This time last year he won the Prelim Regional Final and was placed in the Novice Restricted/Freestyle. This year being out of Novice points we stepped up to Elementary. We started with the Elementary Restricted on Saturday. A nice time of 3.36pm and only a few after us before the end of the class. Lots of lateral work in the warmup to get him soft and stepping under with his hindleg. Practised the major movements of the test and all felt good. He went in very chilled, no spooking at the flowers and did such a grown up test with no mistakes. I really couldn't have asked for any more from him. Was really pleased with a score of 67.448%. We have only done E59 a couple of times and that is our highest score so far by about 3% and at the Regionals no less! There were 29 in my class and although I was secretly hoping for top ten I didn't think it was realistic. Somewhat frustrating to come 11th, missing out on top ten by one measly mark. Kept looking at my test wondering where I could have got it but really don't think he had any more to give me and 11th is still a great result at this level out of 29 top combinations.
We got 69.2% from the judge at C and around 66% from the other 2 judges. Judge at H (Sue Rowlands) gave him straight 7's for his walk and canter work, just his trot work bringing the score down a bit, judge at C (Heather Ashley) similar with a few 7.5's for the canter-trot-canters and walk to canter. She gave him an 8 for his leg yield right but otherwise and 7's/7,5's for most of his trot work. Even got a 7 for his second medium trot across the diagonal - a 7 for medium trot at the Regionals - nearly died of shock! She actually only dropped him down for his medium trot and despite mostly 7's for the test only gave 6.5's for impulsion and submission which was a shame, just dropping his score to 69.2% - pretty fab score for him at this level! Judge at M (Rosanne Liversidge) was the least impressed by him. Leg yields got 7 and 7.5 and a few 7's for canter work but otherwise mostly 6.5's.
A few stills from the video:
Video:
Got the pony home safely and back in his stable, went back into the lorry and something went bang very loudly. Looked underneath to find two of the ramp springs had sheared off and were dangling on the floor. Thank god we got the pony home safely but bit of a disaster with second Regional class to do on Sunday. Cue panicked call to mechanic who promised to come and check it out in the morning and a sleepless night wondering if we were even going to make it to our next class.
Sunday was a weird day as we weren't on again until 9.06pm for the Elementary Restricted Freestyle to Music. Spent most of the day hiding from the horrific weather and wondering if I was mad going to do dressage in high winds and heavy rain. Any other class and I'd have baled but it was the Regionals! Mechanic was optimistic of fixing the lorry until 6.30pm when the springs broke again. Thank god for my lovely friend Claire who has been on standby all day and came to my rescue. Cue a quick visit to the lorry to unload all my stuff into my car, take it back to Monty's yard and then reload it into Claire's lorry. Monty is a star and just walked up into a strange lorry with no hesitations. At this stage my stress levels were through the roof but thankfully Monty was on form and my lovely trainer was there to help me in the warmup. Despite the sloshy warmup he was trying his best and I went in determined to enjoy my music.
Again, he tried his little heart out. They were slow starting my music which meant I had to stop and wait and then ended up behind and halting too close to A which basically just put me a few metres behind for the whole test which meant I ended up adlibbing the final walk floorplan not very well as didn't think very quickly on the spot but we ended up in the right place at the end so all ok in the end! He was a superstar. His downwards transitions in the simple changes could have been smoother but he was very obedient and rhythmical and again I don't think I could have squeezed any more marks out of him. Was really hoping to get somewhere around 70% and he didn't disappoint me. 69.1% and into 5th place. Took Monts home to his field and went back for the prize giving. We ended up in 6th out of 25 entries. Equal 2nd were on 70% so we were soooooo close! I think we'll be just that little bit too far off to get a wildcard to the Nationals but what a score for a little horse who was the opposite to a dressage horse a few years ago, is not a big mover, but has the biggest heart in the world and tries his little heart out for me.
Sara Jane took some gorgeous photos of him for me. Shame about the muddy socks - I did have him sparkling but the warm up arena was gross!
Stills from the video:
Video:
Prize giving:
Score sheets - so excited to get 8's at Regionals level, especially for things like simple changes and leg yield, as well as his free walk. So lovely to have hard work rewarded. I really do adore that horse - such a lucky girl to have him!
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