| Dressage Test: BE106 (2012) | Judge: Mr David Trott | Dressage Mark: 33.8 |
| SJ Jumping Penalties: 0 | SJ Time Penalties: 0 | Total Penalties: 33.8 |
| Placing: 10th |
Freezing cold and windy today, but at least the morning stayed dry for us!!! Parking was bedlam. I squeezed the trailer on to the end of the line – more or less parked…. but not really in anyone’s way!
Overbent – hiding from the wind!
The dressage was on the large all weather arena – there were two arenas laid out and ours was the furthest away from the work in area, which wasn’t far to be honest. Finn felt good working in – but she was tense from time to time when a gust of wind took us by surprise. We trotted around the outside of the arena and started our test. I felt that I didn’t really ride boldly enough – and this was reflected in the judge’s comments – he wanted to see a more forward trot, looking at the video I do agree. We had a couple of mistakes: jogging coming out of the free walk and an unexpected canter transition C-H in movement 16. I have also started tipping forward again – which really does spoil the overall picture and makes me less effective! Dressage score was 33.7. Judge’s comments were: “Lots to like – Nice rhythm. Stiffer to the left today. Try to sit up more”.
I put Finn back on the trailer – double rugged – and had the opportunity to watch a couple of rounds of the show jumping before I had to get worked in. There were a few problems and a few rounds with 4 and 8 faults, but no one thing causing major issues.
Finn worked in really well – she was jumping well and felt awesome. I was keeping in mind the way I rode in my lesson with Ibby – sitting up and using my body to keep her on her hocks and preventing her from getting long and flat. The rhythm felt great and Finn was really trying, she was straight and we seemed to meet each fence on a perfect stride, giving us a lovely clear round. I was really happy with the SJ, and know we can do a better dressage test – so a lot to be happy with today. I collected my dressage sheet from the office and found that we had been placed 10th. Not a bad day out, even if poor Chris was freezing!