Category: Cledlyn Rocky

1. Rocky does Dressage - Again!

   Posted on 8:46pm Monday 11th May 2015

   Rocky does Dressage…. Again…

   It has been a few weeks since we last ventured out, and as I was riding a client’s horse at Woodington Training Centre, I thought it only fair that Rocky went too!

   We entered Intro A (again!) as we are not quite ready for Prelim in competition just yet, and then my other horse was entered in the Prelim 18 class.

   We arrived early to ensure no rushing was necessary, and in fact had an hour to our time, so Rocky stood as quiet as a church mouse tied to the trailer munching on his Equilibrium VitaMunch for quite a while before tacking up.

   Perhaps I should have been a bit suspicious of this church mouse, as once tacked up and mounted appeared to turn into a raging bull! Flipping Norah, we could have been doing a GP with the Piaffe, Passage and lateral movements, and that was just getting to the warm up!!

   Having my fabulous trainer Karen’s voice in my head I knuckled down (and sat back!) and put Rocky in his “Box” a term we use to focus him, nothing bad, just a “we are doing XYZ…” rather than allowing Rocky to do his own thing! We spent a fair while working on suppleness and submission, along with transitions to keep him listening. All the time Karen was sat on my shoulder with her words of wisdom running through my head which helped enormously when Rocky decided that actually today being that boring flat stuff was far too boring and wanted to go jumping (that was our last outing), so he decided to make life a little entertaining, having put him in his “box” he wanted to air his opinion on not wanting to be in said box, and after trying to use imaginary goblins to spook at, unsuccessfully, decided the only way he was going to be heard was to attempt to stand up and wave to everyone!

   Immediately Karen appeared in my head and instead of thinking oh ****** here we go, I simply gave him a “positive” leg aid and much to Rocky’s disgust we were on our way again. Seriously, whoever had swopped Rocky for this one was having a real laugh!!

   Our time came, we entered the arena, the bell rang, we went down the CL and…. Well, the real Rocky returned, a decent test was ridden with a few mistakes and tense parts, but overall we had another outing under our belt, albeit a slightly hair raising one for the first 30 minutes!

   The test can be viewed here

   Oh yes our score, well I am absolutely delighted to say we got a 5^th place with 69.57% and some absolutely fabulous comments.

   Then Bella was next up, Jan her lovely owner had got her ready and it was just down to me to get her warmed up ready.

   Bella hasn’t been anywhere for a long while, although she has been to Woodington previously. I have only ridden her once in the last week and never in competition so it was a case of ride by feel.

   She warmed up beautifully, really on the aid and totally the opposite to a certain bay cob!!

   Our time arrived and away we went. She was tense for the first few movements and didn’t really soften, however as we got going she settled beautifully and tried so hard for me, she was a diamond.

   Our test can be viewed here:

   The score was 65.24% and 10^th place which we were over the moon with, such a lovely welsh cob.

   Oh, did I not mention that Bella is Welsh Cob too? Yes, it was a welsh kind of day, and a very very good one at that!

   I shall not be leaving it so long before our next outing again as I think that is what will help Rocky in his education, I just need to make time for it in my very busy schedule!!

   For more pictures pleae visit the Facebook page here

2. Rocky's Dressage Debut....

   Posted on 10:53am Monday 12th Jan 2015

   Rocky’s Dressage Debut…

   On a cold but bright January morning, the 11^th of Jan 2015 to be precise, Rocky and I made our Dressage Debut at Woodington Training Centre.

   I entered Rocky for the Intro A class to introduce him to this thing called “Dressage”, but the main object of the day out was to build confidence and gain experience, so the Intro was ideal to begin his career.

   One of my concerns was the warm up arena as working around other horses recently has been, well, exciting! Never in a nasty way, just a genuine excitement, so again, the warm-up was an ideal opportunity to “school” around others.

   We have been doing our homework over the last week, hiring local arenas after work to school in and run through our little test, all of which paid       dividends as when we got to the show Rocky simply had a look around and I could almost see him working out “oh right were doing “work” again today".Excellent!!

   Woodington Training Centre is a super friendly, local venue which I have previously judged at, but not for a good 2 years. The warm up is a large arena with mirrors and surrounded by a glorious log home, jumps, judges boxes, fields with grazing horses etc so clearly a lot for a baby horse to look at!

   

   Rocky however entered the arena and yes had a glance around, yet was honest and willing to get on with his “job”. At this point we were in the Warm-up on our own, other horses were around but not yet in the arena with us, but not for long, we were joined by some beautiful horses and ponies, all getting on with their jobs too, Rocky quietly working around them and although a little look was given every now and then, he was attentive and responsive.

   

   As it was getting closer to our turn, we returned to the trailer to change jackets etc, at which point Rocky was watching the other horses doing their tests, almost in a “OK so this is what to do then” kind of way!

    

   Our test time arrived and as the previous horse was leaving the arena the steward let us in and off we went. Name provided to the judge and a trot around the outside giving Rocky chance to take the white boards etc all in.

   The bell sounded and a deep breath taken, our very first Centre Line was happening!

   Rocky felt a little introvert throughout the test, behind the leg and a little unsure, however he responded to every request, and I firmly believe he tried his heart out for me. We had one slight miscommunication on the final Centre Line, all my fault as I was too late preparing him for the turn and we lost balance, he came against my aids and basically we fell around the turn!! Arghhhh stupid jockey!!! However we regained our balance and finished our first ever test.

   I had a quick chat with the judge on our way out, as had most of the others, she was thrilled with him, then asked if he was about 6yrs, erm, no, he is still actually 3, but in his 4^th year (which means he is now able to compete), at which point she almost fell off her chair as she honestly thought his attitude etc were outstanding for his tender age.

   Rocky had his Nettex Tastytreat, then quietly stood munching his haynet and watching some of the other competitors while we awaited our score sheet.

   We achieved 61.74% with better moments than others, (would have been better had I not have messed the final line up!!) with lots of positive comments, but this was immaterial, the whole idea of the outing was for gaining experience, and I feel Rocky had a very good experience which was vital.

   So there we have it, our very first Dressage Competition was over, Rocky had exceeded all my expectations (yet again!) and behaved impeccably.

   The diary is now out and our next outing planned....

   Click HERE to view the test.