milliepops
Wears headscarf aggressively
Wasn't going to do a report on this but I figured we were short of them again now the clocks have changed and it's all got a bit DARK 
Anyway, I find it really useful to reflect on things by writing about them so here goes.
Earlier in the year during one of our lessons, it was decided that we should have a go at an Inter1 before the year is out. The 2 tempis were getting quite established, we had a go-all-the-way-round pirouette both ways and the half pass zigzag was coming along. Then, we had a reeeeeally busy late summer and autumn with lots of away shows and oh yeah, a wedding and honeymoon too
So the idea got shelved, we got busy doing mostly some advanced medium stuff and some fun trips away.
Then I got round to looking at the show calendar and knowing I wanted to do our first one at the venue I did our first advanced AND first PSG, suddenly realised that time was ticking on as they shut down for Dec and Jan. Discussed it with trainer, who agreed that it was about a month too soon but if she felt good at the area festival final then we ought to go for it cos she is confident at the venue and it's 99% going to be the lovely smiley list 1 judge who almost encourages you down the centre line, rather than sitting at C with a big frowny face
I had a good feel despite some mistakes at the AF. Promising, but still a bit doubtful. Then another HHOer and friend lost her lovely horse to colic and it was a stark reminder that we only have them for a short while, and you just never know what is around the corner. So we did a ride through the test on the weekend. Felt like we weren't quite ready but we haven't been quite ready for any level, being completely honest! i tend to need to dare myself to do things to get through the jelly legs and nausea
And then the day arrived. It turned out not to be the lovely smiley judge I'd been banking on, instead it was one that I've found quite intimidating in the past so the usual jelly legs and sicky feeling were not fading as I went to tack up! Into the warm up and quite quickly realised I'd over-egged Kira's breakfast dose of Turbo flakes She was extremely hot and zoomy, which is ACE but she need to remember to wait for instructions! I had a double handful most of the time and while we got some mega half steps and tight piris, she had her fingers in her ears about tempis so we went to the test arena having achieved *none*.
Goody.
Bell went and here we go, sh*t or bust. Little Kira really tried hard all the trot work felt really secure, the extensions were there when I asked, she made the long diagonals feel easy - not so long ago she ran out of steam before the end. The canter zigzag was about the best she's done so far (good timing, K) really waiting for the changes and setting off to each new HP promptly. We had some mistakes in both the 2s and 3s which was entirely predictable, the 3s I will take responsibility for because I concentrated so hard on not starting too soon, I then forgot to count. Duh. The 2s, I was determined to get so I tapped her on the bum and she went croup high.. so I didn't tap the next one and she missed it but we picked up and carried on, I think we did sort of 6 and a half 2s but anyway.. left piri fell apart a bit but I was chuffed with the change before the acute turn to the right one, and the right was better than I dared hope as it's by far the harder to ride. Final centre line, square halt and ta-dah, Inter1 ticked off the bucket list!
It's hard not to feel deflated when you are walking out of the arena and you've had some mistakes, especially when it's stuff that is usually secure. And it's hard not to feel a pang of disappointment when you get a 59.7 score when 60 would have been amazing but the reality is that is just one mark, out of 380 available. So it's all there for the taking. And having had a little think, I reckon 59% on a cob is a pretty good starting point!
It's such a big learning curve. Anyone starting out at prelim and trying to work out how to warm your horse up the best way on the day, that learning bit never goes away. Kira's tough to get the right balance, today I needed a bit longer to make her more reasonable, but equally I can't ride her too hard or for too long, or she won't have enough sparkle to get round a long and difficult test.. I'm still learning how to ride her. You never stop learning how to ride the test better. You never stop feeling nervous on the first time. And I don't reckon that little buzz of having done a hard thing ever goes away either
So there it is, no rush to do the next one since we have a winter of consolidation coming up, hopefully get our AM qualification finished for winter regionals to complete the set and it's the native champs next week. Then we can just do a few shows to keep our eye in, and hopefully come out in the spring a little more established
No ridden pics as I was on my own, but here is the little tank declaring that it's time for a sugar lump
and here's our practice ride from the weekend, arena is 25m wide so I was having trouble guessing the sizes of everything definitely learnt some useful things from just one proper ride round at a show though, I can't wait to try the whole thing again and see how we can neaten it all up
(also a day of tricky behaviour, though it was spooking at the wind that time!)
Anyway, I find it really useful to reflect on things by writing about them so here goes.
Earlier in the year during one of our lessons, it was decided that we should have a go at an Inter1 before the year is out. The 2 tempis were getting quite established, we had a go-all-the-way-round pirouette both ways and the half pass zigzag was coming along. Then, we had a reeeeeally busy late summer and autumn with lots of away shows and oh yeah, a wedding and honeymoon too
So the idea got shelved, we got busy doing mostly some advanced medium stuff and some fun trips away.
Then I got round to looking at the show calendar and knowing I wanted to do our first one at the venue I did our first advanced AND first PSG, suddenly realised that time was ticking on as they shut down for Dec and Jan. Discussed it with trainer, who agreed that it was about a month too soon but if she felt good at the area festival final then we ought to go for it cos she is confident at the venue and it's 99% going to be the lovely smiley list 1 judge who almost encourages you down the centre line, rather than sitting at C with a big frowny face
I had a good feel despite some mistakes at the AF. Promising, but still a bit doubtful. Then another HHOer and friend lost her lovely horse to colic and it was a stark reminder that we only have them for a short while, and you just never know what is around the corner. So we did a ride through the test on the weekend. Felt like we weren't quite ready but we haven't been quite ready for any level, being completely honest! i tend to need to dare myself to do things to get through the jelly legs and nausea
And then the day arrived. It turned out not to be the lovely smiley judge I'd been banking on, instead it was one that I've found quite intimidating in the past so the usual jelly legs and sicky feeling were not fading as I went to tack up! Into the warm up and quite quickly realised I'd over-egged Kira's breakfast dose of Turbo flakes
She was extremely hot and zoomy, which is ACE but she need to remember to wait for instructions! I had a double handful most of the time and while we got some mega half steps and tight piris, she had her fingers in her ears about tempis so we went to the test arena having achieved *none*.Goody.
Bell went and here we go, sh*t or bust. Little Kira really tried hard
all the trot work felt really secure, the extensions were there when I asked, she made the long diagonals feel easy - not so long ago she ran out of steam before the end. The canter zigzag was about the best she's done so far (good timing, K) really waiting for the changes and setting off to each new HP promptly. We had some mistakes in both the 2s and 3s which was entirely predictable, the 3s I will take responsibility for because I concentrated so hard on not starting too soon, I then forgot to count. Duh. The 2s, I was determined to get so I tapped her on the bum and she went croup high.. so I didn't tap the next one and she missed it but we picked up and carried on, I think we did sort of 6 and a half 2s but anyway.. left piri fell apart a bit but I was chuffed with the change before the acute turn to the right one, and the right was better than I dared hope as it's by far the harder to ride. Final centre line, square halt and ta-dah, Inter1 ticked off the bucket list! It's hard not to feel deflated when you are walking out of the arena and you've had some mistakes, especially when it's stuff that is usually secure. And it's hard not to feel a pang of disappointment when you get a 59.7 score when 60 would have been amazing
but the reality is that is just one mark, out of 380 available. So it's all there for the taking. And having had a little think, I reckon 59% on a cob is a pretty good starting point!It's such a big learning curve. Anyone starting out at prelim and trying to work out how to warm your horse up the best way on the day, that learning bit never goes away. Kira's tough to get the right balance, today I needed a bit longer to make her more reasonable, but equally I can't ride her too hard or for too long, or she won't have enough sparkle to get round a long and difficult test.. I'm still learning how to ride her. You never stop learning how to ride the test better. You never stop feeling nervous on the first time. And I don't reckon that little buzz of having done a hard thing ever goes away either
So there it is, no rush to do the next one since we have a winter of consolidation coming up, hopefully get our AM qualification finished for winter regionals to complete the set and it's the native champs next week. Then we can just do a few shows to keep our eye in, and hopefully come out in the spring a little more established
No ridden pics as I was on my own, but here is the little tank declaring that it's time for a sugar lump
and here's our practice ride from the weekend, arena is 25m wide so I was having trouble guessing the sizes of everything
definitely learnt some useful things from just one proper ride round at a show though, I can't wait to try the whole thing again and see how we can neaten it all up
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