Dressage

Christmas Dressage

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It has been a busy day!

I found out yesterday evening that I was able to take Cookster to the Christmas dressage show today as well as Galahad.  I had a concert last night and I spent all the time I wasn’t playing frantically learning two extra tests for him.

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Cookster’s classes were up first and I was a little apprehensive – we hadn’t had a chance to practise and our steering was a bit questionable in the warm up.  However, although his tests were not perfect by any means I was very pleased with the progress he has made.  He even managed to score an eight for his final halt (the halt in the first test was not good at all).

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The last time Galahad did a dressage test with Cookster also at the show we had a disastrous round and I didn’t know quite what to expect this time.  What I got was an extremely noisy pony but thankfully one who was willing to actually listen and do what I asked him.  Sadly, I was back to having to ask a couple of times for the correct canter lead on the right rein but otherwise it felt really good.

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Galahad was a lot more forward going today – we usually get comments about needing more energy so this was good to feel.  I was also especially pleased that our halts went well as we had rather an argument about them yesterday.

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Cookster was unplaced in his first class but came seventh in his second while Galahad came away with a ninth and a seventh.  They were big classes as it was a championship event so I was thrilled with both of them.  Galahad’s first test was one we did a fortnight ago and we got a better score this time around.  It’s a definite sign of improvement which is always welcome.

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It might have been a long day but despite the rain and cold we had a fantastic time.

Dancing in the Rain

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Last weekend Galahad and I went to our first competition in several months.  It was a riding club dressage event and I was very happy to be out competing again.

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The warm up was slightly interesting – there were cross country jumps stacked around the arena which Galahad thought were pretty scary – I spent half my time trying to persuade him to go near them.  Then the rain started coming down in earnest.  I had forgotten my contact lenses and before long my glasses were covered with rain and I could barely see.

We got them cleaned up and ourselves into the indoor arena for our actual test.  Galahad settled down nicely and did what felt like a pretty good test.  I didn’t think it was amazing but he did everything I asked and – best of all – he picked up the correct canter lead on both reins.  As I said last week, that’s something on which we have really been working hard so I was especially pleased to get it right.

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Before long we were called for our second test and again it felt like a nice, safe clear round.  The canter leads were correct and this time our shapes felt a little more accurate.  I was so pleased with Galahad!

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Really, the canter leads made my day but it got better.  When the scores were posted I found I had scored 60.53% and 62.93%.  We got our usual comments about Galahad being, ‘Economical with the energy’ but the judge also made some nice comments about the trot which were good to see.  We placed second and fourth which was obviously great but even better the scores were good enough to qualify us for a local dressage championship next week.  So exciting!

Working on the Canter

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This week I have been focussing very much on our canter transitions.  Galahad particularly struggles picking up the correct lead on the right rein as the brand on his near hind makes it weaker.

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We have, however, been making progress.  This week we did some work on simple changes in a figure of eight.  We got the first one wrong but after that they went so well that I decided to try something a bit harder.

I trotted up the centre line, asked Galahad for a particular lead and he got every single one right.  That was unexpected!  The video isn’t perfect but it is proof.

I’m not expecting us to just get them all perfectly now – in fact it took us a couple of asks to get it right the very next day – but it is definite progress and it does show we are capable!

Bright Lights

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The ponies are spending a couple of weeks with my riding instructor – partly so Galahad can have a bit of a trim and partly so we can get to our dressage competition in a fortnight.

Of course, I am taking full advantage of the facilities while they are there.  They were collected on Friday afternoon and I went over straight after work to school Galahad.  He hasn’t been ridden under lights for months – probably not since last winter – so he was a little tense at first and had to have a very good look at the darkness beyond the lights to make sure there were no hidden monsters.

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I just worked him quietly round the school and before long we could ride on a loose rein with no problem.

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We actually had a very good session.  Galahad was working nicely, although he did tire a bit.  He got pretty hot as well – definitely time for that clip.

Enjoying the World Equestrian Games

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Yesterday I was fully intending to ride after work.  The trouble was that the World Equestrian Games cross country was running and I really wanted to watch that…

The ponies did not get ridden because, well, they would be around today and the cross country would not.

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The cross country was fantastic.  The course was really interesting and I especially loved the water jumps featuring fountains and actual waterfalls.  I think it’s safe to say that Galahad would not have liked them at all!

Of course, it was also great to see the British team doing so well – five clears, four within the time, is very impressive and it will make the show jumping phase extra exciting to watch tomorrow.  I will certainly be doing my utmost to be at home to watch it.

It has been wonderful being able to watch the dressage too and two bronze medals is a great achievement.  It is just a shame that Florence has forced the cancellation of the freestyle – always my favourite part.  I am looking forward to the rest of the games though, especially the driving marathon which I love.

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As there was no eventing or dressage today due to the hurricane I did get out for a hack with Galahad this evening.  We had a lovely time riding through a fine drizzle which was very refreshing.  A wonderful way to end the day.

Wilton Horse Trials

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I am just back from a great weekend at Wilton Horse Trials.

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Wilton ’18 was written incarrots and bananas!

We had a small setback to start with as we were staying in Wilton very near to the main entrance to the house but hadn’t realised that the only way in to the horse trials was two miles away round the other side of the park.  We knew that was the main gate but not that it was the only one.  It was a shame but we’ll be better prepared another time.

I don’t get to go to many of the smaller events but I do love them – you can be so much closer to the action.  I spent Saturday morning basically sat in the warm up area watching the dressage and showjumping.  It was wonderful to be surrounded by so many horses.

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Once the cross country started we obviously had to walk the course and apart from being a little wary of approaching horses (there are less string fences than at the bigger events so we had to be very aware of where the horses would go) it was fantastic exploring the course and being able to get a good look at the fences.

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Saturday morning was novice cross country but I had a look at all the jumps we passed and I was particularly interested in a double on the BE100 course.  I could see several different ways to approach it and I was curious to see how it rode.

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Once the BE100 class started I went to have a look and the first two riders took one route but both had a run out at the second element.  The third rider took a different route and made it look easy so I thought that settled the question.

It’s never as simple as that though – over the two days I saw all possible routes taken and all of them cleanly so my first look must have just been bad timing!

Saturday had been mostly sunny – although very windy – but rain was was forecast for Sunday.  We knew that but the long dry spell has made us a bit complacent and although we had brought waterproof jackets we hadn’t really considered how cold we might get and we had actively decided not to take waterproof trousers.  It rained all day so we learnt our lesson!

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Even the horses were hiding from the rain!

We arrived on Sunday to find that the majority of the trade stands had packed up which was a real shame.  We hadn’t had time to look round them the day before and had planned to do so on Sunday morning.  The few remaining food stands were doing a roaring trade though!

First up on Sunday were the intermediate classes and it was great to be able to get a good look at the riders warming up.  I hope that I managed to learn something.

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We didn’t walk the whole of the cross country course this time – partly because we now knew it pretty well and partly because it was pouring with rain and blowing pretty well too.  I had dreadful trouble with my hat and ended up looking like Paddington.

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The hat will never be the same again.

We picked out a few of our favourite jumps and went to watch those.  The furthest field from the main showground had a fantastic group of trees where we could sit in comfort and watch six fences (eight or nine jumping efforts depending on the class).

I really think we had the best seats on the course, although a coffee van would have been nice!  We were also sat right by the double I had been interested in the day before so I not only got a good view of it being jumped, I also got to watch many different people walking it and it was fascinating to see all the different approaches.

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Despite the weather we had a great weekend and I’m already looking forward to the next event.

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Dressage Divas

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On Sunday Galahad and I went to a riding club dressage competition.  It was our first outing since February so I was very much looking forward to it.  We had a run through of our tests with my instructor the day before and she said he was looking a lot straighter than he had been and that whatever I was doing with him was working.  That is always a good thing to hear!

Sunday morning dawned very grey and misty but by the time we got to the show the sun was shining and it was obviously going to be another hot day.  There were also many flies about but Galahad took it all in his stride.

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Green is not really de rigueur for dressage but I was determined to #weargreenforjonty.  This is actually an old Guide badge but it seemed very appropriate.

He felt good in the warm up and I went into our first test (Intro C) feeling pretty positive.  It definitely helped that he was nice and forward going up the first centre line.  The test felt great right up until the final halt which was a bit of a struggle – Galahad was not ready to stop!

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I was generally very pleased with it though and it gave me a good mindset for our next test – Prelim 7.  I didn’t expect this to go quite so well because of our issues with the canter lead on the right rein.  It felt a little rushed and it did take us three attempts to get the canter lead but actually I was very pleased with it.  Galahad was nice and straight, he was forward going and this time he stopped when I asked him to.  You can’t really ask for more than that!

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After we finished and Galahad was cooled off I was on scoring duty so I made my way over to the scoreboard.  I was amazed to find that we had actually won the first class.  Not ony that, we had done so with a score of 70.65%.  We have never scored that much before and we definitely haven’t won!

I came third in the prelim test with a score of 72.05%.  When I looked through my score sheets I fond we had been given a good number of eights and even one 8.5.  We also had some lovely comments, including this one which was my favourite.

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I was so proud of Galahad.  He did try very hard and it really was fun to ride him.  We have some things we can work on but we have improved so much and I could not be happier.

Visiting

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As I mentioned in my last post, the ponies went away for a few days so they could see the dentist.  Before now I have always been at work when they have seen him but this year – although I didn’t see him with my ponies – I managed to get a look him working with the other horses.  The tools do look a little bit like instruments of torture but it was fascinating.

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While the ponies were there though I took full advantage of the facilities.  I managed to school one pony every day and I had a lesson almost every day.  I worked on quarters in with both ponies as they both need to use their hindquarters more.  The exercise definitely helped both of them and Cookster in particular was working better (and straighter!) than I ever remember him doing.

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As well as the school, I also had access to plenty of hacking.  It is always nice to have a change of scenery so every day I hacked out with whichever pony had not been schooled.  Most of the time that was with company too which was lovely.  We had a great time!20180621_122131

Beautiful Bank Holiday

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The weather this bank holiday weekend has been glorious.  Blue skies all day with just a bit of mist in the mornings.  We went out for a lovely ride early yesterday morning and then spent most of the rest of the day in front of the television.  It is Badminton weekend after all!

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I always try to keep this weekend free because even if I can’t actually get there I love to watch.  I even watch snatches of dressage in my breaks at work.  On Friday I had an almost perfectly timed break and managed to watch Jonty Evans’ test.

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I was one of the many people who chipped in to pay for a tail hair of Cooley Rorkes Drift last year so I was very pleased with that.

As always, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Badminton.  So far I am a fan of the new scoring system without the dressage coefficient – recently eventing has felt a bit like a dressage competition!

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It has been a great weekend and we are now just out for what will hopefully be another lovely hack – an evening one this time.

Book Review – ‘The Girl on the Dancing Horse’

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I had been very much looking forward to the publication of Charlotte Dujardin’s autobiography The Girl on the Dancing Horse so I was thrilled to receive a copy from the publishers.

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Most people with an interest in horses will think they know Dujardin’s story but this book shares many moments I had not read before and every time I had to put it down I was kept wanting to read more.  It is very well written with lots of anecdotes and plenty of humour – things that I need from a biography.

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Dujardin gets her emotions across well too.  I was lucky enough to get tickets to the second day of grand prix at London 2012 so I saw her ride there.  The atmosphere was incredible and I have never been anywhere that felt remotely like it.  Reading about it again genuinely brought a tear to my eye and when I got to the chapter about Valegro’s retirement I was properly crying.

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The book also looks forward though.  I loved reading about Dujardin’s younger horses and her plans for the future and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

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The bookmark seemed appropriate!

This is a book which should be on any equestrian’s bookshelf.  If nothing else, you come away with a very positive message – anything is possible if you want it enough and work hard enough.  That is something we all need to know.