Octoberfest - Ky Horse Park

[KathyS]

I took Breeze to Octoberfest at the Ky Horse Park last weekend, and we entered 2 dressage classes (Intro B and Intro C). They were percentage classes, and there were 12 riders in our first test. The tests ranged from Intro B thru 2nd Level 3. I felt we did pretty good, although I knew we had drifted a bit left down the centerline into the halt. I wasn't expecting much with all of the upper level tests in our division, but we ended up winning the class with a 67.5. The judge agreed with my thoughts, and we had comments of relaxed and supple, relaxed and thru, and balanced. I was pretty happy. Our scores ran from 5-8, and all of the collectives were 7s. Video of the test is below. Comments welcome.

https://youtu.be/L9G1uuHgBSM

For Intro C, we had 15 riders in our class, and the tests ranged from Intro B, Beg Novice, Novice, Prelim and Western. This was the first time we had shown a test where we had to canter. We had been working hard on our transitions, and she was with me. Our canter transitions in warmup were sharp and balanced. Yippie!! I think the scores were slightly high, they ranged from 63.4 - 72.9. Our ride was great. We got 7s on our canter with remarks of balanced transition, smooth steady rhythm. Our final halt was a 7.5 with smooth turn and straight halt. Woohoo! 7.5 on Impulsion and 7s on all but geometry which was 6.5. Comments of well ridden, steady pace and nice transitions. Very balanced with stead stretch. We ended up 6th with a 70.5. I think I was more excited about this one than I was about winning the other class. She was just so good, and I was really happy because we warmed up on our own. Our trainer was tied up warming up some of her younger students for jumping.

I felt she was maybe slightly quick in both our tests. I should have slowed her down or packaged her a little more. She clicks her heels when she gets a little rushy, and she did it a few times in both our tests.

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[KathyS]

And a few more...for some reason it would not let me add them in the orig post:

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[Moutaineer]

Nice, Kathy. Well done. She looks soft and pretty chill about the whole deal.

[StraightForward]

Nice work Kathy, and it is good to hear from you. I hope you'll join the Goals thread!

In terms of slight critique, yes, I think the trot work looks a bit rushed, but not bad. It is good that she is showing energy, and starting to ask for some frame and cadence with the energy will propel you more towards a Training/First Level frame. However, I would take advantage of the expectation of rather gradual transitions at Intro level and just ease down out of the trot, and taking some steps to the halt, rather than making more abrupt transitions. JMHO as someone with basically zero dressage showing experience.

[Hayburner]

Nice Job - and very nice scores for you two !!!

[Hayburner]

Nice Job - and very nice scores for you two !!!

[Flight]

Nice test! Sorry, I thought this thread was about drinking beer at a horse park, mind you that should have made me look in here earlier
I find youtube and some editors can very slightly speed up the timing, so check the raw footage vs the youtube one to see if youtube's looks faster. But great start, you've got good activity which you need as you move up the levels.