Test Paper

Last post on our test, promise!

I got our test paper today in the mail. The overall comments were a 7 for paces, 7 for impulsion, 5.5 for submission (lol) and 6.5 for rider.

We got a 7.5 for our left working trot circle, canter-trot transition to the left and our free walk. :)

Words that pop up are crooked, rushed, tension. But also purpose, forward, active.

The nicest part was the overall comments: "Regular paces, rhythmical and willing but at times getting a little tense and resistant into transitions. A promising combination - work to the training scale and this pair will do well in the future"

So that was nice!!

Trail

Yesterday we went for a trail ride up at Mulgoa again. I love it there, it is so beautiful. We finised our ride just as the sun was about to set so it was really pretty.

Poor Gracie got super puffed out by the hills. That pony needs more work!

Here is a video of our ride. I have two but the second one won't upload. :(

For Funder

As soon as I saw this kitten, I had to take a photo to show you Funder!

Results

I got my test result today - we scored 64.5%, and came 6th out of 21! Not bad Allie!

Test - Pics and Video!

Wild beast-pony.

Like I said, Allie went really well today. I didn't want much of a warm up and I htink I sat on her for a total of about 7 minutes today!

To be honest I have schooled her properly only once in the last 3 weeks. She is a superstar! Quiet on the float, quiet while we were there, loaded and unloaded well. Great undersaddle! No complants from me.

During the test there were a few head tossing moments, a few moments were she was slightly behind my leg, but overall she did what I told her to do at the best of her ability. Seriously, can you ask for anything more than that?

The ground was really wet and the arena had a few bad muddy spots which stuffed up our canter-trot transition to the right between the centreline and B (at 3.33 in the video) where she almost walked to keep her balance. Also, walk-trot transition (at 2.33 in the video) is not great.

BUT check out the beautiful trot-canter transition at 3.13!! Could not have asked for more!

Very very happy. Have some warm up pics:

The Test

Just a quick post to say that Allie did so well with our test! I'm super pleased and I can't wait to upload the video and pictures.

I haven't gotten my score yet so will update tomorrow when they are posted. :)

Quick Question

What do you think of this saddle pad?

Preeeeettttyyyyyyy....

I must admit I am like a bowerbird - I am easily distracted by shiny, sparkly things. So this is the pad I am using this weekend for our first test. Too much? Too sparkly?

Oh well, I have bought it now. I'm going ot pick off the stirrup strap things as they look terrible I think going over a black saddle, but I will leave the girth one on.

Pleh.

Lots of stuff happening:

- They officially told us the house is going to be put on the market. "Great!" you say. "Buy it!" you suggest. Alas, they are listing it for $1,000,000. That is just not happening.

- The above point may be a blessing in disguise. I am having mass trouble with Allie. After our lesson with Ann, I have just been destroying my horse's confidence trying to ride in the floodlit darkness over uneven ground. She just can not take even two steps on a row balanced or through. :( I am getting frustrated, she is getting grumpy and hating being schooled. I have taken her to the local indoor and she went a little better there, a little more impulsion ad balance and willingness. There is LOTS of counter flexion (unintentional) when traveling to the left, lots of leapy unbalanced transitions. It sucks.

- BUT we took the girls on a ride through suburbia via the parks and soccer fields of the suburb I grew up in the other day. When we occasionally stopped to school, my horse felt amazing. Light, through, perfect transitions (9 times out of 10), even a beautiful balanced canter. Thank you adrenalin! She wasn't behind my leg at all and was very willing, seeming to enjoy it.

- So after throwing a hissy fit after riding at home and saying I want to scratch from my test, I have decided to continue with it. Hopefully she will have her happy pants on on the day.

- Back to the blessing - we are looking at agistment places. Agisting sucks, but if it means I can keep my horse somewhere with a floodlit arena with good footing, then it should be worth it. We are visiting a place tomorrow which looks quite nice, so I'm hopeful. Maybe this moving thing will just force me to actually use this beautiful horse I have.

Saddle Fit, Lesson, Happy Ponies.

We had Tony Flynn come do a saddle fitting for both Allie and Gracie yesterday. I bought my saddle from him over a year ago, but I could tell that my saddle wasn't balanced for me (it was fine for Allie). Sure enough, it was tilting me forward and needed a heap of flocking up front. It felt great in my lesson!

Gracie's dressage saddle is no good. It doesn't have a changable gullet so it is now for sale for about $50 if anyone wants it? Natalie's other saddle, a wintec all purpose, DOES have a changeable gullet so he fitted that to her and she went so.much.better. under saddle with it - Nat said it was her best ride on her - ever. He put an extra wide gullet in it! No wonder the poor mare didn't have much forward or want to lift her back before.

We got some photos and video:

Nat was trying to get up off her back here I think - looks like it worked!

Watch this one, it has a lol moment!

Happy pony and rider after the cool down walk up the street.

Our neighbor's cute dog who came for a walk too. LOVE those ears!

I also got a lesson with Ann before Nat rode Gracie - pics and vid of this too! We concentrated on her being 'through' to help with our walk-trot transitions (which are normally 'leaping' - Ann said "we will fix that today!" and so we did!) and then have a little go with the same principles at the trot-canter transition.

Finally - a nice trot-canter transition. Just what I was looking for!

 

I was so satisfied with the lesson - Ann said that with a horse at this stage normally they look for nice moments - Allie rather has bad moments among the nice, if that makes sense? She also said once Allie has the balance and strength, her trot is going to be amazing. I'm so excited. :D

So motivated and excited for my test now!!