piebaldsparkle
Well-Known Member
I am now officially a Dressage Diva!! There was an open dressage comp at my yard tonight, so thought what the hell in for a penny in for a pound and entered both the Prelim and Novice tests.
Sparks and I won the Prelim with 63.9%(about 12 competitors) and came 4th in the Novice (only 5 in it, but we got 60.3%), so we have qualified for the championship in both sections. I am over the moon as this was only our third Prelim and first ever Novice test.
Now I just have to learn how to do a test, without feeling sick and getting so tense, as I keep letting my lovely mare down. Thankfully she is very forgiving and having had her since she was a 6yo, she has learnt to ignore me, most of the time!!!
The night was slightly marred by one of the liveries from my yard attempting to compete in an illegal bit (ported snaffle). What made it worst is that he is actually a dressage judge himself, and his whole attitude when I challenged him, was that the judge wouldn't be able to see the mouthpiece, so he would get away with it. Well I wasn't having that, I don't mind being beaten on level terms, but not by someone cheating, plus the dressage is an open competitions, so other riders from other yards were there too. Anyway I asked him to change his bit, but he refused and tried to claim it was legal, so I reported him to the judge, who fortunately stood her ground and insisted he changed it. I do wonder how many times he has got away with it though, as even one of the other competitors commented on how his horse went better last time.
Sparks and I won the Prelim with 63.9%(about 12 competitors) and came 4th in the Novice (only 5 in it, but we got 60.3%), so we have qualified for the championship in both sections. I am over the moon as this was only our third Prelim and first ever Novice test.
Now I just have to learn how to do a test, without feeling sick and getting so tense, as I keep letting my lovely mare down. Thankfully she is very forgiving and having had her since she was a 6yo, she has learnt to ignore me, most of the time!!!
The night was slightly marred by one of the liveries from my yard attempting to compete in an illegal bit (ported snaffle). What made it worst is that he is actually a dressage judge himself, and his whole attitude when I challenged him, was that the judge wouldn't be able to see the mouthpiece, so he would get away with it. Well I wasn't having that, I don't mind being beaten on level terms, but not by someone cheating, plus the dressage is an open competitions, so other riders from other yards were there too. Anyway I asked him to change his bit, but he refused and tried to claim it was legal, so I reported him to the judge, who fortunately stood her ground and insisted he changed it. I do wonder how many times he has got away with it though, as even one of the other competitors commented on how his horse went better last time.
