5 YO Young Dressage Horse Championship
Round 2

The highest scoring horse in the first round was Donner Carina, so she was last to go in this second round of competition.  The test had a few mistakes and the horse broke in the medium trot. Harry said the judges felt that Donner Carina had a really good swinging and cadenced trot which demonstrated very good balance for a 5 YO.  It was a good ground covering medium trot and the trot score was 8.5. In the walk there as a little overtrack but nice stretching and relaxation. 7.4. The canter was a highlight of today, the medium canter and transitions were really good- 9.00.  Submission - The break in medium trot and other small mistakes meant that the judges had to come down to 7.5 for submission.  The general impression and future potential for a dressage horse was very good and the score was 8.5 This gave Donner Carina a second round score of 8.18 and she won the class.

Heatherton Park Al Capone.  The judges saw a horse with a very good trot and they awarded 8.5.  The walk was OK and they saw a little overtrack 7.00.  The canter was a little bit hurrying and the counter canter was not well balanced but the transitions were very good. 7.5. The submission mark was 8 and Harry Boldt said it was a very good test and the horse was very obedient. The general impression and future potential mark was 7.8, making a total of 7.76 and taking the horse from 4^th place after round one up to second place.

Heathmont Inferno (the current Preliminary Dressage Champion of South Australia!)  Harry Boldt said that the judges like the trot, it had good swing, but the rider must be careful with the contact.  7.8. The walk was OK.  Not super but there was a little overtrack and the horse maintained the contact. 7.3.
Harry said that the judges thought that this horse had a good canter but is not yet ready for this test and he became confused … but a good quality canter. 7.4. Submission – the horse could not keep balance and changed in the counter canter.  He came back willingly but the transition was on the forehand and hind quarters were not carrying enough. 6.8. For general impression and future potential the mark was 7.4.

Remi Legenderry.  Harry Boldt said that this is a horse with an uphill swing in the trot.  The judges felt that the medium trot should cover more ground – 7.5.  The walk was quite good as the horse stretched to the bit 7.5.  A good uphill canter but there was resistance in the counter canter 7.3.  There were big problems to maintain the counter canter and this was penalised in the submission mark 5.9.  The general impression for a future dressage horse was 7.3 making a total of 7.1. The horse was 3^rd in the first round and finished today’s test in 4^th place.

Heathmont AEA.  Harry Boldt commented that the horse settled down well and the judges liked the sweeping and active hind legs.  For trot they awarded 8.2.  They felt that the walk became tense and lost rhythm – 6.5. In the canter the horse again lost balance and was hurrying and not round enough – 7.0.  The problems in the walk and canter were attributed to a lack of submission and this brought the mark down to 6.3.  In the general impression Harry said that the horse must settle down but has good dressage potential.  This score was 7.4 and the total mark was 7.08 which moved the mare up to 5^th place from equal 8^th. 

Talien.  Harry Boldt told us that the judges liked the trot and awarded 7.3.  The walk was tense and the hors broke so 6.2.  The canter is the best pace, but tensions spoilt the counter canter.   The medium canter was quite nice – 7.5.  For submission and rideability the mark was 7.  The general impression and future potential received a score of 7 making the total score 7.3.  Talien finished in 6^th place – which meant that his second round moved him up two places from equal 8^th.

AEA Metallic.  Harry Boldt said that the horse did not settle today and the contact was a problem.  The judges awarded 7.2 for the trot.  The walk showed a little bit of ground cover, the horse was not stretching into the rider’s hand – 7.2. The canter was good but still does not stretch enough 7.5.  The resistance and unwillingness to stretch along with the lack of self carriage brought the submission mark down to 5.9.  The general impression and future potential for a dressage horse was 7.2 and this gave a total score of 6.96.  This put AEA Metallic down one place from 6^th to 7^th place.

Jaybee Colleen.  Harry Boldt said that the judges felt that Colleen was tense and this affected all of the marks. The score for trot was 7.  The walk was short and tense – 6.  The horse has a really good canter and it scored 8. The suppleness and rideability were missing today 5.5.  The general impression and potential for a future dressage horse was 7.5 making the total score 6.94.
She moved up two places to 8th but is capable of much better.  Just one month ago Colleen won the 5 YO Young Dressage Horse class at the National Dressage Championships.  This was an outdoor competition so perhaps this was the difference and something that needs to be considered in the training.

SS Fever.  Edwina made 2 errors of course but the judges did not really penalise for this.  Harry Boldt felt that the paces were hurried at times and the judges would like to see the trot coming from the shoulder.  They awarded 6 for trot.  There was not enough overtrack in the walk and this scored 6.3.  The canter was the best pace today.  We saw problems with the wrong course, and the horse lost balance in the counter canter.  7.4 for canter.  The mark for submission was 7.4 and the judges would like to see more impulsion.  The general impression score was 7.4 giving SS Fever a total of 6.88 and he moved down two places from 7^th to 9^th.

HV Aberdeen.  Harry Boldt said that the trot was disappointing as it was falling on the forehand and lacked swing 6.0 was the score.  The walk was OK in rhythm but had limited ground cover – 6.5.  The canter was hurrying and not enough self carriage and ground cover 6.6.  The horse did not show enough engagement and this affected the submission mark which was 6.7.  The general impression and potential for a dressage horse was 7.0 and this made the total score 6.56 which dropped them down from 5^th into 10^th place.

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E-mail Berni, bernis@cyberhorse.net.au for proofs