Two days off. Well, I sure didn’t like it.

Frankie seemed back to his normal, annoying, obnoxious, overbearing self. I tried to appreciate it instead of getting irritated. It was hard as he would grab my pony tail as I walked in front of him. The chewing on the cross ties was about enough to drive me insane. It was nice to see the ole’ Frank back to his usual antics.

Since we are going to an event on Saturday and we will be performing Training level test B, I thought we should probably prepare.

I put the De Gauge on him and we headed up to the indoor.

20 minutes of warm up is really all it took. He was ready to go and seemed very pleased to be working. During our warm up I first just got a nice, forward trot for about 10 minutes then did some trot/walk, walk/trot transitions. After some canter work and trot/canter, canter/trot transitions that were all very good I decided we should get down to business.

The first run through of the test was really, really good. Not perfect, not great, but surprisingly relaxed and fluid.

I don’t like this test as much. It’s easier to memorize, but it isn’t very fluid to ride. It’s really chopped up and there doesn’t seem to be a good flow. That is where I thought Frankie would struggle, especially at first. He didn’t though.

The canter circles were a little difficult and I doubt we will get a good score on them if we ride on grass. It’s a lengthening canter circle and with the ring as small as it is and Frankie’s stride as big as it is I don’t think, even if I ask that we will have a huge lengthening of the stride. Not out of disobedience, just because Frankie isn’t stupid and he won’t get a huge canter going on a small circle if he thinks he might not have the footing to hold it.

We ran through the test about 5 times or so and I really don’t have any big complaints. Our canter/trot transition at X was good, but his trot after the transition was tense and rushed – every time. His stretching trot circle was fantastic. But that never seems to be as good at the event as it is at home.

I guess I was impressed because I hadn’t actually worked on this test since before our first attempt at an event where we scratched because of the footing. So I didn’t really understand a dressage test until I rode one for the first time. When I did practice this test before it was just terrible. We have actually come a long way in a very short time and that is really cool.

It was a good ride. Frankie seemed happy, but ready to go back outside. I think the days off and the banana’s did some good!

Ride time: 40 minutes

Equipment Update: So I have been meaning to let everyone know about a great product I found. Frankie had become girthy about a year ago. It all started when my tree was widening by about 1/8″ after every ride. The tree was broken and it took me a little while to save up and have the tree replaced. So to make a long story short he started, understandably, resenting the tightening of the girth. Then, even after the saddle was fixed, he was just plain girthy. I thought it would go away but after a 6 months it was possibly getting worse. Biting at me, at the girth, at his chest before I even tightened it.

I was thinking of getting or trying one of those super expensive Le Tixerant girths that are supposed to be a “miracle” for girthy horses. However, I couldn’t spend the money. So I went cheap. The professional choice SMX girth. Even that was a little pricey so I went with the off shoot of that. It looked exactly the same.

Poof! No more girthy horse. It took about 2 weeks, but he is no longer girthy AT ALL!