Hello again,

Sorry I haven't been writing my blog for the last couple of weeks, I have been on holiday.

This week at Pony Club me, Katie and Logan all got a shock when Sally and Fiona told us we were doing a Dressage Test! We had all been on holiday the week before so we didn't know. They gave us a copy each of the test too read and we had too look at all the different movements so we knew what they all meant. Sally and Fiona told us all that the test would be read out to us as it was the first Dressage Test we had ever done.

All the others apart from me, Logan and Katie had gone through and ridden the test the week before but we hadn't so we were extra nervous! We were doing our D Level Test, Walk and Trot so it was basic but still we were nervous in case we made a mistake. Here is the test we had to do:
1. A Enter at medium walk. X Halt, salute. Proceed at medium walk.
2. C Track right. Between C & M Working trot.
3. A Circle right 20m diameter.
4. A Working trot. Between A & K Medium walk.
5. E Turn right. X Halt. Immobility 4 seconds. Proceed at medium walk. B Turn left. BMC Medium walk.
6. Between C & H Working trot. HEKA Working trot.
7. A Circle left 20m diameter.
8. A Working trot. Between A & F Medium walk. FXH Change rein at free walk on a long rein. H Medium walk.
9. Between C & M Working trot. F Medium walk.
10. A Down the centre line. G Halt. Immobility. Salute. Leave the arena at free walk on a long rein at A.

Sally and Fiona said they thought we could all do it so we shouldn't worry. We all watched each other do our tests and we did it one at a time. We had to do a quick warm up with our pony doing lots of transitions before our test began. Everyone was very good.

For my test I was on Minnie and we were second last to perform our test. I was nervous and excited! I mounted up onto Minnie, adjusted my stirrups and then we started to warm up. You could do whatever you wanted in walk or trot in your warm up but we were advised to do lots of transitions so I did plenty of them. I did some walking and trotting and every time I did them Minnie started to listen to me more. I also did some halts and changes of rein and Minnie was going very well.

The things I was nervous about in my test were diagonals and I was wondering how well Minnie was do in immobility. I tried very hard with my diagonals and Minnie stood very still so I was very happy with our test!

At the end of our tests we got rosettes and a packet of haribos. We were all very proud and gave our ponies huge cuddles!

Then it was time to find out who had done the best test and the winner was drum roll please... Sophie in the first group! Well Done Sophie!  The photo is of Gio, the pony Sophie rode in her winning test!

I really enjoyed doing my dressage test and I can't wait for the next one!

Jessica x

Added 17th July 2012