A very exciting day! I think I have dreamed of riding in a tailcoat for most of my life, but definitely since I got the dressage bug with my first horse 15yrs ago. I'm not sure I ever thought it would actually happen and most certainly I didn't buy Monty with the intention of it being with him. He was meant to replace my old hunter and teach me to show jump more than 2ft3. His conformation doesn't lend itself to dressage with his low set on neck and downhill appearance and I really struggled to get him into any sort of acceptable outline or to even go in a straight line. I had no more than Novice in our sights at first. However, what he is blessed with is the most trainable brain. He doesn't give up when it gets tough, he just asks what's next. However, he is very sensitive and he likes consistency. Very few others have ridden him as he gets confused and upset easily and then he likes to stand on his back legs so it works best if it's just me and him. Having ridden no higher than Elementary in the past it is the blind leading the blind but we are getting there slowly thanks to huge amounts of encouragement from super trainer Sara-Jane Lanning. Each time we start at a new level I think we've reached our limits but he just keeps on mastering new stuff and we just keep on going! We'll never be world beaters but we're having so much fun!
Cannot describe what it felt like to actually put the tailcoat on. You couldn't have wiped the grin off my face if you'd tried. We kind of lost our tempi changes in the warmup which was a bit concerning and I didn't honestly think we'd pull them off in the test as they're so easy to mess up but at the end of the day they were only 2 marks in total so not a disaster.
So, we went in and we did it. Almost everything happened where it should have done. The 4 time changes were a bit wild and a bit wonky as I was so determined they would happen I overdid the aids a bit. The 3 times were a bit stuffy as I over collected, again determined to get them but they both happened and all changes clean!!! I then overdid the extended canter which was great as it got a 7 but I didn't quite regain collected in time for the final change so it was 2 strides late behind but out of all the changes to only miss one in our first go is fab! He even got a 7 for his 3 time changes and for a few other things too! Plus a 7.5 for his entry - 7.5 at Advanced!!! 7's for his paces and my riding - again, a 7 at Advanced for my riding - I honestly think I could happily retire now! He finished on 63.97% which I nearly fell over at. That qualifies us to ride at PSG now - how utterly ridiculous is that?!!! My little Monts and me are gonna do Prix St George - my life will be complete!
I love this horse sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much!
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