As this was Savannah's first ever event, I had absolutely no expectations of her; I just wanted her to enjoy it and have a good experience.
I went to this event with only two aims - as long as we stayed inside the dressage markers and made it to the end of the cross country I'd be happy!
Dressage
A week or so before, I had generally been worried that we wouldn't stay inside our arena (especially in the canter), but after a couple of lessons I was slightly more confident - I shouldn't of worried, I didn't feel at any point that we were going to explode out and we actually managed to produce a fairly calm and controlled test. I've always been one to stress over every minute detail in dressage tests, and unfortunately this was passed through to Savannah meaning she was quite tense throughout - this was proved quite dramatically as when I managed to relax myself for a few moments our scores for those movements were much higher (In particular a 7.5 for our 3 looped serpentine)! We scored a very fair 40 overall, which, considering it was a) Savannah's first dressage test ever and b) her first time schooling on grass, I was actually fairly pleased with. Nothing to shabby, but plenty to work on and improve.
Show Jumping
Now that the dressage was done with, I relaxed considerably and we warmed up really well. I was quietly confident going into the ring as there was nothing particularly spooky, and the course was quite straightforward. I was extremely pleased with the way Savs jumped, the round flowed much better than previously (with her canter being so weak at the moment, its difficult to place a stride, so you have to just ride what you get) and we got a good stride to every fence. I unfortunately rode slightly too forward at a couple which resulted in 3 rails down but she actually jumped beautifully, so I was pleased with our round overall.
Cross Country
Now, this was the part I had been looking forward to the most. I'd taken Savannah XC Schooling a few days before and we'd had a really positive experience, and the course was very inviting so once again I was fairly confident; I'd have to ride every fence, but nothing stood out to me as a massive problem. I was slightly concerned she'd run out of puff half way round, but once again I shouldn't have worried as we made it round with just a few time penalties to add. She was slightly tentative over the first couple of fences, but after that she seemed to just build with confidence as she went round, popping through all the combinations and line with ease. We both enjoyed every second and I had the biggest smile plastered across my face as we crossed the finish line - I was so so proud of my little horse.
To anyone else, it may have been a slightly disheartening day and on paper it definitely wasn't something for the record books, but to me it was a complete success. We'd come out and completed the event, giving Savannah a confident, happy experience for her first time and have come away with plenty of positives. Now on wards and upwards to our next run!
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