[Competition Report] Sissons Farm 16.6.13

Yesterday, we ventured over to Sissons Farm, a local equestrian centre, to do dressage again. We entered the Prelim 1 and Prelim 14 (getting slightly fed up of Prelim 14 now!). Overall we came 6th and 9th and got rather rubbish percentages so I'm a bit disheartened, especially for the Prelim 14 as I felt we were harshly marked but ah well. However, they seem to have marked it a bit weird as for Prelim 14 they split it into two arenas and therefore did it as two classes but they were the same, ie not open/restricted or anything which seemed a bit weird. Furthermore, in my first class the person who won had BD class ticket next to her name which seems weird seeing as it was an unaffiliated event so surely she shouldn't have been in it, or at least been H/C? But oh well! 

Prelim 1:
I thought the test went quite well, especially as in the warm-up he properly tried to deck me in canter so I got quite apprehensive about cantering in the test, plus he spooked just before we started our test so took a bit to settle down and I thought our centre line was rather wobbly, however our sheet states otherwise! I thought the rest of the test went better, a few wrong bends which we are working on and he is getting better, but I also thought his canter was a lot better and he didn't buck! However, the judge clearly didn't agree and it turns out that on the left rein he was actually on the incorrect canter lead although he didn't feel it otherwise I would have changed it! We have been having issues again with canter as sometimes he can feel like he's on the wrong lead when he isn't and vice versa so I'm getting him a massage later on this week as he falls in a lot on the left and things so think there could be an underlying problem. Overall we got 57.9% and 6th with comments saying: "very willing horse, now needs to be more connected to help balance and impulsion. Lots of potential." The video can be seen here. 

Prelim 14:
I felt this test was rather harshly marked and we got a lot of comments saying 'muddled' so I think this is a test to, not so much forget, but just move on from. I felt that he was actually okay, normally in the second test he goes a bit funny but he actually went alright in this. Again we had an unsettled start but I think that this is also partly due to the fact that at Sissons they run two arenas at the same time right next to each other and for this both went in virtually at the same time so trying to do the bit at the end is quite hard! We had an issue in canter where I felt he was on the wrong leg and losing it so broke to trot and picked canter up again but not sure if we were on the wrong leg in the end. We also had a slightly miscommunication coming out of canter as he tried to keep going forward in canter, but we had to trot between F&A which he found difficult and ended up trampling over the board! oops! Our halt went mishap again as usual but fingers crossed the massage will help improve that as well! Overall we only got 51.3% so I'm quite disheartened as I felt it went a lot better than some other tests we've done where we've got higher percentages! The judge wrote: "a nice pony but needs to be more forward and at present lacks suppleness so finds it difficult. Well tried." The video can be seen here. 

Overall I'm quite disheartened as I felt he went nicely in places so deserved higher marks, but you can't win them all! Were off to Vale View at the end of the month and fingers crossed we do better there! 

Thanks for reading, 
Laura & Pea x