14 January 2026
MY 4YO HAS DONE HER FIRST PRELIM!!
In case that wasn’t clear enough… Maple has done her first prelim test!! AND in the international arena at Hartpury!!
I might be just a tad over the moon, overexcited, and of course hella proud. It was always going to be a big ask, but my word did she step up to the challenge. She was only re-backed mid-October, her first ever show was only four weeks ago, and we’ve really not done a whole lot of canter work until recently. Last year was mostly spent hacking, and the ground was so hard that we only had a little canter in the school once, maybe twice, a fortnight.
Plus, the only indoor she’s ever been in is the one we have at home, which is nothing compared to the scale of Hartpury’s. Grandstands, banners, judges’ table, full white boards, music… all things she’s never seen before.
But anyway, onto the day itself! I’d entered an Intro and a Prelim, so there I was hitching my trailer up in the dark. The lower levels are certainly humbling; I miss competing in the afternoon! Super icy on the yard, but once we negotiated the slippery spots she walked straight onto the trailer and off we went.
A really easy journey, and before we knew it we’d arrived. Plenty of time for my friend Rachel and I to familiarise ourselves with where all the arenas were, and of course confirm that chips were indeed on the menu. Maple was a superstar to get ready, a few wiggly moments over the course of the morning, but generally standing nicely. She really is getting better every time.
Despite arriving plenty early enough, in true “just in time Wertheim” fashion I didn’t actually get on until 10 (maybe 15, if we’re generous) minutes before our first test. A little fresh and spooky, but she had a nice little walk and trot in the warm up before heading down to the second holding warm up, then onto our third arena of the day… the big international indoor!
It was a lot for her little baby brain to take in, but she was so genuine. The judge and photographer were a bit scary, but we made it past them. She just wanted to look at everything, which is more than fair… there was a lot of “everything” after all! Really sweet first test, lots of tension, and a few breaks from trot to walk or walk to halt where she wanted to look at things, but all the movements were in the rough region of where they should be, and she had a really lovely “hack” round the test. Still some nice moments, and we even got a 7 for our final halt!
Bit of a wait before the prelim, so back onto the trailer to munch on some hay whilst we went on a hunt for breakfast. Much speedier this time round, and I was on for a decent warm up for the next test. More horses this time, but she dealt with it really well, even if she did find the bright blue banners rather offensive haha! A spicy trot‑to‑canter transition on both reins, but she quickly found her rhythm, and there we were, ready to face the white boards one final time.
The game plan had been to trot round past the judges, then turn around and do the same again the other way to get her really confident… safe to say Maple had other plans and was feeling so brave I might have zoomily trotted down the next long side with little hope of turning or stopping. But hey, I did tell her I wanted forwards!! The bell soon rang and away we went. Some slight concerns about how, in less than a minute’s time, I was going to be able to give and retake my reins, but we muddled our way through. Some more tension and contact issues, but gosh did she do me proud. We even made it through both canter sections with only one break (that we got back quickly)! I was absolutely beaming, and I still can’t wipe the cheesy grin off my face every time I think back on it all.
Some really lovely comments on my sheets from the judge about how nice she is, and when she relaxes the higher marks will come. Even with the tension she still got a handful of 7s, so certainly not a bad attempt at all! So much to like, and so much more still on its way.
I went with a mindset of “hacking” round a few arenas and getting chips. I think it’s fairly safe to say we achieved that and so much more. The future is looking really quite bright.
Hope you’ve all had a great start to the year! Will meet you back here similar time next month, hopefully with a special 🍊 finally home…
Xx
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