08/28/05 Angel's First Dressage Show
I went a bit crazy and decided to take two horses to
the dressage show. I'd vowed before to never do it again, but
I felt pretty confident with the two I wanted to take. Of course
neither had been to a dressage show before, but why should that
stop me?
Surprisingly to me, Angel was the calmer of the two. Kasza had better
tests, but only because hers were flashier. Angel was steady (mostly)
and just did the movements. She did reply to Kasza neighing at the trailer,
but didn't stop to neigh, just threw a few in to answer.
Oh, and Angel did bring home ribbons. A 6th in our first class and a 4th in our second.
Pretty great for her first show....
 

Angel off the trailer. No fuss or muss. She knows standing tied to the trailer from roading, and many more horses and trailers around just gave her something to look at. She did appreciate that we moved the hay over to her side when we'd take Kasza away for her classes.

 

I don't normally lunge before riding, but I wanted to check her out before I got on. I told her if she'd lunge around me a couple of times at the walk I'd trust that she was calm. Of course once she went around a couple of times I noticed people watching, so I did throw in a couple of trot circles so they didn't think I was silly for walking my horse in two circles....

 

I led her in the ring to let her check things out. Unfortunately the water truck came in, so we just looked at A and went back to warm up.

 

With two horses I had a plan. Kasza showed first, so I got on Angel first and did a little warm up.

We did a little walking and trotting and bending and I took her back to the trailer and got Kasza ready.

 

Here I brought Angel back from the trailer area for more warm up. She never spooked at the trailers, cars, kids and generators around the area (and between the two second tests wasn't much time, so she had to trot all the way back to the trailer so I could get on Kasza and have her ready to go in on time).

I'm not the best in warm up, and this little kid and pony seemed to have it out for us. We got a little practice getting out of people's/kid's way.

 

Quite elegant. She was more relaxed in the warm up than in the ring (or was that me). She didn't chew on the bit during warm up.

I like how she bends and listens to leg. We got a 7 on our entry and halt.

 

Some of our trot work. The first test I was a bit hesitant to let her move out at the trot.

You can see we're not really tracking up and we're both a bit tense.

 

Our free walk. She moved out, but wasn't sure what I was asking her to do with her head. There's down, but not out. Our next test she was better.

I was so pleased with our turn up the center line. No diving down and she was good about the bend off the leg, even with the whip in my outside hand.

 

Pretty nice halt for her first test.

Our next warm up was tons better. I noticed my trainer had come with another student, and I snagged her for a warm up.

She had me get Angel more over her topline and reminded me to focus on her rhythm at the walk.

She also had me drive her forward a bit more at the trot. Now she's tracking up and moving.

It's always nice to have friends out to watch. And the extra help of a trainer on the ground makes a huge difference to me.

A much more exciting entrance.

Coming off the centerline with good bend and balance.

I was very happy when I felt this moment. Not correct for the test, but she was asking to stretch down at the trot. I tried to give a little to tell her that I appreciated her asking (it's something we'll need to start working on for training level).

The judge said she had some very nice moments. I liked this one.

Angel had many nice moments. This was one of my bad ones. I'd just forgot the test and was wondering if I kept trotting if it would come to me. Unfortunately, I was supposed to be walking. Not Angel's fault, but it probably kept us from getting 3rd (we got 4th).

Angel coming very close to a correct walk stretch for the test.

Pushing her in the trot made her a little nervous, but she was willing to stretch out and do what I asked. Oh, and we did score a point higher for the more forward trot than the one in the first test.

Preparing for our halt through the walk. Angel's scores were a little lower than Kasza's, but she always felt under control and went exactly where I asked. Kasza was forward, but it felt a bit like driving a boat. I hoped that when the turn came up, she'd remember what my leg was for and make it. Angel had none of that feeling.