Dressage Show

Hey everyone! Today is a big day for me, as I am going to be in my first horse show ever! It's a dressage show held for everyone who wants to participate at the barn I ride at, so it's not very official or formal or anything, but it's still a real horse show!

I will be riding at 2:40 in the afternoon. My dressage level is Training Level 1, which is basically a walk/trot/canter test. Here are the basic test movements I have to do:
1. Trot in to center of ring
2. Halt and salute
3. Trot out and turn left
4. 20 meter circle left at trot (basically a medium-sized circle around the whole ring)
5. Pick up left lead canter in the corner
6. 20 meter circle left at center
7. Slow to trot and walk in front of judge's stand
8. Walk to corner and walk diagonally across the ring
9. Turn right and pick up a trot
10. 20 meter circle right at trot
11. Pick up right lead canter in corner
12. 20 meter circle right at canter
13. Slow to trot and trot down center line
14. Halt and salute

I'm so nervous, I can't even tell you! I'm confident about memorizing the test (I did that a while ago!) and the simple stuff like walking and trotting, but it's the canter part that really makes me nervous. I just started learning the canter (3 beat gait, faster than trot) this winter, so I'm not that great at it yet, so I'm worried that my horse (I'll talk more about him later) won't pick up the canter when I ask him. Or that when I do get him to canter, he'll slow down into a trot in my 20 meter circles like he did at my last lesson.

But mainly I'm nervous about myself, not that Captain, the horse I ride, will have any problems. If we mess up, it will mosy likely be my fault, but that's okay. Captian is an old Arabian horse (I'm not sure how old). He's really cute and is a bay (brown coat, black mane and tail). Since he's so old, he knows what to do in the riding ring, which is very helpful to me when I'm trying to learn something myself without wanting to worry about his movements. He's usually willing to go forward at a good pace, but he get's very upset if he's alone in the riding ring, which we are at every lesson. He starts to neigh pathetically to his horsey friends down the hill, which is really funny because when he does that, his whole body shakes and therefore shakes me all over the place. Either way though, I love Captain! :)

So I'll write another post at some point today or tomorrow and let you know how my dressage show went, and maybe I'll even win an award! :P

The Girl in the Saddle

As you might have already guessed, that girl in the saddle would be yours truly. Before I say anything else, I'll just start off with a little about me.

First of all, I LOVE horses (obviously). Being around horses makes me happy and there's nothing else I'd rather do!

Second of all, riding is my passion. That will probably be the most frequently written about thing on this blog. I'd like to start documenting each of my horseback riding lessons because there aren't many horse lovers that I know, and I thought this would be a good way to get my thoughts out somewhere - it kills me when something exciting happens at my lesson and I have no one to talk about it with!

So, anyway, I hope you find what I have to say interesting if not entertaining, and I promise to try to write often. There may be periods of time when I can't find the time to write, but I hope it will be easier for me than my last blog (it was just about my life and there was too much to talk about and not enough time!) since it's targeting one topic in particular.

Also, feel free to leave comments. I love comments! :) I know some of you reading might not be that interested in horses, but I would love to see what you have to say anyway.

Thanks for reading!