Annagain
Well-Known Member
It's taken nearly a year but Charlie finally did his first dressage competition yesterday. Even though he's been schooling well, the issue with him tossing his head was putting me off being judged but having sorted that with a new bridle, we had no excuse. It was my local riding club so lots of friendly faces and at a venue where we've been a few times for lessons so the perfect introduction, really. Having said that, he had been a bit reluctant to go into the indoor school there so we've always had a lead off someone else in my group lesson. Our objectives for the day were:
1. warm up nicely in the outdoor school without napping to other horses
2. get into the indoor school sensibly
3. stay inside the boards (first time he'd seen them) with minimal / no spooking
4. get through my tests (just two walk/trot tests as canter transitions are still a bit hit and miss) with no dramas.
We got off to a good start when I got him in and he didn't need a bath (I'd bathed him the day before but fully expected to need to do it again). He stood beautifully to be plaited (so much so that we were ready to leave 1/2 an hour early - unheard of for me!) and loaded well. It was boiling hot even at 9.45 when we arrived. Charlie travelled with his friend who stayed on the trailer as he wasn't in the first class. He left him happily and we went to the warm up. It's a huge arena and the entrance to the venue is alongside it. There were lots of liveries going out hacking and lots of lorries / trailers arriving so there were distractions everywhere. He was looky and felt a bit like a bottle of pop to start but didn't nap, listened and settled. He wasn't as round as he has been at home but I decided to just focus on the forwardness and not worry about his head - there's always a temptation at a competition to go for the head even though it's not what you'd ever do at home!
We went down to the indoor arena a minute or two before our test so he could just stand outside and take it all in. We went in while the previous horse was still inside which helped I think but got inside with no dramas. The boards weren't spooky and the judge only required one small spook the first time we passed her. After being a bit buzzy in the warm up, he suddenly went a bit flat (it was sweltering in there). His test felt a bit laboured to me (i.e. I was having to kick hell out of him) but we were accurate other than our 1/2 10m circles (he's like turning the QE2!).
We only had 20 minutes to our next test so I parked him in the shade and just had a quick trot around the warm up to liven up again before going in. As we went in (into an empty school this time, all good) he decided he had a fly on him. My friend who was calling for me rubbed him all over and we couldn't find it but he was convinced it was there. We therefore wriggled, shuffled and twitched all through the first half of the test, then the fly must have disappeared as he did a really nice second half. I was thrilled that we'd achieved everything we wanted to achieve so you can imagine how surprised I was with this......
We scored 68% in our first test and won it! I'm still in shock. Even in the 2nd test with all the fly antics we scored 64.6% and were fourth (out of 9). I've struggled with my confidence at times this year so even though this is 'just' two walk trot tests, I'm so proud of him and a bit proud of me too!
1. warm up nicely in the outdoor school without napping to other horses
2. get into the indoor school sensibly
3. stay inside the boards (first time he'd seen them) with minimal / no spooking
4. get through my tests (just two walk/trot tests as canter transitions are still a bit hit and miss) with no dramas.
We got off to a good start when I got him in and he didn't need a bath (I'd bathed him the day before but fully expected to need to do it again). He stood beautifully to be plaited (so much so that we were ready to leave 1/2 an hour early - unheard of for me!) and loaded well. It was boiling hot even at 9.45 when we arrived. Charlie travelled with his friend who stayed on the trailer as he wasn't in the first class. He left him happily and we went to the warm up. It's a huge arena and the entrance to the venue is alongside it. There were lots of liveries going out hacking and lots of lorries / trailers arriving so there were distractions everywhere. He was looky and felt a bit like a bottle of pop to start but didn't nap, listened and settled. He wasn't as round as he has been at home but I decided to just focus on the forwardness and not worry about his head - there's always a temptation at a competition to go for the head even though it's not what you'd ever do at home!
We went down to the indoor arena a minute or two before our test so he could just stand outside and take it all in. We went in while the previous horse was still inside which helped I think but got inside with no dramas. The boards weren't spooky and the judge only required one small spook the first time we passed her. After being a bit buzzy in the warm up, he suddenly went a bit flat (it was sweltering in there). His test felt a bit laboured to me (i.e. I was having to kick hell out of him) but we were accurate other than our 1/2 10m circles (he's like turning the QE2!).
We only had 20 minutes to our next test so I parked him in the shade and just had a quick trot around the warm up to liven up again before going in. As we went in (into an empty school this time, all good) he decided he had a fly on him. My friend who was calling for me rubbed him all over and we couldn't find it but he was convinced it was there. We therefore wriggled, shuffled and twitched all through the first half of the test, then the fly must have disappeared as he did a really nice second half. I was thrilled that we'd achieved everything we wanted to achieve so you can imagine how surprised I was with this......
We scored 68% in our first test and won it! I'm still in shock. Even in the 2nd test with all the fly antics we scored 64.6% and were fourth (out of 9). I've struggled with my confidence at times this year so even though this is 'just' two walk trot tests, I'm so proud of him and a bit proud of me too!
