For me preparation started well in advance of the Area Festival because it was going to be a day of firsts for me. It sounds silly but I have never competed without a whip before and I soon learnt during my lessons just how much I relied on it! Additionally this would be the first time in a very long time I had learnt a test and not had a caller read my test out for me. Since meeting Mark and him taking an interest in calling my dressage tests for me he was been some sort of comfort blanket and I have always asked him to read "just in case I forgot". Lastly the championship test would be the first time I had ever competed in a long arena test.So, two weeks before the competition I got myself a set of additional arena letters, a tape measure and someone to help me measure our arena at home so I could start practising properly! Within a day I had learnt my test and to ensure I didn't forget it Mark and I sat going through it in places like Prezzo's using salt and pepper pots, drink glasses and cutlery as arena markers! I was adamant I wasn't going to let Ceaser down and if I wanted to achieve my dream of being picked for the Northern Region BD teams I NEEDED to ride a decent test. We got some funny looks in Prezzo's but hey....I learnt my test!
The day before the Area Festival Amy came to give me a lesson and together we went through the test twice and worked on the ideal warm up again. Amy has really worked me out and described to a tea exactly what I do and don't do when riding at a competition. She told me to ride a movement, breathe and then just before I am about to ride another breathe again - which is something I really find I don't do enough of - breathing and taking a breath! I was panicking throughout the whole lesson that things weren't going to go to plan or I wasn't going to do something correctly and if I am honest I feel I could have ridden better or made more use of my hour with Amy. However the lesson finished with me feeling more confident in myself and believing I deserved to be riding at the Area Festival just as much as everyone else. This is something else Amy really has had to work hard on; my self confidence. I have zero confidence in myself and at times think I don't think I can do something. I really should remember what my very first riding instructor told me - there's no such word as can't.
Ceaser had a thorough bath and I plaited him up on Saturday evening meaning I didn't have to rush about even more on my already early morning on Sunday. He always makes me giggle when he is in his supreme products purple body wrap. He looks more like a purple Quality Street than a pony. Bless him!
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Sunday came around rather slowly but at the same time too quickly. Before I knew it I was loading up for the half hour journey to sheepgate. Upon arrival I was bewildered and speechless at the gorgeous horses that I was faced with. They were simply stunning. It is evident as soon as you turn into Sheepgate the amount of effort and time Sarah puts into her Area Festivals there. Everything was so well planned and no one was running around flapping - well, apart from me!Ceaser came off the lorry as cool as a cucumber, despite this being one of the biggest events we have been to whereas I was running through my test in my head. I popped his massage pad on whilst I went to book in and take my proof of qualification to Sarah. Before long it was time to tack up and get warming up for my warm up test which I hadn't even looked at because I didn't want to get the movements confused with prelim 19 later on.
Warming up felt 100% better than it has before. Thanks to Amy I now had an action plan in my head and I knew exactly what I needed to do down to the minute. I got on half an hour before my time and firstly I started walking around on a loose rein, just encouraging Ceaser to flex left and right as we changed the rein and did lots of circles and serpentines. I did lots of halt to walk transitions to get him working off my leg and listening rather than concentrating on the busy atmosphere around him. We were the smallest in the warm up again and riding alongside people doing flying changes and pirouettes beside you is rather overwhelming but Amy had prepared me for all of this beforehand.
After ten minutes I started on our trot work, asking him to slightly lift more now but being careful not to put too much pressure on. We did lots of serpentines and circles whilst ensuring he was working long and low as appose to the coiled spring effect we were working to just a mere few weeks back. Amy had explained if he worked long and low with the correct bend I would get a nice swing behind and judges liked to see this - so I worked on ensuring everything was connected but he didn't coil up which he had a tendency to do.I added some leg yield and shoulder in on both reins in to help loosen him up evenly and when I felt like I had him I introduced the canter and did the same again, whilst allowing regular walk breaks. When I had just ten minutes left I picked him up a little and put a slight bit more pressure on to get him working more uphill and forwards. As if Amy had knew when we planned this warm up, I was finished with just 3 minutes to spare which was just enough to time to say hello to a few people, and walk to wait outside our arena. The dreaded arena three....
Usually Ceaser is an absolute nightmare in arena three. I have never worked out why, but every time I have tried to warm up in there he spends his time on two legs and doesn't seem to like going forward. I had hoped that this time because I had warmed up somewhere else and got him listening and working forward that doing a test in there would be different to warming up in there.
Evidently I was right and not once throughout the whole test did he feel tense in any way! Everything just felt like it went right and I enjoyed every minute for once. I tried to remember to breathe before every movement and even Mark commented at the end how much more relaxed both Ceaser and I seemed. We got mainly 7's for our movements and although I had been hoping for a few cheeky 8's I was still pleased with our score of 66.09% which put us into 10th place. The level of competition was very high and with just under 20 in the class I was happy to end up roughly in the middle of the field.
To warm up I did exactly as I had earlier in the morning and went through some movements I knew were coming up. Mark asked if I wanted to look through the test again but I didn't, I was quietly confident and didn't want to ruin it. All too soon it was my time to go and I haven't felt as good as I did at that moment as I trotted around the arena and the commentator reeled off the information I had written down on the rider biography sheet earlier. Ceaser felt good and before I started I glanced over at Mark, Mum and friend Tanya as they sat watching us.
Finally the bell went. This was it. Our turn. The centre line felt the longest and I did all I could to ensure we stayed straight and focused. First 15 metre circle done, that didn't feel too bad, change of rein from B to K (or burger king as I had been remembering it!). Then I remembered to breathe and relax. Thankfully. Enjoy it I thought to myself! I wish I could remember every second of it all but I honestly can't. The test seemed to pass by in a blur and all I remember is coming down the centre line, halting, saluting and almost bursting into tears. I had done it! I gave Ceaser the biggest pat and hug imaginable and walked off to meet everyone who had come to watch. The grin on my face in the photos says it all really. I cannot believe my little rescue pony who 15 years ago we thought was too much for me and were told wouldn't ever do very well at dressage had qualified for an Area Festival and just competed there. Ceaser didn't put a hoof wrong throughout the whole test and I cannot fault him at all. Despite the electric atmosphere and buzzers going off everywhere he listened to me throughout and did everything I asked. He was simply amazing.
After cooling him off and taking him back to the lorry I said good-bye to mum and went off to watch the marks which were slowly being put upon the score board whilst eating Sheepgates famous cheesy chips! Finally my marks came up and we got an average mark of 63.86%. We got 147 marks from one judge which equated to roughly just over 66% and 134 from the other which unfortunately dropped us down to the 63%. By this time half of the class had gone and we were lying in 8th place which wasn't bad! Only the top 10 are needed for the prize giving so I knew we were safe to go home but I ensured I had the live results from Sheepgate open on my iPhone for the rest of the day.Later on in the afternoon when the class had finished I was over the moon to find out we had finished 16th which to me is fantastic! There was just under 40 starters in the class and so 16th was enough to keep me smiling and feeling on cloud 9! I couldn't have felt more thrilled and when I worked out the marks if our final score had of finished on the one judges we would have been 9th!! My smile spread from both ears and I was proud of Ceaser and how well he had gone for me. My pony with such a big heart never fails to amaze me and does everything he can to please me. He took everything in his stride and I couldn't have felt prouder.
I cannot wait for the next few months as I try to be selected for the teams and I am looking forward to sharing this experience with all of my readers. Coming up I have a Northern Region DVD night on Tuesday where the focus is flying changes. Following that I am having a weekend away with Mark for his 28th Birthday (he's getting old!) and then I am competing at Sheepgate again, but this time representing the North Lincolnshire Riding Club in the Area Dressage. Throughout this I will continue to have lessons with Amy and I hope in the next few months we see an even bigger improvement in my tests.
Don't forget.... Dream, Believe, Achieve and you will succeed.
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