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So "J." has convinced me to take Minnie to a little show on August 12 and ride the two Intro tests. When she first brought it up, I thought she was insane! Minnie's a good girl, but...
So yesterday J introduced me to the elements of Test A (which are also on Test B.) The "oh, dressage!" switch went off in Minnie's brain and she actually got herself on the bit and rounded, at least most of the time, and even, after we'd cantered around a bit, relatively calm.
But OMG those elements are *hard* to get right, while also keeping myself looking like more than a beginner. There is a lot to remember -- getting into the corners, keeping circles round, not veering off to one side or the other when going down the center line, and most of all to "just keep going" if Minnie does something wrong. Never mind everything I'm trying to do -- heels down, quiet hands, RELAX etc. I do find that breathing in time to her gaits helps.
I'm still nervous about not being able to use the standing martingale in dressage tests... Will Minnie realize it's not there and go into a head tossing frenzy, or not???
When I decided to go ahead with it, my goal was to do the test without make a fool of myself. Now I'm thinking it's just to get through the tests without me falling off or getting my nose broken, and without Minnie falling over (just kidding; she wouldn't do that :)
So yesterday J introduced me to the elements of Test A (which are also on Test B.) The "oh, dressage!" switch went off in Minnie's brain and she actually got herself on the bit and rounded, at least most of the time, and even, after we'd cantered around a bit, relatively calm.
But OMG those elements are *hard* to get right, while also keeping myself looking like more than a beginner. There is a lot to remember -- getting into the corners, keeping circles round, not veering off to one side or the other when going down the center line, and most of all to "just keep going" if Minnie does something wrong. Never mind everything I'm trying to do -- heels down, quiet hands, RELAX etc. I do find that breathing in time to her gaits helps.
I'm still nervous about not being able to use the standing martingale in dressage tests... Will Minnie realize it's not there and go into a head tossing frenzy, or not???
When I decided to go ahead with it, my goal was to do the test without make a fool of myself. Now I'm thinking it's just to get through the tests without me falling off or getting my nose broken, and without Minnie falling over (just kidding; she wouldn't do that :)
