Amateur Dressage Debut for "Golden Boy"

Proving that our "Golden Boy" can turn his hoof to pretty much anything and everything, he went out to his first ever dressage competition - and why not just throw him straight in at the deep end and start at Amatuer level !!

To recap, competing in France basically consists of 3 levels, Club, Amateur and Pro (with cross overs, breed shows and events) in a variety of disciplines. Amateur competitions tend to be alot quieter because as it would suggest, Club competitions are mainly for "clubs" so many more people are usually in attendance and you might get classes of 60/70 entries, where as there might be 20 max in Amateur. It certainly makes competing a bit less strassful if we take a stallion.

The bit that he is usually ridden in (and jumps with) is not permitted in dressage (a wilkie snaffle), which is a shame because he goes really well in it, so we had to change it to a simple loose ring snaffle. He still was quiet in the mouth but a few of his evasive resistance techniques began to creep back in through the transitions, so he did receive a few comments that he was "against the bit". Overall though, both judges liked him , in both tests - said he was a lovely horse and that it would be lovely to see him when he was more relaxed in the mouth (well he is, when he is in the wilkie!).

Perhaps dressage will be his preferred discipline, although he does love his jumping!