
Dressage training
Hi! I was wondering what the fastest/most effective way of training a horse for dressage only is? Thanks

Cypress Creek Elites Offline
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Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2021 5:07 pm Posts: 740
Re: Dressage training
Dressage is movement/strength/tempo/balance. You don't need to fully train (past 99% or whatever you deem full) anything else.
I believe when I was originally doing dressage, I did collection & impulsion/walk/lunge until stamina was where I wanted it, then targeted down each individual stat (switching back to lunging on the flat) with things like trot, hill work, (switching to walk/arena) transitions, ground poles etc.
How long it takes and the exact strategy is going to vary based on how many training courses you have completed, but ideally you want to do the simplest combination possible. Keep intensity low, because your reduction in gains as fatigue increases is going to outweigh the benefits of multiple challenging activities at once.
I believe when I was originally doing dressage, I did collection & impulsion/walk/lunge until stamina was where I wanted it, then targeted down each individual stat (switching back to lunging on the flat) with things like trot, hill work, (switching to walk/arena) transitions, ground poles etc.
How long it takes and the exact strategy is going to vary based on how many training courses you have completed, but ideally you want to do the simplest combination possible. Keep intensity low, because your reduction in gains as fatigue increases is going to outweigh the benefits of multiple challenging activities at once.