Tips For Achieving Your Bronze Medal in Dressage

Tips For Achieving Your Bronze Medal in Dressage

Reported by Tara Korde

In the USA, many dressage riders set goals of getting their United States Dressage Federation Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals.  The USDF medals are a stamp of approval in many ways - that you can indeed compete at a certain level consistently. At the time this article was written, to win a Bronze Medal, you must have six scores of 60% or higher, with two different judges and two different rides in each of First Level, Second Level and Third Level respectively.  In this article, we talk to three ladies, two adult amateurs and one professional, who have all achieved their Bronze Medal (or beyond), and ask them their advice on what helped them successfully earn it.

Liz Oertel Johnson - Adult Amateur

Liz Oertel Johnson teaches as a lecturer at the University of New Hampshire in the Equine Studies Program and is the owner of On The Bit Events, an equine event management company.  OTBE partners with prestigious events in the Northeast such as Fitch’s Corner and the New England Dressage Association Fall Symposium. Liz knows both sides of the competition ring and earned her Bronze medal in the Fall of 2017.  Her mount is Santa Fe, aka Santa, an 18-year-old Dutch Warmblood. Santa had scores through first level when Liz got him in late 2015, and the two have worked together to progress through the levels. Liz’s horse background has been greatly varied - from sport arabians to foxhunting, dressage and eventing. To find out more about Liz and 

On The Bit Events visit: https://www.onthebitevents.com/

Find a coach that works for you

Find a trainer that will help you and your horse thrive.  It is important that your trainer understands both you and your horse - your personalities, your physical abilities, and how you work as a team. It’s also important that your trainer be accommodating and realistic - helping you to set sensible goals within a timeframe, and to be available to train you when your schedule permits.  Many amateurs work during the day. They might not get to ride as often as they would like. Finding a coach that will work when you can be at the barn is so important. You simply won't get the help you need if you don't have someone who is flexible and will work with you.  

Find an appropriate horse

Just because you have an emotional tie to a horse, does not mean it is the horse you should be competing on or trying to get to a bronze medal with.  Make sure the horse that you plan to earn that bronze medal with is a horse you feel safe with. Don't get overmounted. Ensure the horse also has the physical ability to compete at 3rd level.  Make sure you feel comfortable on the horse - can you sit to their gaits easily? Maybe the correct match isn’t available right now, but don’t let that stop you - lesson on an available horse, consider a lease, or lease to buy, or find someone who doesn’t have the time to ride every day and would appreciate it if their horse gets some exercise.  A little patience to find the right partner will definitely pay off. Your prince charming is out there, you just have to be willing to wait.

Ride without stirrups

The sitting trot has been a challenge for me.  Once I got to third level, I needed to sit well, not just in a mediocre way.  So I try to ride every ride at least 10 minutes with no stirrups, as long as I am in a safe environment.   I don’t do it with snow falling off of the roof or out on the trails. Riding without stirrups has not only improved my fitness and ability to sit the trot but has had far reaching positive consequences to my riding and has also accelerated my progress.  Lunge lessons without stirrups are also fantastic and a real treat if your ground help can help lunge you and your horse in a safe way.

Rachel Masen - Adult Amateur

Rachel Masen is the founder of lifestyle Website Decidedly Equestrian and recently earned her USDF Bronze Medal. Her mount is 22 year old Prix St George schoolmaster Thoroughbred Spice. She has used his solid training to vastly increase her Dressage knowledge in a short amount of time.  She went from Training level to a Bronze Medal in 1 calendar year. She’s been taking dressage lessons for 3 years and was previously a western rider. You can find more about Rachel on her Website: www.decidelyequestrian.com  

Don’t shun the schoolmaster  If you’re new to dressage (or haven’t shown very high), I strongly suggest you find a schoolmaster to learn from. This will vastly reduce the time it takes for you to progress. A well trained horse might be quite expensive to lease or buy...or the horse might come with some issues that keep him from being ideal for many amateur riders (these bargains are great if you can manage riding a horse with problems). You don’t need a fancy horse to get your medals, just a well trained one. There’s one out there for you, keep looking!

Be realistic  Is your horse young and green? Do you have a time consuming job that keeps you out of the saddle? Ask yourself the tough questions. You have to be honest with yourself about how long things will take. Make the right choices for your life, but know their consequences. You only have one lifetime. There’s usually another answer to the question and it may affect your timeline less.

Set goals and work your A$$ off  This is the big one. If you don’t have the work ethic or real desire, it’s not getting done. Ride as often as you can, ride with good trainers and clinicians, and take notes.  Practice what you learn in those lessons. Be mindful every moment of your ride (no worrying about picking up your kid or that work project). Read books and articles on dressage when you have time.  Watch training videos or videos of riders you admire. These are invaluable for improvement and learning when you only have one horse to ride. Set goals for what you want to accomplish in one year and figure out a way to make that happen. Create action items for those goals and set dates for completion. Intention is a biggy...if you say you’re doing something...you’ll do it (for the good or bad).  

Molly Maloney - Professional

Molly Maloney is a USDF Bronze, Silver and Gold Medalist, who operates her training business out of Uphill Dressage Center in Salt Point NY. Molly loves training young horses and bringing them up the levels.  Molly, a former participant of Dressage4Kids, is now a clinician and advocate for the program. Molly competes at many prestigious events, from Dressage at Devon to US Nationals.

Memorize, that test

There are a lot of variables about showing that you can’t control, but one huge thing you can control is knowing that test. I can count on not sleeping at all before I show if I have not properly learned my test. Initially it’s about straight memorization. Instead of counting sheep before I fall asleep, I run through my test pattern. My general rule is that you should be able to pick up from any point and continue. Once I have the basic pattern memorized I run through the test. I always hear people say, my horse anticipates the transition, or the changes. I get that. However, you need to run through this test so much and be so comfortable with it that you can work through that anticipation. It is also really good to familiarize yourself with the coefficients. Those are the big money movements that count twice! Lilo Fore once told me to make the ring my friend. It’s something I tell myself often when I am showing. Don’t rush, take your time, utilize space. It’s all about how you prepare each movement. So, know your test inside out and backwards. It will give you the upper hand, and allow you to focus on how your horse is feeling in the moment.

Ring time is paramount

There is a huge difference between being able to ride a test in the comfort of your own sandbox and going in public and knocking off a solid test. Let’s be real, you are never going to have a perfect test. Even if you can ride at home every time for an 80%, at the show a squirrel might run under the arena after a run-away walnut and spook your horse, scaring the living daylights out of you, and therefore giving you the worst case of stage fright causing you to go off course and blow your entire test. Test riding is a whole other ball game. It’s about knowing your horse well enough to know how big and bold you can go, it’s about knowing yourself and where you might be tight or tense, but mostly it’s about mastering that confidence in the ring. So go around that arena like you own the test, you own the moment, and you will rock it and get your score. It’s also about thinking on your feet, for example, if you screw up a movement or a transition, how fast you can recover? Dressage is a mental game just like any other sport and without being able to show enough times to take an edge off your nerves and get your horse seasoned it’s very hard to score consistently. Showing is expensive but experience can be so beneficial, so utilize schooling shows, practice ride a test at a clinic, or even trailer to another farm and practice your test. There are some things that you can only get so perfect at home, and others you need to jump head first into showing to make better. There is confidence in knowing the work is solid, I am not disagreeing with that. Dressage riders as a general statement are perfectionists, and sometimes you have to take a leap and get right to the point! Getting those scores!

This is your moment

It might sound super cheesy, but this is all supposed to be fun. I can’t say I have ever met anyone who doesn’t come out of the ring with their tail between their legs on occasion. Keep things in perspective and know that every time you show, and it doesn’t go as well as planned, the victory of achieving your goals will only be that much sweeter when it happens. So, when you get a little beat up or a comment from a judge like “Nice tail” go home and keep pushing.