Post by pboy on Jun 27, 2015 14:13:22 GMT
I took Indio to his second competition today - this time at East Soley, a local venue that also runs affiliated dressage so I thought it would be good to check it out. It turned out to be a quiet day there with only 7 (? or thereabouts) in the first Prelim class and just two of us in the second! The tests were the same as our last competition, which was lucky as my times were 11:05 and 11:20 so I had to make sure I really knew both tests!!
The warm-up was a lovely 20x60 arena. Indio thought about spooking a few times but I gave him a little kick with my inside leg and he knuckled down. I kept him really steady and focused on balance, then the slow / bigger exercise to get him engaging his back-end. The tests were in the indoor, which has a mirror down the A short side and a balcony (where the judge sits) along the C end. It looked quite spooky but Indio had a good look at it all and decided the only worrying thing was the entrance!!
First test felt good to start with, he was fairly supple and into the contact. The left canter was ok, right canter he struck off on the wrong leg but we corrected it quickly. He didn't want to soften to the right and I decided to focus on rhythm and accuracy rather than have an argument. The walk felt mostly quite good. I was suddenly intimidated by the judge being on the balcony as he had a great view of how accurate my circles were!! Unfortunately they gave me the wrong test sheet when I left so I don't know my score for this test
We had a few minutes to mooch in the warm-up then back out for test two. He felt good to start with but it was very stuffy in there and he felt a bit grumpy! Unusually our right canter was better than the left. Free walk was a bit rubbish as he kept drifting towards the entrance. But overall no major errors and he was quite obedient. We scored 66.25% which I was very happy with! The other lady in the class couldn't get her horse to maintain canter apparently (we had a chat afterwards) so we won by over 10%
So I'm over the moon with little Indio!! I was on my own so no pics of the tests but here's one from outside just cos he's handsome I'm off to Spain next Saturday for a couple of weeks and Indio will have a holiday - he's certainly earned it and I think a break will do his brain and his body some good!
The arena:
The warm-up was a lovely 20x60 arena. Indio thought about spooking a few times but I gave him a little kick with my inside leg and he knuckled down. I kept him really steady and focused on balance, then the slow / bigger exercise to get him engaging his back-end. The tests were in the indoor, which has a mirror down the A short side and a balcony (where the judge sits) along the C end. It looked quite spooky but Indio had a good look at it all and decided the only worrying thing was the entrance!!
First test felt good to start with, he was fairly supple and into the contact. The left canter was ok, right canter he struck off on the wrong leg but we corrected it quickly. He didn't want to soften to the right and I decided to focus on rhythm and accuracy rather than have an argument. The walk felt mostly quite good. I was suddenly intimidated by the judge being on the balcony as he had a great view of how accurate my circles were!! Unfortunately they gave me the wrong test sheet when I left so I don't know my score for this test
We had a few minutes to mooch in the warm-up then back out for test two. He felt good to start with but it was very stuffy in there and he felt a bit grumpy! Unusually our right canter was better than the left. Free walk was a bit rubbish as he kept drifting towards the entrance. But overall no major errors and he was quite obedient. We scored 66.25% which I was very happy with! The other lady in the class couldn't get her horse to maintain canter apparently (we had a chat afterwards) so we won by over 10%
So I'm over the moon with little Indio!! I was on my own so no pics of the tests but here's one from outside just cos he's handsome I'm off to Spain next Saturday for a couple of weeks and Indio will have a holiday - he's certainly earned it and I think a break will do his brain and his body some good!
The arena: