Perfect (ish) Prelim

Yesterday was another big test for Buddy and I. We've not been out since our fantastic re- debut what with moving and our slight (!) loading issues so I decided that this weekend would be good to go and practise somewhere different and also to tackle our prelim debut.

Work was manic last week as it was my company's financial year end so our riding was a bit more sporadic than I would have wanted but we practised in the school one evening and I was happy we could do the right bits in the right places and so was relatively confident we'd make it through.

Heel first (just!)

I then realised two night prior that I'd learnt the wrong prelim test (doh!).. It was Buddy's day off so I then debated whether to take him in the school on the Friday evening or to stick with my hacking plan. I chose the latter and hoped we'd be ok - our canter isn't good enough at the moment and it was a qualifier so I wasn't going to be competitive so it was just a tick in the box for us.

Smile for the judge

Saturday dawned and as we had quite civilised times it was a lovely, leisurely morning where I could get all my jobs done. I gave myself a 30 minute window for loading, just in case, but we didn't need it and he strolled on. Good pony and praise be to Rachel Morey!

First up was our intro test, intro a which was the same as last time. We did a good, accurate test but Buddy seemed to die when we went inside (it was quite warm in the indoor) so the trot work wasn't as active as I would have liked. I think I need to do some canter work in my warm up to really jazz him up before we go in so I will do that next time and see what effect that has on our marks. As a result we finished fractionally below our score from last time with 66.9% and 3rd place in a very competitive class of 25.

Pretty boy

Next up was the prelim, I took on the comments from my previous sheet and decided to wind him up a bit but then give him a break before we went in as it was getting hot at this point so I kept my warm up minimal with a canter on each rein and some sharp transitions before a walk and then a chat! As a result he was much sharper in the test and his trot work got 8's across the board which was fantastic. The canter work was a bit yee ha (as expected) but I was really pleased with the test. I watched some other tests and the standard was really high so I wasn't expecting to be placed as the were 15 in the class.

Onward bound - yee haaaa

Took B back to the lorry, untacked, washed off, packed away and the class was nearly over so we decided to load him (knowing it'd taken us a fair while last time ;0) ) and then see where we we at by then. As it was he loaded immediately (more praise to Rachel!) and so we decided to hang around if he stayed chilled as its good practise for him. He was happy munching on his hay so I went up to get my sheet and was surprised to see we had come 5th on 64%. Great marks for our trot work but the canter let us down as I knew it would however its great to be at that score knowing that there are more marks to win with some small improvements. So Buddy continues his rosette collection... We haven't returned empty handed yet!

Big grins and frillies

I have promised Buddy that we will start jumping soon so we may have one more dressage outing and then I'll be planning our first jumping competition (eek!).