Dressage Report, should I give up?

madhector

madhector

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Took J to Wix today for dressage. Woke up this morning and my leg wasnt too bad, so felt quite hopeful. Got up to catch the Jerry monster, to find the fence down and Jerry not in his field. Found him in the next field, put him in with his breakfast and spent the next half an hour fixing the fence. By this point leg was in agony again
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Anyway, off we set and the weather gradually got worse and worse. Got there and warmed up, J was an angel for once and didnt take advantage of m bad leg, went in and I just couldnt concentrate, went the wrong way in the first canter, and had to be corrected
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but then did an ok test.

Got my sheet back and got 55% AGAIN!

Now he was much better than last time, even if I was a useless passenger, yet even at his best he just got 6s. I realy dont know where to go from here, maybe he isnt what I thought he was, and I shold give up now


On a seperate note, how come no one plaits for dressage anymore? I think I was the only one there who had
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We plait for dressage ,I expect people had lots to deal with and plaits got missed[children to school ,weather etc]
It may take time and you did well to get there and compete.Just work at home and have some lessons then when the weather improves there will be no stopping you.
 
Hardly any comments at all really, a couple of nice comments when we got 6s, and then the rest were 5s and one comment saying resist to walk, then some stretching down. His last centre ling was lovely and our comment was obed to trot, straight C/L to square halt, and still just a 6.
 
Judges are only human, and judging is so subjective, and first impressions count etc. so perhaps judge wasn't as generous as could have been, due to the first mistake? ie he/she kept judging you by the mistake, instead of seeing more?

Only an idea, don't mean to have a go at any judge, just I have written for a few and been surprised at what they like or don't like and some can be put off by an early error and never move above 6 from then on...

But you have got more determination than I have, so keep at it! I'd give you 10 out of 10 for just getting there, let alone plaiting as well...
 
Sounds like a judge issue to me! You know he was better, so what a milestone!! Sod the judge, YOU know the horse, YOU know how much better he went. Focus on that, not what someone who has seen him for 3minutes thinks!!
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He was so lovely, didnt put a foot wrong and the wind was unbeliveable, just would have been nice to see an improvement in the scores, as done 3 tests there now, and each time he has got 55% when I am convinced he was 100% better today compared to the first time, he was really consistant in his outline this time too.
 
Why dont you hang around and see if you can speak to the judge at the end of the class. They are, however you feel about the mark, there to help. I have on many occassions spoken to a judge at the end of a class and they are generally very helpful if you want some advice. DOnt forget - many of them also teach, so it is a good place to start, especially if they dont put many comments on your sheet.
 
I got .78% more last night than 2 weeks ago. 2 weeks ago all the comments next to the movements amounted to 2 words.
Last nights sheet was full of comments that were really helpful and useful, even though we only improved slightly on % I know he went a lot lot better than 2 weeks ago and that is what counts. Difficult when its a different judge IMO.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Why dont you hang around and see if you can speak to the judge at the end of the class. They are, however you feel about the mark, there to help. I have on many occassions spoken to a judge at the end of a class and they are generally very helpful if you want some advice. DOnt forget - many of them also teach, so it is a good place to start, especially if they dont put many comments on your sheet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Normally I would have done, but the weather was awful, my leg was killing me, and just wanted to get J home.
 
MH, only time and outings are going to improve Jerry and hard work of course.
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You shouldn't sell yourself short, i'm sure you are doing a fantastic job.
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TBH, sometimes i'm not sure EXACTLY what the dressage judges are looking at! The last outing I had on Boo (and his first) he got slated, now my trainer who competes at Grand Prix level, had a look at the video and could tell that although the second test was ridden better than the first and he was visibly more settled, she still gave us crap scores, my trainer said there was some very good work which she marked very low but I really don't mind at this point because it's just a case of getting him out and concentrating, staying focused and chilled out about it all.
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No need to give up just yet, me thinks.xxx
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dont feel bad, as long as you are pleased thats the most important.

At 3 BE events last year i got reasonable marks of 30/31/32 and i got 2 comments on each sheet-literally....i mean if they have nothing negative to say at all surely i should be getting much higher marks?
They basically said "lovely horse" and that was it. Not very helpful
 
Agree with Jo C - how you feel the test went is much more important than the marks at this stage.

I have ridden tests that went a bit pear shape and got an amazing score. I have also ridden tests that I felt great on and been shocked by a low score. You need to look longer term.

Is brilliant that you made it at all and he has had a positive day out as he can't read the score!!
Just think how much better it will be once you are back on your feet (pardon the pun!)
 
You are being very hard on yourself. You have just said that your leg was agony and the weather was awful - imagine how much better it would have been without those factors.

Did you manage to get to see anyone's elses scores - maybe that 55% wasn't so bad if everyone was being marked conservatively.

Chin Up - it can only get better!
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MH Jerry behaving better isn't necessarily going to show up in the marks.

When they're being idiots they often score quite between mad moments as they have that all important impulsion. When they're being sweet and swining along nicely well it's still nice which hits the 5-6 scores.

Kepp working at it, you didn't want to be a dresage diva anyway did you? All these trips are just putting nice mileage on his clock ready for the fun and joy that's eventing so don't be so hard on yourself. Tis very early days and you haven't had the best of luck and you're still doing incredibly well. Perhaps I should beind Atty to the next one and we can show you what a bad test really looks like
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DON'T GIVE UP!!!!!!!!! I lost my nerve and always thought I was terrible then gave up on my sharp youngster, bought an 11 year old showjumper which couldn't canter a 20m circle and now he is doing some medium moves at home after re-schooling for last 3 months. Also unfortunately you have to just put up with judges, i rented a yard from one near saffron walden in essex and she didn't like the way 2 of my horses moved (funny that they normally get 8s when out!) but she was obsessed with one that had terrible movement and was infact classed as lame on a vetting - terrible that she is a BD judge and has no clue!! don't let it get you down just think how good you'l be in a few months after more outings x
 
If it's any consolation I took my novice eventer to do unaffiliated RC dressage on Sunday, did a nice test, the only thing I didn't really ask was was enough 'medium' in my medium trot. I thought I had done a test of a similar standard to 2 of my friends and got 51% - 30 marks lower than them - basically 4s all the way through. I was absolutely horrified and nearly cried!!!

I mean we're not brilliant but we can compete in very 'pro' BE Nov sections and come out with marks in the top half. If I had been 5 or 10 marks behind I could have lived with it but 30????
Not one postitive comment and makes you wonder why you get out of bed at 6am on a Sunday morning to plait two horses up just to get slagged off on the test sheet.

Incidentally the other horse was a youngster who consistently napped towards the collecting ring, bucked in both canters and got the comment 'lots to like'!!??!

Fancy forming an 'eventers who've opted out of dressage' club?
 
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