Show #2

So our second show went off much more 'normally' though still not perfect but hey that's dressage for you!  This show was the International Horse Sport Dressage Premier held in Loxahatchee at White Fences, right away I had the feeling that this was going to be a better venue for Nico than the Jim Brandon as it is far more open whereas the Jim Brandon has a lot of things crammed in to a small space so there's a lot of action bottled up together, White Fences is more open there are still things going on and vendor booths and stuff to look at but it's set up in a more horse friendly way so I had a pretty good feeling, we'd been working through some tension spots in our lesson at the barn that morning that had been plaguing us so I thought I'd better play it safe and take him out for a little hack at the show park that afternoon, I was glad I made that decision as he was very very fresh when I schooled so the little outing was definitely productive and I also realized that there was a gap going on in my outside rein connection going to the right so was glad that I was able to have that lightbulb and sort that out the day before!  The first day we rode the PSG, there were quite a number of PSG entries with approx 35 riders split in to two groups, our PSG went fairly well without error though Nico did spot the photographer out in the field several times and poked his head up to take a look a few times resulting in some tension, I was still pleased with the test considering where we were the previous weekend but felt that it wasn't enough on my half halt and just generally felt a little bit flat and blah so I thought we could better that on day two, score for the PSG was a 65.7% good enough for 6th place which was about right as the test was error free but there was some tension and it just felt a bit safe and lackluster so I wanted to work that a bit more on day 2.  The I1 on Sunday also had a big field split into two groups, my warm up for the I1 felt much better and Nico was more relaxed so I felt I could ask more from him as well so was able to get him a bit more engaged and uphill in to my half halt, he felt quite good going in, we had a lovely entry and halt then trotted off and he had a great big shy to the right, all I could do was laugh as I honestly have no clue what he shied at it was in such a random place and there was nothing near the ring so I just kind of shrugged it off and carried on with the test, my trot tour felt much better on day two much more on the half halt and uphill, the walk work was okay but he could have been more relaxed (that will come with a few more outings I think as his walk has been good at home but we haven't gotten it the same at the shows yet), the canter zig zag went well right until the end where he again shied on the centerline and threw in three one tempis (the one judge commented one tempis not required at the end of the zig zag which I thought was funny!), the pirouettes were okay but just felt a bit wild, the tempis were good.  we got a 67.5% for the I1 which confirmed my thoughts that I'd had him in a better balance on day two, I was pleased to see quite a number of 8's on my test (including an 8 from both judges for the halt rein back which is rare so that was nice!) and then there were a couple of 4's for the additional movements Nico added in there, both judges had very positive comments for us;)  So all in all Show #2 was much more successful for my feeling and I think Nico is starting to find his groove again!  We go this week on Thursday and Friday to ride in the Dressage Canada clinic with Team Advisor Robert Dover so that will be another good outing for Nico and should be another great learning experience for me as well:)