BD or Unaff for baby horse?

[piaffe]

So, if my baby carries on the way she is going I will be aiming to start competing in the next month or so.

HOWEVER, I am undecided on what avenue to follow and I will explain why.

I have only ever done a handful of Unaff tests before and these were a LONG time ago. But I watch a friend take her pony out to do a test a few weeks back. Unaff. Pony had never been out before nor had friend and the test was "interesting" to say the least!!!!!

She got 71% and came 2nd.

IMHO she should have got something in the mid 50's.

I overheard the lady totting up the scores say something about marks are high to encourage riders.

Is this a general thing to do?

I want to go out and see what the judge thinks not be "encouraged" so then I was thinking perhaps I should just go straight out at BD.

Of course, the other thing re the unaff my friend was at was that it was on a weekend and was full of kids on ponies (and some adults

) haring around and I question wether this is a good introduction for a baby???

The BD's in my area are mostly in the week.

So, any opinions?

Oh yeh, and a couple of photos from the weekend. Would you say, and I know its hard from a couple of photos, that she is almost ready? These photos are snap shots of what seems to be a consistant way of going and not just good timing!!!!

Please excuse my position!

Canter which is what we need to work on the most.

Trot

 

[_jetset_]

She looks so relaxed in that second picture... you must be so pleased with how the two of you have progressed and she is really beautiful. But then you know I am one of her greatest fans!

I found that the BD warm ups are quieter and a bit more orderly than unaffiliated ones as a rule, although I am sure there are exceptions to the rule. However, I did go to an unaffiliated with a good friend a few weeks ago and she had requested a really early time so there was only her and two others warming up when she got there and it was perfect for her first time out!

Do you have a nice friendly venue where you could request the first slot? Another good one is the last slot if you can find an unaffiliated venue that only runs a few tests!

 

[Bounty]

I would go and scout out your local unaff venues over the next few weeks, so you can get an idea of atmosphere and warm up etc. I agree that umpteen kids on ponies hooning around the warm up won't be a good idea, but some unaff venues are very professional - try and go to unaff venues that run BD as well as the running of these is usually much more like BD.

Don't worry about unaff scoring, just use the first few outings as a chance to get Addie used to being out at a party, and then take her BD once she has settled to competing. You are experienced enough to have a fair idea of how she is going without needing a judge to confirm it. I think she looks lovely BTW, and I'm enjoying following her progress.

P.S. Well done on cracking your canter issues!

 

[piaffe]

Thanks you. Yes, Im ever so pleased with her. I always finish riding her with a huge grin on my face and such a good feeling.

I'd forgotten about requesting an early slot. I used to do that with V early on actually. Perhaps I will give that ago. Thanks for reminding me.

 

[piaffe]

Thanks, I will do that. Im in the process of looking for comps at the moment.

RE the canter; Thanks

I feel really stupid now, when I look back at my "blip" as I've never had one before and don't even really know why I had it. LOL

 

[Halfstep]

Ring up your local BD venue and ask if you can take her to ride in the warmup on a competition day. Most places will have no problem with you doing this and it'll give her some experience going out without actually having to perform.

IMHO, with young horses like this, I'd rather do BD than unaffiliated, but that's because my experiences with unaffiliated have been frankly bad - both in terms of warming up etc, but also just lack of organisation and truly weird judging.

Have you thought about doing a few 4 yr old classes with her (she is 4 isn't she???)? All you have to do is walk, trot and canter.

 

[_jetset_]

That is a good idea Halfstep, I wouldn't have thought of requesting that... a great tip for those with young horses and one will certainly try when Troy gets to that stage!

If you get bored of her, I am sure I could find room for her

She is such a beautiful colour, a real strawberry blonde

 

[bubbaloonie]

Hey, she is really lovely, lucky you! I think it depends on the venue unaffiliated. Some are very quiet. I agree that this is probably more common of venues that host BD as well. Another advantage of unaff is that the entries might be cheaper.

 

[lizzieb]

Do you have any Riding Club events near you? Our RC runs monthly dressage comps and as there's only one arena running there are never many in the warm up which is huge anyway. And at RC you'll only have adults to share the warm up with so no kiddies whizzing around on their ponies!

I forgot to say how lovely she is and she looks like she'll make a cracking dressage horse

 

[piaffe]

Yeah, I might well do that. Thanks

I did plan on doing the 4 year old classes with her actually but I don't think she will be good enough to go against all the big pro horses that are more advanced than she is as I have really taken things slowly with her. Also, I went to watch one and there were babies horses messing around in the warm up, big stylee and didn't that was too helpful either!!

 

[piaffe]

Ahhh thank you.

Well actually the one I mentioned was at my yard. The riding club holds their monthly dressage with us so Im going to do that anyway but it doesn't really count does it!

 

[lizzieb]

That sounds ideal to do your first comp at your yard in an environment she knows

Please let us know how you get on.

 

[piaffe]

Dont you worry, I will! I haven't done a comp report for such a long time.

 

[star]

i'm using unaffiliated simply for exposure for my youngster. he needs to see as many venues as possible. we have done a few BD prelims which give us a better idea of how we're really doing and we do the unaff/RC stuff and just ignore the scores. Today we got 65% for a test that the other week got us 57% BD. I know him well enough to know whether he's done well or not, dont really need a judge to tell me that at the moment. It's all just about getting him out to see the world and performing the test.