The answer is, like many things in the horse world: maybe. It depends.

 

Practicing the dressage test can help the rider feel more prepared and comfortable, both with the movements as well as the memorization aspect of knowing it to the "t".

 

However, practicing the dressage test can also lead your horse into partially memorizing it. And in 99.999% of cases, they do not memorize it fully or accurately, which means that their incorrect anticipation can actively work against you in the ring. This could be show up in a case where you asked the horse for a trot but they end up cantering instead. I've had many horses do this over the years, and quite honestly, the miscommunication and lack of partnership is one of my biggest pet peeves, so that is why I generally try to avoid practicing the test in full, at least for a week or two before the competition!

 

Each rider is going to have their own preferences on whether to practice the test in its entirety or not, but more importantly each horse is going to be the real deciding factor on whether to practice it, and the rider will need to adapt to the horse's needs to achieve the best scenario.

 

If your horse is one who will start learning the test and incorrectly acting on their anticipations, then you need to avoid practicing it in full.

 

Of course, this doesn't mean you can't practice the movements! You still should practice your leg yields and 20m circles and whatnot. Just don't run through the entire test. You even may be able to string together a few movements to see how they ride together before you switch out and do something different. For example, you may want to do the free walk to working walk to working trot to lengthen trot sequence, but then go and do something different afterward so that your horse doesn't always associate that sequence together in that part of the arena.

 

So if you don't run through the test, how do you memorize it?

Stay tuned for Part 2 on memorization techniques!