How do you? (also in CR)

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MooMoo

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come back from a really poor performance? I dont really feel that i want to post exactly what went wrong on the open forum but if any one's good at this sort of thing then PM me.

Basically i did everything i could but horse (not mine-riding school's) decided not to co-operate today. Which sucks because in the lessons i've had practising this we've done nothing but improve and my instructor was happy i'd do well. On the day though, i have no idea what got into him.
It was more "oh look she's trying really hard" rather than the "ooh she's getting him(riding school plod) going well" that i was hoping for, which, in practise i was!

Now i feel pretty naff about it, and was wondering what you guys do when things dont go how you hoped. (i did prelim dressage today btw!)
 
Similar thing happened to me with a college horse! I did 2 dressage tests on basically a riding school horse who was usually ridden in a hackamore and with alot of other horses, but is very capable
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It was held in the indoor school, where she went everyday, but it had white boards as was using a smaller arena (cant remember what size) and I cocked up....in the first test she stuck her nose out and neighed throughout...think she was missing her friends!! I also forgot we were in a smaller arena so didnt adjust my circles and made a few more mistakes.....then on to secknd test and I went wrong in the test but managed to recover. I just put it down to experience!! I knew I could ride the tests, I just didnt do it on the day.

I think it is just a live and learn situation
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Smile, shrug and thnk 'Oh well at least I will do better next time'!!!!!
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ETA - In the old days when you had to halt/salute at X at the start of a Premlin. My cob having napped about going into the arena, then bolted in at a gallop, then to cap it off reared at X and waved his front feet at the judge (think judge put something like only the rider is required to salute at X, not the horse aswell!!!
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). I can't say the test improved much from that point, but I stuck it out and rode through it to the bitter end!!!!
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................See how bad can your day really have been!!!!
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I was knackered by the end! I could barely get trot in the warm up and canter was pretty much out of the question. He's usually lazy but with persistance i can get him going pretty well. I was using my stick but instead of going forward (or ignoring it as he sometimes does) he backed off even more. That had me baffled!!
 
I've known RS horses do that in shows. I think it can throw them being taken out of their routine.

Just think, next time you can wow them with how much better you are.
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At my old yard YO said her daughter's first test ended rather quickly when the pony bolted down the centre line as she entered and they never made it back into the ring. It could have been worse.
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It really could i guess! The main thing is the huge disappointment after all the practising i've been doing and how well it had gone riding through the previous lesson. Maybe he knew it was supposed to be his day off...
 
Bet there isn't a single person on here who has never had a completely rubbish dressage day!

Try to remember the positives (did you remember the test? stay on the horse? stay in the arena? were your movements largely recogniseable?). Focusing too hard on the bad bits is the fastest way to ruin your confidence.

Set yourself one or two specific things that you want to do better next time. It is impossible to improve everything all at once
 
I had the same thing but with my own horse, practiced practiced and practiced finally had it down to a T, and getting good marks in a mock test in lessons went to the show and promtly came dead last! That was my first ever prelim test and needless to say I haven't done anything since, it's pretty soul destroying!
I now plan to do some of the interdressage tests over the winter and try going out to dressage again next year - the bonus is I still get to get dressed up and plait etc but without the added stress and pressure I find this helps a lot. Maybe you could mention it to your RS Interdressage allow entries from RS's you could have a group of you do it thus creating a showy atomosphere!
 
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