Pretty Rider, Not Effective, Needs to Chill

I had another lesson with Heidi today. I was hoping that Rico would be more forward now that he's clipped, and I guess he was a bit better.

For picture entertainment- some recent instagrams!
Rico's new BFFs

We kind of overdid the warm up. I understand the pressure to get my clients to end on a good note for each movement in warm up. I'm not about to send a client into the show ring with a shit leg yield when I'm pretty sure they might do that in front of the judge. I like to give them confidence by letting them do all their movements in warm up and telling them YES LIKE THAT or NEEDS MORE PUSH or whatever else trainers yell at their clients. Sometimes I go on auto pilot where I ignore what's coming out of my mouth and think about other things.

I'm also not one to send myself into the show ring if I don't feel like I can get a good piaffe or pirouette or whatever, but Rico is a big challenge. He's got only a few good piaffes in him until he really shuts down, same with pirouettes and really everything (hah). So the biggest challenge is to set him up so the best work comes in the show ring, not right before. Unfortunately today, we overdid it and his best twos, piaffe, and pirouettes were the ones right before the test riding. He was very tired.

That being said, shitty Grand Prix is still Grand Prix, right? So the test.

The view from Juniors

The centerline was kind of awful, he wanted to change the whole time so we got a 6.5 (oh did I mention Heidi brought a scribe to my lesson?! I did my best to remember what we got). The first extended trot was AMAZING oh my god this is what a GP horse feels like, he was on FIRE coming out of the corner and now I just need to regulate him when he does that. We got a 7 on that and on the first half pass (right). The second (left) could only be a 6 because I let his haunches fall out, shit. That can be better.

The halt and rein back Heidi thinks can be a 7 but she said I need to chill a bit in it because I made it look tense by being a complete dingbat for a 6.5. Then the medium trot was good, a 6.5 for rushing at the end (more chilling necessary). The first piaffe passage tour was kind of shit. Well, the passage was good for solid 6.5s the whole time but the piaffe was a 4, he stopped. Woops.

Extended walk needs more overstep for a 6 or 6.5 but his medium walk is a pretty solid 7. The walk to passage transition was good but she said he started to get tired so that meant the passage was more like a 6. Second piaffe was a 5, he kept going but he moved forward a lot. The canter transition which is always so good was shitty so that was a 6. It should be a 7. IT WILL BE A SEVEN.

On the trails with Riot

The twos weren't to Heidi's liking (or mine), again I think I got my best line of twos right before the test. He was kicking (UGH) because he was tired and I was flinging myself around. I got a well-deserved 5.5. The extended canter was actually the best he's ever felt, but it's still not a real extended (how much faster do I have to go oh my god I am not on a race horse) so we got a 6.5 or something. Then a 4 for the change because he basically trotted through my half halt, ugh. He was sooooo tired at this point.

The zig zag was good! But good for us is a 6. It was accurate but lacks bend and sometimes the haunches lead. The ones sucked, obviously, for a 4. The left pirouette was semi-decent (I thought I got a better one earlier) for a 6.5, but he flung himself across the ring in the change so that was a solid 5 or 5.5. The right pirouette wasn't a pirouette or even cantering. It was a reining spin for a 3.

Our trot transition was a 7 and the next medium a 6.5 since he was losing steam and got low in the bridle. Then it was solid 6.5s the whole way up to a 6 halt on the last piaffe/passage tour up centerline.

The cutest

Collectives were as they always are: 7 on gaits (judges love the horse because the horse is perfect, obviously), 6 on impulsion, 6 on submission, 6.5 on rider. Heidi is so funny. She was placing blame at first on him saying he's not forward enough and because of the mistakes his submission is going to be low. Then she hesitated on the rider score. She's like "well I'd give you a 6.5 but it could be lower... uh... I'd probably circle position and write... um" and I'm like oh let me guess: Rider sits well in the tack but isn't effective with the aids. I literally get this on every test.

For the last ten years of showing Rico, that has been written all over my tests. Pretty rider, needs to learn to use aids effectively. Nice position, rider could be more effective. Beautiful seat, could communicate better with horse. Rider sit nicely like statue, need to use legs and maybe hands sometimes? Every single freaking test. One day I want to compile a list of all the different ways it's been said to me.

Heidi said since she's ridden Rico now, she understands that I'm working my ASS off the entire time, but she said it won't matter to the judge. I just look like I'm doing nothing and when the horse isn't doing anything either, it's obviously my fault (I mean, a lot of it is, but some of it is him)

Haul from the farmer's market + my parents' garden

Overall I thought it was shit. But if that's my shit, I'll do alright! Score came out to be a 59.7. Boy I'll be a little let down if that happens, I need a 60! Hopefully the judge this weekend is easier than Heidi (I said that and both Heidi and the scribe laughed so I'm hoping I'm right) and hopefully I can get my shit together so we don't botch the movements we should have gotten better scores on (come on a 3 on the right pirouette? the twos? the fucking lead change, a lead change Rico, it's from third level).

Both Heidi and her scribe (who is a BEAUTIFUL Grand Prix rider herself oh my god) thought that I would pull a 60. Even my best friend said "you keep a lot of nice things up your ass, including a 60 at Grand Prix." We'll see. I just hope that it's better than the test today. Improvement is all I can ask for, right? I just need to CHILL.

 From a bike ride last week