Post by racaille on Apr 20, 2014 15:54:49 GMT
Sam has won his first dressage cup! Well, bit of a cheat but still ....
Up early this morning to take him to Apt, a really nice club where they are very friendly, well organised and the arena and manege are made of the finest sand. Sam liked these a lot and all trace of him being footy had disappeared.
The teenager warmed him up slowly and for quite a while, he got the tickle out of his toes with a couple of tantrums but went into the test looking pretty calm although she says he was feeling tense. They did a decent test (just walk, trot and canter, Club 3). It wasn't perfect but it wasn't bad for his first attempt. The teenager was cross with herself for her leg position (something she struggles with after years of defensive riding on R - she needs a dressage saddle when pennies allow) and she wasn't very precise as she got a little confused with the second test she was riding.
Still, she came in third (out of 7) with 64%, not at all bad I thought. (I was a bit annoyed to see the winner of the class was obviously competing well below her level, not sporting at all.)
Then she went back in for the Prelim test in which she was the only competitor and Sam was really relaxed for this one. I was thrilled to see him do a lovely halt (if you are picky he could have been squarer) but he stood perfectly still in the middle of a trot/canter sequence which was a big ask for him given he was once a racer.
So he got a lovely cup at his first dressage outing! Most of all though, we were thrilled by his behaviour, pretty calm all morning, and he went beautifully on the lovely sand. So glad!
Up early this morning to take him to Apt, a really nice club where they are very friendly, well organised and the arena and manege are made of the finest sand. Sam liked these a lot and all trace of him being footy had disappeared.
The teenager warmed him up slowly and for quite a while, he got the tickle out of his toes with a couple of tantrums but went into the test looking pretty calm although she says he was feeling tense. They did a decent test (just walk, trot and canter, Club 3). It wasn't perfect but it wasn't bad for his first attempt. The teenager was cross with herself for her leg position (something she struggles with after years of defensive riding on R - she needs a dressage saddle when pennies allow) and she wasn't very precise as she got a little confused with the second test she was riding.
Still, she came in third (out of 7) with 64%, not at all bad I thought. (I was a bit annoyed to see the winner of the class was obviously competing well below her level, not sporting at all.)
Then she went back in for the Prelim test in which she was the only competitor and Sam was really relaxed for this one. I was thrilled to see him do a lovely halt (if you are picky he could have been squarer) but he stood perfectly still in the middle of a trot/canter sequence which was a big ask for him given he was once a racer.
So he got a lovely cup at his first dressage outing! Most of all though, we were thrilled by his behaviour, pretty calm all morning, and he went beautifully on the lovely sand. So glad!
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
) I think you can easily see how much more relaxed Sam is in the second (prelim) test.
