I took both horses to a schooling show at Morven Park yesterday. It was in the mid-20’s, but we all kept warm in the indoor. I had the dressage trainer I’ve been working with occasionally come  and help me warm up with Oh So. He started off a bit distracted, but soon began working better. His first test was training test 3, which is pretty simple. We got a 68%, which was quite good. He stayed relaxed and didn’t jig in the free walk or medium walk. We didn’t have a ton of time in between tests, so for first test 1, I didn’t feel quite prepared. We needed to do a lengthened trot and canter, but didn’t get to school them well in the warmup. So we ended up with a 60% and some tenseness, especially in the lengthened canter. He was back to his old head flipping. We went back to the warm up ring and schooled some canter-trot transistions until he calmed down. I was glad to have her there, so now I think she has a better understanding of how he can be at shows.

I didn’t have much time to warm up Sam for his first test, so I felt rushed. As a result, he wasn’t as supple as he could have been for first test 3. I had a few rides in between my two tests, so I worked in the warm up some more and got him a little more supple and focused. He was spooking at the shafts of light that shined onto the floor. Typical him, but still annoying. In hindsight, I should have gotten him off the trailer and let him walk around a bit. He was probably stiff from standing on the trailer in the cold. We ended up with a 61% on the first level test and a 63% on second test 1, which is respectable for him. Next time, we’ll try second test 2 and move on from there. I’d like to get to the mid-upper 60’s, but it’s tough because his medium canter and trot are not strong.