Charlie with the long sought after cooler

Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Like an electron, you can know where Willig is or where he's going



But not both at the same time. Continuing with the Willig or Anti-willig from last post, he started this morning in an extreme Anti-Willig mood. He did not want his mane braided, he did not want to be in the cross-ties, he did not want to be groomed. And then we got to the show and he was mr. nicey pants.
Mr. Nicey Pants, however, is a consistent (for this entire year) 56%, which I think sucks.
On Test 1-2, he got a 56.486%. He was humming along, actually performing well (6s, 7s), got a couple of 5s, then a bee flew in his ear - he shook his head - the bee flew out - he darted to the right, and - unfelt by me - changed his lead. So we got a 4 for the lead change (no mention of the bee - we were on the far corner from the judge), then a 2 (double coefficient) and another 2 because I didn't feel that damn change when we skittered sideways with a bee in his ear. That is kudos to Willig for being such an athlete I could ride the end of a movement and two more without noticing the wrong lead. And big frownies for me for not feeling that and correcting it. And super kudos for Willig for not going ballistic with a bee in his ear.
Then for 1-3, I was like "wow - Willig really pulled that one out" - there were a couple wobbles, but nothing major (until the end lengthening, when just before K he stumbled, acted like he was lame around the corner, then had a miraculous recovery for the centerline). And he did this ... while there was some sort of "can-we-make-these-guns-as-loud-as-fireworks" going on next door. They started shooting pretty much when our test started, and then intensified the volume and quantity of shots to the point where I started laughing while I was riding (Willig was a champ - didn't even flinch!) and it just kept up until we finished, then they quit. And other than tha stumble? Pretty smooth.
But no. My feeling of smooth is not Smooth. This was 6s, 7s, and a whole lot of 5s.
So I'm frustrated. I felt like we pulled a couple of 8s in both those tests, but we clearly did not. And these scores have been consistent all year, so I'm not doing something, but I don't know what it is.
Here's our two lousy pictures. A horrible one of us, and one of my stock tie done cute by our friend.

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