Meredith
riding reluctantly into the sunset
Firstly you need to know I do NOT do competitions.
About a month ago I was persuaded to enter a Walk and Trot test to enlarge my horse’s education and this is what happened.
The competition was very user friendly with lots of help, the occasional overlooking of the finer points of dressage and altogether encouraging. C was great, her rider much less so, but in spite of my nerves and hindrances we not only managed ‘enter at A’ we got to ‘Halt, salute’ too and amazingly we were 2nd out of not many.
My instructor then encouraged me to try a competition a little further from home, the idea being a new venue therefore more education. This was also very friendly but the other riders were more experienced. C was very tense at first but settled and in a new dressage legal bit we managed the same test. We still came home with a rosette coming 6th out of a few more.
Today we returned to our ‘home’ venue and tried another walk and trot test. Although the ‘rules’ had not changed the judge was a bit more serious. C was not bothered, been here before sort of attitude, my nerves had lessened and to my surprise we managed 2nd again. This time out of not many at all but the winner was obvious in the warm up as they were so much better.
So a big thank you to the readers, as this riders nerves render her mind like mush, and to the venues for helping me progress with a new(ish) horse.
Suffice to say this cannot go on any longer but tonight I am so pleased with C.
Apologies for the essay but as I said at the start, I do NOT do competitions.
About a month ago I was persuaded to enter a Walk and Trot test to enlarge my horse’s education and this is what happened.
The competition was very user friendly with lots of help, the occasional overlooking of the finer points of dressage and altogether encouraging. C was great, her rider much less so, but in spite of my nerves and hindrances we not only managed ‘enter at A’ we got to ‘Halt, salute’ too and amazingly we were 2nd out of not many.
My instructor then encouraged me to try a competition a little further from home, the idea being a new venue therefore more education. This was also very friendly but the other riders were more experienced. C was very tense at first but settled and in a new dressage legal bit we managed the same test. We still came home with a rosette coming 6th out of a few more.
Today we returned to our ‘home’ venue and tried another walk and trot test. Although the ‘rules’ had not changed the judge was a bit more serious. C was not bothered, been here before sort of attitude, my nerves had lessened and to my surprise we managed 2nd again. This time out of not many at all but the winner was obvious in the warm up as they were so much better.
So a big thank you to the readers, as this riders nerves render her mind like mush, and to the venues for helping me progress with a new(ish) horse.
Suffice to say this cannot go on any longer but tonight I am so pleased with C.
Apologies for the essay but as I said at the start, I do NOT do competitions.
.
