Post by fleabitten on Jun 7, 2014 19:19:05 GMT
Today i was at the NI riding club dressage championships. There were no qualifiers for this, it was basically like a big dressage comp and you just entered through your club, so i decided to give it a go! I knew it would probably be tough competition and wasnt expecting to do well but just the idea of going to a championships was exciting! 
It was at a local competition venue/riding school and looking out the window this morning i was glad they had 2 indoor arenas so at least we would be partially dry! (the forecast was for a months worth of rain and thunderstorms!) Arrived at the venue and you can imagine my face when i saw that the competition was taking place in the field across the road from the riding school! Meanwhile, the rain had been steadily falling for the past three plus hours!
Anyhow, pulled up in the 'car park' and exchanged looks with the woman in the jeep next door! Got the waterproofs on however and got poor murph off the box and tacked up - tried in vain to keep the saddle dry for me getting on but i just had to resign myself to having a wet bum!
He warmed up nicely, was nice and interested and forward feeling until he realised that there wasnt much exciting happening and then he went back to his usual! saying that i think the feed has definitely helped as hes got enough energy to work without being lively. unless its xc! haha! i didnt really work too hard to get an outline, it was just too crappy weather wise and ground was bad.
he coped pretty well with the boggy conditions being a pony but it was rather disappointing to have spent ages getting him lovely and clean yesterday and then looking like hes just been hunting within 10 mins!
dad wasnt too happy about the weather and refused to stand out without the umbrella in order to take pics which was wholly understandable - it just got to the stage that the only word to describe it was disgusting! *nb also discovered murphy is good with umbrellas, just not when they come right beside him!
however, he did manage to get a video of my second test in which you can see the state of everything!
Anyway, onto the actual riding!
I picked prelim 7 as my first test as its straightforward and i did it recently in the last dressage league i did. This went pretty well except at one point i thought i was supposed to be trotting instead of cantering but then remembered the test again, so i got marked down for breaking the canter! However, i got 63.75% which im pretty pleased with as i would normally get in the 60s in the dressage. Comment at bottom of sheet: lovely steady test, just need a little more impulsion to push up marks. - So basically the same as usual there too!
Put him back on the trailer and hid in the jeep till my next test, soaked through by this stage!
Second test i picked was a riding test. British riding clubs do a thing called a riding test which is a competition designed to encourage the rider to develop their skills and the tests are judged on the competence of the rider and their influence on the horse or pony. So you get marked on rider position, effective use of aids, influence of rider and accuracy of riding. I thought this would be something a bit different to do and i was curious to see what my feedback would be! I find that a lot of instructors dont really do much work with developing rider skills - does anyone else find this?
The judge watches the whole test and then gives an overall score for each thing they are looking for (i.e position, effectiveness etc.) and then gives a comment. Which differs from dressage in that each movement is marked separately. This went pretty well too although i think this time i walked when i was supposed to be trotting - had gotten confused with the prelim 7! Arena was very boggy so it was harder going. So my percentage was 65.9% and comments were: try to practice using seat and leg together. work on the looseness and suppleness of lower back to help the forward driving aids. watch for dropping your inside shoulder on left canter and allowing your weight to slip out.
So another good score! and interesting comments too!
Got murphy all sorted out, hayed up and tucked up on the box and huddled in the jeep with the picnic! cant beat a cup of tea and picnic on a soggy day! i had old clothes with me as well, was so glad to have had them as i had something dry to change into!
Had been put down on the helpers rota to do sheet collecting after lunch - by this stage it felt as if id been there a day instead of a few hours.
Got my sheets back from the secretarys caravan - i came last in prelim 7 and nearly last in the riding test! but there was an awful lot of people getting percentages in the 70s in the prelim 7 at least, it was more of a mixture in the riding test but still a lot of high scores.
Overall, excluding the weather and ground situation, i enjoyed riding my tests and it was nice to do dressage on grass for a change, and im pleased with my scores, even though i didnt get placed!
It was at a local competition venue/riding school and looking out the window this morning i was glad they had 2 indoor arenas so at least we would be partially dry! (the forecast was for a months worth of rain and thunderstorms!) Arrived at the venue and you can imagine my face when i saw that the competition was taking place in the field across the road from the riding school! Meanwhile, the rain had been steadily falling for the past three plus hours!
Anyhow, pulled up in the 'car park' and exchanged looks with the woman in the jeep next door! Got the waterproofs on however and got poor murph off the box and tacked up - tried in vain to keep the saddle dry for me getting on but i just had to resign myself to having a wet bum!
He warmed up nicely, was nice and interested and forward feeling until he realised that there wasnt much exciting happening and then he went back to his usual! saying that i think the feed has definitely helped as hes got enough energy to work without being lively. unless its xc! haha! i didnt really work too hard to get an outline, it was just too crappy weather wise and ground was bad.
he coped pretty well with the boggy conditions being a pony but it was rather disappointing to have spent ages getting him lovely and clean yesterday and then looking like hes just been hunting within 10 mins!
dad wasnt too happy about the weather and refused to stand out without the umbrella in order to take pics which was wholly understandable - it just got to the stage that the only word to describe it was disgusting! *nb also discovered murphy is good with umbrellas, just not when they come right beside him!
however, he did manage to get a video of my second test in which you can see the state of everything!
Anyway, onto the actual riding!
I picked prelim 7 as my first test as its straightforward and i did it recently in the last dressage league i did. This went pretty well except at one point i thought i was supposed to be trotting instead of cantering but then remembered the test again, so i got marked down for breaking the canter! However, i got 63.75% which im pretty pleased with as i would normally get in the 60s in the dressage. Comment at bottom of sheet: lovely steady test, just need a little more impulsion to push up marks. - So basically the same as usual there too!
Put him back on the trailer and hid in the jeep till my next test, soaked through by this stage!
Second test i picked was a riding test. British riding clubs do a thing called a riding test which is a competition designed to encourage the rider to develop their skills and the tests are judged on the competence of the rider and their influence on the horse or pony. So you get marked on rider position, effective use of aids, influence of rider and accuracy of riding. I thought this would be something a bit different to do and i was curious to see what my feedback would be! I find that a lot of instructors dont really do much work with developing rider skills - does anyone else find this?
The judge watches the whole test and then gives an overall score for each thing they are looking for (i.e position, effectiveness etc.) and then gives a comment. Which differs from dressage in that each movement is marked separately. This went pretty well too although i think this time i walked when i was supposed to be trotting - had gotten confused with the prelim 7! Arena was very boggy so it was harder going. So my percentage was 65.9% and comments were: try to practice using seat and leg together. work on the looseness and suppleness of lower back to help the forward driving aids. watch for dropping your inside shoulder on left canter and allowing your weight to slip out.
So another good score! and interesting comments too!
Got murphy all sorted out, hayed up and tucked up on the box and huddled in the jeep with the picnic! cant beat a cup of tea and picnic on a soggy day! i had old clothes with me as well, was so glad to have had them as i had something dry to change into!
Had been put down on the helpers rota to do sheet collecting after lunch - by this stage it felt as if id been there a day instead of a few hours.
Got my sheets back from the secretarys caravan - i came last in prelim 7 and nearly last in the riding test! but there was an awful lot of people getting percentages in the 70s in the prelim 7 at least, it was more of a mixture in the riding test but still a lot of high scores.
Overall, excluding the weather and ground situation, i enjoyed riding my tests and it was nice to do dressage on grass for a change, and im pleased with my scores, even though i didnt get placed!
for so much hard work we thank ye!!