WAYER Dressage and Show Jumping
Event two of the season came a day early with dressage and show jumping on Good Friday. The forescast was for a warm day but it was cool when I headed out to feed and plait Coolie. The horses got about half an hour of turn out time before I loaded both of the horses up and headed to the State Equestrian Centre.
We arrived at about 8.30 and it was already starting to heat up. We were running a little bit late so I tacked Coolie up and got on with about 30 minutes to warm up. I presented to the marshal who told me I only had 2 riders to go, so I was feeling a little short on time. I got right to warming up and focused on keeping Coolie relaxed and controlling my right hand.
Being short if time turned out to be quite a good thing, I only had time to think about keeping us together and nothing else, so when we went in Coolie remained relaxed. The test went quite well, Coolie stayed into the contact but felt slightly lethargic. It was humid and warm, and Sir has already started to get fluffy! I was very happy with our test though, but I knew the judge and knew it probably wouldn't score well. After dressage we had 41 penalties, I was disappointed but not surprised.
We had a long wait to show jumping, so Emily and I wandered around the trade stores, watched some jumping and walked XC while Husband did my helper duty. The XC looked fine, but was very short with only 14 fences. I was a little disappointed that it was so short but there were some good questions.
Finally it was time to jump. A breeze was blowing which helped a bit and the judge was allowing us the jump without jackets. One of the trade stands had a 50% off rack so I even had a longe sleeved white Ariat shirt to help keep the sun off.
Coolie warmed up well, he was listening and soft, We popped a few fences an then went into the ring. My friends cheered me on as i went past and with a big smile on my face we started our round. Coolie was awesome, and we had a smooth, clear round. All our hard work is really paying off and each fence came up so well!
After I was done riding, I make use of the round yards and spent some time lunging Henry inn a busy environment. He was surprisingly well behaved and minimised his antics. He listened to me and after a while started to relax and stretch down. Once I knew he was relaxing adjusting to the environment we called it a day and went home!
We arrived at about 8.30 and it was already starting to heat up. We were running a little bit late so I tacked Coolie up and got on with about 30 minutes to warm up. I presented to the marshal who told me I only had 2 riders to go, so I was feeling a little short on time. I got right to warming up and focused on keeping Coolie relaxed and controlling my right hand.
Being short if time turned out to be quite a good thing, I only had time to think about keeping us together and nothing else, so when we went in Coolie remained relaxed. The test went quite well, Coolie stayed into the contact but felt slightly lethargic. It was humid and warm, and Sir has already started to get fluffy! I was very happy with our test though, but I knew the judge and knew it probably wouldn't score well. After dressage we had 41 penalties, I was disappointed but not surprised.
We had a long wait to show jumping, so Emily and I wandered around the trade stores, watched some jumping and walked XC while Husband did my helper duty. The XC looked fine, but was very short with only 14 fences. I was a little disappointed that it was so short but there were some good questions.
Finally it was time to jump. A breeze was blowing which helped a bit and the judge was allowing us the jump without jackets. One of the trade stands had a 50% off rack so I even had a longe sleeved white Ariat shirt to help keep the sun off.
Coolie warmed up well, he was listening and soft, We popped a few fences an then went into the ring. My friends cheered me on as i went past and with a big smile on my face we started our round. Coolie was awesome, and we had a smooth, clear round. All our hard work is really paying off and each fence came up so well!
Woo sounds like a great start! Except bummer about the harsh judge, I hate it when we have a good test but it doesn't score well. Sigh. Hope cross country goes well too!!
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