Marehaven Farm
Longmont, CO
Kelton goes to another schooling show
I took Kelton to a
"ride a test" schooling show on Saturday and we did
pretty well, especially considering
(1) we were scheduled
to ride at 8:30am and 9:15am and I am NOT a morning
person; and (2) we did Training Level Test 4 for the
first time ever. I managed to remember it,
despite having learned it just a week or so earlier,
but I was confused about what was wanted on one of
the movements. Because this was a "ride a
test," each rider got 15 minutes with the judge to
discuss the test and re-ride portions as needed,
although the re-rides didn't factor into the scores.
For the first ride we did Training Level Test 2 and earned a score of 66.87%, with the main weakness being Kelton's canter. She's still a little stiff and short strided at the canter, but everyone who has seen her canter agrees that she doesn't look like she's in pain but rather that she needs more conditioning and encouragement to change her habits. I can relate to that! I've given her bute to see if that makes a difference and it doesn't, which is further evidence that it's not about pain. I need to start riding her more regularly and work on exercises to encourage her to reach under herself with her hind legs.
We earned only a 60.8% on Test 4 but that was due to several mistakes, including my misunderstanding of the loops and my not adequately preparing Kelton for the left lead canter, so she picked up the right lead. After I rode the test the judge explained the loops to me and had me ride them again, and that time she said "perfect." Oh well, now I know!
Unfortunately I have no video of this ride because I was there by myself :-(
For the first ride we did Training Level Test 2 and earned a score of 66.87%, with the main weakness being Kelton's canter. She's still a little stiff and short strided at the canter, but everyone who has seen her canter agrees that she doesn't look like she's in pain but rather that she needs more conditioning and encouragement to change her habits. I can relate to that! I've given her bute to see if that makes a difference and it doesn't, which is further evidence that it's not about pain. I need to start riding her more regularly and work on exercises to encourage her to reach under herself with her hind legs.
We earned only a 60.8% on Test 4 but that was due to several mistakes, including my misunderstanding of the loops and my not adequately preparing Kelton for the left lead canter, so she picked up the right lead. After I rode the test the judge explained the loops to me and had me ride them again, and that time she said "perfect." Oh well, now I know!
Unfortunately I have no video of this ride because I was there by myself :-(
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