Pet Plan Area Festival- would you go? (long)

[Law]

After people's opinions on this one... my little 15hh section D and I affiliated for xmas last year and did one or two prelims before going straight in to novice. We did ok for a while but we are extremely limited for judges round here and alternate between two or three all year round

Sadly two of the judges are quite low markers so we've done pretty badly for about 6 months despite much improvement in Darcy's way of going. I can honestly say he's come on leaps and bounds but the marks rarely reflect it.
Last month I decided to try another prelim and novice at another centre 2 hours away to ensure we got judged by a different judge and see what they said. We got a good mark in the prelim and a not so great one in the novice.
This weekend was my last chance to qualify for the petplans and I wanted to get it at Prelim and didn't mind so much for the novice. There are very few competitions on round here (about 6 since january so i've started going further away (2hours))
The prelim was beautiful, very obedient, accurate, relaxed, etc Unfortunately it was judged by the lady who consistently marks us low in the novice at our local centre and true to form she gave us 60.9% and the same comments that she gives us for Novice. (I know she is marking what is presented in front of her and it's horses for courses, not all judges like the same thing)
Anyway, different judge for the novice and we did an OK test and got 62% so our other qualifying sheet.

So the question is shall I go to the area festivals or shall I not. I think we will be really outclassed there and a lot of me is thinking there is not much point going and maybe we should try again for prelim next year or novice and wait

A few people have said "Go for it" it will be fun etc

What would you do?

 

[Jo C]

I say go for it and treat it as a fun day out for experience! Good luck

 

[MistletoeMegan]

Go - firstly, it will be great experience for the both of you and you'll be able to see what other judges think, and secondly you have qualified to be there and if you weren't capable of doing well you wouldn't have qualified!

 

[gummybear]

Definately go. You have qualified so why shouldnt you. You will different judges (hopefully!) so why not give it a go - what have you got to lose?

 

[carthorse]

Depends how much it is going to cost you to go and how you feel about it. I think the standard is really high at any regional or pet plan . If it is local and you want to treat it as a fun day then go , you will get a pet plan plaque [ which I feel is fantastic and a great thing to put on the stable door]
If it is going to cost you a fortune to go then you may have to think about it[ as we are now that things are getting so expensive] but it is only once a year and you have worked hard to get there.
I actually think you should go and be proud to be there but only you can decide.
Good luck

 

[Fahrenheit]

[ QUOTE ]
you will get a pet plan plaque [ which I feel is fantastic and a great thing to put on the stable door]

[/ QUOTE ]

Ooooooo I love it when you get door plaques!

I don't know if we are doing it or not... must remember to ask!

 

[SunshineTallulah]

You have qualified so you deserve to be there.

It will be experience and will be interesting to see how you score and the comments on your sheet.

Enjoy and dont forget to do a report for here!

 

[carthorse]

You did regional , so you can't , silly you.lol. Unless you are going for next level as we want to?

 

[_jetset_]

I think you should go and just enjoy the experience... I am taking Han to do the Novice and perhaps the elementary if she gets her second sheet soon, and we will certainly be HUGELY outclassed as she is not your 'typical' dressage horse and I know some of the horse who will be going at our level

I am also thinking of taking Grace and she is not going particularly great at the moment, but I enjoyed it last year so just keep thinking 'what the hell'!

 

[walker1234]

definitely do it, its a much different atmosphere and a real sense of occasion.

 

[mat]

Go for it! Which one would you go to? x

 

[Law]

Hmm, was going to speak to you about it! It would be Pencoed.

Thanks for all the replies. Consensus seems to be go for it!

 

[Rachel1]

I agree you should defintely go for it

it's a chance for you to experience taking your horse to a championship. Don't worry about anyone else's horse or what they look like just focus on yourself and go enjoy it! One of my horses will be having kittens at the flowers and posters and no doubt I will be wishing I was riding down the centre line with a paper bag over my head hehe but it will be a fantastic experience for him to have to cope in that environment. I think you'll have a great day, it's always good fun to be in the atmosphere of a bigger show

 

[Ferdinase514]

Pack him up in trailer, come and stay down here and go to Weston Lawns with me! Different judges might be a good thing and I'd love the company

 

[Law]

T, as crazy as it sounds it's 3:13hrs to Pencoed and 3:17hrs to Weston Lawns

In theory I could do either!

*thinks that is a great idea*

 

[sarahrees]

Go for it
you'll both be fab