Wimbles
Well-Known Member
So yesterday myself and a friend took two of my ex racers, who are used predominately to play horseball, to a lovely equestrian centre to try our hands at dressage. We had done a bit of schooling on the Tuesday and for a bit of fun I had printed out a couple of tests for us to have a go at. We enjoyed it and then had the crazy idea of actually entering ourselves to do some unaffiliated tests. We practiced the actual tests a couple of times on Thursday, hacked out on the Friday and bathed/plaited on the Saturday.
My friend rode Big Sam. 17.2hh of bright orange thoroughbred who wears 7ft rugs and raced for ten years of his life doesn't sound like the perfect dressage horse but my goodness he will try his hardest to do anything that you might ask him to. My friend broke her leg very badly just over a year ago, bones through the skin etc. After many operations Sam has been the one to get her riding and playing horseball again so I was just thrilled to see her wanting to take him out. They went in and he was just lovely. It wasn't perfect but they certainly didn't stick out as being none dressagers and in a class of 18 she was just 0.7% off 6th place! We were chuffed to bits!
I took in Lloyd who I've had just under a year. We gave him 6mths of barefoot rehab when he came as his feet were a bit of a mess, so he has only been ridden since January. He's taken to horseball really well and his schooling has come on as a result of this but it was going to be a big ask.
We went into the arena and I suddenly realised that he had never even seen dressage boards!! He gawked at them a bit but was pretty good all things considered and although he was a bit nappy each time we went away from the collecting ring he actually produced some really nice work. I was thrilled to get 60% for a first go with promising comments as well as lots to work on!
There was a big break until I was in the prelim so we went back to the box for a bit. When it was getting near our time we went back and my friend stayed near the box with Sam. He seemed more tense but we worked in OK and then he planted.....now this happened once at one of his first horseball games and he will not move for anything and I ended up getting off and leading him off the pitch. We sat for a bit with the intention of letting him gather himself as by now I could tell that it was getting a bit too much for him. The problem was that we were kind of in the way of a busy collecting ring so we needed to let the professional dressagers get on with doing their "thing". I kicked him on........nothing.....I took my feet out the irons and gave it a pony club boot.........nothing.......I patted him........nothing. People were starting to stare! I could just see my friend with Sam so I waved her over thinking that a friend might help. As Sam came towards the gate I gave a quick kick hoping to encourage Lloyd over to his friend and then the leap occured! He literally vertically launched up in the air like one of the Lipizzaners in the spanish riding school. Not cool, not cool at all, especially as I was still without my pedals. If people weren't staring before, they certainly were now as we partially crashed into the area barrier upon exiting orbit. I can still see the photographer's face looking absolutely horrified. By this point I'm wanting to crawl into a dark place and cry, thinking that retiring from Prelim 7 is going to be safer for all involved.
Luckily though my friend is also my horseball trainer and she made me man up. We tentatively stepped into the arena and I rode that centre line like my life depended on it! I was pleasantly surprised that all the things that should happen in that test happened in roughly the right places at roughly the right times and we came out with a creditable 64% leaving us 9th of 28!
So to round up I am incredibly proud of these horses and their pilots. The leaping needs to be eradicated, more practice is needed but we are all actually looking forward to doing it a bit more often.
My friend rode Big Sam. 17.2hh of bright orange thoroughbred who wears 7ft rugs and raced for ten years of his life doesn't sound like the perfect dressage horse but my goodness he will try his hardest to do anything that you might ask him to. My friend broke her leg very badly just over a year ago, bones through the skin etc. After many operations Sam has been the one to get her riding and playing horseball again so I was just thrilled to see her wanting to take him out. They went in and he was just lovely. It wasn't perfect but they certainly didn't stick out as being none dressagers and in a class of 18 she was just 0.7% off 6th place! We were chuffed to bits!
I took in Lloyd who I've had just under a year. We gave him 6mths of barefoot rehab when he came as his feet were a bit of a mess, so he has only been ridden since January. He's taken to horseball really well and his schooling has come on as a result of this but it was going to be a big ask.
We went into the arena and I suddenly realised that he had never even seen dressage boards!! He gawked at them a bit but was pretty good all things considered and although he was a bit nappy each time we went away from the collecting ring he actually produced some really nice work. I was thrilled to get 60% for a first go with promising comments as well as lots to work on!
There was a big break until I was in the prelim so we went back to the box for a bit. When it was getting near our time we went back and my friend stayed near the box with Sam. He seemed more tense but we worked in OK and then he planted.....now this happened once at one of his first horseball games and he will not move for anything and I ended up getting off and leading him off the pitch. We sat for a bit with the intention of letting him gather himself as by now I could tell that it was getting a bit too much for him. The problem was that we were kind of in the way of a busy collecting ring so we needed to let the professional dressagers get on with doing their "thing". I kicked him on........nothing.....I took my feet out the irons and gave it a pony club boot.........nothing.......I patted him........nothing. People were starting to stare! I could just see my friend with Sam so I waved her over thinking that a friend might help. As Sam came towards the gate I gave a quick kick hoping to encourage Lloyd over to his friend and then the leap occured! He literally vertically launched up in the air like one of the Lipizzaners in the spanish riding school. Not cool, not cool at all, especially as I was still without my pedals. If people weren't staring before, they certainly were now as we partially crashed into the area barrier upon exiting orbit. I can still see the photographer's face looking absolutely horrified. By this point I'm wanting to crawl into a dark place and cry, thinking that retiring from Prelim 7 is going to be safer for all involved.
Luckily though my friend is also my horseball trainer and she made me man up. We tentatively stepped into the arena and I rode that centre line like my life depended on it! I was pleasantly surprised that all the things that should happen in that test happened in roughly the right places at roughly the right times and we came out with a creditable 64% leaving us 9th of 28!
So to round up I am incredibly proud of these horses and their pilots. The leaping needs to be eradicated, more practice is needed but we are all actually looking forward to doing it a bit more often.
. To carry on and then do a good test is no mean feat when they're messing about, so well done you