Saturday dawned hot. We were at 90 by 10 am. Ashke was a bit tense when we first got to Circle Star Arena and spent the first half hour standing on his hind legs. He bonded with Izzy (dun QH mare that looks just like Cali) two seconds after he stepped off the trailer, then took exception to her leaving to do her dressage test. By the time I needed to saddle him, he had stopped playing the fool and was standing in the sunshine, with his head in the shade, munching on his hay.
Amanda got there about nine, but the tests were running a little behind, so we chatted with her, her sister Kari (who took all of the photos in my prior post) and Deb, who has been super supportive of my showing. Plus, one of Amanda's other students was there to check out WE. It was a nice way to relax before my test. I finally swung a leg over and we started working on loosening his body. He was being pretty protective of his right hind (my friend Chris suggested I talk to the doc about another injection) although he was trying very hard to do what I wanted. Once he felt warmed up, without us pushing him so far that he was too tired for the test, I just walked and waited for my turn.
One of the great things this show weekend, I was much less anxious. No vomiting or crying. My confidence in our development is growing and I am less worried about making a major mistake. I know where we need to improve and we are chipping away at it, but it can't be fixed in the warm up arena right before our ride. Amanda knows what we need to work on to improve our scores and I think she has a plan. We have two and a half months before our next show. In that time I am taking a family vacation, flying to Germany and prepping for our final show in McCook.
Ashke was amazing all weekend. I was very proud of him for stepping up and being a serious show horse. I think he really likes it and seems to enjoy showing off. It is what he was bred for, after all.
Amanda got there about nine, but the tests were running a little behind, so we chatted with her, her sister Kari (who took all of the photos in my prior post) and Deb, who has been super supportive of my showing. Plus, one of Amanda's other students was there to check out WE. It was a nice way to relax before my test. I finally swung a leg over and we started working on loosening his body. He was being pretty protective of his right hind (my friend Chris suggested I talk to the doc about another injection) although he was trying very hard to do what I wanted. Once he felt warmed up, without us pushing him so far that he was too tired for the test, I just walked and waited for my turn.
One of the great things this show weekend, I was much less anxious. No vomiting or crying. My confidence in our development is growing and I am less worried about making a major mistake. I know where we need to improve and we are chipping away at it, but it can't be fixed in the warm up arena right before our ride. Amanda knows what we need to work on to improve our scores and I think she has a plan. We have two and a half months before our next show. In that time I am taking a family vacation, flying to Germany and prepping for our final show in McCook.
Ashke was amazing all weekend. I was very proud of him for stepping up and being a serious show horse. I think he really likes it and seems to enjoy showing off. It is what he was bred for, after all.
J got the video for me:
This was a personal best. I've been working on a WE dressage test for four years and this is the first time I have scored above 60%.
The dressage test in case you want to know what the movements were:
Thank you for posting this! I need to learn this for our first working equitation class at the end of October! nicely done :)
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