First Dressage Show of the Year

Otis and I went to the Hollis Equestrian Park on Sunday May 6th for the first Southern Maine Dressage Association show of the season. This year I signed up as a member, not only to support the club, but to try and earn some points as well.

Otis was pretty chill when we got there, which was good. I pulled him off the trailer and immediately started getting him ready, I wanted plenty of time for warm up just in case his chill mood decided to wear off. Otis kept pretty much the same attitude after I got on him. I walked him around the show grounds for a while, and then decided to take him into the warm up arena, there weren't that many horses in there, and I wanted to see how he would act. He was really good! We walked and trotted for a while, and I decided to end it on a good note, and just walk him around outside of the arena until it was time for our first test.

Our first test was Intro B, which we have done four times now, so I wasn't too nervous, especially since Otis was being so good. As we entered the ring to wait for the judge's bell, he started acting up. I think it was a combination of my nerves, and a trailer that had just pulled in with three big horses stomping around inside. He was pretty tense through out the whole test. When we halted at X for the beginning of the test, he took a step sideways, and he cantered a few times, which is not good, there is no cantering in Intro B! So we ended up with third place out of three, and a score of 56.9% So we definitely have a lot of room to improve our score on that test this summer!


Our next test was Intro C, which I have never done before, and involves a partial canter circle in each direction. I was a bit nervous for this one, because it has a lot more movements to remember and I didn't want to forget my test! I had studying it quite a bit in the weeks leading up to the show, and Liz tested me on it just before my ride time, so I was ready. Otis was a bit tense for this test as well, he did a weird rear/hop/jump thing just before we entered at A, so that was a great start :-/ As the test progressed, he relaxed a little more. In the first few strides of our fist canter circle, he did what felt like a buck, but in the judges comments, it said he swapped his lead behind. After he got that out of his system our test went much better. I left the ring feeling really good about our ride, especially considering we have never done that test before. We ended up placing fourth out of six with a score of 62.3%

Enter at A...with attitude!

Overall I felt really good about this show, even though we didn't get that great of scores, Otis made process with his naughty horse show attitude. He stayed calm most of the day, and we were even able to got into the warm up arena successfully!

Looking a bit Better in this photo :)