He started jumping training on the 7th February, 1998, and although it was just trotting poles with a 6"/8" jump at the end, he went over all with no problems at all and was very calm and acted as though he was just king muck about doing everything properly. I was so proud of him and absolutely everybody at the training day was vocally impressed with him and nobody could shut-up about how wonderful he is. I was rather happy that I finally have a horse that *everybody* likes, even TB people.
Since then he competed in a w/t test in which he came 3rd and beat some *proper* horse with extremely good riders. We beat the lady who owns the local produce store which was good. We are great friends and are always carrying on about whether "those darn TB's or STB's" are better :) Well she was actually on a QH but that doesn't matter.
On the 5th of April, 1998, I went to the dressage at Terranora. He went perfectly and was so relaxed and wonderful. The w/t went pretty well but it wasn't as precise as I would have liked. I think it is because I ride differently when I'm actually being judged. Must get out of that habit. The Prelim went marvelously well for him and he didn't go silly and tried very hard. So hard that at the end I almost forgot to salute the judge as I was too busy telling him what a good boy he was.
After that I decided that dressage was boring so I went and galloped round in the back paddock and went over some of the cross-country jumps and had lots of fun. He is a really good jumper and very bold which is great.
I got the results back from the dressage and although I didn't expect to place, I certainly didn't expect, or deserve what I got. The w/t was okay and judged fairly but the prelim.........34.94%!! I have never recieved such an awful mark. What angered me most, is that I got the same marks for my trot work as I did for my canter and his trot was balanced, round and flexed, whereas his canter was none of those things. It's very disheartening to put all that work into training and preparing for a comp to be judged by someone who either didn't know what they were on about or didn't even watch my test. Wouldn't be surprised if it was a bit of both. I don't mind getting low marks if that is what I deserve, but to have someone who is so obviously biased against my horse is not fun at all.
Didn't really matter though, I knew he went well and I was happy with him and that's all that matters. I pity the poor judge who doesn't understand that a prelim horse isn't supposed to be permanently on the bit, let alone in an advanced horse outline.
