Comrade and I will go to a Combined Test on Saturday. Just cross rails, but it will be interesting. Plus I decided to go for broke by doing the BN-A dressage test. I could not see doing Intro A. It was to much of a step backwards. Maybe if they offered Intro B, I would have done that test so I only had to stress about the jumps.
So we did some cross rail courses at the canter. He tried to get strong and strung out, so I shortened the distances to the jumps for some and put a nine rail by another. That helped him compress enough that he jumped the jumps instead of taking them in stride. He knocked down one jump and busted one PVC pole before he finally started listening to my cues. We ended by completing the course entirely at canter while he waited for me. The show will see how he reacts to painted poles. I just have to keep my head and ride him right.
Today I rode DaVinci and ran through the dressage test. He is a completely different horse, but the ride allowed me to see how the test flowed and where the transitions happened. We have a dressage arena at our barn which was another reason for the ride. DaVinci was a little confused by the weird start, but soon figured out it was a test and clicked into dressage pony mode.
Then I went to Peggy's to put Comrade through the test. He greeted me covered in sweat already warm due to the hot day. Can I just say, I am already missing my dressage whip? This heat made for a very lazy pony. So for the show, if I get sluggish canter transitions but no bucking I will be happy. I did pull out the Spursuaders to help make up for not having the whip. They help get him stepping under and pushing. The run through was not horrible, though I felt like I was working really hard. Hopefully the show day will be somewhat cooler.
 |
| Hot pony |
No comments:
Post a Comment