Rated Show Debut

I had wanted to post a little about the show yesterday and be able to split this post into two pieces, but I had a ridiculous day dealing with my car that started shuttering on the highway. That could be a whole post in itself. But this is a horse blog, not a complain-about-my-car blog.

About to turn up centerline

There are two major parts to this post that I had wanted to split. Because not only was it a literal win in that TC and I won both classes with scores in the 70s, but it was a figurative win in that for a very long time, I didn't think we'd ever make it into the rated show ring.

I'm going to start with the latter because I can be quick. This horse has been a real tricky horse for me. Not because he's some special snowflake horse who needs a special snowflake rider who is the only one who understands him, but because he came into my life at a time where I was transitioning from professional to pro-amateur (a pro living an ammy lifestyle?). He then got pretty seriously injured right as some behavioral issues reared (literally and figuratively at one point lol) their ugly head. So when he came back to me from rehab, not only did we have the physical issues of his previous suspensory injury to deal with, we had those lurking behavioral issues.

Aside from all that, we also had a very green horse without much life experience that needed to be trained and exposed to everything. And he proved tricky in that way to me too. Behavioral problems, physical problems, experience problems, and training problems. Only one of those things (the last one) did I feel comfortable with. But we pushed through and here we are.

First rated show, first test, first time wearing all my medals in
a rated show, first forelock braid

So this show was a win before we were winning everything, even just signing up was a win. Because three months ago we were in schooling shows and I was wondering if I'd ever feel confident enough at a new place to buy his memberships.

Six months ago I was terrified of riding this horse because every time I tried, he stood on his hind legs or galloped away with me.

Nine months ago I was still in training and struggling to ride him in the covered arena, especially when horses left the arena, you know, like they do in the show ring.

Twelve months ago I was riding in the round pen and my trainer had to ride him first each day.

Fifteen months ago I was driving out to see him in rehab every single week to hear about how nutty he was and how hot he was and how reactive he was.

Eighteen months ago he ripped his suspensory out of its origin site and I wasn't sure if today would ever be possible.

And two and a half years ago I started riding a horse who was just about 15 rides undersaddle, who showed me only a fraction of what he is capable of today. I didn't think much of this horse, guys, I thought I was settling because of my budget.

Not settling

..... but we won everything!

My ride times were in the early afternoon so I drove over hoping to get there early enough to wander around the ranch with him. He's been to this facility three times now and has always been SUPER good, but you never know- especially with the tents and loudspeaker for the show.

TC came out a little excited, but we immediately walked over to the show ring. He tried to take me into warm up, but I saw there was someone in there longeing and didn't want to disturb them. The more we walked, the better he got. He's still very concerned about traveling, but the moment you put him to work he's totally chill. Some ground work as we were walking (halt, walk on, halt, walk on) was enough to help him relax.

Canter work, she liked it, I felt meh about it

Much to my pleasant surprise, we were allowed to walk around the outside of the show arena since the show hadn't started yet. TC didn't look at all concerned about it, but I figured it'd be a good idea anyway. He didn't care. Like not at all, he stretched out and peed as we walked slowly around the outside of the ring (then lol he spooked at his own pee spot when we came back in to show).

I tacked him up and we headed into warm up and he was just perfect aside from the canter transitions. They weren't bad, but they weren't good. I knew we'd have issues with the canter and so I did a few in a row.

Tracey was nearby and gave me some quick tips about the work to the left, which seemed to work because our left scores were better than our right, despite me really feeling like I just can't ride left anymore.

I didn't really do much in warm up other than some transitions though. I knew his stretch trot would be fine (8.5) and his free walk was just going to be what it was (7.5) since no amount of warm up prevents him from going OMG WHAT IS THAT (happened in T3 lol). And Training 2 really has no other interesting bits in it. So off we went. I hope the video works. There's a lot of me dicking around at the beginning waiting for the bell.

Training 2 rode pretty well and started off with a bang. We earned a 9 on our first center line, a 7 on our first circle (to the right, the right scores were lower than the left), and an 8.5 on our diagonal. The canter work was a 6 for the transition because I literally had to smack him and kick him to get him into it. Then a 6.5 on the circle saying that he was a bit resistant. Yeah I'd say that since he tried to stop the whole time. Those lower scores killed us because the canter circle is a double coefficient.

We came back with an 8 on the downward and an 8.5 on the stretch circle (never thought I'd wish for the stretch to be a double coefficient!). Downward was an 8.5 and then the free walk was a 7.5 because he was stepping a bit wide with his right hind. Noted. The judge really nailed me on my ability to ride to the RIGHT vs the left. So now I can't ride in either direction? Ugh okay.

The high and low scores continued with an 8.5 on our trot circle, an 8 on our diagonal, and an 8 on the downward. But then we also got a 6 on our walk to trot transition, which was silly of me, he got a bit retracted, a 6 on our canter transition which again was lethargic and off the bit. And then stupidly, he started bucking in his right canter circle so we got a glorious 5.

Overall marks were exciting. An 8 on gaits with the comment "bounding gaits, articulate," a 7.5 on impulsion, and an 8 on rider position. Dragging us down was the 6 on submission becasue of his canter transitions and a 7 on rider correct aids, probably because I poked and prodded him through the canter work. Comments were about getting more throughness on the right side and shifting my weight right, which is definitely a problem of mine.

Final score was a 71.923% and first place out of one! But I'll take the ribbon, that was the high score so far that day.

Centerline

I put TC back at the trailer to eat and he hung out until my next test. I ran up to get my T2 test and to watch Kate go (she did AMAZING at 1-2 on Mox with a great score, I'll let her tell the whole story though).

Back on TC for the second test and he felt great. My main goal was to basically just go in and have another test like that. I knew that if I just rode him the same, he'd get another 70. No need to put any pressure on. I did, however, want more energy out of him just because he was a bit tricky in the canter and I didn't want to have any more bucks. A few more jazzy transitions in warm up and off we went. Again hopefully this works, and again lots of dicking around as I just wanted to stand and wait for the bell vs trotting around and wearing him out.

We again grabbed a good centerline score- 8.5 Then a really exciting 8 on the first loop since I'm kind of awful at those. It felt good to get that! We had better canter scores this time- a 7 on the transition to the left lead and a 7.5 on both the circle and across the diagonal. That to me felt slightly out of control, but the judge LOVED his canter, said that he had "nice jump" which is so funny since I don't think his canter is all that good but he sure does have jump. We got an 8.5 on the downward from trot to walk saying that he was quite uphill. Then a 7.5 on our free walk because he stared literally right at my people who were watching and was probably like "GUYS LOOK I AM WALKING AREN'T I BEING AMAZING?!?!" He'll figure out how to ignore his friends soon.

We then had a 7 on our next loop, citing a loss of connection, he basically didn't really come through in the right turn, so then the left turn wasn't great. Ugh oh well. We got a 6 on the following canter transition too because he was peetering out and I had to poke him into it. But we came back with an 8.5 on the canter circle! Good pony with apparently nice jump and balance. Wow for a horse who had no balance to speak of in the canter when I got him, sure feels nice to get such a high score on a canter movement!

At this point I'm cantering down the longside and totally forget my test. I know we do a stretch at B and then centerline, but I forget if we trot at M or C. As I'm debating how to do that (do I skip M and trot at C and risk a bell? Do I trot at M and take an error or a point deduction for trotting early?), he broke right at M. I got a 7 with "nice balance" but then a -2 for the error. Oops. I was so distracted by my incompetence that I forgot to really get him bending before the stretch, so we got a 6.5 on that and then a 6.5 on our final centerline, both because he was leaning on his right shoulder, which he does when I'm not fucking riding him. Ugh. Don't dwell on your past mistakes and plummet your scores, Megan.

Canter slowly becoming more uphill, also he looks ENORMOUS
when my leg slips back lol

Collectives were AMAZING once again. This time with a bit more pizazz in his trot, he got an 8.5 on gaits!! That doesn't happen! Rico would get 7.5s at the most, maybe an 8 every now and then. But for my cheap young horse to get an 8.5?!

We also got a 7.5 again on impulsion, this time with the words "nice connection" written in. What. This horse put me through hell and back with his sensitivity in the bridle and tendency to get super btv and curled when he was a young horse. Nice connection. Yes, yes it is.

I got demoted to a 7.5 for rider position, probably for my ugly riding at the end and general need to poke him at the canter to keep him on task. And then a 6.5 on submission, probably up because we didn't buck (yay). And our usual 7 on ride effectiveness.

Score was a 72.272% and first place, this time against a couple of other riders! As I left the ring, the judge called out to me "I like your horse!" and I said "me too!" or something of the sort. I couldn't remember, I was just so happy.

TC likes the camera the most, this was
during my free walk in T3 lol

Overall it was an AMAZING show. TC was perfect, I was... fine, the show was super well run, I loved having friends there (Kate and then I ran into 2-3 other people I knew) and my mom and bf came to watch. TC totally improved his image in bf's eyes, since the last show bf was at, TC was a bit of a nut.

It was so fun to feel 100% ready for my tests, I haven't felt that way in a very long time because I was always pushing myself to get medals and move up quickly. There were a lot less nerves on my part, which helped TC learn that shows are super super fun! He got lots of attention and pets and even some carrots.

On our crappier loop

 So, officially TC has a show record now! And I told him this year that I'd buy him a new browband (as if he cares) if he either scored in the 70s or earned a show high point ribbon. He did the former, so he gets a browband. If anyone has any ideas, let me know, it just has to be a V browband and price point under $100- colors are silver, white, black, gray, and navy. I have one in mind but I'm open to suggestions.

TC also earned a score above 65% at Training 2 or above, so when I send in a copy of his test, he will be a Bronze Elite Friesian Sporthorse in the FSA (vs right now he is in the main book). They do it for geldings too, so that's cool. Next stop for the Silver is Third, so we have quite a while. Fun to have him earn a little award already though.

He can look pretty fancy sometimes

After this, we have another show on Sunday at the same place. Different judge, so I have no expectations. I know TC isn't everyone's cup of tea, so I'm curious to see how he scores. I gave him yesterday off so we only have two more rides until the show, not enough time to fix anything. I'm mostly just keeping him exercised and trying to make sure I don't fuck anything up. Easier said than done!