Combined Test Recap

So yesterday Reffy and I went to our first combined test. It was a bit of an epic fail. Lol. He trailered like a champ, walked around the grounds like a brave boy, and turned into the king of ADD as soon as we started warming up for dressage. I think that our biggest downfall was that we just didn't plan enough time to warm up. For his first outing he really should have had an extra hour to settle and warm up, but that's hard to do when you have an 8:06 ride time and an hour drive.

The Dressage Test::

We actually completed our Intro B test without errors, but also without and semblance of submission or collection. He resisted all my downward transitions and anything that was supposed to be straight was more of a 'haunches in'. We had some really great sideways halts. They take that into consideration, right? Lol. Our score was a 50.625 with only 4s and 5s and a single 6 for rider. Go me! Comments included a whole lot of 'resisting' and 'bent the wrong way'. High points? The judge said he was an attractive horse with potential. Woohoo!

Fast forward to stadium warmup. From the second I got a leg up he was on high alert. Reffy was in racehorse mode! I feel so bad for all the little kids on ponies warming up for our division while we cantered sideways practically into people and other horses. Sadly, we ended up withdrawing and not completing the stadium course. He was just so hot I chose to avoid an E (elimination) or RF (rider fall) and just school him over the warm up cross rail when he was quiet and listening.

In the end, some goals were met (surviving) and others were not. So much for ending with a number instead of a letter!

I Swear I Haven't Died!

Oh HAY! You guys still reading? I hope so. Once again, I'm severely slacking in the blogging department, but definitely not slacking in the riding department. This weekend is Reffy's debut at Bucks County Horse Park, competing starter level in a combined training (CT) event. Yikes! It's only been about 4 and a half months since I adopted him but he needs to get OUT and have his first experience as an eventer.

We've had a lot of really good rides lately and some truly stellar lessons, both jumping and dressage. I've been feeling pretty confident that Sunday won't be a giant flop, until this Tuesday's jump lesson. We've discovered that Ref has some pretty serious ADD when it comes to working while any other horse is doing anything within eyesight. He's ok if he's working outside while the other horses are out in the field, but if his buddy Quincy is in the cross ties while he works in the indoor? No dice. If someone tries to brim a horse in while I'm riding? Concentration is blown. And god forbid his girlfriend is out in the paddock just MOVING while I'm trying to lunge before a lesson? Cue mouse falling off the wheel. That's what we had on Tuesday. He completely ignored me while I attempted to lunge him, and once I got on (after girlfriend had gone back inside) he was still up in arms and not listening. Trying to focus on the job at hand and actually JUMP the jumps was pretty much a battle of epic proportions. We had quite a few run outs, zero brakes, and steering was like trying to turn a car with no power steering (really hard!). By the end I was exhausted, overheated (it was also 80 degrees), and wishing my horse who had worked and acted like an idiot for close to an hour would just WALK. Gah!!! Lol.

But I will not be angry or let down or get too frustrated. Reffy is a green horse who I have only had 4 and a half months. He's only jumped (with me) 3 times. It will get better. I'm not worried (yet).

As an absolutely amazing plus to everything, my horrible eq over fences has disappeared. I don't know if it's the new jump saddle or that combined with things FINALLY clicking in my brain, but my past two jump lessons, my leg position has greatly improved and I am no longer jumping up my horse's neck. Woohoo!!!! Go me! And go Megan for nagging me and getting me to this point. Lol.

So this Sunday, we will debut with an 8:06 am dressage time (ewwwww) and a 10:02 stadium time. Our goal is to end with a number, not a letter, and to just make it a good experience. We also plan to school cross country afterwards so that should be fun!

As usual, I'll leave you with some pictures from the past couple weeks. Not sure what order they'll be in because they always seem to move from the order I upload them in, but here are the descriptions::

-Trotting in a lesson
-Walking on contact (yay!)
-2 stills from a video of jumping through a gymnastic grid
-Reffy showing how handsome he is after a bath/mane pull/leg clipping