A 57.6.
Second to last, out of 30.
I blew my figures (wtf circle?), I blew my coefficient movements, and of course, Paddy took his bolting down the long side to new levels.
It's really not the way you want ANY test to go, much less your championship ride.
However... HOWEVER... there are things I really like about this test... so all hope is not lost.
We tried a whole new warmup routine, where my goal at first was simply to get him forward and in front of my leg, and not care about what he was doing with his head (for the record, he was a giraffe). I could probably have used a bit more warmup just to be able to channel that energy more productively, but what I had in the arena was a much slower, more engaged trot. You can also see that his mouth is much quieter, because I didn't spend the entire warmup fighting with his face. Our canter/trot transition (which was supposed to be a X but wasn't) was really good - for the first time, he sat down and stepped up and under himself, instead of me dragging him down into the transition. And except for the very last centerline where he got bargey, he really didn't curl. Those things are important to me, even if the overall test was pretty craptastic.
After the test, I went back to the warmup and worked for another 15 minutes. Somehow my trainer managed to talk me into actually doing something with my outside leg, instead of having in hang there like a dead fish, and suddenly we were doing balanced 15 m canter circles. His trot got rounder and even more engaged, and our transitions got better and better. We ended on a really good note, and while I'm still not happy with our actual test, I feel like we've unlocked some new pieces that will really make a difference going forward.
I'm actually excited for our next show in two weeks, and I basically can't wait to ride my horse after work every day. Because instead of that crappy ride beating me down, it's just made me more determined than ever to get our stuff together and get out there and DO it. I know we can, and I know HE can. Now I just have to make it happen!
