In which Tony becomes a real dressage horse

Yesterday was my local dressage GMO's spring Ride-A-Test and percentage show. In case you don't know what any of those things are:
-GMO: Group Member Organization (affiliated with the USDF- United States Dressage Federation)
-Ride-A-Test: You ride a dressage test and get a mini lesson on test riding from the judge (awesome!)
-Percentage show: you are not competing against anyone but a number. If you get above a certain percentage you get a blue ribbon (down to 59%- white ribbon). Fun and easier to organize.

I took Tony out for his third try at First Level Test 1. It's not a hard test, but Tony's not an easy horse. First level is probably a stretch for us, but I don't care! I want my bronze medal! This weekend Tony proved that maybe we can actually do this dressage thing! His two tests were a 68% and 66%! The judge was very generous, but who cares! Big numbers! Everyone loves a little ego stroking now and then ;)
He was very skeptical of the judge's tent to start with, so I was glad that I schooled down in the arena before the show started. Took us a few tries to get past it, and had to have a friend walk in front of us in the end. But we did it, and we got over it. I think Tony's trot is starting to look so fancy! His walk and canter need work, but most of it is strength building and getting him to put his inside hind leg under himself and use his back end more efficiently. Still lots of running and not very round, but it is far and away better than where we started four years ago!

Who knows, maybe we'll make it after all!