Emotional (good) witch pony update!! <3 ELEMENTARY DEBUT!!

LiffWee93

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Well what can i say, i think i may have to revoke the witch pony status! (temporarily at least!)

Shes been awesome of late, super fun (if a tad wild) to hack, really enjoying it again, now we have some beautiful hacking to enjoy!

Been cracking on with weekly lessons and my god are they paying dividends, we seem to be slowwwwllyy slowlly making progress - the overall quality of the work is improving, my riding is getting there and lola is finding everything easier and easier as time goes on, sooo chuffed with her!

which takes us on to this weekend just gone...

i kept my cards close to my chest for fear of jinxing things, and putting pressure on myself to perform well when all i wanted was to get from start to finish and get a test sheet in the bag to start the ball rolling.
Elementary is the highest level ive ever dreamed of competing at, let alone actually got there, so i really wasnt expecting anything from us, just a nice outing!

Entered wellington ridings unaffiliated dressage -- usually has good company and a decent judge who i would get reasonable comments from about our training :)

She was a darling to get ready, box up, travel over and wait for us to get her ready, popped into the warm up -- we have halved the time i warm her up of late and it seems to be working well! a quick 20 mins of transitions and a bit of sideways was enough to get her feeling super super sweet :)

into the ring - ele 49, not necessarily the easiest test to start with, but.. the bell rang and lola stormed down the centre line to the first halt.. it was ON!
the trot fell a little flat in comparison to the warm up, entirely down to my riding, mediums felt okay, leg yields both ways were really sweet, the walk could have been looser but was lovely and relaxed, the rein back was a little hesitant due to her staring at the judge ha, but really sweet otherwise, sharp into trot and the canter transition was a tad messy but we made it ha!
canter 15m circles were a tad large and lacked jump in the canter but she showed beautiful give and re takes *yay*, first counter canter was ACE!!! second we broke just after the apex of the turn *doh*, but recovered to show some reasonable if a little modest medium canter strides, the two 10m half circle/trot/half circles were sweet and obedient, stretchy canter was okay if a little too onward bound,, flew up the centre line to the last halt which i lost her quarters in, but we made it through it.. nothing too special, but we did it and i was sooo proud of the little mare for being so ace and willing even when i didnt give her the best ride <3
was suprised to hear people watching say it was a lovely sweet test for her first go and that they loved her <3 (proud mummy moment) i had in my head, if we scraped 60% i would be more than chuffed :)
took her back to the box for a cool down, brush and treat then popped away while we went to wait for the sheet...

well blow me down, not only did we beat our goal, we totally smashed it for a 68.33%!! nearly better than our best score at novice (unaff or aff!) and only went and WON!! :O :O :O <3 okay, only out of 6, but there was one on 60, a couple around 63, a 65 and another 68.1...
was seriously emotional and more than dumbstruck <3

this time last year i would never have hoped of achieving doing an elementary, let alone on a good score - it was such a wild dream that was initially our end goal... cannot thank my lovely instructor enough for the kicking he has given us over the past 4 months with him, it has transformed us! (had a good laugh in our lesson last night with him - he said it was all well and great that we got such a good score, but we still left 22% out there and were more than capable of better, but not too shabby :p)

heres some pics (terrible quality, sorry!) and a link to the video <3 (im aware that it isnt the prettiest!)
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https://www.facebook.com/leanne.greatorex/videos/10157269138460066/
 

LiffWee93

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that she is indeed!! :) absoutely yes to bd, however not till after we have area festivals at novice out of the way first, all my money is going on training! haha :)
 

LiffWee93

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thankyou all! im still soooo pleased!

hoping to make our bd ele debut late september i think!

haha not going to even think about medium!!

Leannepip -- i know right, i was totally expecting it! haha :) but hes brill and has really bought the good out in us :) dont know when to do next, probably end of september as i have areas to prepare for :)
 
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