Mystic Combined Test Results

Hello everyone! This post is now officially really late and I apologize!

So, combined test...

Ben started off really calmly, he walked off the trailer, looked around a little, and started grazing. This is particularly good for him because he normally comes flying off the trailer, and prances around for a good twenty minutes before finally semi-settling down.

He got a little more revved when I went to lunge him and there was some bucking and calling and galloping around on the lunge line, but he did calm down eventually. I got on him and he was jigging all over the place like he used to do all the time. So I just took a deep breath and pushed him into a trot and he calmed right down and was absolutely perfect. He warmed up fantastically, didn't spook or buck or freak out once, and just felt amazing!

Our test was really quite good. Our centerline was calm, quiet, and on the bit although a tad wiggly. We nailed our turn across the middle that makes me hate Novice B oh so much, and we got 7s on both of them (yay!), our left 20 meter circle was good except for one little blunder in the first 1/4 where he lost his balance a bit and took somewhat of a tranter stride. Then came our left canter transition where Ben decided to show his dislike for dressage by kicking out into it and then picking up the wrong lead. We understandably earned a 4 on that particular movement. We got our act together and did our left canter circle pretty nicely and had an okay trot transition. Then we nailed out other turn across the middle, and our right 20 meter circle, and our right canter transition, and our right canter circle was pretty good too. The trot transition was alright and the walk transition was slightly late but still pretty good. The free walk was great until he decided to trot... And the last centerline and halt were decent too. We earned a 40.5 which put us into fifth out of eight, which I was pleased with. I thought maybe the judge was a little harsh on a couple of things but its okay, I was thrilled with Ben and at that point, I didn't really care what our score was!!

So here is out test:

After that, we went and walked stadium which seemed to be a very straightforward course. 'Seemed' being the operative word there... Your basic diaganol, diaganol line, outside line, diaganol line, outside combination. But we'll get to that later...

We rode Beginner Novice Test A because I wanted to get some feedback on it because that is the test we will be doing for the first two events of the season. He was fabulous for it! Our entrance was good although he braced slightly in the first corner which cut our score for that to a 6. He was super good for his first trot circle and decided that he again really didn't like the left canter transition. I swear he didn't give me one issue with it in warm up all day! But our left canter circle was pretty good and our trot transition was great (even though we got a 6... okay then). His trot-walk transition was fabulous! (Again though, a 6... with the comment "needs to be more active." Err... I don't know what horse she was watching because it certainly couldn't have been mine...) I kept the free walk really quiet and conservative so he wouldn't trot so we got a five which was fine. Our transition up and trot to C was awesome and we got the comments "prompt and fluid" but we only got a 7. I know some judges almost never give an 8+ but friends of mine got 8s on their tests and I think if any of my movements deserved an 8, it was that one. Not entirely sure what the judge had against us but I really felt jipped. Our right trot circle was good aside from another itty bitty loss of balance, and our right canter transition was perfect. Again only earning a 7 with no comments. Right canter circle was pretty good, scored a 7 which I think was deserved. Canter-trot was great again, even though we still only got a 6... Last centerline was good and halt was square. We scored a 39.5 which, under normal circumstances, I would be thrilled with because it starts with a 3. But I really think that we should have scored between 35 and 37 and I couldn't help but feel annoyed that we put in such good tests and we got a higher score than we deserved. There were three of us doing this test and I tied for first place but the other rider's collective marks were a point higher, so we placed 2nd.

Here's the test:

Then came stadium. He warmed up really well. We went third in our division, and the two people before me had really rough rides around a seemingly simple course, particularly the last combination. Ben was a little looky to the first fence, it was a skinny, upright vertical, going away from the crowd but we cleared it fine. He got a little close to the first of the first line but jumped out fine. He looked a little hard at the fillers under the next line but also cleared those without issue. The last line rode very well. Then came the combination. In hindsight, there was a really dark shadow in front of the first of the two-stride. All of the horses peeked, a few had rails, one stopped, and one fell off. Ben peeked but went, but then had no impulsion for the second, a fairly solid 2'9" oxer. I figured we would circle around and try again, but Ben had other ideas. He basically jumped it from a standstill, and cleared it. Silly, crazy, freakishly athletic horse... So we jumped clean and ended in fifth.

Annoyingly enough, I didn't know my score until the end when they pinned us. They pinned me sixth, which I was fine with. And then I looked at the results online and realized I was actually fifth. I had a 40.5 final score and the girl they pinned ahead of me had a 41.5 final score. So that was annoying but what are you going to do?

So here is our stadium video:

And here is Ben and I with our (wrong colored!) ribbon:

So, in all I had a great day and am incredibly proud of my horse and I absolutely can't wait for eventing season to start! I have a jump school tomorrow with my trainer so I should have videos from that which I will share with you all at some point.

As always, thanks for reading!