The Arabian show at the fairgrounds was a big success. The dressage classes were small and had a variety of competitors, from Friesians to Thoroughbreds to Arabians. There were a lot of last minute cancellations and most of the volunteers were running the Arabian Breed classes at the same time, so we ended up without a ring steward for dressage. And that's where things started to fall apart.
After the third rider, the ride times were abandoned since there were so many time gaps. So people scrambled to go early, but there was no well defined order of go. And without a rind steward, people were forced to ask the judge when they might go, and since she was overwhelmed with, oh, judging, things sometimes got out of hand. Couple the timing chaos with a horse that flipped out and needed to be aced, but no one was sure if it was legal (albeit not advisable), so there was an ensuing argument with the judge. Sigh.
The good news is that Brego won his Training Level 2 test with a 67.1%. We scored three 9s for trot work, a definite first! Brego was forward and relaxed, but I felt like we were not well put together, like we ran the pattern, but didn't show a good presentation. Then for Training Level 3, I ended up warming up four (FOUR!) times before we actually got to go. By that time, we were both hot, thirsty, and sick of dressage. I was on Brego's back for 1.5 hours!
Brego put on a brave face and was definitely forward through the test, but I was really frazzled. The Training Level 3 test is always bizarre, but I managed to make it not flow at all. Brego broke in the left lead canter, most definitely my fault and then I blew the halt at G. We were riding the training tests in a long arena and I halted at I. Yea, I. As in, I didn't know that letter existed, as much as I live in training level and the short arena. Oh well, it was only 2 points for an error, coupled with our 4 in the left canter. We ended up with 61.7% which is a completely decent score, regardless, and placed 2nd.
I will get the videos up soon. It was not my nicest riding, but I can't fault the big boy for not going forward. He was a very good sport to put up with the confusion and the constant warm up, now sit for 10 minutes, warm up, now sit. He was very tired by the end and we still had to hack home, a 30 minute walk from the fairgrounds.
Brego will get lots of rest and I am going to bump his feed back up. He's in pretty consistent work now and can use the extra calories.
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