Last month we attempted the new Intro C for the first time. In a previous post, I talked about how I liked the test and was looking forward to riding it and seeing how it scored. My filming of the test was eventful!
Scottie wasn’t really feeling it that day, but was going nicely enough to film it and see how he looked. Towards the end of our test, a bit of blue tarpaulin flew up into the air, causing him to spook and for me to hit the deck. Luckily for you, Eva caught it on camera (skip to around 2 mins!)
I wasn’t hurt and I got straight back on to try again. Scottie was so horrified that I came off that he was very good for our second attempt. Over all, it was a nice test. We missed a few centre lines and Scottie was a little bit ‘looky’ after the spook so we lost outline in a few places where he was looking at an invisible monster. But all in all, it rode like our best test ever. Watch it below.
We scored a reasonable 63%. This isn’t a bad score, but I was a bit put out as I thought it had been a really good test. I felt a bit better once I got my feedback and could work out where it went wrong. The biggest issue we had, was scoring 5s for the two 10m circles across the middle of the school. The only feedback we got is that I don’t give and retake the reins. This annoyed me a bit as on the first circle I thought I did this well and watching the video back, I can see a loop in my inside rein where I had given. However, I think I made a mistake by giving the rein while I was turning away from the judge, so that they couldn’t see it. Another thing I noticed was that we got a lot more 6s where we usually get 6.5s and I can’t see any real obvious reason why, so maybe it was just the difference in judges.
However, we also got some good scores. We got our usual 8 for our halt, 7 for one of our circles and a 7.5 to our transition to medium walk. Our overall comments have also improved too. Where we used to get; needs to work over back, more suppleness, more consistent contact. This month we got; head could be steadier and more suppleness to the right. These are still essentially the same points, but I personally feel they show an improvement as they are more specific now.
“Pleasing Paces“
Our collectives were roughly the same as usual:
Rhythm : 7 (14)
Suppleness : 6 (12)
Contact : 6 (12)
Rider Position : 7 (14)
Rider Effectiveness : 6 (12)
Over all it was a nice test, and definitely our best so far, despite the lower score. I do think the judge may have been a little mean in places, but that’s just one of those things! I will also ride the 10m circles differently next time I ride this test, giving the reins later and for a shorter time so the Judge is more likely to see it. I think I am doing the intro B this month, which tends to be our best test, so hopefully we will see a higher score if we ride as well as this month.
Last Updated on 14/01/2022
