We weren’t last this time!!

Today (25/1/15) Rocky and I headed off to do our 2^nd ever dressage test at Castle Farm, however it almost didn’t happen..

Having had a seriously bad run up to today, frozen arenas, work having to move, lessons rescheduled etc.. yesterday I had given up on the idea of playing at dancing horses!

Even when the alarm went off this morning, I was still undecided as yesterday while moving some bales of bedding I managed to hurt my back AGAIN and I could hardly move let alone ride! Really, today had absolutely NOTHING going for it!!

Well, I really don’t know how I came to the decision to go, but I did, albeit in a very “this is a BAD idea” kind of way!

Tara my long suffering daughter and now appointed head groom, well actually my only groom, was awoken and away we went.

Rocky was an absolute saint to load, travel, prepare etc etc.. even though he has had 1 lunge session and been ridden once in the past week!

As my undecided start to the day had delayed us somewhat, we arrived with just 30 minutes to prepare and warm up, oops. Rocky was still in a very cooperative mood and stood like a dream to tack up, which took slightly longer than usual due to me being unable to bend and move! Still he was a saint. I mounted up (in a very unconventional way!) but having not much use in my leg Tara had to find my stirrup and place my foot in it, Oh lordy this is such a BAD idea…

There were 4 other horses warming up in the arena, cantering and circling, Rocky had his eyes on stalks and grew about 4 hands, however he very kindly kept a lid on it thankfully!!

We had about 10 minutes to actually warm up, and from the moment we stepped into the arena we were focussed, slight distraction when passing a couple of the other horses, but he came back to me quickly. We practised what we had been doing in our lessons, ensuring a quick reaction when I ask for a forwards transition and waiting when halting rather than halting for a nano second and gazing off into the distance!! He was quick off my aids, stretching to find the contact, giving me a longer stride rather than a “pony” stride, yes he was on it!! Hurrah!!

Vanessa called us and off we went, straight in to the arena, gave our details to the Judge, the bell sounded and off we went…

The test felt like it flowed really well and although obviously not perfect, Rocky responded to every request willingly and with purpose. A slight wobble on our final salute but we halted, stood still, he was attentive and waiting for his next command, which was to be rewarded with much fuss and appreciation from me!

We retired to the box, I unceremoniously dismounted, grunting and groaning desperately in need of more painkillers, but I was HAPPY!

Rocky then had his breakfast (yes we were very late leaving) and stood quietly and happily while we awaited our scores.

After a while the class ended, 13 competitors in total, and the scores were in… We had not only achieved a better score than our first test (see previous blog), but we had also picked up a ribbon! Yey, my gorgeous boy had his very first Dressage rosette which I feel was very much deserved, a 5^th place with 64.5%!

I would have been more than happy to have just improved on our last outings score, but a ribbon was excellent, and unlike in our first dressage attempt, we were far from being last!!

Happy, we headed off home.

We did video the test on my Ipad, however just over half way through the Ipad decided it didn’t have enough battery left and died :( but the part that was filmed you can view here.

I am now attempting to get feeling back and get my back working again, ready for our next outing :)