Post by fleabitten on Mar 30, 2015 12:40:05 GMT
*Couple of videos in video gallery now*
Yesterday I went to my first competition in 6 months at the riding school, had such a great day from start to finish. I chose a horse ive only ridden a handful of times since i started back in January - a bit of a challenge for me as i normally pick an old faithful and this horse is a bit quirky - hard to keep in a straight line and sticky on right canter and tendency to get tense and buzzy! Hes about 16hh and dun white and black! I felt less nervous about it than i normally do, the only thing that concerned me was having to warm up in the outdoor when they havent really been outside much all winter but luckily RI said we could warm up indoors between classes as it was very wet up in the outdoor, phew lol!
I picked the intermediate test which was the hardest but still really basic. Just walk trot and canter, 20m circles and simple changes of rein. He warmed up ok, i decided to do an initial warm up in between first and second class and then some canter work before my class. He was quite distracted and not really concentrating on me, it was quite hard to steer him as he was drifting towards any nearby horse but i was quite pleased as i worked on getting good centre lines and i managed to get him doing lovely straight lines and halts. Then in the second warm up, he got quite tense and buzzy when i was trying to work on the blasted right canter lead. Got it right once and the rest of the time wrong so i wasnt hopeful for the test lol! Straight lines had gone out the window at this point too!
I volunteered myself to go first, i did wonder whether i should have stood him for a while to calm his brain as he was quite tense going in and ready to jog and get buzzy but maybe it wouldnt have made much difference, who knows!
Anyway, i sort of hoped that the trot work at the start would have settled him but it didnt really, although i got a good centre line in so was pleased! He struck off a bit silly into the left canter but after a few strides settled into a lovely rhythm and shape and we did a beautiful circle it felt class and a great downwards transition and a lovely relaxed trot right round to change rein! Then we didnt get the right canter so i regrouped down the long side and believe it or not i got it in the next corner and i went woohoo
- no idea how as he was stiff as a board and looking in the wrong direction lol! Managed to do a good circle and back to trot again although the final centre line was a bit disappointing - but it was up and down the whole time!
Didnt get placed due to it being a bit all over the show but i got such a compliment from my RI (who was judging) saying that was the best id ever ridden and i was very effective as hes not easy to ride - couldnt believe my ears as she very rarely says things like that! most of the time just 'good!' So that was better than getting placed!
Yesterday I went to my first competition in 6 months at the riding school, had such a great day from start to finish. I chose a horse ive only ridden a handful of times since i started back in January - a bit of a challenge for me as i normally pick an old faithful and this horse is a bit quirky - hard to keep in a straight line and sticky on right canter and tendency to get tense and buzzy! Hes about 16hh and dun white and black! I felt less nervous about it than i normally do, the only thing that concerned me was having to warm up in the outdoor when they havent really been outside much all winter but luckily RI said we could warm up indoors between classes as it was very wet up in the outdoor, phew lol!
I picked the intermediate test which was the hardest but still really basic. Just walk trot and canter, 20m circles and simple changes of rein. He warmed up ok, i decided to do an initial warm up in between first and second class and then some canter work before my class. He was quite distracted and not really concentrating on me, it was quite hard to steer him as he was drifting towards any nearby horse but i was quite pleased as i worked on getting good centre lines and i managed to get him doing lovely straight lines and halts. Then in the second warm up, he got quite tense and buzzy when i was trying to work on the blasted right canter lead. Got it right once and the rest of the time wrong so i wasnt hopeful for the test lol! Straight lines had gone out the window at this point too!
I volunteered myself to go first, i did wonder whether i should have stood him for a while to calm his brain as he was quite tense going in and ready to jog and get buzzy but maybe it wouldnt have made much difference, who knows!
Anyway, i sort of hoped that the trot work at the start would have settled him but it didnt really, although i got a good centre line in so was pleased! He struck off a bit silly into the left canter but after a few strides settled into a lovely rhythm and shape and we did a beautiful circle it felt class and a great downwards transition and a lovely relaxed trot right round to change rein! Then we didnt get the right canter so i regrouped down the long side and believe it or not i got it in the next corner and i went woohoo
- no idea how as he was stiff as a board and looking in the wrong direction lol! Managed to do a good circle and back to trot again although the final centre line was a bit disappointing - but it was up and down the whole time! Didnt get placed due to it being a bit all over the show but i got such a compliment from my RI (who was judging) saying that was the best id ever ridden and i was very effective as hes not easy to ride - couldnt believe my ears as she very rarely says things like that! most of the time just 'good!' So that was better than getting placed!
for so much hard work we thank ye!!
