El Sueno Dressage Show April 17th 2011

Sunday Janet and Figaro competed in their second show together. He came out of the trailer curious but not scared. I lunged him for awhile getting all the 'steam out of the pot'. The Janet hopped on and we headed for the warm up. We had left plenty of time for them to walk around the warm up so they could both relax.

It is always hard to go from riding completely alone in an arena to a warm-up arena. Trying not to get in anyone's way will leave you zig-zaging the arena and never get your warm up done. So I reminded Janet to pass left shoulder to left shoulder, stay to the inside if she was walking, and apart from that own the figure she needed to ride. As we got down to work he started being a little upity but she rode him through it beautifully.

Their first test went well, after the first halt Figaro decided to rein back instead of proceed at the trot. Janet handled it with calm composure and they were back on track in no time. The rest of the test was wonderfully smooth, some of the circles a little large as Figaro tried to fade through the outside rein but Janet recovered nicely. They won their class with a 65%.

Their second test was Introductory C, which has about 3/4 of a canter circle in each direction. The warm up was perfect and their excitement showed as they started their warm up around the arena. Then just before the bell rang, Figaro pitched a fit, going backwards and not listening. Janet simply took a deep breath waited for him to stop moving and then sent him forward again. The entrance was perfect, and as she went to move off from the halt he started going backwards and sideways. Again with perfect calm Janet got him going forward again. The rest of the test was excellent. The canter was calm and the transitions were smooth. They won this class too, again with a 65%.

We are all looking forward to their next show together.

Congratulations Janet and Figaro!!!!!!