CDI PSG at San Juan Capistrano

The CDI PSG today took up much of the morning, it started at 8am and finished around 11am. I had all three in the class, so it was a bit of a marathon but then all over before lunchtime!

First to go was Majek, who went surprisingly well despite having to deal with the double bridle. Our tactic to surprise him today with the double (I've ridden him on snaffle for the past 2 weeks) worked, he was pretty good on it and relatively ridable. I had a nice test, it had some issues but I was very happy with how it rode relative to how he's been going on the double recently. On the double he tends to back off more and not want to take the connection. As a result, I had to ride a little conservatively. We ended up with a 62.8%.

Monkey was next. I was very happy with how he warmed up, much more active and uphill today without all the extra tension from yesterday. The test was equally good, and I felt like I could ride close to full power at the trot. He threw in a couple of one-time changes in the threes again, that has always been a problem in the PSG. But he was so much more solidly uphill, active, and on the aids, everything else felt absolutely solid. I was very happy with the test! I expected to be able to break 67 or 68 percent, but was disappointed to see I had only scored a 64.2. Grrrr. That's dressage shows for you.

I finished with Victor. He was really super in the warm-up, I got him much more consistently uphill and active throughout the work. The pirouettes are still a little dicey, he can easily drop behind the leg, so I ride them conservatively as a result. The trot work in my test was very good, with a few little bobbles, but he got a little bracing in the canter work. I was able to ride relatively clean, but it wasn't as fluid and supple as I would like. He ended with a disappointing 61.5% today.

The winning ride was David Blake and the Oldenburg stallion Royal Prinz, with 69 percent. The next two placings were 68%, so the scores weren't super high anyway.

I went and watched the CDI Grand Prix later in the day, which was won by an absolutely amazing ride by Steffen Peters and his new mount Legolas. The horse is unbelievable and Steffen rides him so well. I think they scored 75% or something insane like that. Guenter also had a very nice ride on Fandango, scoring close to 70%. He had a few unfortunate mistakes in the changes, but the horse was beautifully uphill and cadenced in the rhythm throughout. I think Ralfalca and Jan Ebeling were 2nd; they also had a beautiful ride.

The Intermediare I is tomorrow, both Majek and Victor will be doing their first Intermediare I in competition. My goal is to put out a relatively workable and harmonious test on those guys. I'm hoping to bring Monkey's score up a bit tomorrow a few percent. I have a few ideas to improve my warm-ups for tomorrow. On to the next show day!