I decided to test ride because the dressage court footing was pretty decent. It's been weirdly deep some days so I've been riding in the covered or one of the other outdoors. So when I saw it was ready to go, I immediately wanted to test ride.
With shows potentially beginning again in June, and with studies showing that we'll likely get a second wave in fall and therefore possibly get shut down again, I've been debating what to do. Do I show in June and July and quickly snag my scores for All Breeds at Second? Or maybe Third? Do I just get one score at Third on his record to make sure it gets put there and then plan to go out in fall if there are shows? Or do I just wait until me feeling ready and shows being available happen at the same time?
I decided to try the 3-1 and 3-3 tests because those are the ones I'll need for All Breeds and see how good I could get them before my next lesson. Then see what Tanya thinks. Then decide about what to do in June. I feel confident the 3-1 is showable right now, it's such a basic test, but I didn't know about 3-3 where everything requires much more accuracy and collection. There's tons of down time in the 3-1 and not too many movements, it's hard to get it wrong if you've got all the movements on. But the 3-3 leaves less room, and I'm on a large horse.
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| These weeny pictures brought to you by the fact that my soloshot wasn't charged enough to track |
The 3-1 went beautifully at first. The trot work is beyond easy for us, it flows well and I can focus on the quality of the gaits rather than holding things together. I noted that I needed to do more reining back and endless walk work to get him to stop wanting to jig, but those were just little things. Walk pirouettes solid, medium canter solid, right canter circle solid, change from right to left solid.
Extended canter went well but I could feel him getting more and more amped. It was honestly nice, he's been the sort I've had to hoist through tests and I was appreciating having him on but not acting up. I thought "is this going to be a clean test??" because we have them so rarely. Then he bolted out of the canter circle to the left, and bolted through the change, I came back around and we did the same thing but sub the bolting for bucking. Eventually I got a good pattern and we ended well, but man that'll teach me to think good thoughts! Still, solid test! Just need to do it a bit more and keep managing those extended paces so they don't reduce rideability like that.
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| His half pass is looking like a half pass right now though! |
I went into the 3-3 skeptical but determined. I just wanted to see how the trot work rode because the half passes were steeper and everyone fucks up the two half circles in trot. I definitely need to ride those more but the trot work was so fabulous! Again, it just flows so easily for him.
I went to start the canter work and he stalled out but picked it up. The canter work went shockingly well! The half passes aren't too steep for him, the changes happen easily, and I rode the extension at the end conservatively but the whole test was clean!!!
It's not feeling too rideable though. The canter is tough, he's the most rideable when he's amped up but then he's more likely to lose it mentally. It's an issue we have only in tests because I can feel him getting to that point in work and just change what we're doing and he calms down. Sounds like I need to push him for longer and get that comfort zone moved out a bit more.
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| Also pleased I'm not doing weird shit in it like I used to |
Still though, I'm so pleased!! He's such a cool horse, I never would have guessed the third level work would be so easy for him. His canter will forever need developing and I think it'll take me some time to be able to ride him on edge like I need to in order to keep him rideable... Add into that being in a new place and in front of a judge and all. But all the pieces are there!
So we'll see what happens this summer with shows. Tanya is coming back at the end of May so I might get her eyes on the 3-1 and then sign up for a show in June to just do that test once or twice. Then if he scores well and handles his shit, I can dump him into a bunch of shows and get my All Breeds scores, if not, then I'll fix what needs to be fixed and we'll stick with 3-1 until he's ready for 3-3. That test is no joke! But we have one clean test under our belt and that's pretty exciting. Just keep swimming.
It will probably all come together a lot more seamlessly and quicker than you anticipate!
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