Test Review

This weekend when I saw Jane she asked if I'd be at the barn on Monday and when I let her know that I would she said that she wanted to help me review the tests. 

I think that it was both so that we could make sure that we'd decided on the correct tests and so that we can see what I need to work on. It was great for both! 

We started with the warmup. Jane wanted me to warm up the way I thought I should and just watched quietly and occasionally gave me suggestions. I was pretty proud that she only spoke up a couple of times but mostly I was able to put together an effective warmup. How it will work at the show we just won't know until we've tried it out but I was happy that I didn't just ride around like a headless chicken.

We've come so far!

After that we took a walk break, reviewed the few things that Jane wants me to do differently which are mainly more transitions and trying to get a longer stride, and then went to training level test 1. Jane called it for me since I don't have it memorized yet and called out a few things. The main thing that I was disappointed about is that I reverted to posting too quickly as soon as I started concentrating on the test but even with that there was some improvement and with some coaching from Jane I was able to get it under control. The other things that we discussed after are that I need to make sure I'm strong enough with my right leg at the halt, we need to practice our walk a bit more, and I need to make sure I support with my outside rein more at the canter.

Oh, and maybe practice my braiding

I also need to practice turning down the centerline since I overshoot EVERY SINGLE TIME. You'd think I'd have this figured out by now and I ride a small pony so I have no excuse but it just seems like it comes up so quick!

After another walk break we did training level test 2. When we first got to the arena and I started riding it began raining pretty hard but through my warmup it slowly let up. However, as we started training 2 and Jane started calling the test to me it started pouring really hard and that was accompanied by thunder and lightening. It was a really great test for me to make sure I had a rideable pony in a more stressful situation but it also meant that I struggled to hear the test and we had a couple of errors. Also, because I hadn't even looked at the test I was coming at it completely blind which made it tough to bridge the gaps in hearing my next direction. We schooled a few things as we went but overall it was good.

More early feral pony :)

Both Jane and I were REALLY happy with how it went. I have some homework but nothing really big and I've got about three more weeks to nail down those few things before the show. Jane also had the great idea of checking with a neighbor who has an outdoor arena to see if I could ride over there and she was fine with that! I'll be headed over there this weekend probably to give Katai some experience riding in a different, and outdoor, space. With that and continuing to practice trailer loading I think we're going to be in a really good place for our first shows this year!