July 13, 2014
Greetings Cyberworld,
Today was dedicated to my first dressage show. We arose at 5:30 this morning, got ready, and drove to the show location. As Lisa promised, I did have plenty of time to warm up in the indoor arena this morning, and I tried out the “big girl” arena where all the events were held during a mid-morning break. During the first few minutes of warm-up, I realized that my left leg had quite an ouchie in it. Not the kind of ouchie one gets from working out and building muscle, but more like the kind of ouchie one gets from actually pulling a muscle. Leg cues from the left were kind of painful. The worst part is that I don’t remember what I did to hurt myself.
Well, my first ride was scheduled for 12:45, so I had some time to relax, stretch that muscle, and watch the other riders. The leg felt a little better by the time of my second warm-up, just before my first test. Well enough anyway, that I think Zoey got the point of my leg cues. Anyway….. we completed our first test with Lisa kindly (and loudly) reading our directions. I stayed on top of Zoey the whole time, and Zoey and I both remained inside the arena for the duration of the test. In short, we were AMAZING! Not quite as amazing as the other seven horses in the class, mind you, but still AMAZING! We ended up in eighth place.
Me and Zoey looking AMAZING!
Our second test came up shortly after that. This time, Zoey and I were FANTASTIC! Not quite as fantastic as the other five horses in the class, mind you, but still FANTASTIC! We ended up in sixth place, which earned us a fancy green ribbon.
Me and Zoey looking FANTASTIC!
Sixth place ribbon for second dressage test
Coming up very quickly afterward was our third and last test of the day. Naturally, we wanted to end on a positive note, and naturally, we were INCREDIBLE! Not quite as incredible as the other two horses in the class, mind you, but still INCREDIBLE! Our incredibleness earned us third place and a snazzy yellow ribbon.
Me and Zoey looking INCREDIBLE!
Third place ribbon for third dressage test
Now, I’ve come to realize that there are probably two kinds of people reading this post: the 95% of you whom I just met at the show today (who have apparently been following the details of my vacation for quite some time) and who know the ins and outs of dressage way better than I do and those of you who comprise the other 5% and are wondering what in the world a dressage test looks like. To the first group, thanks for the great time today! For the second group of readers, please allow me to explain using the copy of my paper practice session below. You see, lacking my Zoey last night (also having lousy weather and a dearth of energy), Lisa and I improvised with a “written” test. First off, note the random letters around the outside of the arena. These have no logical arrangement, yet this is the standard configuration of every regulation dressage arena around the world. Just accept it. The test directions include things like cantering a 20-meter circle at “E” or trotting the line between “K-X-M.” Next, please note my kinesthetic representations of each of the three gates: walk = straight lines with longer lines representing a faster pace, trot = zig zag lines because that’s just kind of what a trot feels like, and canter = loopy lines because, well, that’s what a canter feels like. Basically, I just traced out the whole test as my sister read it to me, and this mess is the result. So, to understand a dressage test, all you have to do is start at “A” and follow the path of my pen. Now, to really see what a dressage test looks like, please type “dressage video” into your favorite search engine. However, to answer the question everyone is probably asking – yes, actually it was helpful.
Training level dressage test #2 … “my” way
– 53rd Place Space Case
Love you Mom!
This work by K. Mogren is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Mogren Space Case 