Dare, Mandros, and the SHOW

Thanks for the pictures Kate!! It was SOOOO nice to have you and Erik there!





this is the halt at A, the judge said it was late!? It looks exactly at 'A' to me. 'A' is in the middle of the entrance (the gap in the white fence)









First off, I dont have pictures yet :( my husband took video of both tests, but a girl at my barn took pictures, and so did Kate, so Im waiting to get those.

Before we got on the trailer, he was acting up. He didnt want to have his shipping boots put on. The last time we put the boots on, he went to the vet school, so we figured he was thinking he was going back. Poor guy. Once we got to the show, he was still being naughty and dragging me around. Jennie, his owner, actually told me I could put the chain over his nose. He heard the threat and quit pulling on the lead. We carried the whip the rest of the day, and he behaved. I tacked up by myself (my husband somehow became the video guy for everyone) and Mandros was freaking out. Once I got up to the warmup ring, Kate and her man were there, so they were able to help me get on.

The warmup wasnt great. He was zooming around but finally calmed down. We practiced the canter transitions and then we went in for our first test. Once we got in the ring, we both calmed down and went to work. I was pleased with how he acted during the test. There were some unexpected flying changes but other than that, the test went well. It really did seem like a bug was on him or something, because the changes werent clean. Its hard to tell whats going on in the video, but Im not moving my legs or hands. He kinda hops twice, and then changes behind. I can hear a horse by the arena call out right before this, maybe that messed up his concentration?


The 2nd test also went pretty well. We did have trouble with one of the canter departs, and once I got it, I forgot where to go (and yes, I even had a reader for the test) so I went down the long side to do a circled at B (which is the movement in the other test) and went off course. I came down to a trot and listened to the judge tell me where I went wrong and then I picked the canter back up where I was supposed to and everything after that went fine. I didnt get good marks for the lenghtening in the canter. She said there was no difference shown between the working canter and lenghtening. There WAS a difference, I have video! Its hard to tell from that angle though.

Anyway... I got a 2nd place in the first test (out of 5 people). The PONY that won is amazing and is a champion pony. I received a 62.67% in that test. The 2nd test I got 1st out of 1, but you have to receive a 60% or above to get a 1st. I got exactly a 60%, haha. Mandros did great, he was better than I thought he would be.

Oh, and I forgot to say, on both my tests, the judge said I need to sit the trot better. If she only knew how hard he was to sit.

I tried to upload the video on youtube, but I think my computer is just too old, it didnt work last time either. We ordered a new one today. Ill try and upload it through blogger. ok, it wont load. I let it upload for 3 hours, so it must be too big. Im going to try and get it on youtube soon.