Our first Novice!

[pboy]

We had planned another yard outing today, but without Ali as she was busy. Me and the two other 'dressagey' liveries had agreed to go in convoy with two trailers and help each other, but sadly this morning they both came down with flu! So I went alone, which felt odd as our last few outings have been as a group in the lorry. Still, it was good to remind myself that going out alone isn't a big deal! In the end one of the ladies dragged herself out of bed to cheer me along, which was very lovely of her.

Indio was quite tense in the warm up, he didn't seem to be breathing at all! After a w,t,c on both reins we did some stretchy trot and he spent the whole length of the 60m arena snorting out the tension, bless him. He was lovely and soft and responsive in the test but I began by riding far too quietly. After a few movements I gave myself a kick up the backside and got my leg on as he's more than capable of more impulsion while maintaining the softness these days! We didn't have any major oops moments and won the class with 67.5% We're back on track to qualify for a Prelim Regional festival! That will give us 4 more points, leaving us with 8 more to get before the end of June.

We had a 90 minute wait until the Novice test, which was a good opportunity to watch some other Prelim riders (it's great to do this as you can pick up pointers, and also be relieved to see that other people have challenges along the way as well!). Then I got him tacked up for the Novice, with just a short 15 minute warm up. He was far looser and more forwards, really pinging along but listening. We'd been struggling with the canter movements in our lesson on Wednesday (e.g. half 20m circle in left canter, a few steps of trot over x, then straight into right canter and another half-circle on the right rein) but today he was really focused and on my seat. The only issue in warm-up was that he broke into canter in medium trot, which he's never done before!

Into the test and I was very tense and nervous, but Indio felt amazing. I felt that we got medium trot the first time, but the judge disagreed and gave us a 4 - I want to watch the video as I suspect I was a bit too progressive in the transition from working to medium. We got all 6.5s and 7s for the canter work (including 6.5 for medium canter, which isn't his favourite!) but again we failed at medium trot as I didn't balance him enough after the right canter and he was on the forehand, so another 4 there. We had a small misunderstanding about where to halt but other than that no major booboos. Overall we got 64.04% which I'm over the moon with! My target was to get 62% as this counts as one-third of our qualification for the Area Festivals, so I'm delighted I definitely need more match-practice at Novice as the movements come up a lot quicker!

Here are a couple of pics from the warm up, and my rosettes!

[haffyfan]

Congratulations! You're really becoming an accomplished team now aren't you, you both look lovely in the pics. He looks soft and attentive and of course is very eye catching too! Great scores, especially the novice result coming in well above what you hoped for, when the medium trot goes right it will rocket too! I predict a very successful summer x

[solomon]

He really does you proud. Such a lovely horse and a great partnership with you. Greys are challenging but so stunning when clean!

[brigadier]

Great report and great result- echo above, you are becoming a lovely team and it bodes well for the future. All credit to you as you work at it and motivate yourself- it would have been easy to have not gone. Looking forward to your continued progress and success. On another note do you ever hear anything about Classy?

[pboy]

He is feeling so much more confident and strong these days. I rode him one evening last week and had to ask Ali if she'd been feeding him red bull, he was so bouncy (and spooky ;-)) and didn't want to stop cantering. Normally he does two circles and decides it's enough! Yesterday was too yucky for a hack so I did a quick session in the arena with the poles on a circle (at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o'clock), with 3 and 9 as small jumps. He found it really tough but I think it hugely helped the canter today!

Brig - an Aussie lady took over Classy's loan when I left, but they didn't get on too well and she swapped to another horse. When I went to HK last March he was happy in the riding school, bumbling along with no pressure. I'm back there next month so I'll check up on him again. (TBH I didn't want to spend long with him last time as he's not the same horse - feet were long and flat again, and he'd lost the nice muscle he built up...but I suspect the low pressure work suits him better...).

[zara]

Fabulous report as usual pboy! I really admire your committment and hard work; it's really beginning to pay off and you make a great team. Have you got any dressage plans for Pocholo? x

[solomon]

Echo Zara. There's room in that trailer for two! Pocholo would love to strut his stuff!

[pboy]

Well P is officially my OH's so any competing has to be negotiated with him ;-). I have been asked to join the Blinged Up Bullet Dodgers Team Quest team though (it's a group of horses that were rehabbed for navicular at Rockley, hence the name!) so we'll do a few tests this year hopefully, only at Prelim.

Currently he's struggling with canter in the arena but I don't think it'll take long for him to get his dressage strength back. His trot work isn't too bad - he's so different to Indio though! With Indio I have to work hard to keep him balanced and together, whereas with Pocholo I need to focus on rhythm (slow!) and shape (longer and lower, to get him to use his back), and keep myself as quiet as possible. It's good to swap between the two of them.

Speaking of working hard, my core muscles down my left side are screaming today. Maybe I need to do some Pilates?!

[racaille]

Great report! And well done for going it alone, it must have been very tempting to call it off and stay in bed!

And LOVE those rosettes!

[pboy]

Feb 15, 2016 21:43:44 GMT racaille said:

Great report! And well done for going it alone, it must have been very tempting to call it off and stay in bed!

And LOVE those rosettes!

I'm too much of a cheapskate to call it off - at £20 entry per class it's too much money to throw away!!

[brigadier]

Think I may use that pole exercise with Welly.

That's bittersweet re Classy and I can understand you not really wanting to see him if he has been 'let down'. Sad he didnt get on with his new loan owner.
But you've lots to look forward to now so no point looking back.

[pboy]

It's a good one Brig. I tried it with just poles about a year ago but Indio couldn't do it at all on the right rein! I'd sort of forgotten about it but I needed something a bit fun to do without too much setup time, and it popped in my head again.

There's a much better description of it in the link below. I just did two poles and two jumps, and I did small uprights instead of cross poles so we weren't punished too much if we drifted. It was a great way to remember to use your outside leg aids. I didn't 'organise' Indio too much but tried to let him work it out himself. We started with lots of dropping to trot or disuniting but he got pretty good after a few goes! Still a long way to go and I didn't want to tire him out, it's one we can continue to work on.

e-venting.co.uk/2013/05/controlling-your-jumping-canter-rhythm/

[brigadier]

thanks for that- think it will be too much for him in my arena at moment so it may have to wait for spring and the dryer ground so I have more space but I will deffo put it in my 'bank'. He is quite unbalanced on the right canter but last session he got his transitions 100% which is great progress. Lovely lad is such a trier.