Show time
Finally time for a more in depth look at Prisoner and I's first show of the year. I keep vassilating between being happy and a little bummed. Most of our issues stemmed from a warm up twice as long as I wanted, his attention span was shot. He was fussy and a little disobedient, but he didn't check out which is huge for him.
Prancy pony
He forgot how to right lead canter in both tests, which is literally never an issue at home, and again I don't think it would have been an issue if I hadn't been on him for almost an hour and a half. The show had some scheduling issues so I feel like most of the naughty parts of the tests will be eliminated at the next show with a more reasonable length of time on his back. Wow, I seem obsessed with that, moving on.
Sassy pony
Other issues were some tension over his back so he wasn't tracking up all the way and was fussy in the bridle. I will be working on this with better suppleness and bend through his body and making sure I don't fake softness with a lack of connection.
Look at all that pink, not my heels
I also need to look where I'm going and stretch my legs down better. On the upside, the judge loved our outfit and thought Prisoner was a lovely mover. I'm so pumped to see what our scores are next time!
Love his mane, and the saddle pad I won at a Training level event for 4th place one year!
He looks just as cute in his new patent bridle as I thought he would, and we all know how important that is. I'm reading through my tests and remembered that we also need to work on our halts, he thought they were a great opportunity to take in the sights.
Pets for a good boy
Over all the judge seemed happy with my position and just wanted me to be more effective. I'm fine with that as it is hard to look effective when you are just managing your horse's emotions.
This pretty much sums it up, smiles
We scored a 62.3 on Training 3 and a 61.7 of First level test one. I think she was a little bit generous, but I still think by fixing a handful of very fixable things our scores will really rise. If you are wondering what the heck is going on in the First level test, I squeezed it into the short ring as there wasn't a long one available. Watch the videos in high def so you can really see his browband!
My apologies for a terrible show write up, but there you have it. If you've made it this far I will now share my shallow ponderings. I absolutely love my new Kastel sparkle shirt, it is so sparkly!!!! While I'm ok with how these breeches (tailored sportsmans) look in pictures, I abhor the way they look in the videos, serious bleck! Time for some different show pants. I bought some new boot polish stuff (Urad) so that my boots will be shinier and more acceptable at the next outing. That said, I really want to save my dollars up for some new show boots, these look dated to me. #firstworldproblems y'all. I'm very thankful for what I have and I take good care of it and wear it with pride, but why blog if we can't talk about ponies and stuff for showing our ponies.
#adulting but with sparkles
