El Sueno - Saturday's First Test

My ride times were quite early on Saturday morning, 8:08 ad 8:46. I was a tiny bit worried that the coolness of the day might give Speedy too much energy, but I shouldn’t have worried. Like always, I checked on him as the sky was just turning gray. He’s always eager to see me on show mornings and very eager to get out of his stall. I hand walked him out into the derby field and put him on the lunge line. In no time, he was prancing around me with his nostrils flared and his tail flagged over his back.

Once he had the big moves out of him, I spent a solid twenty minutes walking around the derby field. By the time we’d made two large laps, he was more forward and less up and down. I tucked him back into his stall and fed him breakfast. I carted my tack down to his stall and changed into my show clothes. By 7:30, he was tacked up and ready to go.

One half of the derby/cross country field

I walked down to the warm-up ring eager to see if he was as relaxed as the night before. As we walked along the edge of the ring, I asked him to move his shoulders into the track and then back out onto the track. Chemaine, the trainer in Somis, had shown me this exercise as a way to supple his neck and shoulders. It definitely helps! I urged Speedy into a relaxed trot and knew that he was going to be good for me. I did a few changes of direction and then picked up the canter both ways. Our warm up lasted less than 15 minutes. He was ready.

When we entered at A for Training Level Test 2, I knew that it was going to be a good ride. Nothing was perfect of course, but as I rode, I kept thinking about how light and responsive he was being. Throughout the test, I kept putting a big smile on my face. It probably looked like a grimace to the spectators, but Christian Schacht, the clinician I’ve worked with twice this year, insists that if we smile, we will relax. So I smiled. A lot!

When we trot down the centerline for our final halt and salute, I knew we had ridden the best test we’d ever done. I didn’t know how the judge would see it, but I knew it was good. As I turned to leave the dressage court, I took a bit of a ragged breath and started to get a bit teary eyed with relief. I was so grateful to have reconnected with Speedy G. I stroked his neck all the way back to the barn and told him over and over how very proud of him I was.

Our score? A whopping 66.429%! And this wasn’t a schooling show either, but a CDS/USDF/USEF rated show. I am beyond happy! The score sheet is down below of course, but the best thing about it is that we scored nothing lower than a 6, which means I finally earned my goal of a ride with no 5s. And to make it even better, out of the 16 scores given for the directives, we earned 7s on nine of them!

I am one happy girl. First Level is getting closer and closer!

Coming tomorrow - the second test ...

Woo hoo!

Check out all those 7s!

These are the best Collective Marks I think I've ever had!