BlueCakes
Well-Known Member
..... but very good horse!!!
Now before I begin please understand that this post is purely to get my frustrations out, as while I will explain the best as I can, sometimes we all use the wrong words and it doesn't come across the way we planned and can be interpreted lots of different ways. So if you're going to start ranting back at me I'd rather you just left now. BTW this is verrry long. 
So, I went to a local show at the weekend, it was combined training. As per the schedule they were running 4 classes.
Two Combined training classes and two purely dressage classes.
The prelim dressage and prelim combined training were judged together (Not stated on the schedule), and same with the novice section, even though they were running an 'offer' that you could pay a reduced price to enter a combined training and a purely dressage class of the same level. Thank god I didn't pay that extra like I was going too because I would still have only had my one turn and wouldn't have been judged any differently.
Clearly I am mistaken that running separate classes means you get separate scoring and separate class times!!
I have been to combined training before at a more prestigious centre and have never seen it run like this.
Anyway, so the bad disorganisation meant I was one of the last people to leave even though I was only doing class 1.
I warmed up happily, and then went in for my dressage. I thought it had gone very well. Our transitions were perfect and in the correct places and naturally my horse has beautiful paces which were commented on by a handful of people on the day.
We usually score very well in dressage despite me never asking him to come down onto the bit. He rounds very nicely and does not plod round like a giraffe but I hate seeing people who see-saw their horses mouth in order to get the effect, however as I say my horse rounds very well, and maybe with a slight more encouragement forward and collection of the reins would be encouraged down. Though this has barely reflected in our scores before but always mentioned in the comments below.
However, when I retrieved my score sheet, all it said in every box was 'HOLLOW', with markers copying the comment down from one box to another. No mention of our paces, my riding, or transitions. I was one very grumpy person. Even more so when I was placed behind a lady who jumps very well, but whose horse runs round like a giraffe, and whom I know did not learn her test.
I also compared my sheet to my last dressage test there, and my score was approx 4% higher than my last one, where I knew my horse had done badly because he was not going forwards and was being intermittently lame due to a sore back. I knew my test was almost spot on compared to my last one!
Then we moved onto the jumping phase.
I walked the course correctly, whether is 1ft or 3 ft I walk it the same, and thank god I did because there was eight human strides between a double. I deduced that either they meant to make 2 strides and didn't account for takeoff and landing, or they just went ahead and got 1 stride wrong. I decided to push my boy forward and go for the 1 stride. Thanks to this oversight in course walking, every other horse jumped 1 & 1/2 or 2 small, or came back to trot in a tizz to jump the second part, many of them knocking the second part.
From this you came off the right rein to a jump on the diagonal. However the line of recovery was hindered by a jump on the centre line. You then had to make a left kind of turn (too small to be a dogs leg, but enough to be awkward) to jump the fence that I guess was supposed to be in line with the fence on the diagonal. (We decided to jump the diagonal jump at an angle to avoid confusion)
Lets rant about the warm up, where they only use blocks as wings, therefore you either jump a small cross pole, or your jump the top of the blocks which is approx 2ft. (I was jumping a class smaller than 2ft, but did not have a choice but to jump higher.) I warmed up successfully after notifying the school of when I was jumping to avoid any accidents. (Nobody else did this, and just for good effect everyone was jumping towards the doors rather than away from!)
So the day ended, and I was super proud of my boy, to realise that there was no prize giving, everyone had left, and all I got was my dressage sheet and not my placing. I did not get a rosette even though I was at an educated guess hoping for a 3rd or 2nd, and was informed by my mother later that all the rosettes were given to riding school and livery clients on the riding school horses. (I wonder if they were HOLLOW?!?!)
Now I apologise for the rant, and Im sure many of you think Im whining without reason and that it is me that is wrong, but I usually look at myself first before blaming others and this really really has annoyed me. Im so unhappy as this is our local EC that holds shows and the only one I can hack to comfortably. For a centre that tries to specialise in dressage I think the comments given were disgraceful and will never been competing dressage there again.
The nicest thing about the whole day was the hack home with my boy by ourselves both tired and happy at our performance.
X
Now before I begin please understand that this post is purely to get my frustrations out, as while I will explain the best as I can, sometimes we all use the wrong words and it doesn't come across the way we planned and can be interpreted lots of different ways. So if you're going to start ranting back at me I'd rather you just left now. BTW this is verrry long. 
So, I went to a local show at the weekend, it was combined training. As per the schedule they were running 4 classes.
Two Combined training classes and two purely dressage classes.
The prelim dressage and prelim combined training were judged together (Not stated on the schedule), and same with the novice section, even though they were running an 'offer' that you could pay a reduced price to enter a combined training and a purely dressage class of the same level. Thank god I didn't pay that extra like I was going too because I would still have only had my one turn and wouldn't have been judged any differently.
Clearly I am mistaken that running separate classes means you get separate scoring and separate class times!!
I have been to combined training before at a more prestigious centre and have never seen it run like this.
Anyway, so the bad disorganisation meant I was one of the last people to leave even though I was only doing class 1.
I warmed up happily, and then went in for my dressage. I thought it had gone very well. Our transitions were perfect and in the correct places and naturally my horse has beautiful paces which were commented on by a handful of people on the day.
We usually score very well in dressage despite me never asking him to come down onto the bit. He rounds very nicely and does not plod round like a giraffe but I hate seeing people who see-saw their horses mouth in order to get the effect, however as I say my horse rounds very well, and maybe with a slight more encouragement forward and collection of the reins would be encouraged down. Though this has barely reflected in our scores before but always mentioned in the comments below.
However, when I retrieved my score sheet, all it said in every box was 'HOLLOW', with markers copying the comment down from one box to another. No mention of our paces, my riding, or transitions. I was one very grumpy person. Even more so when I was placed behind a lady who jumps very well, but whose horse runs round like a giraffe, and whom I know did not learn her test.
I also compared my sheet to my last dressage test there, and my score was approx 4% higher than my last one, where I knew my horse had done badly because he was not going forwards and was being intermittently lame due to a sore back. I knew my test was almost spot on compared to my last one!
Then we moved onto the jumping phase.
I walked the course correctly, whether is 1ft or 3 ft I walk it the same, and thank god I did because there was eight human strides between a double. I deduced that either they meant to make 2 strides and didn't account for takeoff and landing, or they just went ahead and got 1 stride wrong. I decided to push my boy forward and go for the 1 stride. Thanks to this oversight in course walking, every other horse jumped 1 & 1/2 or 2 small, or came back to trot in a tizz to jump the second part, many of them knocking the second part.
From this you came off the right rein to a jump on the diagonal. However the line of recovery was hindered by a jump on the centre line. You then had to make a left kind of turn (too small to be a dogs leg, but enough to be awkward) to jump the fence that I guess was supposed to be in line with the fence on the diagonal. (We decided to jump the diagonal jump at an angle to avoid confusion)
Lets rant about the warm up, where they only use blocks as wings, therefore you either jump a small cross pole, or your jump the top of the blocks which is approx 2ft. (I was jumping a class smaller than 2ft, but did not have a choice but to jump higher.) I warmed up successfully after notifying the school of when I was jumping to avoid any accidents. (Nobody else did this, and just for good effect everyone was jumping towards the doors rather than away from!)
So the day ended, and I was super proud of my boy, to realise that there was no prize giving, everyone had left, and all I got was my dressage sheet and not my placing. I did not get a rosette even though I was at an educated guess hoping for a 3rd or 2nd, and was informed by my mother later that all the rosettes were given to riding school and livery clients on the riding school horses. (I wonder if they were HOLLOW?!?!)
Now I apologise for the rant, and Im sure many of you think Im whining without reason and that it is me that is wrong, but I usually look at myself first before blaming others and this really really has annoyed me. Im so unhappy as this is our local EC that holds shows and the only one I can hack to comfortably. For a centre that tries to specialise in dressage I think the comments given were disgraceful and will never been competing dressage there again.
The nicest thing about the whole day was the hack home with my boy by ourselves both tired and happy at our performance.
X
