Any tips on how to memorize a Dressage test?

Question

When i was riding training level the tests were pretty simple. All of the circles were 20 meters and usually in at E B C and A. I could successfully memorize these simple movements but, Moving up to first level, they have both 20 and 15 meter circles and they are at P and F as well as E B C and A, and there are half circles and lateral work.

I suffer from having short term memory loss so adding what may seem simple to most people is very hard for me. I do have the option of having a reader but i would still like to be able to memorize the tests. If any one could throw any tips my way they would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you :~)

Answer 1

Since memorizing dressage tests is a non-physical aspect of dressage, try to look at it from a classroom point of view: what learning style works the best for you in school? Each person has a different learning style: visual, aural, verbal, physical, or logical. Some of them overlap. Different styles of learning uses different part of the brain. Dressage riders also can choose different options that can help them in memorizing a dressage test according to their own style of learning.

1. Visualization-I know that it takes approximately 21 days to develop a habit. So I start visualizing my dressage test every day at least 3 weeks before a show. I sit in an easy chair or lie down on my bed, close my eyes, and take 3 really deep breaths.

You want to do diaphragmatic breathing, so as you inhale, feel like your stomach is getting fat. That means you’re taking air way down into the bottom of your lungs. As you exhale, feel yourself sinking into the chair or bed.

Visualizing your dressage test is going to help you do two things. First, it’s going to help you memorize your test. Secondly, when you visualize the perfect ride, you program your subconscious mind to ride correctly. That’s because when you do “perfect practice” in your mind’s eye, your muscles will fire in the correct way. As you visualize, go through your dressage test stride for stride. Fill in as much detail as you can. What are you wearing? What does your horse look like? What does the arena look like? What color is your jacket? What color are your gloves? Fill in as many details as you can AND include your senses. Hear the rhythm of the footfalls. Feel the contact with your horse’s mouth. See your horse’s head and neck out in front of you. Smell the fly spray. Also, add emotion to your mental movies. Experience yourself feeling calm, relaxed, poised and the harmony of being at one with your horse.

2. Do your test on foot. Another thing to do is walk and trot, and canter the parts of the dressage test at home, You can also do this in a regular dressage arena if you want. Of course it will take you a long time to walk, trot and canter around an entire dressage arena , but it definitely works to do this. If you have a big rectangular area or just mark off an area and trot down the center line, do your halts, trot off, plan where you’re going to turn, walk where you’re supposed to walk, canter where you’re supposed to canter. So you actually have a chance to physically practice.

3. Know your dressage test “forwards and backwards”. When you can pick any point within the dressage test and you can answer those two questions, you really own that test. Also, if you do happen to blank out in the middle of the test, you’ll be able to remember where you are very easily.

Answer 2

Ok. Like you, I find it difficult to memorise things.



How I do it is to read through the dressage test at home, and draw diagrams of each move.



Then I will go and walk it and walk it and walk it again until I get the feel of things. You can take it with you. You walk without the horse and get the feel of the shape of the test before you try to ride it.



When you do ride it, start the whole thing in walk - up the centre line, halt, salute (and then say to yourself, set off in working trot, sitting) and walk on, as you get to each point in the exercise try to tell yourself what you will be doing there (even though you are only walking). You can do the lateral work in walk as well. Good exercise to get your horse listening to you and bending around your inside leg.



Generally in dressage tests they tend to go on one rein and then on the other exactly the same. So if you can learn half the test, you repeat it on the opposite rein. The only exception would be to that when you trot up the centre line at the end, you halt, salute and generally walk out up the centre line and turn any way you choose and leave the arena at C on a loose rein.





It is important not to practice the whole test on the horse too often (just individual parts) or you will find the horse memorises it before you do and if he canters before you tell him to, you will lose points.



If you go on to equi.com there are different sayings taht you could try to learn (which ever you find easier) to remind you where all the letters of the school are. Failing that just type in "how to remember dressage arena markers). Some of them are quite funny which makes them more memorable.



Hope this helps and good luck

Answer 3

Pretend your on the horse and "ride" the test. You get a good work out and you can say what you need to do with your aids in which order. When your body is tired and you still memorize than you're keeping your mind sharp. Then get on your horse and practice. Make a funny acronym for the order of the letters is also helpful. Instead of writing all the time type it out to save some paper but I would still write it a bunch to have it embedded in your brain.

Answer 4

Step 1: get a big pile of paper (I would suggest stuff that is in the recycling because this is going to take a lot)

Step 2: Read over your test a couple times, try to visualize it in your arena.

Step 3: Put the letters onto a piece of paper, as many as you think you need.

Step 4: Trace out your test, make sure you use different lines for different gates, say solid line for walk, short breaks for trot, and long breaks for canter.

Step 5: Repeat until you think you know it. Do this a couple times a night until the show.

Good Luck!

Answer 5

- Take the test with you into the school, and walk it out as if you were doing the test on your horse! this really helps most people. its always a laugh if your rope in a couple of mates and pretend to canter around the school, etc. but it genuinely helped me! Hell, i used to even "trot" , "halt", you get the idea.

- do this untill you know where youre going 9 times out of 10 - without looking at the paper.

- on the 4th or 5th time, try to do it without the paper, and make sure you have a friend to check out youre still walking out the same test and not free styling it!

- this method also really encourages riders to effectively ride a 15 metre circle, and not a 12 and a half metre (which is always picked up on by those pinickety judges!) you actually get to learn what kind of shape these smaller circles are and can help you become more accurate in your riding.



- when you have got the test completely in your head, try and analyse where your horse may struggle. for instance, my mare has a tendancy to fall out on the right rein - our weaker side. so when im walking that 15m circle for the 16th time - im thinking "keep that outside leg guarded against that bulge the whole damn way!" sort of what you do when walking a jumping course, telling yourself "i wont get those long 3 strides in that related distance if i dont ride for it".. you get the idea!



- what youre really trying to aim for, is knowing the test inside out back to front - without allowing your horse to memorize it as well! you need to have the upper hand, it still needs to be kept fresh and interesting for your steed which im sure youre fully aware of :)



- i would advise warming the horse up and then practicing little snippets of the test which you think you may struggle on 4 or 5 days before the show.

a trot-canter transition on a 20m circle at X for example can be very scrappy if not practiced enough!

- you should be tracing out and improving these little elements, which will work wonders for your score, and no horse will be able to string these little work-out sessions together into a fully fledged test if you only practice sections at a time :)



- perhaps 2 days before the show, carry out the actual test a couple of times, making sure its the exact same as to how you walked it on the ground. if it helps settle your nerves, calmly trace the test out on an A4 sheet of paper the night before so you can prove to yourself you know EXACTLY how each movement and transition flows into the test- labelling the A4 sheet as you would see a menage constructed - A and C at opposite ends, bla bla.



- when it comes to performing your test for real, take a deep breath, remember you compete dressage because you ENJOY it and take comfort in the fact youve learnt your test so thoroughly. I highly doubt you will forget if if you take out 7-10 days beforehand to master it, and follow this :) im like the most forgetful person in the world and it worked for me on the 2 occasions i competed dressage!



Good luck! :)

Answer 6

this is going to require a LOT of paper.. but this is how i've memorized tests...



1st read over the test a couple times.. but make sure you're absorbing it, and not just reciting it. then with a pen and paper draw the arena (with letters) and then read the 1st instruction, draw it out, read the 2nd, draw it out, and so on til you've completed the test. you may need to do this a few times.. then when you think you've got it, try drawing the test without reading it at all.. if there are any instructions you're iffy on then star it on the instruction sheet and pay those parts some extra attention.

also, when you're drawing without reading, it helps if you say the actions out loud. some people remember better through reading, some through hearing, some through writing and some through saying. with this method, you've covered all the memory "bases".



good luck :)

Answer 7

I just memorized my first dressage test. This is how I memorized it. I went out in my yard because it's shaped like a mini arena and visualized the letters. Then I practiced over and over and over and over again until I didn't need to look at the sheet anymore. So find a rug or a room or even a yard shaped like a rectangle and practice it over and over and over and over again. You could even do it in the arena. The best way to memorize it is pretend your the horse then practice it on your horse once you've memorized it.



Best of luck!!

Answer 8

Repeat it, repeat it, repeat it until you can get it into your long term memory.



A friend of mine has a few litle problems with short term memory that can make it difficult, she rides and for things like that all she does is keep on doing it over and over until it's ingrained.



It can help, so you don't wear your horse out - to mark out an arena at home and walk it, or even you can download virtual arenas on that and practice on your computer.