As my alarm started buzzing and playing the hideous tune it does at 6.30am on saturday morning, I was not impressed. We were having to leave early for Dressage because a livery off the yard was entered in to Intro A and Prelim 4, which coincidentally were all before 11 o clock, and my test was at 1.49! Long day ahead.. Laughton Manor is a good hour away, and with Ceaser not being a brilliant loader we always have to prepare in advance.
Needless to say, 3rd time lucky he was soon on the lorry munching hay and we were away. Only 2 and a half hours early...
I'm not going to make Ceaser sound brilliant here, what with his naughty habits of loading, but he also hates standing on the lorry. So as soon as we arrive at a show he has to come off and then will happily stand all day tied to the lorry munching his hay. Funny creature..
I booked myself in, booked my livery in and tried to find something to do for the next five hours. The weather didn't look brilliant so I took Ceaser, his haynet and my plaiting kit in to the indoor waiting arena and stood plaiting him. I did get some funny looks from the Pony club mums, probably wondering why on earth I hadn't plaited the night before, and why I was enabling my Pony to eat off the floor, but he was happy, I was happy and we weren't distracting anyone.
Half an hour later I was all plaited, trimmed and left with nothing to do, so I helped my livery. This young girl is 13, and has a 13.2h New forest. He's a cracking little pony with the potential to go so far but just needs pushing and directing the correct way. He seems to thrive off your confidence and if you lack it he just falls to pieces. His little rider is fantastic and really does make him look easy but sometimes her confidence just evaporates into thin air, so I was trying to help her by making her do lots of transitions and getting him off the leg more. He has a tendency to have the incorrect bend and this does affect him in a Dressage test immensely. Though I am sure it will come. I finished off by reading both tests for her and she was pleased to get a respectable 3rd place with 58% in the Intro A. I thought she deserved more as the whole test looked fantastic, but this is her highest Dressage score so she was over the moon.
12 o clock came and it was my turn to get on. As I began to tack Ceaser up I could sense him getting more and more agitated, spinning around with his ears pricked. The joys of horses. As I jumped on I knew instantly in he was in a mood. I didn't have to put any leg on walking to the outdoor warm up arena, and once in there had to apologise profoundly to many riders for cutting them up as Ceaser leg-yielded across the school infront of them without me so much as asking him to. Needless to say his trot felt amazing and he was really working well through his back end, but as soon as I asked for Canter his bum shot up, his head went between his front legs and we bronked round the arena. Other riders must have been laughing at me wondering why the hell I was riding now and not earlier on in the Intro's... Sometimes I wonder!
After doing this for about 10 minutes I announced I was having no more and was just quitting with the warm up. It was getting neither of us anywhere and just winding us both up. I know when Ceaser gets wound up and trust me, its better to quit then rather than later.
So, I took him back to the indoor waiting area and just waited for our class. A friend of mine told me to use it as a warm up for next week at our first affiliated event.
Soon it was time for us to go in, and sure enough as I hit that centre line and entered at A in a working trot, Ceaser stuck his head in a lovely outline and continued to produce a lovely test with some lovely rocking chair canters.
I take it he just dislikes the outdoor warm up arena then? Who knows.
Next to come was Elementary 44, and again he went in, trotted down tha
t centre line and I felt every bone in his body relax. It really is like he knows he's there to do a job and he's not happy until he's done it. The whole test went smoothly and we came out to everyone saying "Well done, that looked fantastic". Blooming pony...I was more than chuffed when I checked the results later and found myself having won the Novice 27 class and getting 2nd in the Elementary! What a way to end the day, after it started to badly. So, ceaser is no longer in bad books and next time he misbehaves in a warm up I think I'll just forget that part..
On my way home I got a phone call from my local tack shop "Newbridge Tack" asking if she could have a chat with me. I am pleased to say that she has offered me a Sponsorship deal, and will be providing me with a free jacket, rugs, Saddle cloths and discount feed and tack! What a fantastic end, to a roller-coaster day!
Onwards and upwards I think..
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