On Sunday 26th February we attended the Fig Tree Pocket Equestrian Club’s dessage comp day. In attendance was Natalie riding Baldur, myself (Liz) riding Hektor and Hercules and our amazing helpers Cobie and Abbi – thanks ladies!
So, how did the dressage day go?
It was FANTASTIC!
I really underestimated my required warm up time. Poor Hektor had to go straight into a Novice 2.2 test still very unfamiliar with the environment and despite it being COMPLETELY new and looking at everything, we did manage to achieve all the movements! We did score last and the judge’s called him naughty which I thought was hilarious because he did SO well. It’s his very first serious outting, very first competition and he’s only been in more formalised dressage training for 2 months. We all thought he was a super star! He did much better with his Prelim 1.2 test and we scored 14th out of 20. I left entering the competition a bit late which is why we ended up doing a Novice test and for some reason, they put me into the Prelim 1.2 when I had selected Prep.
Hercules was also a little champion. He has only been back in work just over a week after his sarcoid treatments. He’s had two months off and he was a little inconsistent in places, but why wouldn’t he be? Other than that, he didn’t miss one movement and we placed 9th out of 19!
In the end Natalie did take Baldur instead of Nomad. Originally he had hurt his fetlock and had two weeks off but came back into work a week before the competition. So old Nomad got the day off work and Baldur went as originally planned.
Annnnnnd – THEY WON BLUE for the Preparatory 2 test!
They beat me and Hercules!
Natalie has been leasing Baldur from me for the last 12 months and has put a lot of hard work into him which has well and truly paid off! They also did well in the Prelim 1.1 (I can’t remember what placing they were).
The last time I competed in dressage was in 2004. This was a fabulous return to the competition ring and I’m looking forward to doing a whole lot more. The judge’s comments were consistent with everything that we have been working on which is a super reflection that training is all on the right track. We must give credit to Mr Gary Lung (EA Level 2) of Windhill Dessage Stables who has been our dressage coach.
The levels of dressage are:
- Preparatory
- Preliminary
- Novice
- Elementary
- Medium
- Advanced
I used to train at Elementary-Medium and am looking forward to returning to those levels again soon. So much credit must be given to Hektor for completely winging it through a Novice test!
Moonlight Manor Horse Riding 