Cleaning Up a Few Things

Yesterday TC was back to normal and we've got two and a half weeks before our next show. I'm feeling... apprehensive about it. TC is more than ready for First level. Hell, if I didn't care about keeping his record relatively sparkly (though that's not guaranteed even if I do hold him back), he'd be ready for Second.

We are schooling half steps, all the lateral work, counter canter, and I'm absolutely drilling the canter work to prepare for changes soonish (depends on the show schedule, I like to take time off of showing for changes). He's figuring all his shit out and is stepping up to the plate when things get tough. So what's the apprehension from?

At our last few shows, TC was sticky at the canter in the show ring. He absolutely does not feel sticky at home. I can't even replicate it. Sometimes we're cantering around at home and I feel like we're only a year away from PSG (we're not). Then we get in the show ring and he's stacked up in the neck and behind my leg, which leads to bucking and breaks. 

Warming up, he's great. At the last show I wanted to address it, so I zipped him off my leg at the canter in warm up. That lead to this:

He can be such a dork

But he was still a bit behind me. 

I think there are a few possibilities to explain why I struggled at those shows. 

FIRST I have to blame myself, right? Unless the rider tells them it's different, to horses, the show ring is just another arena. We test ride all the time at home. He's seen courts and judge's booths and letters before. Somehow I'm changing my riding in the show ring vs at home and in warm up. I think part of this is from Rico. 

It's probably not news that the FEI levels are HARD and Rico needed all the help he could get from me to get through those tests. That coupled with being behind my leg by default meant that I got used to taking over in the show ring and hoisting him through some movements. Obviously we worked at home to get him capable of everything, but I was not about to let him drop out in a pirouette or halt in the piaffe (not that I was the best at always preventing that from happening lol). 

So then now I get on TC and I basically ride with too much leg/spur in the show ring. It's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, where he feels a little behind my leg, I get my leg on to keep him forward, and then he slows down. I tried really hard at our last show to prevent that cycle from starting, even cantering real big down the long side before the test, but it still showed up. Gah. 

So. Much. Leg. Required. 

I also have to address right away that we have shown ONLY at places TC has been this year. He was a nut at the WHP, not behind my leg at all, but honestly I'd rather him be a little sticky than running away with me. At GG, he was quite good, and I did notice that he was behind my leg at the canter, but he also was running away with me a lot at that point so I was cool with it. Then we've been at my trainer's barn four times for shows. It could be that he's just too quiet there. I don't know why he'd be quieter there than at home, but he does REALLY like that barn. Hopefully I'll grab a lesson there at some point and we'll figure it out. 

Stupidly, it could be that he feels the tugging on his neck with braids and he hates that so retracts it and gets behind my leg. I think that's dumb since he's usually pretty good in warm up, but it could be that he gets worse about it over time. So maybe some braiding will be in our future at home. 

It could be just that TC needs more strength. The stress of traveling and being at a horse show (and having to deal with my nerves, though they aren't so bad anymore) might be enough to get him a bit tired, even though I don't do a lot of warm up... We're already addressing this, TC is so so so much stronger now than he was at his last show. 

Calm yourself, dude (he's put on SO MUCH MUSCLE, he looks
so little here)

I guess it could be about changing arenas. A silver lining of the rehab TC did was that we did a lot of this though. We went from the round pen to the covered for months. Even now I ride at times where the guys come in to drag, so sometimes our rides are stretched over two or even three arenas. So it seems unlikely but I'll for sure be doing some practice with that too. 

What I'd tell my students is that it's probably just an amplification thing. You just simply aren't going to have 100% of what you get at home in the show ring. Nope. That's why we school a level above. That's why we make sure we have horses that are fitter than we theoretically need. You'll get 80% at best. I think that in the beginning of the show career for a horse, it's less. As they age, it hopefully becomes more. Rico always gave me more than 80% in the show ring. TC... gives me much less. The show ring amplifies problems, so it could be that TC is always a little behind my leg at the canter and that the show ring makes that worse. 

This is hard for me because let me tell you, when he's in his forward working canter, he scares the hell out of me. It's simply that he feels freakishly powerful. His canter is HUGE. Like I can't explain it. He has so much movement under him but he's sensitive, so it takes a lot of balls to get that powerful canter without accidentally aiding for something terrible. As he gains more strength and experience, I am getting a lot more comfortable with it. But it will just take time for both of us. Time for me to feel braver about really going for a big bold canter. Time for him to walk the line of positive tension without leaping down into the valley of despair, tightening his back, grabbing the bit, and getting out of town. 

Whatever, just glad to show my pony

All in all this is just life with a young horse. It will take him time to be reliable in the show ring. This is why, as entries are coming to a close this weekend, I am going to keep it simple and sign up for a Training level class each day. If the first day goes TERRIBLE, I can scratch at least my First level class on the second day and finish up my training level certificate. 

While I'd love to cram in an entire level this fall to grab my 1-3 score for a freestyle and not have to show First next year, I think I care more about fixing this problem first. And the 1-3 canter work is hell with a sticky horse. So this fall our goal will be to fix the canter problems in the show ring, and then in spring we'll grab that score. Plus I mean, we need to do All Breeds at First next year, so I can't just skip through the level, gotta ride it at least eight times!