FigJam
Well-Known Member
Good afternoon all!
As per title- today was Hopalong's first outing post-injury to actually attempt a dressage test. We warmed up for this on Friday with a trip to the beach where Hopalong caught me out by being really good and not spooking at the waves like previous outings, I got a little cocky and allowed myself to relax and enjoy trotting and cantering through them when suddenly spook... splash!!!
Sadly for you all, Mr FigJam was not in attendance so there is no photographic evidence. He is as upset about this as you all are!
I can assure you that although the landing was as soft as... well, sea water and sand... it was also very soggy and sandy! 
Squelched round for the next hour and had to sit on a carrier bag on the way home!!!
So today I was up early to polish and plait in the hope that a shiny, smart pony would earn us a couple extra sympathy marks and it seemed to work.
I stitched in the plaits properly for the first time, took me ages longer, but I think it did look a bit smarter. We were attempting the dizzy heights of Prelim 1 at an unaffiliated competition locally.
I allowed about 25mins to warm up with the first 5mins just walking around on a long rein to loosen off and then 20mins proper work like a schooling session at home. I went straight in to our test without stopping for a proper break (eg to watch a test etc) and I think this seemed to work well for Hopalong as no opportunity to switch off.
She was nice and relaxed in the warm up, then got a little "looky" at judge's box, corner of the arena, coffee shop etc when we went over to work around the arena before our test. However, we had lots of time to do lots of circles, serpentines etc while waiting for the bell and she settled fine.
She then did a really nice feeling test, a little hollow in some of the transitions and tensed up at the end of the FWLR when I picked up the reins again (judge spoke to me afterwards and gave advice on how better to pick up the reins and maintain contact at the same time which was nice.), but on the whole, it felt pretty good and massively better than some of the tests I remember from last year!
I may have had a little blub when I came out of the arena... I was just so proud of how nice and relaxed she had stayed and how hard she had tried for me. To think that 6 months ago I had no idea what kind of work she could come back to etc, it was so nice to be out, doing summat and that it felt good. What kind of idiot cries just because they "survived" Prelim 1?!?
So, Mr FigJam was in attendance to provide (lots!) polos and take photos, here are some for your perusal and empire biscuits for those of you that suffer through all my blethering!
Oh yes... almost forgot the minor detail of scoring 70.53% with 2 x 8s and pretty consistent 7s and ended up 4th out of over 20!
(there were 26 entered in the unaff section but not sure how many W/D, no shows etc there were) Clever Hopalong doing matchy matchy with the frilly (green) to team colours (green and navy).
Love this next one;
Big cuddle for clever pony!
And most importantly... Mr FigJam on hand with lots of polos after!
As per title- today was Hopalong's first outing post-injury to actually attempt a dressage test. We warmed up for this on Friday with a trip to the beach where Hopalong caught me out by being really good and not spooking at the waves like previous outings, I got a little cocky and allowed myself to relax and enjoy trotting and cantering through them when suddenly spook... splash!!!
Sadly for you all, Mr FigJam was not in attendance so there is no photographic evidence. He is as upset about this as you all are!
I can assure you that although the landing was as soft as... well, sea water and sand... it was also very soggy and sandy! Squelched round for the next hour and had to sit on a carrier bag on the way home!!!So today I was up early to polish and plait in the hope that a shiny, smart pony would earn us a couple extra sympathy marks and it seemed to work.
I stitched in the plaits properly for the first time, took me ages longer, but I think it did look a bit smarter. We were attempting the dizzy heights of Prelim 1 at an unaffiliated competition locally.I allowed about 25mins to warm up with the first 5mins just walking around on a long rein to loosen off and then 20mins proper work like a schooling session at home. I went straight in to our test without stopping for a proper break (eg to watch a test etc) and I think this seemed to work well for Hopalong as no opportunity to switch off.
She was nice and relaxed in the warm up, then got a little "looky" at judge's box, corner of the arena, coffee shop etc when we went over to work around the arena before our test. However, we had lots of time to do lots of circles, serpentines etc while waiting for the bell and she settled fine.
She then did a really nice feeling test, a little hollow in some of the transitions and tensed up at the end of the FWLR when I picked up the reins again (judge spoke to me afterwards and gave advice on how better to pick up the reins and maintain contact at the same time which was nice.), but on the whole, it felt pretty good and massively better than some of the tests I remember from last year!
I may have had a little blub when I came out of the arena...
I was just so proud of how nice and relaxed she had stayed and how hard she had tried for me. To think that 6 months ago I had no idea what kind of work she could come back to etc, it was so nice to be out, doing summat and that it felt good. What kind of idiot cries just because they "survived" Prelim 1?!? So, Mr FigJam was in attendance to provide (lots!) polos and take photos, here are some for your perusal and empire biscuits for those of you that suffer through all my blethering!
Oh yes... almost forgot the minor detail of scoring 70.53% with 2 x 8s and pretty consistent 7s and ended up 4th out of over 20!
(there were 26 entered in the unaff section but not sure how many W/D, no shows etc there were) Clever Hopalong doing matchy matchy with the frilly (green) to team colours (green and navy).
Love this next one;
Big cuddle for clever pony!
And most importantly... Mr FigJam on hand with lots of polos after!
. You can't keep a good horse down you know - very well done both of you but boo to no pictures of the dunking 
.
