Myerscough Dressage
I’ve decided to try and new tactic. We always seem to do much better in our first test than in our second. I think that by the time of the second test that Jad feels he’s done enough work thank you very much and wants to go home for his lunch. So, having qualified for the Preliminary Regionals last week (yay, I still can’t believe that), I decided to go straight in and just do the Novice at Myerscough this week.
It was pouring with rain when we got there, but a quick check with the secretary brought big smiles because we were allowed to use the indoor warm-up. So, I got Jad ready while he was still on the wagon, got changed myself and we were soon in the warming up in the dry.
I always like to have a nice long warm-up so was not surprised to see that I had the indoor school all to myself. I was merrily doing medium trot and canter without having to worry about running anyone over, but after a while started to feel a bit concerned that no-one was there with me. The niggling doubt of ‘have I got the right day’ flew through my mind, but I knew this not to be the case as I had already been chatting to the secretary!
At that point I spotted the organiser and asked if I would be allowed to win if I were the only entry. He said I could, but not without being judged and she hadn’t turned up yet either! Eek! After cracking jokes about it being nice to win my entry fee back for a change I was still relieved when Andrea (groom for the day and reader-in-chief) said that two other people were getting ready in the wagon park.
The judge arrived in the nick of time, and I was soon nervously trotting round the International Arena. (It’s a posh title, but then it’s a posh place!)
Being first in, I felt like a bit of a guinea pig but Jad was nice and calm and produced a flowing, if not exciting, test. I was all smiles at the final salute after he performed an absolutely perfect square halt. I hoped he’d done enough to get over 60%.
After cooling Jad down and putting him on the wagon for a rest and to eat some hay, Andrea and I disappeared to the café to scoff breakfast and coffee and to watch a few other people. We concluded that we didn’t understand how judges managed to differentiate between tests as we watched several different types of horse all perform nice tests in different ways. It’s not a job I think I could do!
We had hoped to wait around until the end of the class, but a quick check on Jad saw that he was getting fed-up on the wagon and stamping his feet. I think he wanted to join the pony clubbers having jumping lessons in the outdoor arena. There were still no scores up, but I felt it better to take Jad home and come back later to collect my test sheet.
When we finally got back (driving home, taking plaits out, mucking out wagon and stuggling out of boots takes a while) I could see that the scores were up and also that Jad had managed a placing, although I was too far away to see what the placing was. It was Andrea who pointed out that we’d won! And with a good enough percentage to part qualify for the Novice Regionals. Prize money was per overall and we were good enough for 3rd place money, so after all the jokes earlier, we pretty much won the entry fee back.
We’ve got to try and win again now to make the Novice Regionals!