Kaurilands Dressage: 07.06.09 Day two

Beautiful beautiful weather!

Sun shining and not a cloud in the sky.

He was very relaxed, and apart from a little bit of tension warmed up happily, although we did keep him away from the main melee of warmer uppers. I also did predominantly walk work, with a little bit of trot.

He was a very good boy in both tests, although very hard work at the canter given that he is not at all light off my inside leg, and does find canter work a little difficult at this stage. But apart from one wee skedaddle (then back to good behaviour) in his second test, I was very pleased with him.

I feel that I need to start really riding him in his tests now, rather than sitting tentatively. However, definite progress, and he was my no means last in either test.

Prelim 1.4

6 x 5 nice steady trot, swung quarters at A, could show more imp,

9 x 6 a little off line after X but tracked up, fair into trot, fair loop, a little overbent

4 x 7 trot loop, both canters (‘smooth trans’)and trans to med walk

145 = 58% (but lost 6 marks for course errors!)

Prelim 1.6 ( low marks across whole class)

5 x 4 shld be long rein (walk) neck still restricted, ½ O too big (skedaddle from dog)

9 x 5 much better trot (lengthn)

1 x 6 L canter

94 = 47% (which isn’t bad for that judge!)