Our first ridden outing!

[ElliePippa]

Decided to bite the bullet and take Dolly to her first ridden show on Saturday. We went to a local dressage competition, entering Intro A. All I was hoping for was to stay inside the arena and manage to load her home!

Dolly was a star. A little bit looky which caused her to hold her head alot higher than usual and to lose even more engagement from behind. We completed the test in the right paces, she was perfectly behaved experiencing her first ever warm up and it only took 30 seconds of thinking to load back onto the trailer.

We got 61.74% and a 6th, which I think was really generous.

Judges comments were that she had good rhythm and paces, but lacked straightness and needed to accept the contact more. Overall, I couldn't have hoped for more from her. She took it all in her stride, especially considering we only hack at home.


Some pictures of her looking rather giraffe like..

Constructive criticism more than welcome! Would love any tips on improving straightness and engagement.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Well done, onwards and upwards. Do you work on schooling while you are out hacking. That's what I do with mine as I don't have a school.

She looks like my cob in that last pic!

 

[ElliePippa]

Thankyou and yes she really does! I do try, though I find it hard to decide what I need to be focusing on when hacking and with balancing in very hilly fields. She's loads better than last year where she couldn't walk without literally weaving across the paths! Need to get imaginative!

 

[HighFive]

Naw, isn't she a poppet! I love your traditional turnout, I think it looks super smart. Hopefully next time she won't be quite as looky, and you can get her to focus on the job a bit more. Great work!

 

[atropa]

Congratulations, sounds like a great outing and a well deserved placing. Love your smile in the photos.
I'm by no means an expert but for engagement I find doing lots and lots and lots of transitions helps my horse,and has the added bonus of sharpening her up off the leg. Walk-trot, walk-canter, trot-halt, halt-trot, halt-reinback-trot, forwards and backwards within the trot and canter paces all work great for us. Also, if you can do a little bit of lateral work it really helps engage their butts, even just a bit of leg yield before moving up a gear. From looking at your photos I would carry your hands maybe an inch or so higher and try to keep more of a bend in your elbows to improve your connection with the bit.
In terms of straightness, my mare tends to snake around with her neck and shoulders so I have to block her with the appropriate rein, ie if she decides to wander off towards the left I would close my left rein into her shoulder and open my right a smidgen, and use my left leg to support her and nudge her over. This is just what works for us, but I'm sure many more experienced posters will have better tips for you.
Good luck!

 

[4faults]

Well done on a successful outing. If you achieved what you set out to achieve that's the important part. Have to say, how do you get her so clean?!?

Have to agree with Atropa re schooling, would add that you if you can get her inside leg to outside hand through leg yielding, bit of shoulder in, traver, you should be able to achieve more engagement

 

[ElliePippa]

Thankyou for the helpful comments and tips. She is an absolute gem of a mare. Lots of scrubbing and white paste! Though she helpfully came into season that morning and made a big mess of her tail !!

 

[Girlracer]

She's lovely. And that's great for a first outing - well done!!