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Post by tintin on Jul 5, 2012 13:33:10 GMT 1
Help! - In "Trying to write" Miss Walker and Honey need some fairly flashy dressage moves (not imminently, but for the book's dramatic denouement)
I have seen a fair bit of flashy horse handling in my time, but know none of the names of the moves. Wikipedia has been pretty good in understanding some of the terms. The army manual has 35 lesson plans (starting with recognising a horse, saddle, stirrups etc up to being able to take your place in an operational mounted unit) which don't use any technical terms, but still require a bit of understanding and are all normal practical horsemanship.
Can any one recommend a pretty basic "boy's own" type dressage book?
On a more specific note all the equestrian bits are qa'd for me by an experienced rider. I wanted Honey to do the Piaffe (basically horse marks time at the trot), but she considers it too difficult and recommended the "Spanish Walk" instead (horse goose steps). I'm reasonably OK with this, but am still a little attached to the original move.
Honey is ridden on average 3 hours each day up to half of which is formal schooling.
Any thoughts?
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Post by Claire on Jul 5, 2012 19:48:00 GMT 1
I'm not the best person to comment on dressage as the most advanced movement I ever mastered was probably a turn on the forehand There is a very good chapter on advanced schooling/dressage movements in a book by JPT called Ride Better and Better. I can scan it for you if you like. It outlines some of the more advanced dressage movements with aids etc and also says what level of competition they would be used in, there's the half pass, full pass, counter canter, 2 track work like travers and renvers, etc. Its aimed to (older) children so its reasonably easy to understand. Personally I would stick in the piaffe! You can have too much realism and a little artistic licence may be granted occaisionally. OK so you dont want to go as far as these ridiculous books which have 10 year olds doing full passes and jumping 6 foot walls, but in a small dose artistic license can be a good thing! Flying changes (horse changes lead leg in air) are a good showy dressage movement to include in the story, especially showy if done every stride (which is where it looks like horse is skipping) but again this is very advanced dressage. This vid shows a flying change at every stride (the slow mo bit shows it the best): Theres a website called classicaldressage.net which may be of help. Also try searching the various movements on youtube so you will get some idea what they look like.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2012 20:14:11 GMT 1
I've got that book, agree it's a good one
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Post by darkhorse on Jul 6, 2012 11:19:22 GMT 1
They are fiction, but there is a lot of information about the more basic dressage moevements in Josephine PT's Pony Club books, particularly Pony Club Team. The PT sisters always had someone doing or attempting a full pass when they wanted to show off
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Post by tintin on Jul 6, 2012 15:57:35 GMT 1
All, Many Thanks - Claire, thanks for the scanning offer which was really kind, unfortunately I was so interested in the book I am afraid I bought one (and another one at the same time, and I was intending not to buy any books this month...)
Internet is fantastic for dressage, makes it all much clearer
Dark Horse -I enjoyed the Noel and Henry series which was full of dressage type things, many of which were quite confusing. Hats off to the author for making all this technical stuff quite gripping, a bit like one of my favourite books "Vietnam Surgeon" I could n't understand most of the operating theatre stuff, but boy did he make it exciting - that is real writing talent.
I think I will keep the Piaffe, but probably half passes rather than full passes although flying changes definitely, they are captivating and she is out to charm. Bearing in mind the lady's level of experience,commitment, amount of training time available and determined approach I think these moves are probably, just, within the realm of attainment so I will allow myself a bit of artistic licence.
As a rule of thumb I have gone with if someone I knew could do it, she can, if no one I knew could do it then if an a bit above average rank and file mounted soldier could do it, she probably can too. Also in this part of the story she is pushing herself a bit to excel, so again probably justifiable in plot terms.
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Post by Claire on Jul 6, 2012 21:36:19 GMT 1
Having ridden for a number of years before I had any formal lessons, I found the Noel and Henry schooling bits very helpful and lunging without stirrups does indeed give you a better seat!
But back to Miss W. I think as she is a lady of means and has lots of time to school she would be able to get to a reasonably advanced level. She could also afford to have lessons from a top dressage trainer which would improve her dressage enormously, maybe you could work that into her back story. Plus theres always the option of a passage instead of a piaffe which I think is a little less advanced for the horse & rider (tho I could be wrong - if anyone knows differently let us know) still extremely showy. Hope you don't mind me giving you suggestions tintin.
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Post by tintin on Jul 9, 2012 13:58:39 GMT 1
Ah - work without stirrups - happy memories.
Suggestions are always welcome!
"She could also afford to have lessons from a top dressage trainer which would improve her dressage enormously, maybe you could work that into her back story"
Excellent idea - I think I may just drop that in somewhere - something for her to do after she gets into big money, while she is sorting herself out what to do with it, before she buys Honey and the cottage.
I was tempted to drop the dressage course into the second part of the book, but what with dealing with Major Eversleigh, Tommy's riding lessons and having a covered school built(among other things) there is more than enough mayhem to go round.
If I knew more about dressage, and, much more importantly, more about dressage trainers I would be very tempted. The potential for drama is very great...
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Post by tintin on Jul 17, 2012 13:17:16 GMT 1
What a splendid book! Quite an entertaining read as well as having loads of useful info
I particularly liked this, though:-
"...duns are usually tough and have a pony cleverness..."
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