Over the first weekend of April Neo and I competed in our final CDI.
Overall I am happy with how the show went. We showed a horse that showed more collection and engagement compared to the Dressage Affaire 3 weeks prior.
Our Prix St Georges ride had some bobbles in it and I did not ride as good as of a connection as I could. Because of that, Neo opened his mouth up in a few of the movements which obviously hurt us score wise.
Going into the I1 ride, I spent a fair amount of time visualizing riding Neo more uphill and with his back way up. I got that from the get go in the warm up. I also spent a lot of time focusing riding in slow motion so that when I was on the horse my aids wouldn't be rushed or hurried. That too made a huge difference.
In the show ring, I hit a mental block in the trot rhythm where I couldn't find my seat to ride in conjunction with Neo's rhythm. So instead of showing off his best gait, we had some moments of irregularity. I was able to recover in the canter and probably for the first time with Neo our overall canter work was better than our trot work.
In the I1, two of the judges scored us in the 62% range, while the third judge scored us in the 57% range. That low score hurt us badly as it now not only dropped us 3 or 4 spots in the overall rankings, but we missed qualifying for the freestyle by .6%.
Neo's owner, Rebecca Chatfield, and one of my clients, Norma Stein, made the trip down to see the show. Rebecca had not seen Neo in person since we were in CA and she was excited and happy on how Neo looked and rode.
A big thanks to David Wilson for the superb coaching, Sarah Lockman for braiding and general help, and all my friends at W Farms for the support at the show.
I'll post a blog in a few days on my overall CA experience.
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