Magni and I have just finished the first of the three day Dressage Series being held at Warragul Equestrian Centre, we rode the Prep A and Prep B walk/trot tests. Definitely a day of the good the bad and the ugly! Magni warmed up beautifully, he couldnt care less about what the other horses are doing, he offered up some really nice trot and was soft off the leg. Outside waiting for our turn used to mean me getting off or hed fidget and get tense, now he is happy to chill in whatever shady spot I find for him to enjoy! The Prep A started with an interesting spook and leg yield at D, an interesting interpretation of the walk to trot transition he was supposed to do! He was not fond of the sound of the sand hitting the new arena fence (hed never seen it before) and that tension did lead to a lot of tolt showing through along with a reluctance to really come into his corners. But he finished stronger by thinking about spooking on the centre line but listening to my legs and staying straight. The Prep B (and yes it was a saddle blanket change, he soaked the first one!) started very wild and resistant and I was so focused on trying to help him find his zen spot that I lost my own and forgot my test! Thankfully the judge very kindly got us back on the correct path. Id been dreading a moment like this because I struggle to find the test again once Id lost it. Thankfully Magni came through for me and suddenly I had my horse back. He delivered a not perfect but much softer test that included some very strong trot. We placed 6th in our first test and received some very lovely and encouraging comments from the judge who seemed to enjoy him a lot. Im still beaming from some of the rider comments and our free walk is still the highlight of our tests which Im hugely proud of! Also amongst our highlights is a bit of breed recognition. We always get a handful of what breed is he? questions but today most of them were is he an Icelandic Horse? and a few I heard there was one getting out and about around here! many of which were followed up with questions about working with (and sometimes around!) the gait and about the breed in general. Now we have a pile of work ahead of us to build from today and prepare for the second day in November. Hopefully with less woolly mammoth coat to deal with!
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 04:13:23 +0000