First Dressage Test

[thaxted]

Well - today I competed in my first ever dressage test (Prelim 10), it was also the horse's first test so we weren't sure what to expect. Quite a lot of photos were taken so I'm going to bore you all a little. Venus was really good, she didn't fight - too much - and she was calm and obedient. All in all I was chuffed to bits with her, her owner was delighted as well.
At first I was disappointed with our score, we got 53%, but then I realised that the winner only got 64%, so obviously the judge was quite tough. Some of the other horses looked really good.
Anyway, here are the fisrt lot of pics. Please feel free to comment.

First one is us trotting round prior to the start, next trotting a circle, then going the other direction

[thaxted]

oops...thought I had managed to attach three pics, but I'm going to have to do one by one.
Here is 2

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Transition from trot to walk, didn't get any good ones of the canter in between

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2nd canter, she did this quite well I think

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final bit of canter, we even look quite straight!

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Only 2 more!
Our final turn onto the center line.

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last one - phew. Halt - well nearly, she obviously moved just as the shutter went. But we did have a square halt, honest

[taren-tella]

she looks absoloutley gorgeus!!! your horse is soooo pretty! you did really well and that judge was tough wasnt he!!??!! and how many were in the comp?

[maverick927]

Yeah, you both look brill and your score was really good. At my first dressage test, one of the competitors got 25% so I cringe for them, lol! :D

I take it that it was at Danescroft with the NIWHA. I have only been to Danescroft once and it was so nice, and I think they have the biggest sand paddock in the world, lol.

Well done to the pair of you!

[thaxted]

taner-tella, don't know how many were in the comp - but my class started at 10.00 and the last competitor was scheduled for 12.30, so I guess there were a lot in it. BTW - Venus is not my horse, I just ride her for her owner. I've been riding her since Nov and she has really come on loads since then. At the start she poked her nose out completely, and consistently bent the wrong direction on circles etc. She has a great jump though so she needs to get her flatwork sorted.

Mav - yep, its Danescroft, they had three dressage arenas in the sand paddock today with plenty of room between them! Nex week is Working Hunter and if she does her 'show' as well as worked today then I think that we will do well, but I'm not banking on it. Today was just her second time out doing anything so its all just learning for now.

[jovi_y2k2]

53% is a good score, anything above 50 is what you aim for really, we got 49.95% on our first test:D so nearly there! but star was a pig and kept spooking and leaping around the arena hehe

[virtuallyhorses]

oh well done!! :) Nothing wrong with 53% you look great. Were you nervous? I found I had shocking nerves (not pleasant at all) at my first couple of dressage tests - strangely more at the second series than the first :(

[kedwards]

You two look great! Well done!

[KarinUS]

Oh what a beautiful paor you are. She's got a gorgeous tail! 53 isn't bad for your first test.

According to my instructor it's time to move on to the next level anyway once you get up to mid 70s...

Congrats!

[thaxted]

Thanks everyone for all the kind words

virtuallyhorses - funnily enough I wasn't nervous at all. We had had a bad lesson the previous day, nothing wrong with the teacher, Venus was just in a bad mood and I was a bit tired. Immediatly I got on her on Sat. I knew that she was like a different horse, she was relaxed, cooperative, she dropped her head and really was great. I think I will probably be more nervous next time because I'll want to do a bit better.

KarinUS - thanks, she does had a wonderful tail, really thick and bushy. Of course that makes it hard to brush and it takes me about 30mins to plait, but it's worth it. The are even a lot of red hairs in her tail which make it really shiny (when I've washed it and put loads of conditioner on it).