rara007
Well-Known Member
Thankfully the day was saved by Ester being able to come and groom as a slight mishap on the dates left me a bit depleted of helpers! Indoors follows the same 3 phases as outdoors with slight differences.
First up is dressage- indoors called precision and paces- you have 2 judges, one judging each of those things. Despite his greenness he is quite a schooling geek and life is all so relaxed there's no risk of tension creeping in. Never the less very pleased with a score of 26 (same as BE non FEI scoring- so 74%) putting us ahead of many established open and international ponies! He got consistent 8s for his working, a 6 for the rein back which I was actually pleased with as he did come back straight and even, he's just not quite got the confidence to do it straight and quickly yet- the carriage has a turntable obviously so the slightest bit of uneven back 'push' and you twist. Pleased with a 7 and a 7.5 for his mediums as we have been drilling those and he gave me nice one handed workings for 7.5s.
Onto the cones which is again like outdoors but with marathon track width and an optimum time without any window either way. The cones is held on what tbh seems like a car park... it's sort of a compacted gravel surface, (very compact, you wouldn't ride on it) complete with puddles. He found it all mighty confusing the first time and between us we dropped 4- expensive at 5pen a ball. Again we've been drilling ourselves on them so relieved to find out I can still drive a course by getting a clear. 7 seconds too slow but that's partly as the ground is so firm I'm not cantering him at all and partly because we took very safe wide lines.
This left us surprisingly in a class of 17 competitive open ponies (including a number of team GBR competitors) in 3rd going into the obstacles. We knew we would lose our placing in that as it simply takes time to develop their speed and turning if they're not a natural speed freak (which by far he is not) and we're in it for the long haul so tried to play safe with our routes giving him the space to canter the lot. You do 2 hazards, twice. Both times he really tried! He was between 11 and 8 seconds (improving 1-4) off the fastest opens times and where I gave him a chance, maintained a nice canter. He still finds it all a little odd but he's enjoying it!
This dropped us down to 11th but I couldn't have asked or expected more from him. He's just such a goody 2 shoes Big thanks to Ester as we were up at the crack of dawn (before actually) as 9.30 dressage is early when it's 2 hours away and you have carriages to unload!
waiting for our turn watching the others- the oats haven't got to his head yet
Onwards and upwards Next outing for him is the same again on 10th december, whilst under the surface I'm trying to find a clone of him to pair up! (Actually, anything 131cm-135cm with OK paces and a good brain in it..)
If I hear one more person excuse their ponies poor manners on it having been entire to 3/4/6/15 and poor education on the fact it was driven....
First up is dressage- indoors called precision and paces- you have 2 judges, one judging each of those things. Despite his greenness he is quite a schooling geek and life is all so relaxed there's no risk of tension creeping in. Never the less very pleased with a score of 26 (same as BE non FEI scoring- so 74%) putting us ahead of many established open and international ponies! He got consistent 8s for his working, a 6 for the rein back which I was actually pleased with as he did come back straight and even, he's just not quite got the confidence to do it straight and quickly yet- the carriage has a turntable obviously so the slightest bit of uneven back 'push' and you twist. Pleased with a 7 and a 7.5 for his mediums as we have been drilling those and he gave me nice one handed workings for 7.5s.
Onto the cones which is again like outdoors but with marathon track width and an optimum time without any window either way. The cones is held on what tbh seems like a car park... it's sort of a compacted gravel surface, (very compact, you wouldn't ride on it) complete with puddles. He found it all mighty confusing the first time and between us we dropped 4- expensive at 5pen a ball. Again we've been drilling ourselves on them so relieved to find out I can still drive a course by getting a clear. 7 seconds too slow but that's partly as the ground is so firm I'm not cantering him at all and partly because we took very safe wide lines.
This left us surprisingly in a class of 17 competitive open ponies (including a number of team GBR competitors) in 3rd going into the obstacles. We knew we would lose our placing in that as it simply takes time to develop their speed and turning if they're not a natural speed freak (which by far he is not) and we're in it for the long haul so tried to play safe with our routes giving him the space to canter the lot. You do 2 hazards, twice. Both times he really tried! He was between 11 and 8 seconds (improving 1-4) off the fastest opens times and where I gave him a chance, maintained a nice canter. He still finds it all a little odd but he's enjoying it!
This dropped us down to 11th but I couldn't have asked or expected more from him. He's just such a goody 2 shoes Big thanks to Ester as we were up at the crack of dawn (before actually) as 9.30 dressage is early when it's 2 hours away and you have carriages to unload!
waiting for our turn watching the others- the oats haven't got to his head yet
Onwards and upwards Next outing for him is the same again on 10th december, whilst under the surface I'm trying to find a clone of him to pair up! (Actually, anything 131cm-135cm with OK paces and a good brain in it..)
If I hear one more person excuse their ponies poor manners on it having been entire to 3/4/6/15 and poor education on the fact it was driven....