Sprocket and I on our way to dressage. So cold out!
Yesterday was a super busy day at Waredaca for their final event of the year. I had two horses entered to ride and seven students also entered. Some of those riders flew solo in terms of coaching and Helen coached the pony clubbers so I could focus on my two rides.
As for the students… Natalie had a successful move up to Novice after passing her C2 rating with flying colors. She jumped double clean and finished in 4th place. At the last minute, Carrie decided to pick up the ride on Big Red (his rider dropped out) and compete at BN. She only had one short ride to prep but jumped around clean to finish in 8th. Caitlin had a great time riding Summer and finished 3rd at BN. Also jumped around clean and remembered to breath, huge deal for that one. Caroline and Abi had some troubles on cross-country. A very fresh Bonanza bucked Abi off on the back side of the course. She’s fine but a little pissed. Caroline’s pony was rocking around the course until the hay rack at 14. That fence was the biggest on course and set on a very hard approach for the level. ZZ did his typical jump out of the ring with Julia in his first dressage test but then redeemed himself with clean jumping round. Jasper was very good for Delaney in both phases. Those two just did an elementary combined test.
Now for the horses. Sprocket and Top Gear got to Waredaca several hours before their ride times since I had to coach and walk courses with students and such. They got to hang out in the Waredaca barn and seemed totally chill.
Top Gear was the first to head over to dressage. He was a bit up for the first five minutes of warm up but I settled him into just trotting around until he left out a sigh signaling he was relaxed. The rest of the warm up was walk/trot transitions and work on our circles. When we moved over to the arena for the on-deck part of warm up, he got all up again but only for a minute or two and then settled back into work. His test was good, minus one bobble at the start. His score was an improvement but not as good as it looks from watching the video playback. He got a 40, which put him in the middle of the pack.
Sprocket was next and was a bit too relaxed. I had to jazz him up a bit but once he was in front of my leg, he was all springs. He got a 33.1, which put him in fifth after dressage. I had two people (including the judge) ask if he was for sale.
Top Gear got to jump first. By the time our division came along, the warm up area was trashed. I did very little and he was a bit nervous about the deep footing. In the ring though he was all business. He felt confident enough to canter his course but I wanted to ensure a clean round so I cantered in between the fences and brought him to a trot to the jumps. It worked and he jumped clean easily. Someone asked me about him and two people kept gushing over how nice a mover he is.
On cross-country, my plan was to do the same thing. Let him canter in between the fences and then trot the jumps. We did this for the first four fences. He stayed totally straight for me, something we have been working hard on, and I let him canter fence 5. After that we cantered the rest of the course and he just felt awesome. That horse has grown so much in a month! Looking back, I’m sure I could have gotten him around a BN course but I wanted him to not stress out and for it to be easy. That was totally the ride I gave him and it totally worked. He came off that course happy and relaxed and ready to go out again.
Sprocket was very worried about the footing in show jump warm up and so I just jumped two fences and then stood waiting our turn. In the ring he was perfect. Even gave me flying changes! One of the judges, and a long-time friend, saw his round and asked me if he was for sale. When I said no, she smiled and said it was about time I kept a nice one for myself.
On cross-country, he was bold about the fences but less bold about the terrain and muddy footing. I let him trot when he asked to and cantered him when he felt more confident. He just seemed at times to get distracted by the atmosphere and then would focus on the jump as he got to it. Robert saw the round and also congratulated me on getting such a nice horse. Just really nice to hear.
At the end of the day, Sprocket finished in 2nd place and Top Gear in 5th. Very proud of both of them! Thanks Dom for the photos 🙂 Will post links to Top Gear’s video once they are up.
Next stop, some hunting for Jack and then the Loch Moy Derby Cross for Sprocket and Top Gear.
korizzoinc 