A rider should be able to listen to and understand what both their horse and their trainer are telling them.

They should have the temperament that allows them to enjoy the journey, rather than trying to grab the prize

 

An independant seat and a strong core, with a good sense of feel and willingness to learn and accept criticism.
If you've got those, you'll be fine.

 

I took my first dressage lesson today- I have been riding western for years. My personal, humble and very limited opinion is that your number one requirement will be an instructor who has DONE it! Again, IMHO, and please be quick to correct me, I also don't think you should be trying to teach a horse dressage while learning it at that same time. Just like beginner riders should not be learning to ride on green horses. Maybe you and your horse could do it, but I definitely think finding someone who has shown and trained dressage will be the key ingredient to your success! Good Luck!!

 

Agreed, I'd add in you must you need a lot of paiteints. Takes a lot of time and hard work and sometimes a few set backs. Just like any sport but to take your time will mean hopefully more correct riding, that is with the right help and experainced people around.

 

Thanks! What is a strong core?

 

I would consider a "strong core" to be strong and developed muscles you use to keep your torso/upper body stable in saddle, so think abdominal muscles and those muscles around them (sorry, I don't know human muscle groups well at all); the muscles at the 'core' of your body basically. To strengthen those do lots of sit up, planks, etc. I hope that sort of clarifies for you!

 

Tessa I agree to an extent re not training a horse in Dressage while learning yourself. But to what extent? Most FEI riders I know all got there on a horse that didn't know the ropes either.
I think learning the basics on a good school horse is ideal, developing the rider's seat, learning the basics of the German Training Scale and how to achieve these steps. But unless you're very lucky and have access to a Grand Prix school master that you can ride on a regular basis, there's going to be a lot of learning while training going on.

 

By the german training scale, is that rhythm, looseness, contact, impulsion, straightness, and collection? Because at my barn, we call it the refinement pyramid, lol. I'm a bit confused by straightness, because I was told that when ever your horse's body is straight, he's building stiffness.

 

Yep, thats the one.
There's various names for it, but the most commonly followed scale is the German Training Scale, as it was developed by the Germans.
Straightness is not about keeping your horse's body in a straight line. Straightness involves bend and flexion as well. Say you're riding on a 20m circle, the bend (through the horse's body) and flexion (from the poll and jaw) need to match the arc of the circle. On a 10m circle, the bend and flexion are obviously going to be greater to follow the arc of the circle.
Straightness/bend/flexion is why most training particularly of green horses is done on curved lines. On a curve, you ask for bend and flexion, which helps to keep the horse soft and responsive. Straight lines are only to test your training.
Straightness is about keeping the hind legs tracking equally with the forelegs, and the body of the horse being always in line with the arc of the figure you are riding. Not about having a dead straight, ridig body

 

You know more than I do Kayty! Yes, I imagine most high level dressage riders are training their horses as they go, but when you are first learning it, like me, I found it helpful to have a trained dressage horse to teach me how to give the correct cue. My trainer said that she purposefully did not train her gelding as high a level as her FEI level stallion so that she could use him to teach. She said that the higher level the horse is, the more difficult it is to ride for a beginner because their cues are so specific. Anyway, So I know now what the exact, correct response from the horse feels like when I give a certain cue, so now I have a better idea of how to achieve that in a lesser trained horse, whereas before, if neither of us (me or the horse) knew what exactly we were looking for, it would be a longer process, does that make sense? Again, you seem to have much more experience than me Kayty, and I agree that it gets to a point where both the horse and rider are learning together, I'm just speaking from my own limited experience!

 

You will certainly progress faster if the horse is trained beyond your ability, but if you're not in a rush to progress through the levels and have a good trainer/instructor working with you, I think it can be very rewarding to learn while training your horse.

I've been riding 6 years and I still ride at training level. The first horse I leased had been trained/shown in dressage before (though I'm not sure what level), which was probably quite helpful for my initial learning, but she got retired and I started leasing a horse with no real dressage training, who was then retired due to navicular, and then I leased a horse with no dressage training at all (and some bad habits from jumping). I finally bought my own horse earlier this year, and I'm really looking forward to finally making it to 1st level with him, though he's still not quite solid on training level. Maybe by the end of next summer I can start showing him 1st

 

I totally agree with the ability to take criticism. I want to add to that the ability to formulate questions to understand what your trainer/instructor is asking you to do. Everyone understands things a little bit differently. (as you can see very well if you read through this forum! lol) Sometimes, you need to be able to get your trainer to use different imagery or ideas to help you understand what you you need to be doing. I've been riding, off and on, with my same trainer/instructor for over 8 years. It was only this weekend that she found the way to explain to me how to keep my heels down over a jump!

 

Thank you so much! I'm going to start taking dressage lessons on my gelding soon.

 

One word: masochism.

 

THIS!! So true! My trainer told me many times, "if it doesn't hurt, you are probably not doing it right."

 

A good trainer, willingness to admit YOU DONT KNOW DOOKIE, and PATIENCE - with yourself and your horse. These things will get you where you want to go.

 

Oh and you need to define successful, I used to think that to be successful you needed to get to the upper levels, you don't, success comes from being able to complete the dance well, even at intro or training. I don't suppose anyone has scored 100% at either, so whatever your level, there is always room for improvement

 

I think all of it has been answered here, but I find a lot of theory reading behind that 'how, what, who, when' helps too. If you understand why you do one thing to effect another, and in the long run it benefits XYZ there is more point to it. Dressage IS training.

It depends on the level on your horse to what and where you start.

I have learned so much over the past 3 months with my 3yo. You have to learn that an unfit horse WILL be doing more walk work, and a lot of walk, trot and canter on a long and low rein to develop back muscles to be able to use self carriage.

So for me, not only is it all of what has previously been mentioned, but also learning the mechanics of it

 

I agree with Kayty. After you know the basics you can improve yourself and your horse with hard work.

 

I agree with DuffyDuck. Read everything you can in dressage theory. I was told you should spend 2 hours learning theory for every hour in the saddle.

It's important to understand why we do the stuff we do at training level. These are the basics, the foundation that every single piece of dressage depends on. If you just got through the motions without understanding how it all fits together at the end, then you won't progress much past training level.

The other thing... The training pyramid is not a stack. It's more like a circle. You need all of the parts at every level, but in varying degree's. Even at training level... you start with the very bottom (rhythm) while warming up and when thats ok, add in suppleness and contact (etc) diring the ride. It'll be at a very, very low level as you start. As your training progresses, you'll find that you've improved on each part. But you need all of it to move up through the levels.

I've never owned a horse that I didn't start from the ground up in dressage. Occasional I get a chance to ride a horse a little better trained, but its rare. It's harder to do it this way. If you have an opportunity to ride a horse that's working at a level higher than you, then jump on it. No amount of lessons or reading can replace the "feel" you develop when you've sat on a horse that knows his job.
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Presently I am reading a book entitled "Feeling Dressage" and it has helped me a lot. I found out that if you know the theory it is much easier troubleshooting and making it correct. Right now I am trying to understand travers. How to do it? What is the relation of travers with other exercises such as half pass? What do I need to do correctly before trying travers and so on... If any of you have any suggestion of reading or freely available internet movies I would appretiate.

 

.. If any of you have any suggestion of reading or freely available internet movies I would appretiate.

E-trak through the USDF has some good articles and videos. http://www.usdf.org/e-trak/
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