Dressage Schooling Show at Seven Oaks

The main purpose of going to this schooling show was to have my trainer come coach me, so she can help us better prepare for our next rated show.  So from that perspective it was a big success, as she saw exactly what I was hoping she would see.

Our ride time was 11:10 and I wasn't braiding, so it was a relatively leisurely morning (aside from a road closure causing a slight detour - which compared to the punctured tire, truck problems, and witnessing a bad motorcycle crash previous show mornings was no big deal).  Actually revise that - I wanted to try doing a running braid just for fun, and when I finished I thought it looked okay at first but when I saw it from the other side it was a lumpy mess so I just took it out.  Oh well, I'll need to practice a bit!  In a way it was harder than regular braids for me, since you need to hold it tight the entire time instead of being able to rest your hands between individual braids.

Cupid was perfect loading and we got to the show with plenty of time to get ready.  The usual warm up arena was not available, instead we were directed to the covered arena.  I had it to myself, and Cupid seemed pretty comfortable in there.  I was happy to see that the warm up my trainer put me through was pretty similar to what I'd been doing myself, though of course she always has me push for a little more.

Then we went over to the show ring.  The arena itself is 20x60with regular (tall) sides, and instead of going around the outside we do our pre-test lap(s) inside.  Which is kind of nice to get a peek at the ring, except of course you don't get the benefit of the straight approach to X.  But as we were doing our initial lap Cupid started getting fussy, and even broke into a little canter.  I brought him back to the trot and tried to sit up and deep and give the inside rein a little to get him relaxed.  It's okay though, this was the kind of thing I wanted my trainer to see.  I asked her after if she thought Cupid was just picking up on my tension, and she said no but I do need to make sure I stay level - don't let him change my posting or lean forward, etc.

I thought the test overall was okay, though not totally relaxed or as engaged as at home or even in warm up.  We got our leads and didn't break early, so I was happy about that.  Our second canter to trot transition was a little late, and Cupid took a step during our final halt but otherwise no glaring errors.  The judge's comments included that our loops were over the center line, needs better balance, and rushed a few places.  Our best score was a 7.5 for the medium walk.