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Olympic Dressage/Stadium Jumping

2K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  Kayty 
#1 ·
The majority of good riders have been riding since they were toddlers, and seem to think that people who start riding later in life will never be able to compete with them. I am 17 years old right now, and started riding when I was 15. The question in short: If I start getting lessons at 18, compared to those who started as a toddler, do I have a shot at the Olympics?

In my town, lessons are impossible. I am a self taught rider. I would have a video taken of me, see what I need to improve on, and fix it next time. I'd keep doing that until I feel like i was good at it. It works just as fine as traditional lessons, but takes 10x as long to get anywhere haha. My horse and I worked on general riding skills and very basic dressage moves (square halts, lead changes, and his awkward half-pass). I trained him to jump (trotting poles, free jumping, etc), but I'm not stupid, so I never got on him for anything more than jumping a log. I want a trainer for that part.

I had to sell him a few months ago, and now I don't have a horse to ride. It has been about 6 months since I've been in a saddle (believe me, I'm surprised I'm not counting the hours). At the end of this year, I will be moving to Auburn, WA (next to Emerald Downs, close to Seattle). I will get myself some actual lessons there. I want to do either Dressage or Stadium Jumping (but not eventing).

I want to join the Olympics one day. I know its an unrealistic dream, but since when does it hurt to dream? Would you say I have a chance and competing with people who have ridden their entire life, compared to my late start at 15 years?

Here is my latest video in riding. It's not the best, but from this video, my posting trot is now less awkward, my elbows are more tucked in, and I'm stiller in the canter. I still have troubles keeping a good shoulder-hip-heel alignment, but then again, I haven't been able to practice since. Being self taught and looking like this, so I show any promise?



Also, is there anything you can say about my position by these pictures?



 
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#2 ·
The two big things that stand out are that your posting is very forced and that you need to work on keeping your heels down and your lower leg more stable.

ETA: welcome to Washington! It's where I live! :lol:
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#3 ·
Honestly, I won't say it's impossible because it's not. It will, however, but that much harder. You have lost out on many yrs of training, you are self taught, and you aren't starting lessons yet. You technically could catch up, but you need an amazing trainer, the funds for very very frequent lessons, etc. You also need access to horses that could get you up to that level.

In regards to your video, there are quote a few things that need fixed, but you look pretty good for a self taught rider. I like your seat at the canter. Your posting does not look 100% natural and while posting your leg is a little loose. Your heels need to be down and your arms/hands need to stay down and still. Also, your leg is too far forward. Fixing that will help with your posting.
 
#4 ·
Ditto what poster above said. My 'stand out' was your hands - you need to close your fingers around the reins, eliminate the break in your wrist, and angle your thumbs up. Straight line from your elbow to the horse's mouth is the idea. There's a fair bit to work on, but if you start lessons it should all be addressed fairly easily.
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#5 ·
Thanks for the tips you guys. Usually my hands are better, I just don't have any videos of the improvements. I hate to blame my horse, especially since its not really his fault, but he has no idea what leg cues are. 90% of my aids came from my hands and seat. We were working on that before I ended up having to sell him, here is what we were doing to work on it:
 
#6 ·
As someone who didn't get to start riding until I had almost graduated college, it does seem like I can catch on to certain things faster than some of the kids who are riding, but I just don't have the same amount of time to devote to it. Luckily, dressage is one of those sports that you don't peak at when you're 12 (like gymnastics!) so time-wise, starting at 18 isn't that big of a disadvantage. There was a 71 year old rider from Japan in the 2012 Olympics!

The money to get to that level is a challenge no matter what age you started riding. Horses capable of that level of performance, trainers, show fees, travel to those shows, etc. require a small fortune!
 
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#8 ·
I'm not sure if it's the position your treeless/soft saddle is putting you in (it is one, right?), but I think your legs are a little forward in chair seat-ish way. Someone posted a great video about how posting from a chair seat is not only harder for the rider, but it's harder on the horse because you can't control your ease down back into the saddle and end up thumping him every time!

Again, might be the saddle! :) But try thinking about it this way. Pull your leg back underneath you (heels down) at the trot. Don't post up-- let the horse throw you up, and all you need to do is use your thigh muscles to bring yourself back down onto his back gently. The rhythm and up-force should come from your horse.

Best of luck! I agree that finances are always the toughest part. I had a friend in college who had a horse double the price of my truck who was brought in from Europe to be her jumper! :shock:
 
#10 ·
It is a treeless soft saddle, and the worst saddle I have ever owned. One of the reasons I sold my horse was because I live in a bad town and the police refused to help with my problems. I had $1500 worth of tack stolen from me (among some harm done to my horse), and I was tired of buying expensive saddles just to get one use out of them. I got a cheep treeless. It fit my horse perfect, which is what I wanted, but it was horrible on my end. Not only did it put me in the chair position, but it felt like a chair haha. It did shove my legs forward, because in my old (stolen) Wintec dressage saddle, my legs were usually in a decent position. Thanks for the other tips though :) When I manage to get on another horse I'll be sure to try it out.
 
#9 ·
You're still very young, and you can take riding as far as you want to as long as you have the passion and dedication to do it.
You need lessons from a professional if you want to ride properly and be competitive. Right now you're doing okay for being self-taught, but you could be so much further ahead if you took lessons.
A few things:
- You're behind the motion of your horse, which makes your posting look awkward.
- I hate these bitless bridles... You don't know how to use contact properly (not your fault as you haven't been taught) - so your horse's chin is getting jerked on constantly from the sway of your reins.
- Your saddle is doing you NO favors.. it's causing your leg to be in quite the awkward position, and your knee is over the flap.
Really, if you want to be competitive, you need a coach. Unfortunately, that means that you're going to have to be very dedicated - and it will take up a TON of time and money.

If this is your passion, go for it!
 
#11 ·
As far as the bitless bridles go, he was very responsive in a snaffle or bitless. I used bitless because of all mistakes a bad rider could make, I did not want to pull on his mouth. I couldn't explain why, but with the bitless it was easier to notice when I put too much pressure. If you could tell, in most places, I actually had to little contact in fear of yanking his mouth.

Like i stated in my last post, this saddle was miserable. It fit my horse just fine, so he wasn't in pain, but it definitely make riding difficult on my end.

Thanks for all the tips, and I will be sure to get a good instructor when I move :)
 
#13 ·
In the future... I say ebay is your friend, and shell out $50 or so for a lockable tool box/storage box (basically a tack box without the fay price tag!) from Home Depot! :)
Long story short, that wasnt an option. If it was, I would have kept my horse. I had my shed door beaten in twice and three locks cut. They stole three saddles (including my soft saddle) three bridles, and tons of other accessories. People would break his stall open and let him out a night so he could play with the barbed wire fence. I got a threat that someone was planning on poisoning him (he went up for sale that week and was in a new home.a week later).I found oats in his stall (which I didnt feed him) and there was a powder of some sort all over them. Kids would throw rocks at him, and other boarders would steal hay right out of his net when I left. I wasnt allowed to have a camera, and the police wouldnt help me.

He became a nervous wreck because of the abuse. He was loosing weight no matter how much food I gave him (because of people stealing it), and he had back problems because of stupid kids taking advantage of his loving nature and jumping on his back. Overall, it was a horrible boarding center. Either way, my horse is safe now. The weird thing is I never ****** off anyone. Hell, most of them liked me because I helped them a ton before I bought my own horse. Id hate to have see what would have happened if they didnt like me.
 
#14 ·
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having a dream.
However for a dream as big as the olympics (and I think just about every kid that rides wants to go to the Olympics), you can't be dissapointed if you don't make it.
It is not about when a person started riding, but the dedication, talent, MONEY and time that they have available to them. Look at how many professional riders are around in both jumping and dressage. There are SO many extremely talented riders that still don't make the cut.
There is an enormous amount of money involved, not just in going to the Olympics itself, but in the preparation just to be somewhat competitive.
Unless you have a VERY talented horse (and in terms of Dressage, we're talking something imported from Europe, or bred with the best European bloodlines, which will cost a very pretty penny. The horses that compete at the Olympics are worth into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, some even towards the million figure mark.
On top of that, the coaching for yourself, you will need to base yourself with a professional coach (not just old joe blow from around the corner than can ride a little bit) - which is generally going to cost well over $100 per session.

It'd be nice to represent your country at the Olympics, but unless you can get very rich, and be unbelievably talented and have multitudes of spare time to put into keeping multiple horses in work, and attending CDI's across the country and internationally, then try aiming your sights at something a little more achievable.
 
#15 ·
Exactly what I was thinking. It's not a matter of when you start (ok maybe a little..) but you have to realize that the people who make the Olympic team are not only showing at the absolute top shows (nationally and internationally), but they are also showing about 95% of the year. They live in Wellington in the winters, live at Spruce Meadows in the summer, at a show every weekend between, and from a show will also fly overseas to compete internationally and then come back a few days later to complete the show in the states. Each show is literally THOUSANDS of dollars a week per horse and they're showing multiple horses a day. Horses that are several millions of dollars apiece. At this point, they've already paid their millions (yes, I do believe it takes millions to get to the olympics) to even get there. And the sad thing? There are A LOT of riders who do this, are very capable, and don't make the team. Is it wrong to have it as a dream? Of course not. But if you're someone who truly wants a plan they have full intention of achieving I'd start off with smaller steps. A trainer will be necessary. Maybe a small schooling show? Then eventually a rated show? Start aiming for blues at rated shows? Perhaps one day a grand prix? Just because a person never makes it to the olympics doesn't mean that they can't be an exceptional and very very capable rider with quite a bit of success in the show ring.
 
#17 ·
As far as your position goes... a dressage position and a jumping position will be different. I'm no dressage expert so I'll let someone else comment there :)but to jump successfully you must have a very solid and balanced position. Your hips should always be directly over your heels. I see you in more of a long chair seat (heels way out in front of your hips). I'd start off by shortening your stirrups quite a bit (they should hit about your ankle bones when your legs are dangling). That will help you to sink your heels down instead of reaching down with your toes like you are in the video. That will also help your lower leg come back quite a bit. A new saddle will do you wonders as well when you can do something about that. So those would be the first steps: getting your stirrup short enough so that you can sink your weight into your heels so that they're lower then your toes and get your lower leg back. I'd also close your hip angle and let your upper body tilt slightly forward as you're posting. Those two things will make it even easier for you to post as it puts you over your horse's center of gravity instead of behind the motion fighting against your leg. And lastly, hands should be about 4-6 inches apart and very still. I know you want to do show jumping but I would get a copy of the book Hunter Seat Equitation by George Morris. It's all about the details of a proper position and WHY it works.

Very cute horse!I I'm sorry to hear that you had to sell him and that you had to endure such a frustrating situation. :( bummer. I hope your new place ends up being a much more encouraging place for you to learn and ride.
 
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