DefinitelyDressage.com

Some of you may remember from UDBB when I posted about my WB-x rescue, Panache, who was very narrow in front as a gangly 2-yr old. I was wondering what other's experience was with these narrow horses as they mature in terms of how they looked as an adult.

Well, Panache has turned out very nicely, IMO!! He just turned 5 a couple of weeks ago and I'm thrilled with how he's progressing under saddle. I've taken him off-site a LOT to expose him to new things, and it's paying off.

As a very gangly 2 yr old:


At a clinic earlier this summer:


Jumping at that same clinic:


Here's a video of him from May 2016. He's cantering over a ditch and he had *just* been introduced to ditches about 15 minutes prior to this video. He has a really nice canter.
https://www.facebook.com/deanna.russell ... 8324175051

(cont. next post ...)

And, here he is this past weekend placing 4th in a very competitive division (19 entries, Pre-Entry) at the Ontario Horse Trials Association championships. He finished 3rd after dressage with a dressage score of 70% (which included five 8's, and I robbed him of more 8's early in the test because I was rushing him the first few movements), then went clean with no time faults in cross-country, and ended with a lazy/unfortunate rail in stadium jumping.



And here is some better video of him earlier in the summer going over tire jumps for the first time. He looked, but stayed forward.
https://youtu.be/jxt-riZBXV4

Cantering up 2 banks for the first time:
https://youtu.be/ZSan7ebR_lQ

Anyway, I'm pretty over-the-moon about how he is turning out. He can be quite looky/spooky, but as he gets out more and as he matures more I can feel his confidence rising and the spookiness lessening. He has a very good brain in his head which is what I like the most. Not bad for a ragged, rain-rotty, bad-hoofed long-yearling that I bought for $600 back in 2012!!!

You have him looking fabulous

What nice progress! You have brought him a long way.

BTW, I have to point out that Panache resembles the cartoon character "Bo Jack Horseman" in the animated series on Netflix. In the series, Bo Jack is a very handsome former TV star who is trying to find new direction in his life.

Jealous!

Great job DJR

He is a tripod no longer! Great work with him, he looks wonderful.

I always liked him! really lovely job, what a nice boy

That's great progress! He has turned out to be lovely

Wow, what a terrific horse!! Nice to see him all grown up.

Wow! You two look Great! He's very handsome! Love his bit of white bling

Tripod no more!

Lovely lovely and well ridden! Congrats you two

He looks great!!

He just had to grow into that big frame. He looks great and you two look like you're having a lot of fun together.

Well, happy day for Panache and I! At our provincial awards banquet, he took home:

CADORA (Cdn Dressage Owners & Riders Association) Silver Training Level Champion (AA)
CADORA-Ontario Challenge winner at Training Level (top scores of 3 different Silver Level shows + Silver Championships)

And he was Training Level Champion at our local dressage club.

I also recently learned that he placed 2nd provincially at the Pre-Entry level in Eventing for the 2016 season.

Not bad for my little tripod!!

Great job DJR and Panache, congratulations!

Congratulations! What fun. Very solid!

Super handsome! I always liked him.....................Congrats

FYI -this was a very old thread (2016) but thank you. He has really blossomed into a beautiful horse.

Last year, in 2017, he had more scores in the 70s than 60s for First Level and finished the year with multiple championships and reserve championships. Such a good boy. We're now schooling Second Level movements but work "busy-ness" kept me from showing him this year.