4 y/o ASB, Intro A & B yesterday, best scores yet

[asb_own_me]

Atlas and I went to a little schooling show yesterday and he did great. I cannot overstate how happy I am with how reasonable and GOOD he is. Classy (my mare) scratched her cornea about two weeks ago, and Atlas had to keep her company inside while it healed. Then I was sick, literally laying in bed, all week, so he didn't get any work and only had turnout the last three days. He's used to being out 24/7. So with that, off we headed to a new facility this morning to a show!

I was really proud of him. Yes, he gazed longingly into the distance in Intro B, movement 6 (M-X-F free walk on two diagonals), and yes, he literally SWAM down center line in the first test, but he got new best scores of 66.5% in A and 67% in B, and his first ever "8"s, in B, on movements 1 and 4. I posted the movement and collective scores in the description area of each video. I was very, very happy with my boy.

Intro A:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC7-sL1h2dk

Intro B:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edIb86s1n-g

[DressageGeek "Ribbon Ho"]

congrats!

[ddashaq]

Good job! That is a cute boy that you have there!:)

[War Admiral]

Awesome! Congrats!

Now, could you please package up that lovely, relaxed free walk and send it down here to Mr. Twinkletoez? I'll trade you a powerhouse trot... :lol:

[asb_own_me]

Thanks. I was pleased with how well he did.

WA, the nice free walk only comes after the test, not during. So I'm not sending any of it anywhere! I just need him to shuffle his "playlist" and do that walk during the test!

[Carrera]

Wow! great job!

[2Horse]

WooHoo! Go Saddlebred!:D

[slc2]

What an elegant horse.

[shawneeAcres]

I watched the Intro A but not the B test. Have responded to your posts in the past. Want to say I see LOTS of improvement in both you and your horse! He is moving MUCH more forward now, tracking up VERY well. Would like him to relax a bit more thru the neck I still feel he wants to and you "hold" him a bit much causing him to curl up sometimes. However, you are using your leg a LOT more now I can see it thru the turns and circles, better bend, could get a bit better but this is a huge improvement. Would like tos ee more relaxation in the walk (test A haven't looked at B0. overall though a great improvement and your horse looks liek he is beginning to muscle up across the topline which will only make him stronger! Keep up the GOOD WORK!

[asb_own_me]

Thank you! :)

We don't get to work between lessons very much, so I have to give Atlas most of the credit. He retains things very well. The work on leg yielding has really helped him understand that leg means many things, not just "forward". I didn't feel I could use much leg before because he was still at the point where he would quicken instead of bending around it. Now he "gets" it!