frannieuk
Well-Known Member
Some of you may remember the little mare, Kitty, that I bought back in October last year http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=569575.
Fast forward through 7 months of dark nights, rain, the odd couple of weeks off from getting duffed up in the field (her), 7 weeks off following a shoulder op (me) and I was finally at a point to try introducing her to competing.
Picked a nice local venue and entered their Intro A test HC. It was a day of firsts for Kitty - first time being plaited, first journey out in the lorry, first warm up, first time seeing boards, etc etc.
Anyway, to cut a long story short she was a complete saint! Loaded like a pro, travelled fantastically and behaved impeccably at the venue. First time in the warm up with other horses and she wasn't bothered - settled quickly and then warmed up calmly. I have never had a youngster this chilled about everything, and I must say, I like it A LOT!
The test itself went well, she was a bit sharp prior to the first CL but settled very well and produced what felt like a nice calm test. Kicking myself for completely forgetting about one of the walk transitions though....
Anyway you can imagine my surprise when I went to collect the test sheet to find 70.87 on it (including a zero for the missed walk trans) and a red ribbon stapled to it!
As I was HC I did promptly remind the organiser and hand back said ribbon, but even so, chuffed to bits doesn't even come close! About 25 in the class and a good spread of marks between Kitty's 70 down to about 56.
That's a PB for me and I really don't "do" dressage, normally avoid it like the plague tbh! Hopefully Kitty will show the same amount of potential for SJ...
And a couple of self indulgent pics (none of the test as I was on my own);
The sheet
And a couple of shots before I left the yard...
Thanks for looking!
Fast forward through 7 months of dark nights, rain, the odd couple of weeks off from getting duffed up in the field (her), 7 weeks off following a shoulder op (me) and I was finally at a point to try introducing her to competing.
Picked a nice local venue and entered their Intro A test HC. It was a day of firsts for Kitty - first time being plaited, first journey out in the lorry, first warm up, first time seeing boards, etc etc.
Anyway, to cut a long story short she was a complete saint! Loaded like a pro, travelled fantastically and behaved impeccably at the venue. First time in the warm up with other horses and she wasn't bothered - settled quickly and then warmed up calmly. I have never had a youngster this chilled about everything, and I must say, I like it A LOT!
The test itself went well, she was a bit sharp prior to the first CL but settled very well and produced what felt like a nice calm test. Kicking myself for completely forgetting about one of the walk transitions though....
Anyway you can imagine my surprise when I went to collect the test sheet to find 70.87 on it (including a zero for the missed walk trans) and a red ribbon stapled to it!
As I was HC I did promptly remind the organiser and hand back said ribbon, but even so, chuffed to bits doesn't even come close! About 25 in the class and a good spread of marks between Kitty's 70 down to about 56.
That's a PB for me and I really don't "do" dressage, normally avoid it like the plague tbh! Hopefully Kitty will show the same amount of potential for SJ...
And a couple of self indulgent pics (none of the test as I was on my own);
The sheet
And a couple of shots before I left the yard...
Thanks for looking!
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