Guest Blog entry # 11: "The Horror of Prelim B" by the famous Bad Eventer!

The Horror of Prelim B

guest_blog_11_the_horror_of_prelim_b_dressage_test

Do you think it's wrong that my absolute #1, most important reason to get to Intermediate with haste is so that I never EVER.......

EVER have to ride Prelim Test B again?

I've ridden test B in lessons for weeks.

I'm sure those tests could easily get 20s.

I rode the test in the warm up perfectly,

not once,

not twice,

but three times.

Every single pass was perfection. Horses love patterns. It seems I was hugely mistaken to think that just because we executed these moves so expertly in the warm up with other horses zinging around......

How Bad Eventer sees Warm Up

that we could somehow reproduce such precision in the arena....... where much less chaos was occuring.........

I was prepared...........I thought we HAD this..............

I started my pass around the dressage arena and my Wonder Pony slammed on the brakes and refused to approach the judges stand.

Ruh Roh.

It took some heavy persuading to get him around the ring, but then he settled in, gave me a
gorgeous Rolex Worthy lengthen down the long side before I entered the ring...........

and then............... we had a lovely Canter to X.

Um......cantering into the ring is not an option at this level.

Was he just practicing for Rolex?

The counter canters that I had practiced and practiced and practiced.........

and that he had executed in the warm up so beautifully........

were no where to be found.

The only good thing was that the always relentless coach made me practice picking up the outside lead in the corner (over and over) so if we did have a screw up in the test, I could stop, pick up the outside lead again and end with a 4 instead of a 2 for the movement.

And...................

you guessed it, two 4s for both counter canters.

But it gets worse.......... a horse that usually gets an 8 for his free walk. Nope, broke to trot, another 4.

I've consistently gotten 8s & 9s for his trot lengthenings. I asked for the lengthen in the arena and nothing happened.

Nothing..........

It seems that every single button started malfunctioning the moment we approached the ring.

There is SOMETHING about Prelim B that is just toxic, and brings out Bad Eventer in full force.