Flower Dressage Modern

Pony Flower modern

Overview:

Pony Flower modern consists of 10 circles: 8 of them lettered (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) and two concentric  Center Circles (the starting and finishing point). The pony is given the pattern as a string of these letters, linked by either a "x" or hyphen "-".

Ponies starts on command of the trainer with a variety of figures from the red starting point in the middle of center circle. Once a pattern is given, the pony takes a moment to study and interpret the command string, then turns towards the first letter ( without tracing the route ) and stomp to show readiness. When start signal is given, the pony walks the pattern as accurately as pony can. Once a pattern is finished the pony faces the trainer and gives them a respectful bow.

A beautiful feature of flower modern is that up to four ponies can walk patterns at the same time, having different letters and different ways to cross from circle to circle (eg AxC-FxG and E-GxA-D) under the command of their trainer.

A number of rules govern how the pony walks the pattern.

Rules:

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.) 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 (Halfway rule).

3.) 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.

4.) In the command string, an "x" means the pony will change direction.  That is, if the pony was going around a circle clockwise, then pony will go around the next circle counter-clockwise.

5.) In the command string, a hyphen "-" means the pony will NOT change direction.  So if the pony was going around a circle clockwise, then pony will also do the next circle clockwise.

6.) If the command string causes the pony to pass through the center, then pony must do so by going around the Center Circle clockwise. The Center Circle may only be entered to start or finish the Flower pattern and has to be done clockwise always.

7.) Always walk the pattern in the shortest way possible.