I have recently been toying with the idea of trying a prelim test soon. I think it will be a good thing to try and see how he scores. However, we are really struggling to pick up the right canter lead, so would likely get poor marks for this. Because of this I am undecided as to whether to enter or not, as I would automatically be shooting our score in the foot.
This is my current thought process:
The Pros
~ starting point to improve on
~ feedback on his canter
~ more experience
~ will motivate me to improve the problem
The Cons
~ will get poor scores for that movement
~ will bring collective marks down
~ we won’t be competitive
~ it still costs money
E-Dressage said that I would likely score a 4-5 for cantering on the wrong leg, but could potentially be lower, some people have scored 0 if they haven’t tried to correct it. However, it is only the right lead we struggle with, so the left lead would be an accurate score…
What are your thoughts as I’m still at a complete loss as to what to do!
Last Updated on 14/01/2022
I think you should go for it 🙂 in a Prelim you will probably only canter on each leg once, so even if it does go wrong you can correct it and continue and you’ll only have a low score for one tiny part of your test. Plus the experience will be great! I forgot my test and went the wrong way once (hahaha) and still scored 58% so I think you’ll do a grand job 😀
Thank you! I am tempted to, even just for the feedback!
If it’s for e-dressage and you pick up the wrong canter lead.. Stop, restart the recording and try again 🙂
Though having said that, I’m sure now you’re thinking about it being an issue he will pick up the right lead when you give it a go now! Always the way 😛
I did consider that, but it’s the case of I would probably end up filming the test at least 5 times as it is still fairly rare he picks it up first time, if at all! So it’s more of a case of, I probably wont get the right canter…
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