Well done, by George!
George has been such a good boy. Loading aside, where we needed a chifney again, George has behaved extremely well. He travelled calm and was quiet to tack up. I warmed him up in a 20x40 with four other horses and he was really good. A little tense, but nothing unexpected. He even cantered (a bit wildly!). We went into another 20x40 to do the test, with the judge sat in a box. I explained that it was his first outing anywhere ever and she smiled and told me to relax and enjoy myself.
So off we went. And he was surprisingly good! He even scored some 6's for his trot work. And a 2 and a 0 for some of his canter, but he did canter a circle on each leg, which I was very pleased about and one of them scored 5. He steered, he mostly bent in the right direction, he stopped and started when he was told to. We certainly aren't going to be eliminated in the dressage phase at our first event. Really jolly pleasing :-) !
Then I moved my stirrups forward and the blocks up and out, and we went to jump. He flung himself willy nilly around a course of nine fences at 2ft 3 with two doubles in it. He hit one fence, but he was enjoying himself! At one point he went into a wonderful extended trot - he really can do it, with dead flashy pointy toes :-)
He's more than 80% there to get to his first Intro in 5 weeks. My shoulder just wasn't even in the picture today, either. I never felt it.
Today has answered a question about what is happening with the tension at home. George is a worrier. When he is away somewhere, he has new things to think about and he forgets to tense up. At home, in anticipation of getting something wrong (I think) he tenses up terribly. I'm now sure that this will improve markedly over a couple of weeks as he learns that getting things wrong isn't going to hurt him.
I rode Jazz before we left. I only had 20 minutes so I focussed on one thing - trot/halt/trot. I haven't done this for a while so I was a mite surprised when he produced a better pair of transitions than he has ever done before. He tried to mess around when I changed rein and got a sharp crack or two with the whip, then repeated the same improvement to the left as well. It just goes to show how basic correct work improves all paces and transitions, not just the one that you are working on that day.
A good day was had by all! Except SH, who has a nasty cold and forgot to take the camera and possibly you, who won't get any photos!
C
posted by cptrayes @ 3:39 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Fantastic! You stayed in the arena! You almost got all the canter, though the "0" tells a tale best forgotten. But you did get canter on both leads, so that's a plus and worth a "10" in my judge's book!
Love the jumping story. George seems to love it too.
Too bad about SH and his cold, but that's OK. He needs to feel better more than I need to see pics.
Polish up some of those dressage moves and you might even just do better than simply finish your first event with George. What a sweetie to be such a good boy.
aweeeeeee no photos :-(
sounds good otherwise though
excellent! and a 5 for a canter no way near established is excellent (even if it was combined with a 0 -:))
The arena was fenced Jean, but he'd have stayed in it anyway, he was very easy to steer.
The 0 was for "not performed" Claire, perfectly fair as we missed one whole bit out. The 5 was very pleasing. He wasn't bottom, either!
He was every bit as simple to manage as we had expected him to be Mandeigh. He's so straightforward to train. There were parts of the showjumping that were a bit hairy, but then most people wouldn't try and jump a horse that can't hold a canter yet - that's just me! He enjoyed himself!!
C
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