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Wentworth Hunter Pace - June 6, 2021

After Margaret and I had such a fun time at the fall hunter pace, we opted to go again this spring! This time, while I rode Rejoice again, Margaret rode her horse Jester and had a friend ride Ladyhawke. All Kennebec Morgans!! Jester and Rejoice have the same dam and Jester and Lady share the same sire. Unfortunately instead of a lovely late spring day, we had one of the first intensely hot and humid days of the year. It was definitely a bummer, but the ride was mostly in the shade of the woods and we had a great time!  most of the fences were 3' coops but we found a small log and this hay to jump haha Until we didn't. 😑 We brought along a third friend who rode Margaret's older mare, Ladyhawke. She's a good rider but hasn't known Ladyhawke for very long and didn't realize how much of a cranky boss mare she could be at times. She kicked Jester right in the front leg just about halfway through the ride, and while the cut itself ended up not being a big deal in the

SMDA Dressage Show - Sept. 18, 2011

Dreamy and I competed in our last SMDA show of the season on Sunday, September 18, 2011.  My friend Tania (from the Stepping Stone 2-phase post) came along with Otis.  It was their first dressage show and I really hoped they would do well, especially after the debacle of the weekend before.  Tania rode Intro A and B, so her times were much earlier than mine.  I hauled Dreamy to the show grounds a few hours early so that I could be there to support Tania.  She and Otis ROCKED their two tests, winning both A and B with excellent scores!  Sweet redemption!  (And the show actually used the RIGHT TESTS!!!!! :-/)  You can read about her day here!  I am hopeful that she will become a member of SMDA and try for year end points next year! 


I was very pleased with our last dressage show of the year.  We entered Training 3, Prix Caprilli, and First 1.  Dreamy was a bit stiff when I first got on her and had a hard time maintaining the connection to the bit in our first test especially.  She wanted to lean on me and travel above the bit.  Maybe leaving her on the trailer for almost 3 hours was a bad idea.....oh well.  Live and learn.  But I did feel that she improved over the day and the more walking and stretching I did with her, the better.  I have to also remember that she is 20 years old this year, and while very sound and happy in her work, she simply has age working against her.

We scored a 62.400% on our Training 3 test for a second place out of four riders.  We had a two 5s on our canter circles (First time since last year...poop!), and the rest were 7s and 8s.   I also got a 5 on our trot transition, but the comment says "balanced".  So that seems sort of odd, to get a low score but it says it was balanced???  Oh well.  We had 6s and 7s on the collectives.
Love this photo!  Training 3





This was our fifth time competing in the (training level) Prix Caprilli and we were UNDEFEATED for the year!  Yay!  We won for the fifth time with a 65.800% out of just two riders this time.  (It was more fun to win this class when there were 5 riders, but oh well!  ;-)  It was all 6s and 7s with an 8 on the free walk.  Again with the 6s and 7s on collectives.  I love finally getting 7s on rider position.  And I know I can still improve and make those 8s!!

Prix Caprilli!
I think I look so weird jumping in dressage tack!!  LOL!
And I even have a video!

We scored a 63.100% and placed three out of seven (or maybe six?) on First 1.  It was all 6s and 7s, with 8s on the free walk and final center line/salute.  Again, 6s and 7s on the collectives with a 7 this time on submission.  This was a much better test than Training 3 and she was much more fluid and supple.  We had 6s on our right lead canter and lengthening, with a 7 on the transition! To the left we are still a bit lacking, with a 5 on the left lead circle, and 6s on the depart and lengthening.   Oh, and we did get a 7 on the first trot lengthening!  Progress is slow, but we are getting there!  :-)


Starting the stretchy trot circle...
 





Our final year end scores for the Southern Maine Dressage Association are as follows.  The club awards year ends based on tests.  So I was able to qualify for four different tests this year from five shows!  I am excited to attend the banquet in January!


Prix Caprilli = 67.5%
Training 3 = 62.8%
First 1 = 61.733%
First 2 = 57.00%
*SMDA averages the tests together


And as for Maine Dressage Society, they award year ends by level only.  Prix Caprilli did not count at the state level, only at the southern Maine regional level.  That was sort of a bummer, since our Prix Caprilli Training level scores were better than our Training 3 scores.  LOL!  And I also had to include our test scores from the USDF three day Isaac Royal show we did back in July.

Training Level =60.833%
First Level =61.104%
*MDS uses the median score, NOT the average


Overall I am very proud of our year!  All of our training level scores came from Test 3, which is the hardest test in the level now.  My goal was to average out at at least 60% at both levels, especially for First since it is our first year trying it.  You can see that First 2 is a hard test for Dreamy and the average was a bit lower (and I only rode it three times early in the season, so no opportunity to show further growth this fall).  But our overall First level score for MDS was higher than Training level!  HA HA HA!  I was pretty nervous to try First Level at all this year, not to mention on a horse not bred to do dressage (ha ha ha), so this feels like a real success.  
Put your ears up mare!
Love

Hard work pays off!     
This is Dreamy's Look of Death.

Dreamy: "Don't get near me!"
Otis: "But I looooooove you!

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