Horse Show Write Up
The farm that hosts this show also happens to be the one place that sells round bales that Dutch is not allergic to, so we decided to kill two birds this weekend and pick up another bale.
Somehow this never goes as smoothly as I plan. We ended up having to reverse around 2 parked semi's and the warm up ring to get to where we could park the trailer after loading the hay.
We ended up parking right next to some friends from an old boarding barn so that was awesome. In fact we got to see a lot of awesome friends at the show.
I ended up with only 20 minutes to tack up and change before my "warm up time." I wanted to get 30 minutes to warm up before I went in the arena.... that did not happen.
I officially suck at dressage warm ups. Uno is kinda hot and excitable at home, but a total dead head at shows. This is so opposite to what I am used to, I usually just putter around and act amazed that we are not running into people or things. I am still used to settling for obedience. Uno has great gaits in there, but only once we get him moving forward off the leg.
DRESSAGE TIME!
Our scores show that when I had him moving forward he was good (all the 8's). As soon as I let him drop behind the leg he began to push against the bit. Leg to hand, not hand to leg - DUH! Over all I am pleased with him, but not with me. I can ride more accurate circles and actually school transitions in the warm up. We get good transitions off my seat, but only after the first 3 or 4. Note to self: Practice the movements in the test during the warm, maybe? Either way we lived and our score was mid 30's. The scores seemed a little harsher than what I got when I was eventing, but I know this judge is a pure dressage trainer and usually does not cross over to the eventing world. The feedback we got was spot on and gives us a good place to work for next time.
I still suck at eating at shows, but I knew I had to eat after my dressage test. I ate a peanut butter protein bar and called it a day.
None of the rings were riding on time and it made it hard to figure out warm up times. So I switched from the Duo to his Waterford snaffle and walked over to the warm up again. Along with apparently 20 other people. Warm up here was next to the jump arena, between the parking lot and the cross country course. Uno wanted no part of being alone and was ready to be done. He jumped all the warm up fences and got both canter leads, so I stopped before his forwardness freaked me out. We chilled by the in-gate and watched the division above us.
JUMPY JUMP TIME!
The entry for said the fences would be 18" cross rails, which I thought would be fair because A) the pony has had ONE jump lesson about 3 months ago, and B) has never jumped a course of fences in his life. I plan for so much success. The course was actually 18' to 2' verticals with filler, and bending lines. I knew Uno would either not care at all or refuse the first fence. My only thought was not to pull in front of the fence, the distance and line were not as important as keeping a positive leg on.
I kinda went in thinking that whatever happened if we jumped one thing and I did not vomit it would be a victory. Uno did not look at anything, we trotted in and cantered out of all the related lines, cantered all the straights, and trotted the roll backs and tight turns. I am pretty sure people thought I was crazy because by fence 4 I was laughing uncontrollably. I had never had such a stress free jumper round ever!
If I am honest, we were not really jumping, just stepping over, but he was SOO GOOD!
So I decided to enter the jumper round following.
Same course, same height, plus a jump off.
Same amazing pony. We actually went for the time and had the 2nd fasted round of the day. I know, why are you racing him around his 3rd jump course ever? Well, he jumps out of a gallop on the hunt field and the jump off was really just a figure 8 with 5 jumps. He did a really good job of locking on the jumps as we approached all I had to do was tighten our turns and let him gallop to the last fence.
I could not be more proud of the silly dorky pony I bought 2 years ago as a 13 hand green project who did not know how to turn. We were first, on our dressage score, in the CT, and finished 2nd, to a good friend on a rocket of a pony, in our jumper round.
Uno really seems to be the kind of guy who once he understands the job, doesn't care about the trappings. He just handles business. Gotta love the QH brain.
 |
| why? first dirt, now hay? there is no winning here. |
Somehow this never goes as smoothly as I plan. We ended up having to reverse around 2 parked semi's and the warm up ring to get to where we could park the trailer after loading the hay.
We ended up parking right next to some friends from an old boarding barn so that was awesome. In fact we got to see a lot of awesome friends at the show.
I ended up with only 20 minutes to tack up and change before my "warm up time." I wanted to get 30 minutes to warm up before I went in the arena.... that did not happen.
 |
| Seriously cute nerd baby. |
I officially suck at dressage warm ups. Uno is kinda hot and excitable at home, but a total dead head at shows. This is so opposite to what I am used to, I usually just putter around and act amazed that we are not running into people or things. I am still used to settling for obedience. Uno has great gaits in there, but only once we get him moving forward off the leg.
DRESSAGE TIME!
Our scores show that when I had him moving forward he was good (all the 8's). As soon as I let him drop behind the leg he began to push against the bit. Leg to hand, not hand to leg - DUH! Over all I am pleased with him, but not with me. I can ride more accurate circles and actually school transitions in the warm up. We get good transitions off my seat, but only after the first 3 or 4. Note to self: Practice the movements in the test during the warm, maybe? Either way we lived and our score was mid 30's. The scores seemed a little harsher than what I got when I was eventing, but I know this judge is a pure dressage trainer and usually does not cross over to the eventing world. The feedback we got was spot on and gives us a good place to work for next time.
I still suck at eating at shows, but I knew I had to eat after my dressage test. I ate a peanut butter protein bar and called it a day.
None of the rings were riding on time and it made it hard to figure out warm up times. So I switched from the Duo to his Waterford snaffle and walked over to the warm up again. Along with apparently 20 other people. Warm up here was next to the jump arena, between the parking lot and the cross country course. Uno wanted no part of being alone and was ready to be done. He jumped all the warm up fences and got both canter leads, so I stopped before his forwardness freaked me out. We chilled by the in-gate and watched the division above us.
JUMPY JUMP TIME!
The entry for said the fences would be 18" cross rails, which I thought would be fair because A) the pony has had ONE jump lesson about 3 months ago, and B) has never jumped a course of fences in his life. I plan for so much success. The course was actually 18' to 2' verticals with filler, and bending lines. I knew Uno would either not care at all or refuse the first fence. My only thought was not to pull in front of the fence, the distance and line were not as important as keeping a positive leg on.
I kinda went in thinking that whatever happened if we jumped one thing and I did not vomit it would be a victory. Uno did not look at anything, we trotted in and cantered out of all the related lines, cantered all the straights, and trotted the roll backs and tight turns. I am pretty sure people thought I was crazy because by fence 4 I was laughing uncontrollably. I had never had such a stress free jumper round ever!
This video is technically the jumper round we entered after the CT, but it the exact same as what we jumped for the CT.
If I am honest, we were not really jumping, just stepping over, but he was SOO GOOD!
So I decided to enter the jumper round following.
Same course, same height, plus a jump off.
Same amazing pony. We actually went for the time and had the 2nd fasted round of the day. I know, why are you racing him around his 3rd jump course ever? Well, he jumps out of a gallop on the hunt field and the jump off was really just a figure 8 with 5 jumps. He did a really good job of locking on the jumps as we approached all I had to do was tighten our turns and let him gallop to the last fence.
I could not be more proud of the silly dorky pony I bought 2 years ago as a 13 hand green project who did not know how to turn. We were first, on our dressage score, in the CT, and finished 2nd, to a good friend on a rocket of a pony, in our jumper round.
Uno really seems to be the kind of guy who once he understands the job, doesn't care about the trappings. He just handles business. Gotta love the QH brain.
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