Three competitions over the last month for Maybellene, but new experiences at Il Cadore today.

First time in an indoor arena, for the warm-up and she didn't bat an eyelid!

She was a little tense when she first sized up the arena for her first test; the arenas are set into the side of a hill, so there is a narrow surround and a culvert for drainage on the hill side, and the sides of the sand arenas are built up, angled timber, which is the first time she's seen such solid sides at a competition  (Usually poly-pipe arenas) so Jeremy rode her very 'carefully' for the first third of her first test (2D). She remained very accurate and obedient but didn't really relax until the half-way point. In the second half of the test Jeremy was able to show some relaxed, forward paces. 61% was a fair score. After a bit of a break and some hay she was ready to roll again, and an hour later she ran through the 2C very capably. A very harmonious test, showing a constant frame through counter canter loops and transitions, good angle in the leg-yielding, and nice balanced canter-trot-change of  leads. Looking forward to a score in the upper sixties, markedly better than the first test.

What did she score? 62%! You have to be so resiliant in this sport!

The difference in the scoring relates to the spread of marks the judges gave on the day. In the first test the judges scored the best horse 78%; the same horse in the second test scored 68%..so this compressed the marks significantly.

Hopefully she'll be better placed/ranked in the second test, to reward her better work. She was running 9th/24 in the 2D and 5th/26 in the 2C on the scores posted; but there were more scores and final placings yet to be posted.

Many thanks to Jeremy for giving M such positive experiences.