Rinse Repeat

Yesterday we were back at the same place for another rated show. Two shows in one week, TC!

My initial plan had been to do both Saturday and Sunday, but after him having so much time off in the month of July, I wanted him to be fitter to do two days. It may seem kinda silly that a horse couldn't do two back to back days of training level dressage tests, but I also really didn't want him to get pissy/burned out about hauling back and forth and back and forth, and I have our first overnight trip of the year planned for August (for a clinic vs a show) so I can learn to manage him at other facilities overnight without the pressures of scores.

This show was a different judge, so I was a little nervous that our first show was a fluke and that we'd get the lower scores we deserve at this show. I was also nervous that TC was fluke-ly good the first show, despite some bucking, and that he'd be nutty at this show.

I don't like that his withers are down but I like this picture anyway

These mild nerves were not made better by having two terrible rides in between shows. He got Thursday off, then I had a very short time to ride Friday morning before my morning meeting (which was then moved, come on guys). He ran off during that ride but there was a TON going on at the barn so I didn't blame him.

It was my birthday Saturday so I decided to do lunch and a cider walk with the family. I decided that it'd be a good idea to ride in the evening vs the morning just so he didn't have tons of hours between Saturday's ride and Sunday's. Well, that was a bad idea because it was cold that night and I was maybe not in the best place mentally. So we had another couple of bolts and I got into a bit of a fight with him about that and his incessant spooking.

The thing about his spooking is that it doesn't get better if I get after him for it. So dumb. So so dumb.

He's so cute all braided

So the day of the show I was a little bit nervous we'd have a bad ride. But I also figured that it'd be nice to even just get off the property and pay the world's most expensive facility fee to ride there. Plus, TC thought showing was super fun the other day and maybe he'd be more tolerant of my shitty riding at a show where everyone is fawning over him.

And it did go well!

The show was even smaller than the Wednesday show, so we were by ourselves in our tests. That meant automatic blue ribbons! But our scores were quite good too- a 71.3% at Training 2 and a 70.4% at Training 3.

Unfortunately I didn't get video because I couldn't find the videographer and forgot that I could ask someone to video on my phone. Oh well. The tests were very similar to how Wednesday's tests went.

So lateral balance is still hard but his tail is pretty!

Warm up for Training 2 went well, and we headed up to the show ring. Once again he was super chill in the show ring- like too chill. Part of it was that I rode him pretty hard on Saturday, part of it is just again my inability to add energy within our test. I noticed it a bit on Wednesday but certainly by Sunday had it pegged as a problem. A lot of our comments said "nds NRG" which I had to ask Tracey about and she was like "uh, it means energy" and I was like ohhhh duh.

The whole test was quite smooth, though the judge is what I would call a "5-6-7 judge," where he's reluctant to go too low or too high. We did earn 8s on our two diagonals, but it was very different from the Wednesday judge who loved TC but also gave us low scores too. Interesting how math works.

But we got 7s and 7.5s on a TON of movements. It's actually easier to just say that we got 6.5s on our walk work (because no energy) and on our stretchy work (because he was just a touch tight). We also had a 6.5 on a canter circle because he crow hopped again.

The judge wasn't as impressed with TC's gaits- we got a 7.5- but was happier with his submission and impulsion (7 and 7.5). Didn't like me so much, I got a 7 on rider but a 7.5 on effective use of aids. There was just one comment about not using my spur before my calf because of the buck, which also said something about the spurs. No other comments, so that was weird. Oh well. I'll take my 71 and keep quiet about it.

Better lateral balance but ugh lateral canter, we'll always have
a bit of that in there, oh well

Between tests I didn't have much time so I watched the musical freestyle and then hopped on to just trot around once and do a canter transition in each direction.

Training 3 went okay, though things were just messy IMO. The halt was a bit abrupt and early so he oozed out of it and a little hollow. The loop went well and so did the canter work, but he was a bit tired in the walk. The right canter transition was our first real oh fuck moment, where he came off the bit and we got a 6, boo. But then we came back with a 7.5 for the canter circle, so that's nice. Overall our only scores below 7 was that one 6 and then a 6.5 on the stretchy things- free walk and stretch trot. This judge wasn't impressed with our stretch trot, and neither is Tracey so, homework.

The collectives were the same, except the submission was a 7.5 and impulsion came down to a 7 citing TC's slow walk as the reason. The only comment was "nice test" and while I do like more comments, I'm not complaining.

Hello uphill balance

I was super pleased that TC was good for the show. I'm still nervous about the ramifications of arguing with him on Saturday, but I think that the show helped reset us. He did feel slightly on edge about my riding, but had a blast showing and getting attention and carrots.

And again it was so fun to get a couple more good scores on his record! I also found out that I was indeed high point at the last show, but they weren't doing high point at that show. I'm thinking I won't get it at this show because there was someone on Saturday that scored above my 71. Oh well, it felt good getting the high score (and second high score actually lol) on Wednesday even if I don't have cool satin to show for it!

He's a good egg

Next show isn't until at least the end of August, so we're going to keep plugging away with the takeaways from these shows. I'm so glad that we finally made it to the rated show ring! Now to eagerly await his name to show up on my centerline scores along with four scores in the 70s!