and the quality of the rest of our ride made up for that unfortunate 5. whoops.
admittedly, it’s been frustrating at times, but at this point in my life i wouldn’t trade my horse for the world. he’s such a hard working guy and i’ve learned endless knowledge about dressage, sports medicine, and general horsemanship by having him. he’s like the little (big 17.1 hh) engine that could! lol.
What a beautiful horse!! Congratulations on all of your hard work and success.
Please only post one photo at a time next time. Thanks! Beautiful horse!
To be honest, I was told that my instructors horse became better and more dependent on her and made her a better horse. She didn’t spook as much, and while still sensitive to sound, she looked to my instructor and made a better partnership! the horse is 30 now, and the sweetest thing, the common sense out in pasture.
I liked looking at all the pics. I don’t think you were looking to be judged, so I liked seeing them all.
I loved your story so much. I love stories of riders that had to work incredibly hard to make it to the top. Dressage is one of those sports that I feel now days is almost impossible to do well in without a fancy, flashy import that costs a fortune. I love that you are riding for the love of your horse which is what I feel riding should be more about. Thanks for the inspiration!
My apologies Noelle; I wasn’t aware that the posts were supposed to be kept to a one-picture minimum since most people post multiples. I’ll be sure to keep it down to one in the future!
Luxlight, it’s amazing to hear that the mare is still alive and thriving at home! We need more common sense horses in the pasture, haha. Way back when I rode hunters, my trainer at the time had a little chestnut horse that had been previously abused…her eye had been badly beaten and poked out by a riding crop. She was a very sweet thing, but rather jumpy when ridden…I remember falling off of her once in a lunge lesson!
TBeventer, I agree! There’s a girl in my region that I’m very good friends with who competed in her first I-1 class at the show on this little rescued mix of a horse that nobody used to think would make it anywhere near the FEI. I think he’s supposed to be something like a Percheron/Warmblood/Pony/Thoroughbred or something very strange, and he’s black and white spotted with a cute roached mane. I watched her ride and couldn’t help but to run up and hug her when I saw her next; he’s the TRUE underdog that is persevering in a world full of warmbloods. I’m actually really interested in seeing what suggestions Heather has about the piaffe work photo, as the passage-piaffe-passage transitions in the I-2 are the thing that’s really been a big challenge lately. :/
Is that Chatt Hills?
yep.
it is chatt hills. this was actually the first time i’d ever been to the showgrounds there. very breathtaking scenery! i also loved the cold weather. i went from 90s in orlando to 70s there!