bravery and dressage

On Saturday Fi and I braved wind and impending rain to go to an "out of the field" dressage competition. The yard running it is one of those friendly places that keeps the stress low - so the concept was that you could just take your horse from the field, don normal riding clothes, and do a test. We'd entered to do Prelim 1.

Having had a bit of a wobble about whether to go or not, big sis and I headed off. Fi had been completely hyper once her pals went out so was in a slight nervy sweat, but calmed down once she saw her Highland boy waiting for her in the trailer ;)

She was a good girl - a little worried about a black cob being taken for a ride down away from the arena - perhaps monsters would get him and she should keep an eye out ! But we did the test, got canter both reins (never a certainty if she is a bit stiff) and not a bad score (114 out of 190). The collective marks were all 6's and the comments said the test "lacked energy". I figure that is fair for two reasons.

One is that Fi is not very fit. I found out before that if I worked her for more than 30 or 40 mins twice a week, she seemed not to cope. Through the summer she did one 3 day clinic with an hour each day, and was fine. But since then we have had on and off lameness again. I am reluctant to up the work unless I know she can cope. So she had leapt about the stable when her pads were turned out, balanced in the trailer, got slightly sweaty with nerves, and then warmed up for about 20 mins. She was a bit puffed after the warm up. I warmed up carrying a dressage whip just to make sure I could ask her to work properly, but dropped it for the test itself. The whole fitness issue alone would make energy an issue.

But on top of that I am aware that if I ask for bigger movement I take a bigger risk with her balance. And if she loses balance, everything falls apart and she ends up sore. So I suspect I am holding back slightly.

None of which can the judge see - they just judge what is in front of them :)

Plus it was our first outing in the new english saddle.

Given our last outing (to the western show) was stressy and tense in the ridden class and *lame* for the in-hand, just surviving and getting a reasonable score was an achievement :D

We were equal fourth (with big sis) out of a class of, I think, eight.

On Sunday I rode Fi to give her a chance to work any stiffness from the day before out. Then worked with mum and Rosie - starting on the lunge but quickly moving off it as she was being reasonable. Rosie had two sore eyes so we didn't work her too long. And then I rode Duds for about 20 mins before the cold and incipient rain dulled my drive and motivation and I called it a day.

Rosie has been getting a sore eye since they came in. Sometime it seems to be the wind when out, but mostly it has been after she has been laying down in the stable. We've swapped her bedding to cardboard (Bedexcel) to see if the shavings were an issue - but it seems not. I remembered soothing Red's eyes years back with teabags, so we tried that. I think it is just having something warm and wet that helps, but Red has a dark head so the tea did not really show. Whereas Rosie is a grey so now has tea stains on her face ! Still, she seemed more comfortable afterwards.

Dudley has his vaccinations due shortly so we'll check with the vet about Rosie's eyes then (and get her microchipped).

Edit to add: Fi was shod on the Monday before the competition. We'd been waiting a couple of weeks but the farrier had been ill and then away. I was getting a bit worried as long toes tend to add to the stress on Fi's legs.