The bog pony pulls it out of the bag!!!!!!!!!!

It was the Pet Plan Festivals at Myerscough College last weekend.  Mez and I had qualified for the Novice and the Prelim classes but unfortunately the Novice was on Saturday and the Prelim was on Sunday!  I had intended to school three times in the week but I was not very well so we only made it to the school on Thursday afternoon for one session!  I had only practiced my medium trot once, not tried medium canter as she is a little on the forehand at the moment and I wanted to work on her collection and engagement.  She worked well on the Thursday, I'm sure the go faster full clip helps!, and I was pleased with her.  I didn't have time to school on Friday and we bathed her much to her disgust and tried to make her look like a shiny dressage pony!!!
Saturday I plaited and set off, my time was 12.47pm.  I went on my own so I left plenty of time for faffing around and it was raining by the time I arrived.  It was truly horrid weather so I was very pleased to see Margo who ended up being my groom and carrying rugs etc!  Poor Margo!!  Anyway she worked in well, just a little tense but we have not been out very much at all this year.  However, the arena was full of plant pots and trees and banners and the judges had a huge white box each (there were two judges).  She was better than I expected her to be as she can be spooky but the test was very tense.  The centre line was a little wobbly, I think we had both forgotten how long it seems when you enter at A!!  In my first canter she spooked at a flower pot and broke behind but apart from that she was good, a little strong in places, but just tense not silly.  As the test progressed she relaxed and the second half was definitely better than the first half!!
We came away with 61.92% and ended up in 12th place.  So off we went back up the hill with a stop at the garage so Mez could explain to daddy why there was no rosette!!!!

Sunday I was on at 4.53pm so we had a normal day and I went to get her in about 2pm.  As I got to the field I could see her careering around with her tail in the air going flat out and trying her hardest to pull off her shoes!!!  By the time she had stopped she could barely breathe so was so exhausted!!!  So we hosed her within an inch of her life and re plaited and sponged the white lather off her!  She worked in really well and I wore my spurs for the prelim in an attempt to have a little more say if she decided to spook at anything.  She was a lot more settled in the arena and only spooked at P when I was doing my free walk which I think lost me about 3 marks.  Apart from that I was very pleased with the test considering the amount of practice we had managed!  There was only 3 to go after me so I stayed on her until we found out my score as the prize giving is mounted and they place to 10th.  Sure enough I had 65.45% and came 7th.  We had our rosette put on and then had to go back into the arena for a lap of honor which made me worry more than the dressage!!!  However she was such a good girl even with the pony next to us rearing up and messing around!
So it just goes to show that my little bog pony can pull it out of the bag when she needs to.......although next year I want a big sash as well as a rosette!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!