Fiona
Well-Known Member
I really thought it would be cancelled today, as the forecast had been so bad, with snow and a hard frost, but when OH texted this morning we were told the arenas were OK, so we got ourselves organised and headed off.
Gradually as we drove up the road started to see the odd car with snow on it and some in fields, by the time we got to Lisburn (20 miles from home) there was a couple of inches. Now the main roads were all fine as they have been gritting here constantly for the past 2 days, but torned onto a minor road and it was just white, so the last bit was v scary (thank god OH was driving).
Anyway got there to discover the long arena advanced tests had been cancelled but ours was still supposedly running to plan even though arena was totally white.
Gpt FLo out and warmed up in the slushy sand (outdoor warmup which is yuck really it is - we used to warmup inside at this venue and just do the test outside). She was really good (the last time we were here before Xmas we had airs above the ground big time for the first ten min), and I even had to kick her on a bit to make sure she was in front of my leg.
Well as you can see the arena was still fairly white when we went in, but it didn't seem to be balling in their feet, and she did her best ever outside test...
walk and free walk (got a 6 for her free walk for the first time)..
a canter pic (still low in front but better than last year)..
and the final halt..
She stayed calm and relaxed through the whole test even the walk where any tension immediately shows (with her anyway).
I was so pleased with her and when the scores went up she had 63% which is her highest ever aff score (have got higher unaff but at RC they sometimes use the marks slightly differently) so was really delighted.
When we left, she was 3rd in the class, so I keep looking at the website to see if the final results are up, as the sec promised to do them tonight.
It's the first time ever I have felt that dressage isn't a foreign concept with this little mare. She is built totally downhill and it has taken so much work to get her to even start to take some weight back and balance herself.
Sorry I know all this gushing is totally self indulgent (its not like we won or anything) but the class was open to horses with 0-20 eventing points, so to get the score she did proves that I have been doing something right with her over the winter!!
Fiona
Gradually as we drove up the road started to see the odd car with snow on it and some in fields, by the time we got to Lisburn (20 miles from home) there was a couple of inches. Now the main roads were all fine as they have been gritting here constantly for the past 2 days, but torned onto a minor road and it was just white, so the last bit was v scary (thank god OH was driving).
Anyway got there to discover the long arena advanced tests had been cancelled but ours was still supposedly running to plan even though arena was totally white.
Gpt FLo out and warmed up in the slushy sand (outdoor warmup which is yuck really it is - we used to warmup inside at this venue and just do the test outside). She was really good (the last time we were here before Xmas we had airs above the ground big time for the first ten min), and I even had to kick her on a bit to make sure she was in front of my leg.
Well as you can see the arena was still fairly white when we went in, but it didn't seem to be balling in their feet, and she did her best ever outside test...
walk and free walk (got a 6 for her free walk for the first time)..
a canter pic (still low in front but better than last year)..
and the final halt..
She stayed calm and relaxed through the whole test even the walk where any tension immediately shows (with her anyway).
I was so pleased with her and when the scores went up she had 63% which is her highest ever aff score (have got higher unaff but at RC they sometimes use the marks slightly differently) so was really delighted.
When we left, she was 3rd in the class, so I keep looking at the website to see if the final results are up, as the sec promised to do them tonight.
It's the first time ever I have felt that dressage isn't a foreign concept with this little mare. She is built totally downhill and it has taken so much work to get her to even start to take some weight back and balance herself.
Sorry I know all this gushing is totally self indulgent (its not like we won or anything) but the class was open to horses with 0-20 eventing points, so to get the score she did proves that I have been doing something right with her over the winter!!
Fiona
