Dressage report - Our first 1st, and ridiculous bling!

Pigeon

Pigeon

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First and foremost - BLING :eek: Isn't he just adorb?

blinggg_small.jpg


Had dressage this evening, took both the boys - Simba's first test :D They were both so good - it was surprisingly stress-free!

In the last month or so, I have had some issues with Piper being, well, a bit of a psycho. :o Possibly caused by the gale force winds, possibly caused by some cows being moved to the yard. They eat horses you know! But yes, spooking at EVERYTHING, rearing, spinning, and deciding that hacking should consist of either stopping and snorting at stuff, or cantering along the roads with his nose tucked into his chest. Just totally wired. I decided he no longer deserved his hard feed, so the poor beast has only had soaked pony nuts for two weeks now. And today he was like a different horse. Chilled out, calm, he went through puddles with zero fuss, he was almost a plod! It was awesome ;)

Test wasn't amazing, prelim 14 which has a give and retake, eurgh, more of a 'nothing went wrong' test, lacking impulsion, little bit strung out, I rushed him into both canters which I MUST STOP DOING (his canter transitions at home are perfect!) but I was over the moon with 'calm', and decided not to rock the boat. :p Last time we did a test at this venue, the judge's comment was "shame about the incident", which says it all really!

So I was TOTALLY shocked to get 70% and win :eek:

I found his first ever dressage sheet yesterday, we got 54% in a walk and trot. I get so down about things not being perfect, not progressing quickly enough, my crap riding etc etc, I must try and remember sometimes how far we've come. And I totally forgive him for the ridiculous behaviour re: the cows ;) Love my Pip! :o

Vid:

[video=youtube;a7X3Ch2RyzI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7X3Ch2RyzI[/video]

Poor Sims' schooling has been very on/off for various reasons (he injured his face, then we had no saddle, then he got an abscess, then he managed to injure his face in a different place after trying to eat a headcollar clip... you get the idea! :o) He has had literally about two weeks of consistent schooling. My sister (who he belongs to) hates dressage, so he goes around with his head in the air 90% of the time. He always jumps clear so she's not bothered in the slightest! ;)

I wanted to do Walk and Trot, but because I was doing the last class on Pip, and didn't want to be there for hours and hours, decided to do Prelim 18. Interesting, because his canter is VERY unbalanced. I managed to stay inside the white boards though, which was surprising, the corners come up quick when you're on 17hh of green, rushing, Irish Draught :o I was trying to prepare him for the corners, then would get to the corner and realise, oops, not prepared! Finished on 62%, which was enough for 6th place. Judge mainly picked up on balance issues, which hopefully will resolve with more schooling and lunging. She said he was a lovely horse!

Debated whether or not to post the video, because it aint that pretty (also video quality is awful for some reason???) but hopefully in days to come will be able to look back at it and see progress ;) And he's such a good boy, so so genuine.

[video=youtube;g4ZP0KDofj4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ZP0KDofj4[/video]

So that's it, a very happy dressage report from me ;)
 
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Pip looks absolutely stunning! Really nice test as :). I love the gold on him. Well done on the 2nd test as well, they must be like chalk and cheese to ride!
 
LOVELY photo of the shiny blingyness! Well done on the test, looked like a deserved win :-) And congratulations on discovering that feed is related to result (but I would class pony nuts as hard feed myself). Wish more people would try the "If you're an idiot the food will go" route to calmness and sanity (of the horse, just to clarify).
 
Thanks guys!!! The big boy is a little hit and miss, it's like riding a banana! He's so sweet though, and really tries.

Cortez, I agree, I'm dreading when it gets really cold though as his weight tends to drop off, and he was looking so sleek and shiny :p Sanity is definitely restored though, I was starting to worry :P I just need to find some kind of feed regime that suits him...
 
I love the browband, I'm trying to save my pennies for an Equiture one - they are gorgeous.

Well done, both horses are lovely and thats an especially nice cherry on the top with your win for Pip :)

I have to say I'm so jealous of your hands, you keep them so soft and still. Mine are very much a work in progress.
 
Thanks :D I think it blinded the judge hehe ;)

Aww thanks :) Definitely get someone to video you, it helps so much! Also someone pointed out that in rising trot you should rise between your arms, if that makes sense, so keep your shoulders loose and swing your lower body forward to rise. I have no idea if I'm actually doing it right but the mental image helped :p
 
Awww thankyou :) This is the first test where we haven't dropped marks for tension, so happy with him for being grown up and calm lol!!
 
You have a lot to be proud of in both of those tests. I couldn't really see any of the issue that we PM'd about so I hope that's all sorted now, but...if it's not, well done, you've used great ringcraft to cover it up :)

Honestly, very well done. You've done it all yourself and you must be very proud of yourself.

GG x
 
Thankyou :) Yes I think issue is definitely on the way to being sorted, he will still be a bit snatchy if he's tired, but to be honest it was all down to me letting him do it :P It so helps to get an outside opinion, I definitely get too over involved/caught up in the little things, and then they start to seem like huge unsolvable big things which doesn't help anyone haha!

Thankyou so so much :D Honestly means a lot :) X
 
Thanks, will definitely try that! :) He was on Calm and Condition, and was calm but still dropping weight, then on Alfa A and a competition mix, looked amazing but getting increasingly more mental :p
 
Both looking absolutely brilliant. Absolutely love the bling (it's classy looking bling, so it's more than acceptable, haha). Pip's got beautiful natural paces and you ride them both so well.
With regards to feed, C&C did nothing whatsoever for my little TB mare who had a habit of dropping off very suddenly over winter. I can't remember exactly what we had her on last year (some combination of alfa A oil, topspec comp balancer and comp mix plus obscene amounts of hay) that worked, but ultimately each horse is different... however about 85% of the stories about C&C that I've heard have been negative when involving TBs. ;)
 
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