Julie with a B

Saturday, May 21, 2005
 
Dressage Show
Today I worked all day at the show at the barn where I board, Fairwinds Farm. I worked as a scribe, which means that I sat next to the judge and wrote down everything he said. All day. From 8 am until 6pm with a 15 minute break. Ya know I could whine about this but he is 84 and did just fine.

What you do at this show is learn a specific pattern to ride. Then you ride the pattern in front of the judge. He notes whether the horse was obedient to your commands, if he moved with grace and energy, if he has nice gaits, and if the rider did a good job. The rider is secondary - if they're good, the horse will look good.

This may sound boring. To watch the lower level riders it often is. The patterns are simple and the horses and riders aren't very good yet. But as you move up the levels the patterns, the tests, get harder. The moves are intricate and follow one another immediately.

I had hoped to have pictures of some of these upper level rides, but since I ended up working all day, I didn't get any.

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