Why dont mares do dressage?

Skib

Skib

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Dec 21, 2003
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First question for me having watchede the grand prix dressage at Olympia. Why are the horses all stallions or geldings?

Is it really sensible for me in the long term to reject Larry and ride a mare in my dressage lessons?

I think I may need to be more sympathetic to geldings. But how does one ride them and get that click?
 
I've no idea but would assume its just easier without cycles to get a more cnsistant performance, it must be pain if your big important comp just happens to fall on the first day of their heat. I know some performance horses are kept on regumate etc to alliviate that issue.
 
I think that it all depends on the level of dressage that you do. There are plenty of talented mares who can do a very nice test. Not all geldings are good at dressage - we ALWAYS come last!
 
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Bella Rose is a mare so some can get to the top. Maybe it's to do with the power and athleticism you need at that level? Most racehorses are also colts with an occadional exceptional filly.
 
Mares do dressage, Blue Hors Matine was a brilliant mare

I think geldings are perhaps more trainable and I do believe that it can be more difficult to get that harmony with a mare than a gelding. What was seen last night was a snapshot in time, there have and will be mares at the top level of competition.
 
There were some mares last night at Olympia - Laura Tomlinson was there riding Minnie and some of the horses in the freestyle were mares.

My mare is a dressage pony! Admittedly, she doesn't actually like doing dressage - she'd rather jump, or gallop, or hack, or basically do anything BUT dressage - but she's good at it. So long as you ask her correctly and don't mind a few grumpy 'god I hate dressage' bucks! My hunch is that geldings are generally more trainable than mares in dressage, which requires unquestioning obedience and no initiative from the horse - not particularly mare-ish traits. You know what they say - you tell a gelding, you ask a mare, and I'd say that is broadly true!
 
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squidsin said:
My hunch is that geldings are generally more trainable than mares in dressage, which requires unquestioning obedience and no initiative from the horse - not particularly mare-ish traits. You know what they say - you tell a gelding, you ask a mare, and I'd say that is broadly true!
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Hahaha, that explains why me and Raf are so rubbish at it then - unquestioning obedience is something neither of us are very good at lol.
 
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With due respect - I dont think there was one mare who competed in the dressage free style last night and hence my question. I printed out the competition order before going. One UK mare was listed to compete going first, but did not enter the arena.
I know there are exceptions - Tineke Bartels once rode a most beautiful mare Sunrise at Olympia and gave a demo using her - Thus confirming my adoration of mares. And persuading me to shell out for her book. But Sunrise was an exception and last night there was not a single mare.
Also making me recognise that in my first year of riding lessons, I rode a gelding with whom I bonded completely. It was only in my third year of learning to ride and after I arrived on NR that I was riding mares both hacking and in lessons and they both proved long term rides for me. And when I was looking to buy, I wanted a mare although my RI herself prefers geldings.
I am thinking that I need to completely wiper my prejudices. After Christmas I will hack this new gelding. And Larry too if he is thought safe enough for students.
But the question remains. Is it the muscles and physique? What lies behind the statistics.
 
Mary Poppins said:
I think that it all depends on the level of dressage that you do. There are plenty of talented mares who can do a very nice test. Not all geldings are good at dressage - we ALWAYS come last!
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If you want points at dressage Mary P I recommend reading Carl Hester's first book Down to earth Dressage. It lives by my computer because it explains the meaning of all the terms - But he pays great attention to how points are awarded by judges and wasted by riders. In each section there are Test Tips. By the way, this is not my sort of riding at all. But if you are going to compete, you might as well optimise your chances.
 
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Well mares tend to have longer backs to accomodate babies so perhaps that impedes them slightly from the super collected stuff??? a bit like the pelvic differences in men and women riders affecting how easy it is to ride...
 
Skib said:
With due respect - I dont think there was one mare who competed in the dressage free style last night and hence my question. I printed out the competition order before going. One UK mare was listed to compete going first, but did not enter the arena.
I know there are exceptions - Tineke Bartels once rode a most beautiful mare Sunrise at Olympia and gave a demo using her - Thus confirming my adoration of mares. And persuading me to shell out for her book. But Sunrise was an exception and last night there was not a single mare.
Also making me recognise that in my first year of riding lessons, I rode a gelding with whom I bonded completely. It was only in my third year of learning to ride and after I arrived on NR that I was riding mares both hacking and in lessons and they both proved long term rides for me. And when I was looking to buy, I wanted a mare although my RI herself prefers geldings.
I am thinking that I need to completely wiper my prejudices. After Christmas I will hack this new gelding. And Larry too if he is thought safe enough for students.
But the question remains. Is it the muscles and physique? What lies behind the statistics.
Click to expand...

It was one show - not representative of every dressage competition ever. I wouldn't use it as a yardstick for which horses you should ride, unless perhaps you are also intending to compete in Grand Prix dressage! I don't get the 'oh I only ride mares/geldings' thing anyway. It's like saying you prefer girls to boys. They're all different in personality, you can't generalise THAT much.
 
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Mares are perfectly capable of performing to exactly the same level as geldings/ stallions imo.

I think it is as others have said that they are perhaps harder to work with/ get consistent work out of, personal preference and as joosie said that if they are good they will become a broodmare.
 
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Jessey said:
like the pelvic differences in men and women riders affecting how easy it is to ride...
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O that is another gender imbalance. Only three of the riders were men. I have my print out from 2008 (used as a bookmark in Bartels' book all this years) and see there were more women riders even then. 5 or 6 (I am sometimes not sure of the gender with some overseas forenames.
But I have read on another forum discussing boys learning to ride, that men and boys like to go fast on a horse and compete for speed, which doesnt happen in dressage. My six year old grandson (who has always wanted to ride) had his first ride a few weeks ago with a splendid teacher, and his enthusiasm and daring and general recklessness was quite unlike anything I have seen among my grand daughters. Yet I pointed out to OH that some of the great cross country riders were women.
 
The only 2 men at my yard both only compete in dressage, and its the girls who do sj and xc
 
I was always lead to believe as well that for the horse racing industry the colts and geldings were stronger and faster as a general rule, hence why there are more of them in racing compared to how many mares.
There will always be the exception though !
If a mare is particularly successful and winning a good return in prize money, I would have though they would be breeding foals from her by embryo transplant – win win then for return on capital in that time period
 
The very top competition horses tend to be stallions or late cut geldings, who have a natural flamboyance suited to dressage but good mares do perform at Grand Prix. That is totally different to most riders who will have a preference usually based on their experiences,. think of the old saying 'tell a gelding, ask a mare, discuss it with a stallion'
 
Not all of the horses will be stallions or geldings, but my guess is a really good stallion makes a really good stud later on. There is more money in having a stallion than a mare.
A mare makes one baby, a stallion can make hundreds, its like that in racing, mares breed. But its the stallion people remember as a horse being from. My cob is out of a graded stallion, mum is just well her mum.

Actually going to competitions is a no for us, because one week she is really hard to ride. That said my vet would inject if we competed off the yard.
I wouldn't reject either horse, if you ride twice a week alternate them, see who you gel with.
Who are you competiting on?
 
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