I took Niels to a show at Allens Hill at the weekend. He was brilliant. All the hacking out and socialising in group lessons with my mum he's been doing recently seems to be paying off. He was relaxed pretty much from the moment I got on. No different really from what he's like when I first get on at home.

Our test went well (unaffiliated prelim 10), he was more consistent in the hand that he usually is, but not quite enough yet. Maybe by the end of the summer, please? :P
Only a couple of proper mistakes (A really wonky centre line at the start and breaking out of canter early got us 5s...), everywhere else we went wrong are just things that we're working on and are just down to training. Consistent contact, clear transitions, balanced canter, etc. I'm very pleased with him though, for the first show of the summer he was amazing. We only got 60%, and didn't place, but there were some professionals competing along side us so it's to be expected. To be honest I expected a higher score, we've done worse in a test before and got a higher score. I suppose it's just down to the venue and the judges.

I'll stop micro analysing, here's the test. Critique is definitely welcome. : )


: ) I love my pony.

We have the Haflinger Show to look forward to this weekend. We're competing in the Restricted Prelim dressage (Prelim 4), Restricted Novice dressage (Novice 34) and Ridden showing under 21 geldings and stallions. My mum's competing in the the Open Prelim dressage (Jammy sod, we went to the same show and did different tests, she was in the restricted section and I was in the open section. She got a lower score than me and got a rosette. -_- lol It's all about the rosettes!) and ridden showing over 21 geldings and stallions. According to the judge from last year Niels should have won because he's got a really good bloodline, but he didn't because my mum wasn't dressed for showing, nor was Niels, and he was being a bit of a lunatic. :P We're determined this year!
So we're doing our first Novice test this Saturday... A tad nervous, but Niels is more than capable, it's just down to how he is on the day. I don't know what he'll make of all the saddle changing though!