Let me start my saying, my horse is a magnet for attention. More than once, I found myself surrounded by multiple girls, as they asked questions, petted May, and even gave her kisses. The horse, who is usually so aloof, really loves all this at shows. Go figure.
Our day got off to a bit of a rough start, as a scheduling conflict at the barn meant that we couldn’t get on the road until 9AM, vs. the 8:30AM I had been planning on. Luckily, the show venue was maybe 10 minutes down the road, so we weren’t in danger of missing my 10:06 ride time. I did, however, change into my boots, my hairnet, and my helmet while we drove.
As soon as we got to the venue, I sent my husband off the office to get my number and whatever information he could glean from the staff there. This was the same place we had went to for XC schooling the prior week, but I wasn’t sure where everything was set up for the actual competition. While he was gone, I pulled May off the trailer myself. For some reason, she isn’t a fan of my trainer’s 2+1 trailer, but she was patient as I worked out how to get her off of it myself.
The husband arrived back in time to help me finish tacking up, and then May decided to be a total beast to get on. Now, my husband is not a small man, and May full body shoved him out of the way as I was swinging a leg over… I guess It’s truly time to get serious about the standing at the mounting block thing at home.
I then wandered aimlessly around where SJ and XC were, trying to figure out how one gets to the Dressage arena on the other side of the pond. I finally found someone to ask, and it turns out you had to go down what looked like a private driveway, take a right onto a dirt path past a hot walker, walk up into a random field and around the fence line to the dressage arena. I am not going to lie, being lost like that and on a bit of a time crunch really stressed me out.
Whew! When we finally found the Dressage warm-up, it was broken into two areas: a big grassy field that was mostly flat, and an actual dressage court. I rode around in the field for a while before the Dressage court emptied. Then, I moved to the court. Of course, as soon as I got in there, someone else, let’s call her Competition Crazy (CC), decided she needed to run through her WHOLE test in that little court multiple times in a row. Maybe I am naive, but I feel like there is no scrubbing a test right before you go in. Practice the movements to get your horse as connected and tuned in as possible, and then go into the ring. (more on CC later too)
With a couple of riders left to go, I just let her walk around in the shade for a bit, hoping that would help relieve her of some of our combined tenseness. As I was watching the last rider go before me, a couple of girls came up to pet May. It’s amazing how just talking to people about my pony helps keep my nerves at bay. The rider before me wasn’t ready, so I happily agreed to go a bit early.
I wandered down to the arena and gave the judge and scribe my number. ANNNND they couldn’t find me. They asked for my name, and I gave it. They said my number didn’t match my name… cool. Then I gave them my horse’s name, and they were like “OOOHHHH. We thought YOU were May”. I may be a bit short, a bit round, and quite pale, but I am definitely not May.
We got it sorted out, and I got to trot a bit around the arena before they honked the horn, and we headed down centerline for the first time in 2 years. Below is how it went.
(a copy of the test can be found here, I am just going to give the scores and comments for each movement below)
Movement Scores
- 8.0 – No Comment
- 8.0 – Nice Energy
- 7.5 – Slight Head Tossing
- 7.0 – Could Have More Balance
- 7.0 – Slight Loss of Bend
- 6.5 – Could Have More march
- 8.0 – 2-3 jiggy steps, but very nice stretch (This was VERY generous)
- 6.0 – Could March More. Slight Tension
- 8.0 – No Comment
- 7.0 – Could Have Been Cleaner
- 6.5 – Losing Bend. Slight Loss of Balance
- 7.0 – No Comment
- 8.0 – No Comment
- 9.0 – No Comment
Collective Marks:
- Gaits: 7.0
- Impulsion: 8.0
- Submission: 8.0
- Rider: 8.0
- Overall Comments: Well Matched Pair. Lovely Test. Work on Canter transitions and tension.
- Final Score: 24.1
So my thoughts? The scoring was CLEARLY generous, but it was equally generous for everyone. I was happy with how May stayed connected and engaged throughout the trot work, and I thought the canter work was a lot less scrambly then the last time we competed. However, the tension in the walk is definitely something we need to work on, as it comes up at home too.
The score was good enough to put us in 4th place out of 19, so that was very encouraging. Either way, we had about 2 hours to cool off. Then it was going to be time for jumping!
Ha i know what test you rode (it is sad when it looks familiar right) I really don’t like how you go across the diagonal at the beginning and end for the 2018 tests, it makes it look sloppy to me (NOT that you are sloppy but the test looks a little off to me now since they changed)… But you guys look great. How stressful though all the pre show stuff UGH…..
I can’t wait for the jumping recap!! What a good girl May (Except for getting on her)> I would be one of her fan club too!
I REALLY dislike the new entrance/exits for centerline. I like to just PUSH down my centerlines (since they are really the only straight lines in the whole test) but I can’t do that with the random bends everywhere lol.
it totally looks like we go off course in my opinion LOL ZOOM OOPS
wow great score!!
I totally wouldn’t expect to get that score at a rated event, but it was great to see us just a couple of points off the top of the leaderboard. 🙂
Well done! That is a great score and your test looked very nice!? good luck in the jumping!
Thank you!
You guys look so cute! I too would be petting the pretty pony haha. It’s the same for me! My nerves really calm down when I talk to people about Amber. SUCH a good score for you two as well! So excited to read about the rest! (And good on hubby for getting pics!)
Thanks! She’s so good with all the kids crowding around her.
Looked like a lovely test, can’t wait to read about the rest of the show!
Thank you!
Great job! Especially after a potentially stressful beginning to the day!!
Thanks! It was so hectic, running around trying to find where I was supposed to be. Glad none of that ruffled May’s feathers.
That’s great! Congratulations!
She is really gorgeous so of course she is going to have a fan club. And watching your test after seeing my sister’s corgi recently, I really get why you call her the corgi horse. The movement of the smaller legs with the stout body is very similar. She looks great when she moves though. Very compact and powerful if she wants to be.
Thank you! It’s definitely a different kind of Dressage journey then a warmblood or a thoroughbred, but it has been so cool to see and feel her develop.
Congrats on the lovely scores and comments!
Thank you!
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