A Closer Look: Grand Prix

There are actually two tests at Grand Prix, but both contain the same movements. Don't let that make you think they're the same, remember how Intermediare II has the same movements too? Not the same. The pattern at this point is what makes this level so hard.

Rico and I earning my Gold

Grand Prix

This test is brutal. It does not set you up well for anything, it does not give you downtime, it does not care about your feelings, it will not bring you soup when you feel sick, it certainly won't do your taxes for you.

You enter in canter as always, halting and making attempts at breathing (oh, that's not written in the test directions, woops). Track left and an extended trot across the diagonal. You don't even get medium trots anymore.

First extended trot, you can almost see the panic in my eyes

He's such a good pony

One short side to recover and then you're in the steepest trot half pass by far you've had to do- K to B half pass right, B to H half pass left. After that you halt at C, rein back, trot on, do another extended trot, and passage out of extended trot at V. At K turn left in passage, piaffe at D 12-15 steps, then passage out until P and immediately transition to extended walk. Whew, a break.

Until you pick up the passage out of collected walk at M, turn right at R, piaffe at I 12-15 steps, back to passage, turn left at S, and pick up the collected canter from passage at E. Are you ready for the most downtime you get in this test? Because I sure was. You get to canter all the way around the arena to F without doing anything! But then FXH 9 two tempis, MXK extended canter, A down centerline for your zig-zag, MXK 15 one tempis, A down centerline for a full pirouette to the left at L, X flying change, full pirouette to the right at I, C track right, and M transition to trot. Thank god you're done. Wait.

From R to K you do another extended trot, which is nice of them, before you turn up centerline. At D you passage, X piaffe 12-15 steps, then passage to G before you're done.

Final piaffe on centerline

Let's look at those specific canter movements a bit deeper, since I rushed through them because that's what it feels like.

The twos are easy in that they're only twos and you've been doing those since Intermediare I. But nine of them is a lot to fit in on the diagonal (eighteen strides), so you have to start them right away. It should be okay because you have a lot of time beforehand.

Then the extended canter afterward is the last only nice thing the test does to you. The half passes, ones, and pirouettes are very back-the-horse-off movements so you need to get your forward in the half short side of downtime you now have.

The half pass zig zag is a 3-6-6-6-3 pattern, although the last 3 doesn't have to be 3 and the first 3 could be 4 if your first step isn't too sideways. The 6s are like riding a half pass within tempi changes. It's very easy to get way off centerline and then fuck yourself over at C (ask me how I know) if one half pass is steeper than the other, so you need to also keep that in mind.

At least his tail is pretty

Pirouette left

Then your one tempis are what they are. Hopefully you have fifteen, or at least can do one set of eight, take one two, then another set of seven. I had like... five at the most. That was not fun. In an ideal world, you'd center them over centerline, meaning you need to know when to start taking into account any mistakes you might make.

Then the pirouette pattern just screams I'M DRUNK PULL ME OFF MY HORSE at you when you have to do the damn pirouettes on centerline. It's very hard to ride that first step of pirouette perfectly straight, you can easily ooze and get yourself off that line, having to ooze back onto centerline, demonstrate your (probably) crooked lead change straight at the judge, and do another drunken whirl around for your second pirouette, likely oozing off centerline again and having to drift back before turning at C. I have watched a lot of GPs and have only seen that pattern done well by a handful of people, most of which have represented their country in the Olympics.

The last piaffe passage tour is rough too. The last three canter movements backed your horse off so much and exhausted them that the last thing the horse wants to do is passage and piaffe again. I was once told by a trainer that the last pi/pa tour is all heart.

This horse had a lot of heart

Coefficients are: both trot half passes, all piaffes, extended walk, collected walk, half pass zig zag, one tempis, and both pirouettes.

And all that is absolutely no match for the GPS.


Grand Prix Special

This test is a novelty unless you want to compete internationally. After looking at this test, I have decided that I do not.

It's so much worse than the GP, let me tell you.

You start out normally, centerline, track right, extended trot, and a nice long while in collected trot until you go P to S half pass left across the arena. This is just as steep as the GP, just no zig zag. At C you transition to passage from the trot, then at R you ride extended trot back to passage at F over to K. From K to V you ride collected trot, and then you basically do the same pattern again- half pass then passage at C, extended trot, passage again, this time to an extended walk transition at F. At S you collect the walk, and pick up the piaffe at G for 12-15 steps before transitioning to passage again. Passage from G to M to R to I and piaffe 12-15 steps at I before passaging a similar pattern to X when  you go into collected canter.

Passage

In canter you initially have a bit of downtime before riding a right half pass from K to B, flying change at B, and then a right half pass left from B to H before another flying change. After that is 9 two tempis from MXK, 15 one tempis from FXH, and an extended canter from MXK. At A you ride down centerline like you did in GP, ride a pirouette at D like you did in the GP, and then you ride 9 one tempis at the judge between your pirouettes. What the fuck. I've never noped harder away from a test, I feel like I threw out my back doing that. After that another pirouette at G.

The rest of the test is the same as GP- transition to trot at M, R to F extended trot, down centerline with the same pi/pa tour to your halt at G.

Piaffe

Why is this test harder? Let me tell you.

The ones on centerline were enough to clench it for me, I mean really? Both of those movements are hard enough to ride without getting arrested for riding your horse drunk. Putting them together is just asking for trouble.

The trot half pass might be a little easier of a pattern, and people might assume the canter half passes are easier too since they only involve one changeover, but for someone like me with a horse who would sort of auto-zig-zag, the idea of that steep of a half pass lest you not make it to your next movement is scary. That's a STEEP half pass even just in trot!

There's also a lot more passage, as well as two piaffes in one pi/pa tour, which the GP avoids (I thought that was nice). The walk to piaffe transition isn't an issue, since most people teach it out of walk anyway, but having to go straight from walk to piaffe can be tricky, as I at least usually start in half steps for a few steps.

Coefficients are the same as the GP except since you do two instances of one tempis, they've removed the coefficient there. So actually you could argue that the second set of ones is actually kind because you get a second chance to do them well. But who are we kidding, no one does one tempis well on centerline steps after riding a full pirouette.

All I wanted to do after a full pirouette was take a full nap

Overall

Phew! You just won dressage. How does it feel?

I was talking to a friend the day after she rode her first GP about that feeling. You expect this rush, this amazing feeling after finishing your first GP. I expected to be in tears. I thought I'd be so freakishly happy.

At my first GP I wasn't any of those things. I just felt disappointed because Leo and I hadn't performed quite as well as I knew we should have. At my second GP, the first one on Rico, I felt none of those things either. I had just trained a horse to GP, something I was convinced was a pipe dream. No matter, I'd feel those things when I got my gold. At my third GP, the one I got my Gold at, the one I scored 65% at... fucking nothing.

What I expected to be going through my head: Omg GP, I am so
happy, yay dressage! What actually went through my head:
OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT

I did cry afterward, but I cried because I knew Rico was retiring, and not because I had my Gold. They were not happy tears.

It felt like any other dressage test. I finished and was annoyed that Rico had halted in the piaffe and wondered whether the right pirouette was good or not.

But now, the further I get away from it, the more I feel like I'd give anything to be back there!

Or at least just let me wear this coat again!

One Year Later

A year ago today I earned my USDF Gold Medal on my own horse, a horse I had previously retired after a career ending injury, a horse I had brought along mostly by myself in weekly lessons. My heart horse. Last year was the most incredible year of my dressage career. I am so grateful to have this horse in my life, and so happy that I can give him the retirement he deserves. 

Savor the moment 

65.2% overall.

These are the shoes he was wearing that day, I need to figure
out what to do with these

This is what we did after we finished

Looking back through life, I always see these big moments. I remember the major pony club ratings I earned, I remember each ride that earned all of my USDF medals. When I graduated from college, when I graduated from grad school. When I went to big shows and when I competed at championships. When I took this new job and when I bought TC. The day I got my Gold medal is seared into my memory, something that will stand out as a highlight. That day will be with me forever, that big moment.

I mean it's never the little things, you know, that you remember. It's always the big stuff. But there is so much that goes into big moments like these. It was the hard work day in and day out that paved the path for this big moment. The lessons, the clinics, the practice rides, the setbacks. The tears, the frustration, the feelings that we wouldn't make it or we weren't good enough. The joy of adding another one tempi on our pathetic line, the happiness I felt when we finally had the Grand Prix zig zag solid, the incredible feeling of passage and piaffe that I had long desired to feel on my own horse. And yet looking back, it's this one day I'm going to remember the most. It almost doesn't seem fair.

And because of that, I am so grateful for this blog. I started it without much in mind, other than that I liked to write and what better subject to write about than my own horses. And now, I'm so glad I wrote, because I can look back through the little moments, the moments I would have otherwise forgotten. And those are my favorite posts. The posts about my lessons, about clinics, about practice rides, about all of our setbacks. The posts that illustrate my tears, my frustration, my self doubt. The joy of new movements and of better harmony. I love that I can not only relive the big moments, but the little moments with Rico too. Because those little moments were what really counted.

Thanks for being part of my big moment, blogosphere. And thanks for being part of all the little ones too.

Cantering around the outside of the ring for the last time

Nice foot Rico, resting on the job

I love you, shadbelly

This is me freaking out before I ask him to move on

Heading up centerline

Making the first turn

I miss when my boots fit me, my calves are in pain here

Love him

Such a fancy horse

Turning for our first half pass

Halt and rein back, we earned an 8 on this

Trotting on, preparing for our first pi/pa tour

Second piaffe, look at that horse

And now we're both like GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT

Passage, I miss this feeling the most

Extended walk, our one small break, and Rico really knows how
to savor it

Preparing for the walk to passage transition of our second pi/pa
tour

Off we go! 

One of my favorite pictures of us

The one small break at the canter- pick up the canter at E and
start the twos at F. It's amazing how half a long side and a short
side seem like eternity

Nice tail, Rico, but TC beats you x 4

At the end of our zig zag, this series of movements was brutal:
zig zag -> ones -> pirouettes

Preparing for the pirouettes

Twirl to the left

And around, non-Olympic level canter pirouettes aren't the
prettiest things in the world, eh?

Twirling to the right

And now I look like I'm about to pass out from all the twirling,
my saint of a horse just being like "this is my rider, she isn't
the best rider, but she is mine"

DONE

He was clipped three times before this show

Love this horse

Gold Medal Photo Dump

Enjoy all these pictures while I tell you about Rico's first few days of not being a Grand Prix horse anymore.

Warm up, love this picture!

The fear before the test...

Last time charging up centerline

My horse has been having a blast in his state of semi-retirement. I took a jumping saddle out on trial (alas it was at the top of my small budget and not perfect enough so I'm returning it) so we went on a trail ride on Monday and jumped on Tuesday. He now gets Wednesday and Thursday off, then I'll take him out Friday and probably at least once this weekend. It's weird not obsessing over what to do with him each day and when I'm going to ride.

Around the outside

Piaffe!

The best part

Our trail ride was more of just a hack down the road. We went down the road to hang out with some cows, then came back and into the pasture next door. Normally we just walk but I decided he could canter. The horse has not been allowed to canter on the trails in five years. FIVE YEARS. He picked up a nice collected canter and I told him that he could gallop, so he did. The horse is lazy so it wasn't as satisfying as I had wanted it to be, but he flipped his head around, crow hopped and spooked hard at a fence so he was obviously having a blast.

We walked across to this little hill that I haven't let him climb in the past. It's steep enough where it isn't fair to make them walk up it. So I let him trot and then canter up it. He was so excited! We reached this little landing and relaxed, but then he spins and starts ripping up the hill behind it (much steeper, we don't go up there). I had to force him back down to the landing and then tried to get him to climb down and he refused. He was like NO I LIVE HERE NOW THIS PASTURE IS BETTER THAN MINE. 

Such a good boy

Thanks to bff, I have a bunch of standing around pictures :) 

Almost done, after our zig zag

Tuesday I wanted to jump a tad depending on how Rico was feeling. He actually felt pretty good, he's definitely starting out short in that right hind, but I think that's just how he's going to be. He does work out of it so I figured that he'll be fine to pop over some small (18") fences, I guess this is what "serviceably sound" means.

Once as I did some walk, trot, and canter around, we popped over some small fences. I made a tiny course in my tiny arena. I'm no paint expert so I'll describe the course. Think of my arena as a square, on three sides there were fences in the middle along the rail, then in the middle of the ring, I threw two fences, one on each diagonal. Nothing fancy.

The right pirouette that got a 7!!

The 7 piaffe!

A little off the bit in the left one for a 6

So beefy! RIP topline...

Rico immediately kicks the smallest fence down, breaking it (the poles I'm using are the ones you use to bind trees to and they've been through a couple of winters now), thanks horse. I made it into a skinny out of the broken poles. After that he was perfect! I started out in too much of a dressage-y position (very upright with my shoulders) so my eye was VERY off. I stopped and thought about my old jumping lessons and decided to try more of a 3-point/light seat and take my shoulders forward. This helped a lot! We only missed a couple of distances after that.

I even jumped without stirrups, which is freaking hard, and sat in jumping position (no 2pointober for me) for a bit. I used to be able to sit in jumping position all day long and for pony club I've jumped I think something like 3'6 without stirrups. Not so much anymore!

But I have incredibly exciting news that may mean that I get to jump quite a bit this winter and possibly into next year. It's not official yet (no I'm not buying a horse), but I will obviously update you all when it is.

Walk to passage transition

SASS coming up to the pirouettes

The first turn

Such a good looking animal

Anyway, Rico is having fun, he seems a little confused but is generally really happy. And he's really enjoying his pasture.

He's OBSESSED with it, actually. He's not allowed out there all the time, as I mentioned before. He gets let out for a few hours and then locked in. My mom went to feed him the other night. He came in from the pasture for his grain, but then he noticed my mom walking toward the fence to lock him on his paddock (which is HUGE by the way) overnight. He FREAKED and chased her out there but it was too late. Poor, poor pony.

Last night was his first night out there, apparently my mom said that she did a night check and saw him in his stall, he immediately ran out to his pasture to poop, probably scared that she was going to lock him in! Such a funny horse. So in love with his new life. Too bad that tomorrow a dressage school waits him... He had five days off of dressage, and now it's time to get back to the court, but this time prepping him for his new job of teaching a couple of lessons to my clients :)

Right after our halt at C

Passage, so dainty

What a horse! And what a jacket...