El Sueno - Part 3

I had an hour between the two tests on Saturday. I walked Speedy back to his stall, pulled his bridle, but left him saddled. I hoped that he would rest a bit, snack a bit, and even drink a bit. In the meantime I zipped back to the show office in hopes that my Test 2 score would be posted so that I could fix anything obvious that the judge hadn’t liked. And even though I waited until the last possible second, the scores didn’t get posted. With the clock ticking, I figured that I had done my best anyway and would do the same for Test 3.

Speedy is not a big fan of two tests in a single day which drives me nuts as he has completed 50 endurance miles in a single day on more than one occasion. Seriously, Dude, how hard can 6 minutes of walk/trot/canter be? Apparently, it is quite demanding because Speedy reminds me of the fact each time I try to head to the warm up for a second time in a day.

If I’ve learned that my first warm up needs to be brief, I’ve also learned that warm up number two better just be a drive by. The warm up for Saturday was in Sunday’s Ring Two, which had a great alley around the court. That was our warm up – a lap around the outside of the court with a trot down the long side. And even that small amount of work earned a harrumph from the not-so-speedy pony.

Training Level Test 3 seems easier than Test 2 in several respects. It’s shorter, for one. Test 2 has 16 movements while Test 3 has a puny 13. Test 3 has no 20-meter trot circles or the long trot across the diagonal. Instead, there are the two one-loop trots from C to A which I find easier than the 20-meter trot circle. And yet, while the test feels easier, we tend to score lower.

While we had a very satisfactory score, 61.200%, we weren’t nearly as consistent as we were at Test 2. We earned a 5 for the stretchy trot (darn!), four 5.5s, and again no 4s. We had three 7s on the directives, another 7 for gaits, and even a 7.5 for our medium walk. The rest of the test was filled in with a few 6s and one 6.5.

And again, there are actually a few photos to prove that we really did ride! Watch for the raised right hand and the head tilt.

HIs front end is somewhat lifted, but there's the head tilt and raised right hand.

More seriousness ...

My hands are even, but he was heavy! Can you see how he wants to tilt his nose to the outside?

I like his reach. Darn that right hand! We need to work on the gaping mouth. I have since dropped my bit a hole hoping it might help.