What a great day for a show. I rode 2 horses in 4 tests and 2 jumping rounds. I am definitely not in shape, and won't be doing that again any time soon.

 

Adamir was a bit distracted by his trailer-mate. We had some good moments, and some not so good. Still, we had our best score (and ride) for Training Test 3, yet. Novice Test B wasn't as good as we could have been - neighing for the friend, and Training Test 4 was better than the last time, but, again would have been better if he hadn't been thinking about his friend.

At home we now have some fabulous halts. Too bad they didn't happen at the show.

One thing we've been working on since the last show, stretchy walk. And, our efforts paid off. His first 8 at the walk. At home I made it clear that if I was riding, his walk needed to have impulsion (something that was always missing from our previous tests). It translated to the show.

We did a lot of diving in our tests. The judge recommended that I think of the downward transitions as upward transitions, so that I continue to push him into the transition and not let him fall on his face. We'll see if I can pull that off and not just make Adamir really confused...

Funny, now that I've finally got the neck 'unlocked', where he'll lengthen his neck and push forward into the bridle, I'm almost thinking, why did I do that, when I'm just going to be asking him to lift it all back up (actually, I believe in the stretching down to build the topline, and feel that I should be able to ask him to put his head anywhere and get a response, not just have him hold it in a nice headset, like he did before he learned to lengthen and stretch down). BTW, do you think that if I hold that right elbow strangely, we'll get a better circle...

We're tilted in and my leg is back and on...must be a canter circle. Still, it's better than when his head had to be up and his back hollow so that he could balance.

This looks heavy on the forehand to me, although he does have some semblance of a bend.

Must be a right turn. The way that right toe is pointing out, I must be putting that leg on at the girth. My right leg never responds properly and I tend to over compensate with my right hand and arm. After some good suggestions, I've worked at keeping my elbows in front of my body, but I don't always remember.