Tag Archives: naturally gaited walking horse

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Gaited Dressage Shows

Where to Show Gaited Dressage

where-to-show-gaited-dressage-in-my-area

By Jennifer Klitzke

Schooling dressage shows are a terrific way to get feedback from a dressage professional as to where you and your horse are at with balance, rhythm, connection, engagement, relaxation, harmony,  accuracy of the required movements, gait quality, and your balanced riding position and effective use and timing of your leg, seat, and rein aids. The score sheets provide terrific feedback from a trained dressage professional to confirm what is going well, what needs to improve, and when you and your horse are ready to move up a level.

Where to Show Gaited Dressage

After a 16-year break from competitive dressage, I never imagined that I’d return to the dressage arena on a horse that didn’t trot!

In 2007, I purchased Gift of Freedom, a just turning three-year-old Tennessee walking horse filly with 20 rides on her. I knew nothing about gaited horses. All I knew is that I wanted SMOOTH and out of default dressage became our method of communication. I wasn’t sure if dressage and gaited horses went together‒we would just have to give it a try.

Then in 2010, I learned of a schooling dressage show in my area, so I contacted the show manager and asked if I could ride my gaited horse using the National Walking Horse Association tests which are patterned after the United States Dressage Federation tests with flat walk and running walk replacing trot.

Thankfully the show manager and judge accommodated us. I received the feedback I was seeking to know where we were at in our training.

Since 2010 I’ve ridden 60 dressage tests at traditional schooling dressage shows. These low key, beginner-friendly shows are a terrific way to get feedback from a trained dressage professional as to where we are at with balance, rhythm, connection, engagement, relaxation, harmony, accuracy of the required movements, gait quality, and my riding position and effective use and timing of leg, seat, and rein aids.

The judge makes comments to a scribe during my test that are written on a score sheet. This feedback is so helpful to confirm what is established in our training, areas we still need to work on, and when we are ready to move to the next level of training.

If showing dressage with your naturally gaited horse is something you’d like to try, below are a few ways to get it started in your area.

Where to show gaited dressage in your area:

1. Take dressage lessons

If you’re lucky enough to live by a gaited dressage instructor, start taking regular lessons. If not, join a local dressage club to connect with dressage riders and start taking lessons with an open-minded dressage instructor who will teach you a balanced riding position and effective use and timing of your leg, seat, and rein aids as you learn how to direct your gaited horse into relaxation, balance, rhythm, connection, engagement, straightness, and collection in your horse’s easy gait. A dressage instructor can help you connect with local schooling shows.

2. Find traditional schooling dressage shows in your area through a local dressage club

Contact the show manager in advance and ask if you can enter your naturally gaited horse using FOSH, NWHA, or Western gaited dressage tests. Then mail the tests with your entry so that the judge can get familiar with the tests before the show. (I have found that the NWHA tests have been easier to accommodate for traditional dressage schooling shows since they are patterned after the USDF test that the judges are already familiar with.)

3. Find a gaited horse show and volunteer to help coordinate dressage classes

Ask a gaited breed show manager if they would be open to offering gaited dressage classes and then get a few friends to help you organize it.

Details include setting up the dressage ring with letters and ropes or chains and a judge table with two chairs, hiring an “r” judge, finding volunteers to scribe, be the ring steward, organize the order of ride times in advance, informing the riders of their times, completing the score sheets after each test is ridden, and post the percentages for all to see.

4. Organize a schooling dressage show in your area

Organize a show that is open to gaited, western dressage, and traditional dressage riders. If you have a riding facility, this can be a money-making opportunity for you and a way to reach new boarders and students.

5. Submit your video to virtual schooling shows

Here’s an exciting collaboration between Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH) and North American Western Dressage (NAWD) which allows for inclusive competition with other naturally gaited horse and rider teams worldwide without ever leaving your backyard!

In 2013, FOSH introduced a Gaited Dressage program for live showing where you submit copies of your tests at the end of the year for awards. In addition to the Traditional live show category, FOSH has expanded the Gaited Dressage program to include a “Virtual” category using the NAWD Virtual Schooling Show “Gaits Wide Open” platform.  The FOSH Gaited Dressage rules apply to both the Traditional and Virtual categories. Each category will be awarded separately, yet you may choose to participate in both.

The FOSH Virtual Schooling Show “Gaits Wide Open” category is open to Western (and English) gaited dressage using any of the tests included in the FOSH Independent Judges Association Manual for Gaited Dressage (pdf). All Virtual Gaited Dressage tests will be judged by licensed IJA dressage judges.

For more information about the FOSH Gaited Dressage Program, visit Friends of Sound Horses Gaited Dressage Program.

For more information about the NAWD Virtual Schooling Shows, visit North American Western Association Virtual Schooling Shows.

I long for the day when I’m not the only gaited dressage entry riding among the trotting horses in my area. My hope is that this longing will soon be satisfied as gaited dressage grows in popularity.

Do you show your naturally gaited horse in dressage? If so, I’d love to hear from you. Please reach out and share your story by sending me a message.Or stay connected by subscribing to the Naturally Gaited youtube channel and joining our community on facebook.com/naturallygaited.

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Gaited Dressage Shows

Naturally Gaited Dressage

naturally gaited dressage by jennifer klitzke

By Jennifer Klitzke

To me naturally gaited dressage is a humane method of training and communicating with a horse that brings about beauty and harmony, balance, rhythm, relaxation, and suppleness, which results in gait quality. It develops a connection of trust and respect between horse and rider, and as the relationship grows in trust, understanding, skill and refinement, the horse and rider transform into a wonderful dance partnership without the use of heavy shoes, big bits and spurs, and mechanical devices.

I took my naturally gaited walking horse Makana to North Run Farm for our last schooling dressage show of the season. We were the only gaited entry among trotting horses. I bring her to schooling dressage shows because I like to get feedback from a professional eye as to where we are at in our training as it relates to balance, rhythm, gaits, impulsion, submission, harmony, rider position and effective use of aids, and accuracy of the required movements. It helps confirm areas of improvement and areas we still need to work on.

At the North Run show several spectators were given an introduction to dressage as it applies to the gaited horse. After every two test rides, the arena opened for ten minutes of schooling, so Makana’s expressive head shaking movement was quite the contrast as we warmed up with the trotting horses! Many onlookers had never seen a gaited horse ridden dressage style, barefoot and in a snaffle bit (without mechanical devices, big bits, and heavy shoes). Plus, the SMOOTH ride was evident in comparison to the bouncy sitting trot.

Thanks to the fine coaching I had received from Jennie Jackson this summer, the dressage judge remembered us from last year and commented on how we had made a noticeable improvement. We placed 5th of 9 in Training Level with a score of 67% and 4th of 6 in First Level with a score of 68.966%.

A huge thank you to my wonderful husband who volunteered to film my rides. (Wow, I love that man!)

Photos>

Video: Warming up with the Trotters

Video: 2011 NWHA Training Level Test Three

Dressage for the Gaited Horse

Gaited Dressage and Rail Class: Convergence of Two Worlds

6 Comments
Gaited Dressage and Rail Class: Convergence of Two Worlds

There’s a convergence in the gaited horse world: the traditional dressage rider of non-gaited horses who later applies what they have learned with the naturally gaited horse and the rail class rider who later learns dressage.

The former describes me. While dressage has been helpful in developing relaxation, balance, rhythm, connection, symmetry, engagement, and collection, I’ve learned so much from rail class riders in developing smooth gait like the flat walk and running walk.

Dressage and rail class equitation: A convergence of two worlds for the naturally gaited horse

By Jennifer Klitzke

I believe gaited dressage has an equation: dressage + gaited equitation = gaited dressage. While each paradigm offers unique perspectives about what is considered “correct,” converging these perspectives adds value to the equation of what is considered “correct.” One perspective without the other is only half the gaited dressage equation.

Riders like me who have spent decades studying dressage on non-gaited horses understand the importance of relaxation, rhythm, connection, balance, impulsion, straightness, collection, harmony, a balanced rider position, and effective use and timing of aids. These elements of dressage help to develop the horse’s full range of motion in each gait equally in both directions to produce an ambidextrous horse. Learning this can improve the quality of smooth gaits for the rail class.

Dressage was the only language I knew when I acquired Makana, my first naturally gaited horse. While the elements of dressage are the same, I quickly learned differences in how gaited horses and non-gaited horses move. What is “correct” with a non-gaited horse, is not the same as what is “correct” with a smooth-gaited, head-nodding Tennessee walking horse. Makana’s flat walk and running walk have a distinctly different “feel” than that of the trot and trot lengthening of my Trakehner/Thoroughbred.

Tennessee walking horse rail show. I'm riding in a curb bit using two hands with contact.
Rail class show riding my six-year-old Tennessee walking horse
in a curb bit with contact.

Riding a head-shaking horse in flat walk has a distinctly different “feel” as compared to the stationary headset of a trotting horse. To help me navigate this difference, I’ve needed the perspectives and knowledge from Tennessee walking horse rail class riders to help me develop “correct feel” with contact. And I’m still learning.

On the other hand, many rail class riders are new to dressage with their naturally gaited horses. They know how to ride a head-shaking horse in a shank bit yet need to learn how to teach the gaited horse how to accept and follow a light contact using a snaffle bit. They need to understand the benefits of helping the horse relax the mouth, lower jaw and poll to release braces that cause pace and step pace.

Rail class riders know how to keep their gaited horse in a consistent four-beat gait along a straight line along the rail. Yet they need to learn how to help their horses establish bend and balance in the gait through circles, lateral exercises, transitions within and between gaits. They need to learn how to develop the full range of walks, smooth gaits, and canters with symmetry to develop evenness traveling clockwise and counterclockwise. They need to learn the effective use and timing of aids to communicate consistently with the horse. This takes time and a knowledgeable dressage rider for the gaited horse to learn this.

Naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse flat walk
How dressage improves quality smooth gait over time.
Pictured is the same horse at the age of 19.

Dressage is a journey, not a destination.  Dressage is challenging no matter how long you’ve been at it, and riding a smooth gaited horse consistently well is challenging. The goal is improvement, not perfection.

Whether you are a rail class rider beginning to learn dressage or a non-gaited dressage rider applying dressage with a naturally gaited horse, be part of the full equation: dressage + gaited equitation = gaited dressage. You have something to offer (and learn from) the other half!

I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.

Visit website: NaturallyGaitedHorse.com
Subscribe: Naturally Gaited youtube channel
Follow: facebook.com/naturallygaitedhorse

Dressage for the Gaited Horse

Unique Breeds featured on CSDEA Site

csdea-foto-friday
Two unique breeds, a Tennessee walking horse and a Spanish Mustang, were featured on CSDEA Foto Friday showing that dressage and jumping can be applied with success whether the horse trots or gaits, and versatility training can be achieved by a rider of any age.

Continue reading Unique Breeds featured on CSDEA Site →

Dressage for the Gaited Horse, Gaited Dressage Shows, Gaited Dressage Videos

Gaited Dressage at St George

2014-gaited-dressage-at-st-george-jennifer-klitzke-gift-of-freedom

By Jennifer Klitzke

After the TWH Celebration Show, my naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse and I were back to being the solo gaited horse/rider entry at the St. George Dressage Academy schooling dressage show held Saturday, August 9, 2014. One of the spectators saw us gaiting and asked if I would be trotting my gaited horse during the test. Was I ever glad that I had contacted the show manager ahead of time and received permission to ride the NWHA gaited dressage tests en gait, otherwise that’s what I’d be expected to do—trot!

Our NWHA Training Level Test Three and NWHA First Level Test One were among the 46 dressage tests ridden—Intro level through First level. Our training level test felt like our best yet with a respectable score of 66.8%. I attribute our success to Jennie Jackson who traveled to Minnesota for the second year in a row to teach a “Dressage as Applied to the Gaited Horse” clinic. Jennie really set us on course in establishing rhythm, connection, and forwardness without rushing. My mare is no longer “flat walkin’ in a tight skirt.” Her hind steps are deeper, more even and consistent, combined with a deeper and straighter head nod. Makana’s canter has also improved. While we love to see a true “four-beat” flatwalk, Makana has achieved a solid “three-beat” canter which is rounder and more engaged.

After our first level dressage test Judge Jim Hatch remarked, “Thank you for bringing your gaited horse to the show. This was a first for me!” I thanked him for his willingness to provide feedback for where we are at in our training. Even though my gaited horse doesn’t trot, the elements of dressage still apply: rhythm, balance, forwardness, harmony between horse and rider, acceptance of the bridle, rider’s correct and effective use of aids, rider’s position and seat, and precision of the required movements.

Thank you to St. George Dressage Academy for opening their beautiful tree-lined facility up for this venue as a chorus a song birds kept us company while we rode our tests.

Video: NWHA Training Level Test Three
httpv://youtu.be/-Iv6XNCcQfY