Last dressage show outing of the season
Sep. 21st, 2019 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI carpooled to the dressage outing with another hapless middle-aged ammie rider who, like me, is faffing about in Intro Dressage with a similar amount of success. This makes going to the Not So Local show a bit easier -- splits up the driving and so forth.
It went. Well, it went better after I got Birb on the trailer (straight load with a ramp, the likes of which he had never seen before).
It was dark when I went to load him on this trailer. He went on. Then he backed out before the butt bar got hooked (you do not tie the horse until the butt bar is hooked, it is a safety thing) and in so doing he tripped off the ramp and scraped up his leg (not seriously, just like two drops of blood but he is a Sensitive Snowflake) and then he was all LOL NOPE I DO NOT LOAD ON THAT DEATH TRAP (for two minutes) until I yelled at him whereupon he was like Oh, Right. I do load. I just forgot. and hopped on.
This is not the ideal method for teaching your horse about two-horse trailers with ramps, but we are all well aware that my life is so far from ideal that it's laughable.
We got there in plenty of time. Bird backed carefully and straightly off the ramp. We signed in. Judge... was forty-five minutes late. She'd written the date wrongly on her calendar. But we all waited for her anyway.
Again I rode Intro B and Intro C. I worked on "use aids to get more from horse" but that was mixed because it's a work in progress. Yes, I could have hung out in his comfortable remedial jog but I am trying to make progress by Using Aids To Get More From Horse. If we do the thing that is easy and comfortable and not "getting more from horse", we do not progress. It is through trying and failing that we progress. Or something.
In Intro B, we had a "I thought you wanted canter" moment in one of the trot circles (because trying for Moar Energy and shit) which was marked down to a 4.5 instead of the 6.5 or 7 we usually get on our circles. Ouch.
In Intro C, we biffed the right lead. He hasn't missed a lead in ages. He knows his leads. I have no idea what happened to the right lead, but it didn't happen. He was totally asleep at the switch and I thought he was on board but no. We got a 2, twice, for our non-exhibited right lead.
Collective scores were shitty. In intro B, everything was a 6 except for submission, which was a 5.5. Intro C, submission and rider aids/transitions were both 5.5 and geometry/accuracy was a 5.
Rider Breathing was not bad and horse was not frantic, so those things went well. I don't know how other people scored, but these weren't unfair.
B was a 61.86 but it wasn't our best work.
C was a 57.50 and we blew the right lead, so yeah.
I'm not thrilled with these but I do understand why we got them.
We placed first in both of our tests, though I don't really understand why they give me ribbons for shitty scores. Perhaps other people's scores were even shittier. It might have been a slightly harder-scoring judge. I'm not sure, I haven't ridden for her before and in the wonderful world of unrated local schooling shows... you get what you get.
We will be moving up to the training level tests for next year. I'm tired of sucking at Intro level and I think that sucking at training level will be more fulfilling for me.
Yet this year we have a Dressage Lady Barb clinic around the end of October and possibly also a Clinic With Lew which I really enjoy. Stay tuned!
It went. Well, it went better after I got Birb on the trailer (straight load with a ramp, the likes of which he had never seen before).
It was dark when I went to load him on this trailer. He went on. Then he backed out before the butt bar got hooked (you do not tie the horse until the butt bar is hooked, it is a safety thing) and in so doing he tripped off the ramp and scraped up his leg (not seriously, just like two drops of blood but he is a Sensitive Snowflake) and then he was all LOL NOPE I DO NOT LOAD ON THAT DEATH TRAP (for two minutes) until I yelled at him whereupon he was like Oh, Right. I do load. I just forgot. and hopped on.
This is not the ideal method for teaching your horse about two-horse trailers with ramps, but we are all well aware that my life is so far from ideal that it's laughable.
We got there in plenty of time. Bird backed carefully and straightly off the ramp. We signed in. Judge... was forty-five minutes late. She'd written the date wrongly on her calendar. But we all waited for her anyway.
Again I rode Intro B and Intro C. I worked on "use aids to get more from horse" but that was mixed because it's a work in progress. Yes, I could have hung out in his comfortable remedial jog but I am trying to make progress by Using Aids To Get More From Horse. If we do the thing that is easy and comfortable and not "getting more from horse", we do not progress. It is through trying and failing that we progress. Or something.
In Intro B, we had a "I thought you wanted canter" moment in one of the trot circles (because trying for Moar Energy and shit) which was marked down to a 4.5 instead of the 6.5 or 7 we usually get on our circles. Ouch.
In Intro C, we biffed the right lead. He hasn't missed a lead in ages. He knows his leads. I have no idea what happened to the right lead, but it didn't happen. He was totally asleep at the switch and I thought he was on board but no. We got a 2, twice, for our non-exhibited right lead.
Collective scores were shitty. In intro B, everything was a 6 except for submission, which was a 5.5. Intro C, submission and rider aids/transitions were both 5.5 and geometry/accuracy was a 5.
Rider Breathing was not bad and horse was not frantic, so those things went well. I don't know how other people scored, but these weren't unfair.
B was a 61.86 but it wasn't our best work.
C was a 57.50 and we blew the right lead, so yeah.
I'm not thrilled with these but I do understand why we got them.
We placed first in both of our tests, though I don't really understand why they give me ribbons for shitty scores. Perhaps other people's scores were even shittier. It might have been a slightly harder-scoring judge. I'm not sure, I haven't ridden for her before and in the wonderful world of unrated local schooling shows... you get what you get.
We will be moving up to the training level tests for next year. I'm tired of sucking at Intro level and I think that sucking at training level will be more fulfilling for me.
Yet this year we have a Dressage Lady Barb clinic around the end of October and possibly also a Clinic With Lew which I really enjoy. Stay tuned!
no subject
Date: 2019-09-25 02:15 am (UTC)How is Bird reacting to The Poopstravaganza?
no subject
Date: 2019-09-26 01:00 am (UTC)Bird is nonplussed. For a "Scare-ab" (By many horse folk, Arabian horses are adjudged flighty nervous beasties that overreact to everything on the planet. They do tend to be more eyeball-y and reactive than many other breeds. Anyway, as Arabian horses come from Egypt (more or less) and as ancient Egypt was all about the Scarab beetles for some reason... Scare-ab. Probably still not funny after all the explaining, but there you go.) he's a fairly solid citizen.
They did the spreading part earlier this week and the fields are a little ripe. You can smell the poop, but we knew that was going to happen. I've been doing road work with him this week so that we are not wading through the poop, but it should settle down in a few weeks and we can go back to the field then.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-26 03:34 am (UTC)And yeah, it's frustrating when you can see areas you could improve on, while your encouraging but inexperienced friends tell you it's totally fine and perfect. It also stings a little to fuck up after spending so much time and effort on a thing. Ah well. Lessons learned for next time.