Robert Dover Clinic Day #2

So today we hauled out to Wellington again for day two of the training clinic with Robert Dover, today was a test practice day so we went out and had about a half hour warmup session in the indoor ring with Robert and then went straight over to the outdoor where a dressage ring was set up and schooled through our choice of test (I rode the I1), after we schooled through a couple of the trouble spots in the test, it was really great that this scenario really simulated a show (minus the spectators, tents and vendors but as close as you can get to simulating a show without being ridiculous plus the fact that we hauled in added to the effect of being at a new venue under show pressure so it was great to be able to school and correct some things under show ring circumstances-so often in the show ring you get what you get and you're being judged so you can't go back and school something that didn't work so it was great to have the opportunity to not only practice the test but then go back and work on some of the things that didn't go so well).  So the warm up went quite well today, we starter with the canter work just getting him forward into the canter into the outside rein until he started to relax and breathe and then we worked through a couple of the serpentines from yesterday to get him more balanced and supple and then started working through the movements that would be in the test piece by piece, it was interesting because we changed some things in the canter yesterday and suddenly my tempis weren't working so well anymore (it's always interesting to me how that happens when you change something and lose something else-I'm not concerned about it as the tempis have always been one of Nico's easiest movements and have had this hiccup happen before when we've worked on the throughness in the canter before so I know in a day or so they'll be back to normal but I always find it interesting how that happens it's like the timing changes a fraction so the aids don't go through quite the same anymore), the pirouettes felt better in the schooling today, after we were satisfied with the canter work we did a few minutes of trot touching on the shoulder in, half passes and extensions and then headed right over to the ring (same conditions as a show we trotted directly over to the outdoor-Nico was very brave trotting by the giant sand pile, rocks and over the little bridge with flowers by it across the field to the ring, dropped our whip at the gate and rode the test), Robert stood at C and we had our rides videoed so that we could hear his feedback and see what it looked like ourselves which was great, our trot work went about really quite decently, a couple of the transitions from the extended trot to collection felt a bit sticky to me but when I watched it it actually didn't look as sticky as it felt, the walk tour was quite decent and the canter work was where we had some struggles, Nico's been a bit fresh and strong in the show ring down here which is different than he has been in the past and it works nicely for some extra expression in the trot but in the canter sometimes it means blasting through the half-halt, consequently my extended canter was one of the best I've felt on him and the threes were okay, the first pirouette he felt good in to my outside rein but when I rode out he escaped the half halt a bit and consequently I didn't have him enough in my outside rein in the right pirouette which resulted in him spinning a bit and losing his legs behind, the twos were okay up until the last one where he went through my half halt at the end which was unfortunate, the final trot extension, transitions and center line felt quite decent.  So after we went back and worked through the canter tour in pieces to improve it, we worked on the zig zag mainly because I didn't ride a good line in the first go around (I've always been careful not to ride the half passes in the zig zag too steep and consequently I got a bit paranoid at the last couple of shows that I wasn't riding them steep enough and ended up overcorrecting them and going too much sideways, oops!;) so we cleaned that up and got the accuracy back on track!) then we schooled through the pirouettes again making them a bit bigger and with more jump behind to avoid the falling through the inside leg (moving it in and out of a working pirouettes to keep the control) and then we worked some on the tempis just trying to keep him more over the back and in the half halt in them (he had a good little exercise at the end as Nico tends to rush out at the end of the tempis sometimes so we added a quarter pirouette at the end of the diagonal onto the short side to get him back on the half halt before the turn which was pleasantly effective!  So all in all the clinic was quite successful and Robert had lots of positive things to say and some good constructive criticism of what needs to be cleaned up and some good exercises to go about it and it was another chance to get Nico out and about in a new venue (Stillpoint Farms is a lovely facility as well!) so all in all a positive clinic!:D