Preparation.....

Enter at A and proceed down centre line without halting. At C Track right........Oh Sorry....busily learning a dressage test here and that's how they start.......What they don't say on the test sheet is that you will spend 3 hours cleaning tack and washing saddle cloths. Six days riding your horse in a serious way (preparation being the key here) about eight hours grooming, two hours and a tenner's worth of fuel going to Boots the Chemist buying 'Calm' tablets........and about fourteen hours walking the test out in your living room (hoping you're not doing the canter bit when the postman gets here and peeks in through the window....I just know that's going to happen today).

All this for a dressage test which lasts 4 minutes - and there's no prize money??? Madness