nelgonde
Well-Known Member
Hi there,
I went today in the Intro. Dressage 8:16
, finished by 10-ish.
My steed was little ern - 5yo project horse, broken barely a year and had a rest during the summer. This was his 2nd competition ever and tbh, after walking the xc course, I had serious trepidation. The first let-up fence I reckon was fence 10! The next easiest was probably the picnic table under a tree.
Anyway, dressage was always gonna be tricky. Second-ever dressage test, right beside the white railing of Bath & West main ring. So, to cut a long story short, a fair bit of wobbling, expected evasion in the canter, we were happy with a 45.
Show jumping - Bath & West second ring. Nice course until fence 6 onwards where you went planks - right-angled turn - spooky double - dogleg - big white parallel - curve - biggish upright. We had 3 of those but considering first round of jumps on grass away from home. It was alright.
XC as I said, looker stiffer than previously. Not ideal for a first timer. Fences 1-5 in the first field all had reasons for the horse to back off and tbh, we jumped none of them great. Then we got going. Nice steps, alright offset-combination. Trying to make it fun for a first timer without fussing too much. I did open-him-up a few times which was great. Then the final tricky combination was log, water, house. We went a bit too fast to the log and approaching the water ern hit the breaks. Then a little shuffle and a look and we were in, muddled over the house and home. Plus we finished inside the time which was a bonus.
The owners were happy too. I was just glad to be back in one piece
Ern now gets ready to go pointing in the Spring. We'll still work on the dressage but it looks like he's got at least one career ahead of him. Not bad for a bargain-basement Ascot purchase.
I went today in the Intro. Dressage 8:16
My steed was little ern - 5yo project horse, broken barely a year and had a rest during the summer. This was his 2nd competition ever and tbh, after walking the xc course, I had serious trepidation. The first let-up fence I reckon was fence 10! The next easiest was probably the picnic table under a tree.
Anyway, dressage was always gonna be tricky. Second-ever dressage test, right beside the white railing of Bath & West main ring. So, to cut a long story short, a fair bit of wobbling, expected evasion in the canter, we were happy with a 45.
Show jumping - Bath & West second ring. Nice course until fence 6 onwards where you went planks - right-angled turn - spooky double - dogleg - big white parallel - curve - biggish upright. We had 3 of those but considering first round of jumps on grass away from home. It was alright.
XC as I said, looker stiffer than previously. Not ideal for a first timer. Fences 1-5 in the first field all had reasons for the horse to back off and tbh, we jumped none of them great. Then we got going. Nice steps, alright offset-combination. Trying to make it fun for a first timer without fussing too much. I did open-him-up a few times which was great. Then the final tricky combination was log, water, house. We went a bit too fast to the log and approaching the water ern hit the breaks. Then a little shuffle and a look and we were in, muddled over the house and home. Plus we finished inside the time which was a bonus.
The owners were happy too. I was just glad to be back in one piece
Ern now gets ready to go pointing in the Spring. We'll still work on the dressage but it looks like he's got at least one career ahead of him. Not bad for a bargain-basement Ascot purchase.
