charlimouse
Well-Known Member
It is not often I venture into the world of Dressage. When I do it is kicking and screaming, and quite simply because I have to 
!
So with Badminton just round the corner I felt I had better get a bit of extra practice in, so off I trundled to some evening dressage. Certainly not my first choice of Wedsnesday evening entertainment
!
To say Jem was grumpy about proceedings was an understatement. To leave all the other horses in the yard stuffing themselves on haylege, and heading off in the lorry was clearly not her idea of fun. She made this quite plain by kicking in the lorry all the way there
!
Off the lorry and tacked up we headed to the warm up, where Jem decided she only had 1 pace.....canter! So we cantered around for a while (she is feeling very fit!), until finally she allowed me to ride her. Made sure I kept her working right up until the test, and in we went for P14. Test felt ok, but heavy in the hand at times, but obidient, accurate and rhythmical. So felt fairly pleased with it, and aware of the areas which hadn't felt so good. Put Jem back on the lorry, as out next test wasn't until 8.52
!
Went to look at scores to find 54.6%
! I was mortified as I was 10% below everybody else ! Rather annoyed as I had felt the test had gone well, I headed back to the lorry to watch the beginning of Waterloo Road, before tacking up again for N30 (Jem's first Novice test). TBH I could quite happily have gone home as it was the same judge, and to say Jem was not impressed at being tacked up into dressage gear again would be an understatement ! Start warming up and Jem felt fab, really uphill and obidient. Mum then came to tell me I had come 3rd in the P14 (out of 16) and I had actually got 65.8%, which cheered me up nicely. Feeling that the evening might not be such a wash out after all I headed in to to do my test.
I felt it went really well, Jem felt much more uphill than in the Prelim, she was obidient and relaxed through the transitions, and really working in to a steady contact. I was pleased with her mediums and felt she really tried for me. The only not so good areas were my 1/2 10m circles which I rode badly, and the halt (4 secs at A), which Jem was more responsive than anticipated and halted early resting her hind leg. Came out feeling chuffed to bits with her
!
Untacked and back on the lorry we waited for the scores to find I had got 63.8%, which left me 5th out of 8. TBH I was dissapointed with the mark as the test felt much better than the Prelim, but i'm not too bothered as it was an outing!
So now onto my musing. In the Prelim there was less than 5% dividing all 16 competitors. In the Novice there was less than 3% between all 8. Is this normal? I'm just relating it to eventing, but I don't think I have ever seen everybody have such close scores! Also when I got both my sheets every mark was a 6 or a 7. I know of at least 4 movements between the 2 tests I would have given myself a 4 or 5, but I can also think of movements where I felt I should have scored better . After recieving a 6 for a movement, the following movement's comment was 'much better'. So why did I get another 6 for it ?
Sorry for my ramblings, I didn't get back until 11pm last night!
!So with Badminton just round the corner I felt I had better get a bit of extra practice in, so off I trundled to some evening dressage. Certainly not my first choice of Wedsnesday evening entertainment
! To say Jem was grumpy about proceedings was an understatement. To leave all the other horses in the yard stuffing themselves on haylege, and heading off in the lorry was clearly not her idea of fun. She made this quite plain by kicking in the lorry all the way there
!Off the lorry and tacked up we headed to the warm up, where Jem decided she only had 1 pace.....canter! So we cantered around for a while (she is feeling very fit!), until finally she allowed me to ride her. Made sure I kept her working right up until the test, and in we went for P14. Test felt ok, but heavy in the hand at times, but obidient, accurate and rhythmical. So felt fairly pleased with it, and aware of the areas which hadn't felt so good. Put Jem back on the lorry, as out next test wasn't until 8.52
! Went to look at scores to find 54.6%
! I was mortified as I was 10% below everybody else ! Rather annoyed as I had felt the test had gone well, I headed back to the lorry to watch the beginning of Waterloo Road, before tacking up again for N30 (Jem's first Novice test). TBH I could quite happily have gone home as it was the same judge, and to say Jem was not impressed at being tacked up into dressage gear again would be an understatement ! Start warming up and Jem felt fab, really uphill and obidient. Mum then came to tell me I had come 3rd in the P14 (out of 16) and I had actually got 65.8%, which cheered me up nicely. Feeling that the evening might not be such a wash out after all I headed in to to do my test. I felt it went really well, Jem felt much more uphill than in the Prelim, she was obidient and relaxed through the transitions, and really working in to a steady contact. I was pleased with her mediums and felt she really tried for me. The only not so good areas were my 1/2 10m circles which I rode badly, and the halt (4 secs at A), which Jem was more responsive than anticipated and halted early resting her hind leg. Came out feeling chuffed to bits with her
!Untacked and back on the lorry we waited for the scores to find I had got 63.8%, which left me 5th out of 8. TBH I was dissapointed with the mark as the test felt much better than the Prelim, but i'm not too bothered as it was an outing!
So now onto my musing. In the Prelim there was less than 5% dividing all 16 competitors. In the Novice there was less than 3% between all 8. Is this normal? I'm just relating it to eventing, but I don't think I have ever seen everybody have such close scores! Also when I got both my sheets every mark was a 6 or a 7. I know of at least 4 movements between the 2 tests I would have given myself a 4 or 5
, but I can also think of movements where I felt I should have scored better . After recieving a 6 for a movement, the following movement's comment was 'much better'. So why did I get another 6 for it ?Sorry for my ramblings, I didn't get back until 11pm last night
!
brightstar now thats concistance 
but mostly it's the old 767676 syndrome... 'Could be rounder. Consistent. Whatever.' If I was a judge I'd be deadly honest... 'What was THAT?! That doesn't deserve to be in my arena! 2' 'Much better, clever pony, 8' 