Well I really knew that we are far from ready for a dressage test, however Windsor is not that far away and little boy must get used to going places and especially standing still!! The only events between the last show and Windsor were dressage tests. So today off we went.
The good news was that Xaile loaded very well on the way and the way back. Further good news was that he stood beautifully still whenever asked. That's possibly where the good news ends.
He was outrageously tense in the warm up, but I had thought about that in advance and had an hour to warm up. He took a serious disliking to the end of the school where all the boxes were parked and it took all my concentration and leg and seat strength to get him anywhere near it! He'd go towards it sweet as anything then fly sideways away from it. However by the end of the warm up I had him going reasonably past it. The rest of the warm up got better and better and I was really quite pleased with him.
Now I thought that he'd be quite used to indoor schools as they seem to have a lot of them in Portugal. Seems I was wrong. His eyes were out on stalks. I asked the judge if I could have a little extra time to settle him but as soon as the doors had shut (the noise terrified him) we had to start.
The test did NOT go well. I did my best to keep him going in the right direction at the right speed at the right time and generally succeeded. That's about the best that can be said for it. The left rein canter was particularly spectaularly awful - we cantered sideways while he stared in horror at the walls.
The judge clearly agreed with my analysis and gave us 45.78% the only good thing (and I'm really quite pleased about this) was that the ONLY things she didn't underline in his collectives were 'works over back and through neck' and 'works from behind' (oh and 'correct foot falls').
So back to the warm up ring. He was relieved to be back there and behave impecably calm supple and relaxed. I was feeling optimisitic for prelim 12, especially as it was outside.
Didn't start too well. He was most reluctanct to cross the little patch of concrete at the entrance to the ring, but we got there eventually. He was not at all impressed by the boards marking the school, I think he thought they harboured snakes or something. Whatever it was he alternated between spooking at the boards and the edge of the school. Oh and of course the judge's car was a dragon.
Despite all this he was going MUCH better than in prelim 1. Still feeling relatively optimistic, especially as this time we got 3 circuits to get used to being there. It seems that the inside of the boards were even scarier than the outsides and it took all my strength to get him anywhere near them. So I spent the whole test trying to keep to the outside of the arena, this was made even more difficult as each time we passed a gap between the boards he made a dash for it in the hope of escaping. The left canter was marginally better than in P1 but I lost my stirrup on the slightly wild transition but thank goodness got it back before it came into view of the judge. In fact if it hadn't have been for the left canter problems we'd have done ok but a 3 and 4 don't help!!
However I was really pleased with the second test as it was a significant improvement on the first one and some bits were better than we've managed at home. The judge wasn't very impressed though and gave us 50.4%, though she did think that he 'could be lovely' so I suppose there is some hope.
well, as you say, he needs to get out and about, so by the time you get to windsor he should be relatively chilled at a party, one would think!
ReplyDeleteHe is such a lovely boy!
ReplyDeleteWhen I took Bruce to his 1st dressage he was even more traumatised than X! We scored low 40's and well known classical & dressage trainer advised that I shouldn't bring him out if he wasn't working calmly!! Derrr, hello! What they do at home and at their first outings is entirely different!!