The groom becomes the rider for the weekend

Well I'm sure you'll know from my post last weekend that I had a dressage test, so today was the day!

I got up at 6 to dress, and eat a quick breakfast and straight out to start grooming and plaiting.

Mum is great and had been out at 5 ish to let Beanie out to have his breakfast and go for a walk and stretch  before we got him in. So at 6.30 I went and got him in.. Well Beanie thought if he sticks his head in a bush and hides his face that I wouldn't see him.. 

Well sorry B, I can see you...your white socks give you away mate..!

We were first at Rosewood Stud, B was nice and chilled and was happy to walk about and have a quick munch of grass before getting tacked up.

I got dressed, and if I do say so myself, I'm looking alright for a rusty amateur! Plus I've lost a lot of weight since I wore that jacket last, so that's another plus!

Once tacked up I mounted up and went to warm up and let B see his sorroundings. He was a little spooky and eyes on stalks cause he's not been out much lately but he soon settled in and worked really well in the warm up arena

He was just such a good boy, he warmed up beautifully, and just was so sweet.

He was a bit jumpy in the test and a noise outside did make him spook but overall I'm pretty happy! 

For my first test in over 15 years I got 59.7% and got some really lovely comments from the judge.

And I came 6th!! Not bad really, could have been much worse!

I am so proud of B and how he tried for me! He made my return to stressage a positive one, and I even channeled my inner Dujardin and sat back and was not a sack of potatoes!

As soon as we got home and rugged Beanie up, it didn't take him long to undo all my hard sprucing this morning! Only a few steps into the field and he rolled and rolled! Covering himself in mud, but he deserves it so can't hold it against him!

I know I am going to be stiff in the morning, but no pain, no gain!!

Dressage, or is it Stressage?

Today I rode B in preparation for next weekends dressage test. Before today I've not ridden in well over a year and not schooled a horse in well over 10 years.

I had fun, I'd forgotten how much hard work it is and that I am also really critical of myself.

Because I'm around horses so much I assumed it would just come back to me like riding a bike.. Well, it did really but remembering everything, keeping your hands up, bending your elbows, keeping a good contact on the rein, squeezing with my legs rather than just kicking all the time and remember a dressage test is a lot for my brain to remember. Transitions! I've not done transitions since pony club! Diagonals, well I'd completely forgotten diagonals, that I had to ask Georgie to remind me!

Well I'm truly tired, my thighs are gonna kill in the morning but I had fun, I learnt a lot. I've memorised my test so I just need to convince Beanie to stop being such a slug and kick on.

I might be rusty but I'd completely forgotten B is too! He's spent most of the winter being a mud monster and going drag hunting galloping round the countryside all the time and forgotten what show schooling!

I also learnt how to tie a stock again today cause that has been a very very long time since I did that. My jackets ready, hats ready just gotta clean my boots up and ready to go.

Here's some photos of today. Excuse my toward position and chicken elbows. Note to self - must keep elbows bent and tucked in!

Overall it went ok today. Just got to remember what Charlotte says "go in there and have fun and enjoy it"