Ending the show season with a win!

 We had our last dressage show of the year this past weekend. Apparently, I am a dingus and did not know how they were doing divisions for year end points and split levels all year long. Which is a poop of a feeling, because we would have easily won had we stuck in one division or the other. We will see when they total up points where we ended up, maybe there still is a shiny big Year End Ribbon in our future!

This has nothing to do with horses... my dog just sits this way a LOT. Anyone else have a weird dog?

So we got there a little late and the show was running a little early. I ended up getting to run through my test once, then doing up and down transitions and finding my slow trot. Maybe a 10/15 minute warm up, then right into the ring.

Sweet baby face.

We did Intro C, and Uno was a rock star!  We ended up with a 65% with several 8's for our trots and 7.5s for our walk work.  

Check these center line trots! Nailed it!

The biggest take away is that Uno was actually able to relax and stretch his neck out and up. And I was able to keep from interfering. We got marked down for him tightening and shortening his neck in the canters, but you can see in the pictures that it is still much better.  

For a horse with "average at best" gaits, earning an 8 for this trot was nice.

We got both leads and I rode propper geometry in our 20-meter circles.  I was so proud of him. It seemed like he was really tuned into me and ready for each movement.

Slightly shorter and tigter in the neck but still good!

I could not be happier!

We also did the Training Test 1, but I got into my head, he got tense, and everything got quick.  That test started off really well with 7s and 8s until we got to the downward transition out of the first canter. It was on the long side, and Uno was convinced that he still needed to be GOING.  

Initial scores were high but you can see the tension. I was riding way over tempo as well.

Then I made a mistake and went across the diagonal at the wrong time and cut the walk work short.  Which is a real shame, because he did not take a breath until the last 3 strides of free walk.  I think, had I not made that error, he would have had longer to relax and the next trot and canter would have been MUCH better.  

Because of the tense over tempo trot and walk work, this canter is nowhere near as nice as the first test.

Instead, he was running off and crooked. I did not take the half halt and loosen that we needed and fell back into holding him together myself. Which meant that he was tense and upset when we went to canter. So we missed the lead and he stuck his head straight in the air when I asked for a downward to fix it.  

He stayed tense and upset the rest of the ride, so it was not the best end.

HOWEVER!!  My takeaways come from the individual movements and not our placings.

Look at the difference in center line trots. The amount of relaxation and stretch over his topline is HUGE!