Well, it's a big day/night for us here at DJR. Roanie and I have our first dressage show in the morning. We had a lovely ride earlier today where I practiced WTC transitions for longer than I care to admit. It was cold and drizzly, but Roanie was patient and willing. Every time I ask for a transition she gets in touch with her inner giraffe and sticks her nose so high up in the air that I seriously doubt she can even see what's in front of her. Sometimes I can even see her nose when I look in between her ears.... Dressage judges tend to frown upon that, so we worked diligently yet calmly and patiently on her staying relaxed and in the bridle during transitions. Roanie is incredibly smart and after a few transitions she began to practice them on her own and I was able to just stay centered in the saddle and stay consistent with my hands and let her figure out where I needed her to be. She eventually picked up on it and offered several gorgeous, light, and relaxed transitions. The name of the game tomorrow will be relaxation. I want Roanie to have quiet relaxed dressage tests. I don't want her to become frazzled and tense which leads to her rushing and becoming unbalanced. We are doing four tests tomorrow, one of which will have canter movements in it. She has come a long way with her canter, it has three beats now instead of four, and she can canter on both her left lead and her right lead as opposed to only being able to cross canter. It still isn't balanced and round but hey, we're just going for the experience. I'm so proud of how far the Roanie pony has come in the past few months and am so thrilled for tomorrow.
The four year olds getting clipped for tomorrow. Two different methods being used here. Leah and Joie and their tough love approach, and Lily taking a little chemically assisted nap for her clipping.
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