_jetset_
Well-Known Member
I took her over to Croft Top yesterday to do P17 and N38 (her first affiliated Novice, and her second attempt at a Novice test, the first being unaffiliated). I was not in the best frame of mind having only got to bed at 2am the night before after copious amounts of red wine... my head was pounding, I felt quite queasy and was wondering why on earth I decided to try a Novice feeling like that
In the warm up for the Prelim and in the test itself I rode like a sack of potatoes. All I could think about was that I had so much liquid sloshing about in my tummy which was making me feel even worse and my head was now thumping at this time. We came out midway down the results with 61.8something%.
I put her back in the trailer for a bit (this would be the first time she had been put away and brought back out again for a 2nd test) and started to think I should withdraw from the Novice. Then my father-in-law bought me a bacon sandwich from the cafe and a can of coke which made me feel so much better... so I decided to give the Novice a go, after all, we hadn't even ridden through the test before because I haven't had time to hire a long arena this week.
I rode her totally differently in the warm up than I did for the Prelim. I just kept asking more and more of her and she responded really well. We went into the arena to do the test and she felt so much happier this time rather than a bit flat like she had felt in the Prelim.
She did a lovely test. There were a few errors which I was responsible for (I didn't ride her into the left counter canter as much as I should have done and I turned late down the centre line)... but her right counter canter got a 7 (you may remember I was having real problems with it on Thursday because she kept changing in front and did all the way up to the test) and she got a 7 for her halt because it was SQUARE!!!
I was absolutely thrilled with her and she came out with 63.47% (I think) and was in 3rd when we left with two more restricted riders to go!
We had some nice comments at the bottom from the judge... she said Grace was a lovely scopey and athletic horse. She also said that once her balance improves with time she will be even better, which is very accurate as she is only 6 and this was her first Novice having just learned counter canter on Thursday
In the warm up for the Prelim and in the test itself I rode like a sack of potatoes. All I could think about was that I had so much liquid sloshing about in my tummy which was making me feel even worse and my head was now thumping at this time. We came out midway down the results with 61.8something%.
I put her back in the trailer for a bit (this would be the first time she had been put away and brought back out again for a 2nd test) and started to think I should withdraw from the Novice. Then my father-in-law bought me a bacon sandwich from the cafe and a can of coke which made me feel so much better... so I decided to give the Novice a go, after all, we hadn't even ridden through the test before because I haven't had time to hire a long arena this week.
I rode her totally differently in the warm up than I did for the Prelim. I just kept asking more and more of her and she responded really well. We went into the arena to do the test and she felt so much happier this time rather than a bit flat like she had felt in the Prelim.
She did a lovely test. There were a few errors which I was responsible for (I didn't ride her into the left counter canter as much as I should have done and I turned late down the centre line)... but her right counter canter got a 7 (you may remember I was having real problems with it on Thursday because she kept changing in front and did all the way up to the test) and she got a 7 for her halt because it was SQUARE!!!
I was absolutely thrilled with her and she came out with 63.47% (I think) and was in 3rd when we left with two more restricted riders to go!
We had some nice comments at the bottom from the judge... she said Grace was a lovely scopey and athletic horse. She also said that once her balance improves with time she will be even better, which is very accurate as she is only 6 and this was her first Novice having just learned counter canter on Thursday
