British Dressage Champs

[FREESTYLER]

Hi, I had a lovely w/end and was greeted by Jlav which was lovely to see someone from H&H forum who was very friendly and likeminded!! I must admit, having never been to Solihull before I found the warm-up area worse than the M25!!

It was more like the gladiators den!!!

Not very productive to bring out the best in your horse when you have 30 horses all trying to warm-up!!

Ekk!!! Well my boy did not settle well there but we managed to come 10th in the Novice, I would have liked to have suppled him up more but trying to do any kind of lateral movement was impossible..... or maybe I was too polite!!

Today for the Prelim I thought he was more supple and lighter in the contact but alas our score was pants.

.. ah well, onwards and upwards... back home ready for a hot bath, Indian and bottle of wine!! 4am starts for 3 days takes its toll and trying to sleep on an airbed that deflates is not exactly helpful.. plus when your hubby snores!!!!!

Well done to everyone else and onwards and upwards to everyone else... dressage is definately a journey that sometimes can be very confusing but rewarding when you are at one with your horse.. whatever the outcome!!!

 

[Folara]

Awww mate. Im sorry it didnt go as well as you had hoped. The big thing is you got to the Nationals and that is NOT to be sneezed at. Some of us will prob. never get that far.

10th in the Novice was good, so dont be too down and so what if all didnt go so well in the Prelim? At least now you know what to expect so when you get there for the Summers at Novice and Elem level you will be all ready and less polite

Go and have a nice evening and give yourself a HUGE pat on the back. I think you did fantastically and your horse is beautiful.

 

[FREESTYLER]

Thankyou Folara!! You are too kind!!!

It now means I have to do Open at the summer regionals gulp!!! It is just sooooo confusing sometimes as to what the Judges are looking for I am aiming for suppleness, contact, forward going but shortening of the frame now I am working towards elementary but surely that should not be a knock down in Prelim??!!

oh well, it is a learning curve and he was very well behaved and looked after me which is the most important thing.

.. so we shall see you at the Regionals too eh??!! ( I will not revert back to showjumping just yet even though I threw my toys out of the pram earlier today.. not in public though!! te he!!)

 

[Folara]

I do know what you mean. It seemed that as soon as Gen was doing well in Novice his marks at Prelim took a nose dive ... so we simply stopped doing them. I think its one of those things you have to accept.

EEEEK Open Novice is scary - Ruth Edge won that on her new horse Shadowfax. I would NOT fancy competing against the likes of them. Its really hard for the non-professional ppl sometimes as we dont have the same training facilities/money/time etc.

We cant do Novice anymore as out of points so its Elem for us. Mind you we have been out once since the Regionals and although he did well he was NOT well behaved.

I doubt very much Gen will qualify for the Summers this year - he is having a MAJOR blip in training to the point he actually managed to get Mike off the other day. The first time ever.

So he has started learning to jump as a bit of a respite. My friend Sam who backed Gen has come back to our yard and has decided its about time Gen did some jumping and hopefully he will chill out a bit about the Dressage.

Dont worry about throwing your toys out of the pram - we have all done that one. Put it down to the stress and tiredness.

When are you out next then?

 

[star]

know what you mean about the warmup - i braved it for as little time as possible last year - unfortunately when i was trying to warm up, so it seems were most of the PSG horses and it's impossible to do anything with them around - they go sideways so quickly and then pirouette and are off in the opposite direction - i felt so completely out of place on my little, hairy cob!

well done for your 10th in the novice though - you shouldn't feel bad about that - you got into the prize-giving at the winters - that's not something to feel bad about!

 

[carthorse]

Well done been keeping an eye on your results.Hope you enjoyed it overall and it was great weather.
We are there again tomorrow[sorry later today,just noticed the time] in a riding club team comp. so looking forward to that.
Hope we meet at something one day

 

[FREESTYLER]

Well, I am going to take my boy out for some hacking sessions and maybe too I will have a jump if I can get a GP saddle to fit him (borrowed of course as purse cant stretch that far for a second saddle!!) I am sure Gen will enjoy the jumping and come back fresh as a daisy ready for Elementary and more!

I may compete next Wed at our yard as we have an affilliated show at Bayford Hall, other than that I am not sure I will have to look at my elementary book and get to grips with that first and so will my boy!!

 

[FREESTYLER]

carthorse good luck have fun... yes met many people and the overall weekend was good.

 

[Bananaman]

Well done for your results FREESTYLER, even if they weren't what you were hoping for.
Don't lose sight of the fact that they were the best at that level in the whole country, so 10th in the Novice is pretty good. Also the marks get so close that just one loss of balance can slip you down a couple of places.

I agree that it can be confusing as to what the judges are looking for at times.
I have a client there, yesterday she did the Nov Rest Petplan and as she's already qualified for the Rest Elementary Regionals this summer, I'd warned her not to have her horse too 'up' and to ride a flowing, forward test in true 'working' paces.
Although she admits there were a few mistakes, she said the test felt smooth and balanced, unfortunately the judges didn't agree and slated the mare for being on the forehand.
The winner, in my client's eyes, was apparantly very 'up' in front but short in the neck and tense throughout.
Obviously, I didn't see either test so can't comment and my client isn't saying that she should have won as she admits to the mistakes in her test but is now very confused as to exactly what the judges are looking for.

So, you're not alone FREESTYLER and I say onwards and upwards!

Good Luck to carthorse today.

 

[Tempi]

sorry to hear it didnt go as well as you hoped

I know what you mean about the warmup, they seriously need to sort another area for people to ride in who aren't actually warming up for a test. As half the people in there are just exercising their horses.

i spent my time trying to dodge the GP riders practising their canter pirouettes

 

[FREESTYLER]

Apparently they are not holding it there next year, so people say, they are looking at either Addington or Hartpury. Apparently one poor lady came out crying her eyes out because she could not cope with the warm-up. I know we were all in the same boat but it really did not give us the best conditions to prep our horses. Dont get me wrong, the show was very well organised and obviously Solihull have done much work apparently to the grounds but a larger warm up area was needed. I was very surprised there were no accidents or punch ups!!! LOL!!

 

[star]

[ QUOTE ]
Apparently they are not holding it there next year, so people say, they are looking at either Addington or Hartpury. Apparently one poor lady came out crying her eyes out because she could not cope with the warm-up. I know we were all in the same boat but it really did not give us the best conditions to prep our horses. Dont get me wrong, the show was very well organised and obviously Solihull have done much work apparently to the grounds but a larger warm up area was needed. I was very surprised there were no accidents or punch ups!!! LOL!!

[/ QUOTE ]

agreed. luckily my horse doesn't get upset by lots of other horses in close proximity and also doesn't need much warming up, but that arena would be a complete nightmare for most people, especially us normal people who are usually slightly over-awed by being in the same warmup arena as pros practising canter pirouettes etc

 

[Tempi]

there is absolutly no way i would ever have been able to ride Archie in that warmup, so i really hope they change it for next year, as im aiming at qualifying him in one class for the winters next year, whether i get there or not is a different matter tho!!

Even Bloss found it quite stressful in the warmup, and she normally couldnt care less how many horses are in the arena with her.

 

[FREESTYLER]

Bananaman, thankyou, that makes me feel better!!! I have been going over and over the comments on each movement and purchased some pictures but will not get my video back till next week some time so hopefully this will show more. Although one Judge did not make any comment at the end at all on either of my tests!!!

ummmmmmm......Well done you for your test too!! Sorry rather pre-occupied about myself...

me me me!!! LOL!!!

 

[scs]

just got back from there - had a fab day! Our horse Simba (Paper Tiger) ridden by Ruth Edge was 3rd in the medium open in mega company. He came 3rd in the music elem on Thursday, but was quite tense - then 8th in the elementary open on Friday - but had to warm up on the grass as he was finding the warmup too stressful. He warmed up on the grass again today, and it really worked well - he went in really relaxed and did a great test - the only thoroughbred among all the warmbloods as usual. Lucky he has stud holes in for his eventing, I dont suppose many horses there have, as noone else was warming up outside (although there was plenty of room). It was a claustrophobic atmosphere in the arena though, so not surpised so many horses were spooked by it - including a lot of really top ones.

 

[Santa_Claus]

oww oww who won the Medium?? been checking results all evening and nothing is showing yet only the times still

And well done thats some cracking results for any horse never mind an eventer

 

[scs]

Gemma Green on Showtime won, then Charlotte Dujardin on Fernandez, then ours, Paper Tiger (thanks, we are thrilled!)

 

[FREESTYLER]

scs well done on your results. I am glad I was not the only one who thought the warmup was stressful! I did not know about the grass area because I would have been out there in a shot.. probably along with about 20 others!!

 

[scs]

thanks! there was quite a big area near the stables - next to the jumping arena. Ruth worked all her horses in there and it was really peaceful. Well worth thinking about doing if you go again - ours gets really stressed in the warmup if there more than about 3 horses in there, or if anything comes too close to him or leaps around near him, so we are used to looking for alternatives. He even warmed up on grass at the Nationals last year (again, he was the only one doing it).

 

[Santa_Claus]

owwww thankies for results. pleased Gemma won, she is an old friend from home (even if not seen her in several years) and she has always been a genuinely nice girl. She may have her parents financial backing which obviously helps alot but she had very ordinary ponies until she got Daphne and she still won a lot as is a naturally talented rider. Her dad keeps my mum updated with how she is getting on as she works for the local paper! Tried to find her yesterday as stopped in to watch the Inter on the way back from the NEC but couldn't find her and my mum didn't have her dad's number on her!

 

[Sparklet]

Hi well done to all for competing at the Nationals and Freestyler if your scores where not what you expected dont beat yourself up - you got there and you were among the best so the norms of competition dont really apply. Your novice was brilliant....summer regs next eh?

My instructor complained about the warm up too and said it was a nightmare so it doesnt sound very good. How sad you didnt know about the grass area.

Who were the judges at prelim by the way?

 

[FREESTYLER]

Thanks Sparklet. What was your instructor competing in?? I wish that someone had videod my novice but I had the prelim videod and eagerly await that.. .it takes 7 days or so...maybe as I novice I have not quite yet got that feeling of when it is right? ummm... oh well pictures should be up middle of the week so everyone can see and get back to me!!!I cant post them on here but can e-mail them to anyone who wants to see and comment!!

The Judges were Adriaan Hamoen, H Webber and Judy F Williams for the prelim and Novice A Hamoen, Debbie Warole and Jane Peberdy... 23 marks difference between Judges but I suppose this is norm?? Me being new to all this??

 

[Sparklet]

She was in the Elementary Music Freestyle on her Weltmeyer horse and came last - he is pretty young and temperamental and flipped in the warm up (bet she wishes she had known about the grass) and in the Medium Music Freestyle and came 17th. She looked pretty fed up when I saw her on Sun.

No-one I know faired any better.

I only know Jane Peberdy, I believe she owns the highland ridden by Laura Fry but I could be wrong. The rest I havent heard of so they must be from a down South

You sound pretty fed up - dont be, you have just competed at the Nationals and your Novice score was brill - perhaps your horse is more suited to the higher levels. I know what you mean about feeling what is right - I can never predict where I will come after a test - its okay if you feel your test was average and judge loved it but the other was round is a real slap in the face. Sometimes it is just about personal preference - every horse has faults but some judges hate certain types of faults more than others. My horse has a tendancy to get to deep and if I come in front of one local judge she hates it (I do respect this judge), but others dont penalise it so harshly if she maintains rhythm and activity. That will be why there will have been such a gap between the scores.

One of the riders at the Nationals (prelim) got worse scores than me from one of the judges at the regionals and he got 6th so there you go. I had to stay at home

.

I would love to see your piccies by the way and go get sorted for the summer regionals. Hopefully we will both be marvelous and I will see you at Stoneleigh but if not I am going anyway to spectate. Go girl