January 26, 2016

Schooling Show: Entered

Do you know what this is?


Well, okay, that's the mailbox that came down when the house painting began in September that's still on the ground because hanging stuff in brick is hard, yo, and those are my porch Christmas decorations because...it's cold.  Should probably take care of that...

Anyway, sitting in the mailbox is my entry for a schooling show on February 14!  My first Dressage show since January of 2013.

The only picture I have of that show.  Our barn at the very end of the world at one of the biggest competition venues in the area (besides like the KHP)
What you're not seeing is my intense back-and-forth the past three weeks about what level I should show.  Sorry, JenJ.  Here's the short version:

- We're past Training level for sure.  That I know.

Just for fun, baby's first Dressage show from June of 2012.  "Distracted" and "skywatching" were the judge's comments.  Hahaha.  Photo by Austen.

- We can do everything required in First Level (10m trot circles, 15m canter circles, leg yield, lead change through trot) except for trot and canter lengthenings, which my trainer didn't believe my tends-to-be-on-the-forehand pony was ready to school yet.  She believes it's asked for too early in the Dressage levels, and it wasn't something we had to focus on as eventers, since BN = training level Dressage, so we just didn't do it.

This canter was not yet ready for lengthenings (August of 2015).  Photo by Connor's breeder.

- We can do all of the Second Level movements, but probably not well enough or quickly enough to do them in a test yet. (Counter canter, shoulder-in, simple change, collected and medium trot and canter, rein back, travers, half turn on the haunches)

I talked through this with my trainer on Thursday. She said she thinks as of recently he's developed enough to start introducing lengthenings, but we're only going to school them once or twice before the show so as not to create new problems before the show.

Then whatever happens in the test happens, since it's a schooling show and the point is to get feedback on what we need to fix before our rated shows this year, not to necessarily score high.  Then, we work on lengthenings for real after the show.

Seems solid to me.  We're entered for 1-1 and 1-2 because JenJ said she liked 1-2.  That's really the entire reason.  I'm looking forward to getting some objective feedback (finally)!

26 comments:

  1. So excited for your First Level debut!

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  2. Wait, how did this all become my fault?!??!

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  3. Lengthening = medium (it's a progression, not a different movement), so you're good on that front, just ride your medium. Good luck!! Should be a great show :)

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    1. Jen told me that too, that's good to know. I have gotten a medium multiple times when he's really on my aids, and gotten yelled at to bring him back down. It's just so damn fun to ride. Hoping I can get it on-demand. We'll see.

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  4. Woohoo, way to go! Good luck and have fun!

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  5. Congratulations!! If you've gotten a medium by accident at least you know he's got a lengthening so you just have to teach him how to do it on cue :-)

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  6. Exciting!! You guys will be awesome! Have fun!

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  7. Sounds like a blast! Can't wait to hear about it

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  8. Best of luck, sounds like fun!

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  9. I'm super excited to read about this!

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  10. OMG please get video!!! Excited for you!

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  11. Have you been to Majestic before to show? You and Connor will be fabulous! Have a wonderful time :)

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    1. I have, my trainer took a bunch of us there who had never shown before in January 2013. It's huge!

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  12. yesssss this is awesome!! i'll be at a schooling show on the same day doing many of the same movements, but in the eventing tests bc the venue only has a small court, boo.

    seriously tho - i think you guys are definitely ready, and schooling shows are the perfect opportunity to really go for it, push your limits, and just see what happens (while also getting feedback). exciting!!!

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