miss_c
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I did my first competition in about 7 months... and it wasn't with Genie! Sadly back in May she damaged the lateral branch of her suspensory ligament and we are still on the long road to recovery - I can now ride her and we have introduced a few short trots.
So, everyone say hello to Bug, she is a 15.2hh 7 year old mare, half Welsh Sec D, 1/4 Warmblood (Foxcourt Andante) and 1/4 TB although I've not found that bit yet! She came home on Bonfire Night, spent two weeks in isolation (yard policy), and then we have slowly been getting to know each other while her fitness has built up. So yesterday we went to a local unaff dressage for our first competition together. As I have done so much with Genie I did ask the venue first if they would be happy to accept my entry or if they wanted me to go HC, but they were happy.
I had three aims for the day... Be calm, behave, don't fall off. We had entered the Intro B for a no-stress first class, followed by Prelim 7, but I went with the plan of withdrawing from the second if she behaved in the first.
Well oh my goodness she behaved! A few spooky moments in the warmup and a look at a few things, but she soon settled to work well. We were left alone in the warmup which she wasn't worried by and she stayed calm when she went indoors to the test arena. The test itself was green with a few wobbles but nothing horrific and I was absolutely over the moon with her so immediately told them I would not be presenting her for the second test. Aims were achieved and (to non-horsey Mum's horror) she was taken back to the lorry, given a carrot, and her net (and a lot of fuss!).
We went to the scoreboards and I was so pleased to find that we had posted 67.39% (I would have been very happy with 65% for the test we did). In the end we won the class by 1 mark and were one of only two entrants to break the 60% barrier, scores went right down into the 40s... No more Intros for her now, her next outing will be Prelims only and I plan to affiliate her in the new year.
So, everyone say hello to Bug, she is a 15.2hh 7 year old mare, half Welsh Sec D, 1/4 Warmblood (Foxcourt Andante) and 1/4 TB although I've not found that bit yet! She came home on Bonfire Night, spent two weeks in isolation (yard policy), and then we have slowly been getting to know each other while her fitness has built up. So yesterday we went to a local unaff dressage for our first competition together. As I have done so much with Genie I did ask the venue first if they would be happy to accept my entry or if they wanted me to go HC, but they were happy.
I had three aims for the day... Be calm, behave, don't fall off. We had entered the Intro B for a no-stress first class, followed by Prelim 7, but I went with the plan of withdrawing from the second if she behaved in the first.
Well oh my goodness she behaved! A few spooky moments in the warmup and a look at a few things, but she soon settled to work well. We were left alone in the warmup which she wasn't worried by and she stayed calm when she went indoors to the test arena. The test itself was green with a few wobbles but nothing horrific and I was absolutely over the moon with her so immediately told them I would not be presenting her for the second test. Aims were achieved and (to non-horsey Mum's horror) she was taken back to the lorry, given a carrot, and her net (and a lot of fuss!).
We went to the scoreboards and I was so pleased to find that we had posted 67.39% (I would have been very happy with 65% for the test we did). In the end we won the class by 1 mark and were one of only two entrants to break the 60% barrier, scores went right down into the 40s... No more Intros for her now, her next outing will be Prelims only and I plan to affiliate her in the new year.
