|
I always have a great time at Dressage
at Lexington; this year was not an
exception.
It’s a well run show and the staff is
always helpful and courteous. They come
around and serve ice cream one day; you
have a competitor’s barbeque one evening
with the dog show and a morning with
donuts. They also have SHAC, the sport
horse adult amateur challenge Training
through Fourth Level. This year I
entered 1st Level. Unfortunately, Jody
Swartz couldn’t make it this year, but
Lynn Whiteside-Jones and I had loads of
fun.
Friday I rode 1st Level Test 4 and I was
trying to get a 58% so I could compete
in Musical Freestyles. This was the
first time I competed Test 4 at a
recognized show and I’ve only ridden it
once before that at a schooling show.
There were 14 competitors and I was very
elated to come in 5th with a 62.895%.
Saturday was the first day of
competition for the SHAC.
Catherine was there to help Lynn and I
school.
In First Level Test 1, I received a
65.333 and 3rd place out of 12
competitors. Things were looking good
for me, or so I thought...(more
below photo)
Photo
by
www.Bobtarr.com
In the next test First Level Test 2, I
didn’t even place with a 59.167%.
Catherine thought it was a lovely test
and I felt like it was a good test, too.
One of judge's comments on my 2nd
movement was "too much cadence." A big
question mark for me and for Catherine
was how can you have too much cadence?
Having cadence is what dressage is
about, isn’t it?
The
judge
stated, and I paraphrase, that I wasn’t
doing a working trot. The one time that
she wrote "approaching working trot," my
horse, even for my standards, was out of
control and his tempo was too fast. With
my horse trotting this way, I felt he
was certainly not just
approaching a working trot as she stated
on that movement. In the majority of my
tests from last year most of the judges
comments were to be careful not to push
my horse past his balance. This was the
first time, hmmm...well second because I
had this judge once before, that a judge
told me I didn’t have enough impulsion
or wasn’t doing a working trot.
Needless to say I was somewhat upset
because I had this judge the next day
for my third SHAC test.
I
decided that it was in Tjerk's best
interest that I not ride my third SHAC
test.
At the time, I felt bad because I
thought I was bailing out on my other
team members. Nevertheless, I changed my
SHAC class to an First Level Test 1 Open
class that was not a SHAC class, but had
another judge. I was tied for
first and I received the second spot
with a 67%. I wish the judge the day
before did not ‘weird me out’ because I
pushed my horse. If you haven’t guessed
it – my final comment from the non-SHAC
judge thanked me for an active ride but
advised me to be careful not to push my
horse past his natural balance. Go
figure!
I
didn't realize that I did not have to
compete in all three SHAC tests to be in
the final placings. That was a nice
surprise!
I did end up in 8th place for the SHAC
and our team came in 5th, which was
pretty cool, too. |
