Introducing my new pony

Ok well he isnt actualy MINE as such, he is on schooling loan untill Reeco is better (and possibly for a few months afterwards)

So this is Jeffrey, he is a 5 yr old 15hh Para Dressage horse. He is not the usual type I go for but he is extremely sweet, and I'm honored to be trusted with him (his owner thinks the world of this lad as it is so hard to find horses suitable for disabled riders but still able to take her to national champs)





I'm going to be sorting out his manners out on a hack, furthering his dressage education, introducing him to pony partys (he has never been to one) and generaly enjoying being able to ride again


Please note I am not the one riding/holding in any of these photos and the XC shots are of an able bodied rider.

How awesome!!! Have fun with him :)

What is Para Dressage? Dressage for disabled? And how is he different from usual dressage training-wise?

Congrats! Very cute horse!

Have you ever watched the dressage at the paraolympics? Its that.
It is dressage but the levels are split depending on your disability. Essentialy when the judge is looking at the horse the training needs to be the same (same way of going, level of collection, latteral etc) but the judge does not judge the riders position etc only their effectiveness. And adaptions to tack are allowed if the Para Dressage physio agrees it is nessecary, So reins with loops in them, special saddles, special stirrups, breast plates, 2 schooling whips etc

Training wise it means I will have to be very careful what aids I teach him as his owner has a left leg that cannot be controlled. So I can't teach him any aids that use the left leg nor can I teach him to be overly sensative to the leg on that side.
The owner in question is in a bracket where they are allowed to use voice aids so I will be teaching him Voice aids.
The other problem I have is that getting him up between my hand and leg is something he will have to do with limited leg aids.
I'm not quite sure how I am going to teach him latteral work.

Yes, I've watched paradressage (just wasn't sure if that's what you meant by Para Dressage, may be you guys have other meanings in UK ), but I never looked into rules or how training goes (I'd assume should be different). Thanks for explaining though!

NO clue but if she can shift her weight, that could serve as a cue when paired with voice.

What an interesting project though.

She has no left seatbone so shifting her weight is likely to have her on the floor pretty quickly. I'm thinking of teaching him to go from a schooling whip rather than the leg on that side.

That seems like a very good idea, I'm curious to see how that'll work

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