So my last blog said we were giving BD a go, and give it a go we did! We came, we did and we definitely didn't conquer - In fact not only was it our worst score to date, It was the worst score of the entire day, of all competitors in all tests! OOPS! Apparently he has never seen the judges box at a venue we regularly compete at, and hire once a month *sigh*.
His spookiness is by far his biggest weakness. In a warm up arena I can keep him preoccupied, keep him on a circle, lots of lateral work, lots of transitions and he is so focused, but the walk from the warm up to the arena is usually enough for all concentration to be lost and the dragon noises to appear, then we get one full lap to contend with whatever horse eating obstacles are on route, these are usually flower pots!..... and.... trot down the centre line! Yup, this fire breathing dragon, running from those vicious tulips is now required to ride a balanced, rhythmic centre line, straight at the judge!
Well we managed to make it to X before his head was higher than a giraffe, his trot became slower than the pace of a sloth and round about G we stop! So G was as close as he was prepared to get to the judges box, for the entire test, which we had to go past 5 times, twice in trot and twice in canter and once in walk!
Well, just another learning curve! We went and did another unaffiliated at the weekend, and the judge was delayed starting us so we got to go around the arena 4 times rather than once! What a huge difference this made, to our scores and concentration.
I guess now the decision is, do we sacrifice the scores for a while, and try out a tonne of venues to build his confidence, or do we try competing at the same regular venues, in the hope that familiarity settles him down?! Watch this space...…..
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Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.