The Show
Dressage, CT, 3-Phase
Full Circle Horse Park
Pell City AL, USA
April 6, 2019
Major Milton
Class 3 – 2019 USDF Intro Test A (Walk-Trot) – Adult, 1st of 2, with 61.875%
Class 4 – 2019 USDF Intro Test B (Walk-Trot) – Adult, 3th of 4, with 59.062%
Highest score: 7, various
Lowest score: 5.5, various
Results will be available at FCHP > Shows
The Rides
Show acclimatization. Check. At least for walk-trot dressage at Full Circle. Now we need to learn how to actually do dressage. Or canter. Or forget the sandbox and go jump.
The show ran early & one rider was a no-show. We elected to go early and have a short break between the two tests. We made the bet that Milton was the sort of horse who would prefer a break, even if only for five minutes. He was. Everyone had a pee. We retacked.
In the second warm-up, I decided I wasn’t going to solve our systemic issues in the next five minutes. Instead, I let him pick his pace and used the test as an opportunity to practice my dressage position, specifically not leaning forward to encourage the horse to move forward. This never works. That never stops me from trying.
After dressage, we chilled until time for our next class. More on that tomorrow.
After the rides, we took Milton home, then we came back for ribbons. Therefore, himself was not available to model his winnings.
The Videos
Compare with (to?) video from our first dressage show [Maintaining Our Firm Grip On Last Place And That’s Okay, Show Report, Dressage at Full Circle Horse Park, Summer 2018].
The Scores
Needs more bend, more march, more connection. Yup, yup, yup. On the upside, the judge found Milton to be steady and attentive. Well, he may be slow, but he’s a steady slow. Attentive, yeah. He hears you. He may choose to respond in his own way, but he’s listening.
We are done being dressage divas, for now. Perhaps some driving.
Update
Settling On A Show Name, Finally
Names Matter, PreShow, Full Circle Horse Park, April 2019
Preliminaries Accomplished, Show Report, Full Circle Horse Park, April 2019, Dressage
Our First Competition Course, Show Report, Full Circle Horse Park, April 2019, Show Jumping
Our First Competition Course, Show Photos, Full Circle Horse Park, April 2019
Looking Forward, Aspirational XC
Looking Goofy, Horse Show Outtakes
Thank you for reading,
Katherine Walcott
Virtual Brush Box 
Milton: Got this. Katherine: Woohoo
Woohoo is right!
I didn’t know Milton could talk. But there he is, talking on Sat.
For those of you who might be lost, like me, I watched the videos in raw form. Once they were edited and uploaded, I linked to them but did not rewatch them. Shame on me. Thank you to my video editor for adding subtitles to the second centerline of our first test. Although, my feeling was closer to Whew, than Woohoo.
🙂