PONY FLOWER RULES
NOTE! As more ponies and trainers have become interested in Flower Dressage, we're finding things being interpreted in different ways; therefore, these rules are being polished and modified a bit as we go along. If you find problems with anything on this page, please send an IM to any of the Dressage Society trainers so we can all take a look at it. Thank you!
MARCH 2017 NOTE: KaTrina Velde has created a "Flower Q&A" page on her own Website for discussion of particular applications of these rules. Visit her page anytime!
1. The pony starts in the center circle, and the first lettered circle the pony goes around is ALWAYS clockwise. (Multiple ponies will start/end inside the larger center circle, but outside the small one.)
2. All turns on the Flower field are made smoothly; there are no hard-corner turns or places where the pony must stop and turn around. The pony will use a bit of a circle to create a smooth curve; that bit is NOT subject to the "Halfway Rule" described below.
3. In the command string, an "x" means the pony will change direction. That is, if the pony was going around a circle clockwise, then s/he will go around the next circle counter-clockwise (like a figure 8).
4. In the command string, a hyphen "-" means the pony will NOT change direction (and it often means the pony will follow a straight line on the field). So if the pony was going around a circle clockwise, then s/he will also do the next circle clockwise.
5. The Halfway Rule: if the command string would cause the pony to go around a lettered circle less than halfway, then the pony must first go all the way around that circle before moving on to the next one.
(Note: this doesn't apply to using a bit of a large circle just to smooth the curve, as described in Rule 2.)
6. The Center Circle: if the command string causes the pony to pass through the center, then s/he must do so by going around the Center Circle CLOCKWISE. (The Center Circle may only be entered to start or finish the Flower pattern.)
TWO NEW RULES ADDED JUNE 2014 FOR CLARITY:
7. All turns have to be done smoothly. To do that, the pony is permitted to use a small piece of a large circle to make a smooth curve.
8. Always walk the pattern in the shortest way possible. (For example, "...F-F..." is done by simply walking around the "F" circle twice.)
REMEMBER! You can see a video showing examples of the basic patterns at PonyKat's Website. It will make a lot more sense once you view that.