Saturday found us having a Big Adventure! Looked a bit like a spot of dressage but that wasn’t really the point.

Friday evening I picked up a hire horsebox from Atacanter in Radlett. This is the first time I’ve ever driven a vehicle of this size and I wasn’t sure how I would find it. Also Dino can be funny about travelling in small boxes so I wasn’t certain he’d agree to get into it.

The box:

Happily though after a bit of a sniff and a stamp he targetted right onto it, in the dark even!

Success at stage one! Saturday morning he hopped right on and we went off to Brook farm to do intro C and prelim 7. Wasn’t the best day’s dressage ever if I’m honest. I thought the intro was ok, but the score was very low – although that might just have been that judge. It was a small class though so we got a rosette anyway! The prelim was really not great as his canter has fallen apart again. But we proved that he will go into a box and that I can drive one which was mostly the point of the weekend!

Class 1. Intro C. Unaffiliated Dressage. Brook Farm training centre. Essex. UK. 28/10/2017. MANDATORY Credit Garry Bowden/Sportinpictures – NO UNAUTHORISED USE – 07837 394578

Class 3. Prelim 7. Unaffiliated Dressage. Brook Farm training centre. Essex. UK. 28/10/2017. MANDATORY Credit Garry Bowden/Sportinpictures – NO UNAUTHORISED USE – 07837 394578

4th in the intro!

So now we’ve proved we can do it I think it has to be back to basics for a bit. I need to sort my riding out. I rode him in the HM saddle yesterday and whilst I felt like I had more contact with him, I also felt like I couldn’t get him to move straight as I don’t think I’m sitting straight. So maybe so walk work without stirrups is called for!

Winter is coming so we’ve had our first clip!

I sort of feel like I’d like to clip his face but I would need some smaller/quieter clippers.

I’m not feeling very pleased with myself at the moment. I’m feeling frustrated with how he’s going under saddle and I’m letting it show, and I really need to learn to control it. We are going to be getting some coaching from Judith as part of her connection training teacher training course which I’m looking forward to. More about that when it happens.

I have my FlexEE saddle back. Holly came and fitted t. I’m not sure Dino likes it though, he barely moved in it on Saturday which was very odd. We’re going try it over the next couple of weeks but if he doesn’t settle I’ll sell it. Could use the money to be honest! So we’ll see.

More dressage this weekend. I need to practice sitting still and leaving him alone this week no matter how he moves.

Well I don’t think it was our finest test ever, but we did get back into the dressage thing at Brook Farm yesterday!

Class 1. Unaffiliated Dressage. Brook Farm training centre. Essex. 30/09/2017. MANDATORY Credit Garry Bowden/Sportinpictures – NO UNAUTHORISED USE – 07837 394578

Class 1. Unaffiliated Dressage. Brook Farm training centre. Essex. 30/09/2017. MANDATORY Credit Garry Bowden/Sportinpictures – NO UNAUTHORISED USE – 07837 394578

He was pretty dead in the ring which was really disappointing as he’s been so much more forward at home. But he has some kind of insect bite thing going on (again) at the moment and he was wormed the night before so he may not have been feeling 100%. Once he dropped back I fell back into nagging which wasn’t helpful, so I’m not terrible pleased with my riding here but we got 62.17% and I do think that’s an improvement. When he went into the ring feeling this dead to me previously we were getting 57/59%.

Here’s the video:

It doesn’t look at bad as it felt I don’t think. I need to learn to chill. Hopefully if we get a bit more practice that will improve. Roll on 28 October when we do that again.

Meanwhile there are two things I need to be thinking about:
– sitting stiller
– shortening my reins a bit.

I might put some tape on the inside of the reins and try to concentrate on keeping them a bit shorter. I don’t think they need to be super short but I do think they need to come in a bit. He couldn’t show enough stretch in the trot when called for as the reins were already too long, and he didn’t get a good mark for the free walk either.

Next week or so then, he’ll get some chill time!
Monday – Schooling (poles? Equicore)
Tuesday – DAY OFF
Wednesday – Lunging (Equicore)
Thursday – Schooling (Equicore)
Friday – DAY OFF (I’m away)
Saturday – DAY OFF (I’m away)
Sunday – DAY OFF (I’m away)
Monday – DAY OFF (I’m away)
Tuesday – Lunge (Equicore)
Wednesday – Schooling (Equicore)
Thursday – Schooling (poles)
Friday – Field