Sammy did a great test. I’ve actually never ridden him dressage before so he associates me with jumping. As I was trotting across the arena from B to E he suddenly pricked his ears and geared up to jump out over E! Thank goodness I felt it and pulled hard on the left rein at the last minute. Phew!
He placed second after dressage with a 26. It was nerve-racking because his owners were standing there watching and Jutta is a top level dressage rider from Germany. My motto for dressage is stay on, stay in so that I can continue on to the jumping phase. Mission accomplished in style.
Sammy and I got to show jump that day also. He was brilliant! Warmed up very well. I didn’t overdo it so as not to waste his energy. Luckily I managed to get him to bump one behind and went over to the ring for my turn. He was a little surprise to see the crowd out to watch him jump, but focused on fence one right away when he realized we were jumping. He acted like he’d been doing it his whole life.
Team O'Hanlon