Orange Grove Dressage

It has been a very busy, if slightly eventful weekend this weekend, but it was good to be out and about with the horses.

The weekend got off to a rocky start on Friday afternoon when I went to get Henry for a ride. I walked down the paddock and called the boys, who usually come for a carrot. Henry started walking over but Coolie didn't move, he didn't even look at me. I called him again, and he took a step and I knew right away something was wrong. He was barely moving his leg but I couldn't see anything obvious so I took his rug off and he had a huge lump on his near fore, just above the knee.

He was in so much pain and was hobbling with a straight leg and I was sure it was broken. I dragged him up the paddock and each step was horrible, I could tell he was hurting a lot and he couldn't understand why I was making him move when he was in pain.

We rushed him to the vet who assured us it wasn't broken. Relief is an understatement! He has a tiny cut which was a bit infected and the reason he wasn't moving well was the swelling from the impact and the early stages of infection. The vet throughly cleaned the wound, explaining that the biggest risk was the infection from the cut really setting in. It was all bandaged up and we were sent home with lots of antibiotics and anti inflammatories. He was looking much better by the time we got home and even had a little canter on Saturday morning. Hopefully he is right as rain in a few days!

So Henry ended up having 2 days off before a competition which was less than ideal. Saturday morning was also a bit hectic, I needed to take Henry to Orange Grove, go to an appointment and then get back and compete. I got it done and had plenty of time in the end!

I got on Henry for my first test, and Henry was fresh. There were quite a few dramatics but we worked through it and he calmed down enough to put in a good test. There were moments where he was tense, and we buggered up the canter leads again but it felt so much better than in the past and it was way more consistent.

Henry came out with his head in the game for the second test and worked beautifully. He was really on the aides, and working nicely into the contact. I think we probably need to work on our accuracy a bit, but all our lessons and hard work seems to be paying off.

Despite being fresh and reactive, Henry stayed with me, and worked nicely into the contact. He was a bit tense but because he was more on the aides he stayed in self carriage and remained rideable. There were some really nice moments, and he scored consistently in both tests.

The canter aides are something we have been struggling with at home, and I need to remember to ride with a stinger outside leg but it will come in time. Overall we have improved so much and I actually enjoyed dressage for a change. A lot of the little things will improve in the future because I know for sure that he needs to be ridden the day before a show and on the day I should either lunge him or give him a pre ride to let him get his sillies out.

We didn't place in either of our tests, but we did win best performed off the track thoroughbred for our classes. It was a really great prize, and an excellent end to a long day!