only_me
Well-Known Member
So another outing for Billy and I this weekend, again dressage. Last week was manic for me with uni so never got to ride him at all, so luckily this weeks dressage was on the Sunday so I could ride him on the Saturday.
After just about getting his legs resembling a shade of white but still with the base layer of mud which, by now, I am sure is ingrained into his skin we were ready to rock n roll, once he stopped ogling the lone highly visible cyclist changing his tyre at the bottom of the hill
First up was N23 which I quite like, although it seems forever between each of the movements and I get bored. But I am sure this is due to my incredibly short attention span though Of course, in my excellent preparation I only learnt the tests on Friday on the train home from uni
Warmed up nice and soft, lovely floaty trot and It appears I have definitely found the right buttons for his medium as when the working trot is correct he just lowers and floats out into the medium
Test started badly, as he decided to have a major spook at a wheelbarrow very odd behaviour considering a) he is not a spooky horse and b) he regularly tries to climb into/eat/tip over the barrow at home! luckily it only affected one movement but he still kept an eye on it throughout the test just to be sure
After that it was ok, nothing spectacular, and finished up with 69.something % coming 3rd in a big class and the winner on 71 so not far off
After a looong wait we were then into the Elementary, which was BD 43.
Well, I was not expecting the billy that came off the trailer!! He was incredibly full of himself in the warmup, where he exploded in a walk to canter letting off a huge fly buck and squeal
Definitely feeling spring!! He just made me giggle, I was definitely not expecting him to literally spring off the ground!
Then, as the warm up got busier, Billy and I appeared to become a bullseye for the other people warming up, with quite a few near-misses thankfully billy has become particularly adept at canter halts :rolleyes3: But unfortunately, due to his joyous mood and the multiple near misses he started to shy away from each similar looking horse which resulted in a few leaps and massive side steps the last one nearly unseated me :eek3:
But interestingly, I did discover (in the middle of all the hi jinks) that his leg yields improve 100% more if we do them coming from a medium trot; he normally tends to get a bit blocked in the lateral movement but was suddenly so open and free after the mediums! It also led me to trying canter HP as again, the block happens at home, and lo and behold we got a lovely canter HP! Good boy Billy
The test itself was ok, consistent and accurate so I was happy, and we didnt change coming across the short diagonal in canter to counter canter although I did have to sit very very still
So very pleased to get a score of 72.75% and score a win in a big high standard class! Big pats all round, and lots of sugar cubes for a Billy coming off his high
So after a lot of writing, here are some pics
I love this pic, think it is my fave!
Thanks for reading, some cadbury buttons up for grabs
After just about getting his legs resembling a shade of white but still with the base layer of mud which, by now, I am sure is ingrained into his skin we were ready to rock n roll, once he stopped ogling the lone highly visible cyclist changing his tyre at the bottom of the hill
First up was N23 which I quite like, although it seems forever between each of the movements and I get bored. But I am sure this is due to my incredibly short attention span though
Of course, in my excellent preparation I only learnt the tests on Friday on the train home from uni
Warmed up nice and soft, lovely floaty trot and It appears I have definitely found the right buttons for his medium as when the working trot is correct he just lowers and floats out into the medium
Test started badly, as he decided to have a major spook at a wheelbarrow very odd behaviour considering a) he is not a spooky horse and b) he regularly tries to climb into/eat/tip over the barrow at home! luckily it only affected one movement but he still kept an eye on it throughout the test just to be sure
After that it was ok, nothing spectacular, and finished up with 69.something % coming 3rd in a big class and the winner on 71 so not far off
After a looong wait we were then into the Elementary, which was BD 43.
Well, I was not expecting the billy that came off the trailer!! He was incredibly full of himself in the warmup, where he exploded in a walk to canter letting off a huge fly buck and squeal
Definitely feeling spring!! He just made me giggle, I was definitely not expecting him to literally spring off the ground!
Then, as the warm up got busier, Billy and I appeared to become a bullseye for the other people warming up, with quite a few near-misses thankfully billy has become particularly adept at canter halts :rolleyes3: But unfortunately, due to his joyous mood and the multiple near misses he started to shy away from each similar looking horse which resulted in a few leaps and massive side steps the last one nearly unseated me :eek3:
But interestingly, I did discover (in the middle of all the hi jinks) that his leg yields improve 100% more if we do them coming from a medium trot; he normally tends to get a bit blocked in the lateral movement but was suddenly so open and free after the mediums! It also led me to trying canter HP as again, the block happens at home, and lo and behold we got a lovely canter HP! Good boy Billy
The test itself was ok, consistent and accurate so I was happy, and we didnt change coming across the short diagonal in canter to counter canter although I did have to sit very very still
So very pleased to get a score of 72.75% and score a win in a big high standard class! Big pats all round, and lots of sugar cubes for a Billy coming off his high
So after a lot of writing, here are some pics
I love this pic, think it is my fave!
Thanks for reading, some cadbury buttons up for grabs
