Me and the youngster had a go at dressage!

VioletStripe

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Right, I feel the need to be a proud mama! (essay ahead!) So, at my yard there have been a couple of dressage shows over the last month or two. So under the guidance of my instructor, I thought well why not? Cas is about four and a half now, and I thought it'd be a good idea to let him see everything and do a simple test, and also get some outside crit from the judge! So off we set to do the prelim - luckily they'd been nice tests which aren't too fast or demanding, which is a relief!
The first went well, he behaved beautifully (very interested by the plants!) and we were very pleased with ourselves! I was a happy mum, he wasn't phased and also got some lovely comments from the judge! The second show went even better, a few weeks later. He was more confident, and we'd been working a bit at improving his outline now that the paces were sorted - not once has he been put in draw reins or anything else, just taking it slowly to build him up and go at our own pace, we worked hard at doing long and low work and it paid off - somehow we came 6th!! :D So, skip forwards to last night, I was very tense, hadn't learnt by test as thoroughly and when we came out I was so so so so happy with Casper but was sure I'd ridden like an utter numpty and hadn't done him justice.
However.. we came 4th with 64.85%!!! :D Judge said we were a very promising pair :) I always knew he'd be a right star, but he's improved so much over the last couple of months it's impossible to describe! I never aimed to get placed, just wanted him to see everything and have a little go at it for fun! I kept on worrying over if I wasn't doing him justice, going too quickly for him, going too slowly for him, too much too soon, was he getting bored, just about every worry under the sun.. but he hasn't put a foot wrong and we've found a good rhythm for ourselves :) I'm amazed he's done so well - I've taken it as steadily as possible and I only bought him at the beginning of summer :eek: He had a fun day out in the field today, undoing all my hard grooming from yesterday :rolleyes:
Anyway, thank you for reading! Cake to all who made it this far, now for a couple of piccies :) (sorry if they're massive!) As always I'm happy for CC, but bear in mind we're still on a learning curve! And sorry for the ramble, I'm gushing! xx

From the second try (sorry, none from first!)

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And with this one, you can see the relief on my face we'd finished! :p Not a very straight halt, but I was so pleased!;
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Now for my 2 favourite from our one last night;
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VioletStripe

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Thank you very much! :) Haha he does, he tries his little heart out all the time. So eager to please and so quick at learning :eek: Funny you should say that about his hind leg, in canter he's got a wonderful impulsion and has always worked well through his back, yet in trot he's a bit weak behind.. been improving on that though! Lots of transitions, pole work and working on riding on the buckle of the rein and we can already see quite an improvement :) xx
 

rhino

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Funny you should say that about his hind leg, in canter he's got a wonderful impulsion and has always worked well through his back, yet in trot he's a bit weak behind..

Trot is by far the easiest pace to 'improve;' as long as you can keep him relaxed his trot should 'grow' as he finds his balance and develops the correct muscles. Definitely lots of potential :)
 

VioletStripe

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ahh he's lovely!!! Both your faces are like 'phew!!!' on the halt one :) That canter pic is fab :) well done!!

Why thank you :) He's beginning to know he's lovely - everyone at the yard makes a huge fuss of him :D 'phew' is the only way that one can be summarised :p It was such a relief, the entire time round I was expecting him to spook or run into one of the plants he was so fond of by accident :rolleyes: Thank you very much :) xx
 

VioletStripe

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Trot is by far the easiest pace to 'improve;' as long as you can keep him relaxed his trot should 'grow' as he finds his balance and develops the correct muscles. Definitely lots of potential :)

Good thing it's the weakest pace then :D Walk used to be a bit off - I found it hard to find the right pace for him but now he's tracking up well and striding out - without the rushing! Trot is improving, just a little slower! He liked to have his head tucked up so it took a while to get him to work down into the contact, then find a happy medium where he wasn't then leaning.. now it's just fine tuning it! Baby steps :) I can definitely see a huge difference from even over the last 3 or 4 weeks, particularly in balance! Thank you so so much for your lovely CC :) We're just taking it one step at a time, to gradually allow them to build him up.. I've seen so many people rush on with their 4 year olds, and I'd rather take things slowly.. even if it is considered very slow by others! xx
 

VioletStripe

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Well done :) He is gorgeous! Looks like he's going to be a little star :)

Thank you very much! I think he's gorgeous too but I guess I am a little biased :D There's a new years dressage event which I'm tempted to do the prelim for.. will see how he is over the next couple of weeks :D
Once we polish the trotting, I think we'll do a little more jumping (obviously, still taking it slowly! We did some over the summer.. likes to give the poles a good amount of air! Then we started to really concentrate on the flatwork and really build that up, we had fun practicing a few steps of leg yield on bridle paths!).. expect more photos soon! xx
 
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