Dressage at Devonwood

I drove up to watch Dressage at Devonwood today and am really enjoying it. I have several friends riding so I enjoyed seeing them.

I got here and watched a couple third level rides. I really appreciated seeing one rider opt for the snaffle and she had a really good, solid ride.

After browsing a few of the little booths set up (I want!) I happened upon the breed awards and saw that one friend got a breed award! Her mare is absolutely gorgeous and can go much higher than the first level she was ridden in. Then we had lunch and I watched another friend ride.

Right now I'm watching the FEI Four-year-old tests and drooling over these lovely horses. There were only three, but all of them were awesome. I don't think that even if I started Jetta at the beginning of her four year old year she would have been even close to how well-developed these horses are. My favorite is a liver chestnut Hanoverian stallion with chrome. Too cute! All of the young horses are really steady in the bridle and super balanced for their age. It's also really interesting to hear the feedback from the judges! I can't help but think that if I rode Jetta in the Five-year-old test they'd rip us to shreds, lol. But then again I am not a professional trainer and Jetta hasn't been ridden as consistently as these horses. It makes me wonder if these horses are started at three years old...

The only five year old horse was just stunning. He had a gorgeous trot and a natural passage! But he was very opinionated and did not like the counter canter so there was some head flinging involved :)

I watched third level and saw Jason McAfee with whom I did a clinic. He seemed to have a pretty good ride, but the lady after him.... Yikes. Has a lovely horse but spent the whole test yanking on her horse's mouth. Pretty painful to watch. If I had been the judge I would have been tempted to give her a 2 for the rider's harmony score. (ETA: Scary lady got a 65% and Jason McAfee got a 69% so at least she won't be getting first!) But the lady after her had a lovely fluid and pretty test. Her horse was kind of funnily put together with a looong head and neck but a short body and almost stubby legs, but it worked because he was awesome.

I can't wait to come back and actually ride next year! Overall a good way to spend the day and now I'm motivated to go home and ride my pony! :) Which is good because against my better judgement I signed up for a dressage show on the 31st so we have a whole week to prepare! Sigh... But we will have a video of our ride which I'm pretty excited about! And my friend IC is hopefully going to come out and do a photoshoot with the horses this week. Can't wait!