This past weekend I had the opportunity to take “Waldo” to the CDCTA Combined Test & Dressage Schooling Show at Morven Park in Leesburg, VA.  As far as I knew, it was Waldo’s very first show experience, so I was a little nervous about a few things, one being how he would act on the ground, and the other being his temperament in front of a judge.

I arranged enough time to get there nice and early, and tacked him up before I left home so I wouldn’t have to worry about tying him to the side of the trailer.  He pranced around a little once I had gotten him off the trailer, but settled once I had gotten on, and we had a nice long warmup before our first test (after a spook at the port-o’s, a person walking toward him, and a small gust of wind…).

The first of our rides was for our Elementary Level Combined Test, and it was just an Intro dressage test.  He was spooking at pretty much everything and I wasn’t wearing spurs, so our ride was a bit lazy and very much like a noodle!  The judge’s comments consisted of things like “needs more energy,” “could be straighter,” and “lacks confidence.”  We ended with a 42.0% (yikes!) which put us pretty far down on the placings list!  I was actually thrilled he didn’t jump out of the arena!!

Our second test went a LOT better.  Unfortunately it was just a schooling dressage test, so it didn’t count toward the jumping part.  We rode Beginner Novice Test A, and ended with a 34.0%, giving us 1st place!  I’m glad I entered him in the second test so I could see if he improved over time, and he definitely did.  Also, I didn’t forget my spurs this time, so he had a lot more energy!

After the dressage, we had our jumping part of the Elementary Level Combined Test.  The jumps were only about 2’3″, which is pretty tiny.  Our warmup was a little nerve-wrecking, because he was WAY over jumping everything and tripping over himself when he didn’t have his lead right.  We got called in to the arena, and although I had to use my whip as a backup a couple times, he just trotted through the course like a champion!  We had no jump or time penalties, and he just cantered over the last fence, so I was THRILLED with him!!  We ended in 5th place out of 10 riders.  Not too shabby for his first show!

The show jumping steward kept commenting on what a nice mover he is.  My response was, “Thanks!  He’s for sale!”

Waldo with his winnings!

I went ahead and paid for the videos, so I’m interested to see what they look like.  It’s usually a few days to a couple weeks before they come in the mail.

ALSO, it was St. Patrick’s Day, so everyone was in green and we got all sorts of fun prizes.  The show was packed, but they did an exceptional job keeping everyone organized.  My only con was that scoring took a while.. my last ride was before 10, and I didn’t get our official results until about noon.  Otherwise I had a great time!

Happy Jumping!

Love,

Brittanie