Dressage in the Valley/Day 1, T2

I was really disappointed with our first test of the day, but I shrugged it off and squared my shoulders ready for test 2.  I managed to stay on course and Speedy managed to keep his bodily functions quiet for the duration of the test.  As we rounded the corner between F and A, I had a huge smile on my face.  As we finished the final trot down the centerline, I beamed at the judge and asked Speedy for a nice quiet halt.

It was such a better test than earlier in the day.  Yes, the stretchy trot circle stunk, but at least it was better than the first one.  I was feeling pretty good about the ride we put in and was eager to see our score.

When I searched for my name on the posted ride scores, my heart sank when I saw we were in fourth place out of five riders.  And worse, we scored a 57.679% which was almost exactly the same score as we had in test 1, a 57.292%.  AND this was with a different judge.  To say I felt like the world's worst rider would be an understatement.

When I went to bed that night, I opened up my tests and read them over very carefully.  I focused on the judges' comments and rationed that since both judges had given me such similar scores they must be fair and accurate.  I vowed to apply the judges' comments to my rides the next day.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to chat with many other riders and was comforted to find that they too were disappointed with Saturday's scores and felt that the judges were too harsh in their scoring.  Harsh or not, at least I was in good company.

Here is the Training Level Test 2 Score Sheet:

Fourth Place out of Five

6.5 points shy of 60%

"A Pleasing Pair" - at least she said something nice ...