WEC Dressage Day

So, the Warragul Show wasn't enough for me - today I headed off to the Warragul Equestrian Centre (WEC) Dressage Day.

Honestly, I discussed it with my husband - the horse is already washed and plaited, the float attached, the car packed.  Surely it will be half the effort.  At least to get away.  And indeed, I was correct.  As an added bonus a friend from adult riding club offered to come along as a strapper.  I even had adult company.  (Sabina stayed at home).

We arrived at WEC nice and early.  I warmed Dingo up, then came back to the float for a coffee.  Except that, no one was serving coffee.  I had brought hot water, but not coffee.  This is a mistake I will not make again in a hurry.  Our lack of coffee, and desire for, became the running joke of the day.

Coffeeless, we headed for the dressage rings.  My test was at 9:28am, but it looked like the dressage judge was running late.  We waited, and chatted, and waited.  Finally I rode up to the judge's car - "oh, you were supposed to be on at 9:28, in the other ring".  Oh!  Oh no!  Oh dear!

Luckily, the other ring was still running the test, and I was allowed to go out of order.  So all good there.  My only hesitation was that I had been running over test Prep 3 in my head, and now I was required to do test Prelim 2.  I knew the test, but it just wasn't fresh in my mind.  So feeling slightly nervous I proceeded to ride into the arena.

The arenas were fenced with grey ropes, and at the entrance Dingo stopped dead.  So much for the "enter at trot".   I coaxed him through, but in his mind the ropes were electric and they were going to eat him.  So best to stear well clear of them and watch them the entire time.  There go my corners, straightness, and calmness.  Other than that, the test went well.  (To those not familiar with dressage tests, corners, straightness and calmness pretty much form the foundation of these tests.  Accuracy is the only other thing left.  We had that.  Most of the time.)

But we had a brilliant dressage judge.  As I did my last halt, she got out of the car and approached me.  Now, generally, this is the most humiliating thing that can happen.  It means that you have just totally stuffed up.  However, she very calmly said to me "He appears to be very freaked out by these ropes.  If you ride out of the arena now, it will just teach him all the wrong things.  Please stay in here for a few minutes, and just ride him around on a loose rein, so he can relax."  Allelujah!

Due to my misunderstanding about the test order, it was out of one arena, and pretty much straight into the next.  Dingo was still worried about the ropes, but much less so and it was a more relaxed test.  Straightness and corners were still pretty much missing.  However, that's not the purpose of the exercise.  The purpose of the exercise was to gain experience, and identify holes in my training.  (Training?  What training?  A mere 3 weeks ago I could barely trot a circle.  I'd push it to two trot circles, then I'd be totally out of breath, and needed to rest my muscles.  Canter was a forgotten gait altogether).

At the end of it all, we all got our coffee (hay and water for Dingo) and we were still home (more or less) by lunchtime.

I would really like to thank my friend from adult riding.  It was such a pleasure to have her along, we had a few laughs and best of all, I've ended up with some fantastic photos!

(I find that when you go eventing, you can sing out "hello" to the people in the float next to you, and they will generally respond in a friendly manner.  Do the same at a show, or a dressage competition, and you're lucky if the person cocks an ear.  This sort of attitude can be very unsettling for the inexperienced competitor.  So having your own team along, can really boost your confidence.)