Amidst a Windstorm

On Saturday afternoon, I had a mild mental break down! Yay! Essentially I've just been pushing and pushing, as per usual, and I hit a wall. So you know, that was cool.

Sunday morning, I woke up at 5am and was pulling into the barn at 5:40. I had just enough time to braid and pack before loading TC and heading up to our very first (and last) show of the year, where we'd be making our (rated) Second level debut, finally.

I mean, aside from the mental breakdown on Saturday, things began to go wrong when I got to the barn and discovered that, because PG&E is a SHIT company and instead of fixing their shit so they stop causing the state of California to burn to death every year, they have opted instead to just cut power randomly to hundreds of thousands of residents. I am not one of them, at least at my home, but the barn was. Great. So I quickly loaded TC in the dark at 5:50 and we were on our way to the show.

Love that uphill balance and split behind, and this is his weak
lead right now!

As we were driving to the show, a windstorm hit us. I felt it shake my trailer with my very wind-averse horse in it. Cool, cool.

We got to the show and I've never experienced a windstorm like this. Everything was blowing sideways and literal branches of trees were on the ground blowing around. I unloaded and began braiding.

It was frigid cold and TC was beginning to freak out due to wind, so I went inside toward the arena and set him up ground tying near a mounting block. He calmed right down and relaxed a bit, so I felt less like a terrible horse owner. I shoved braids into his mane and then went back and got dressed, listening to him scream and pace and generally freak out by the trailer. I got him tacked up and took him inside to warm up.

Warm up started out okay, we trotted around and he was tense but handling it okay. Then he relaxed. Then he bucked so hard that I nearly came off. I got flung to the left and hooked my right spur on him, he bucked due to that so I went to fall right and hung my left spur on him, he bucked again and I managed to sit up. I yelled at him while he was making a good effort to buck me off "YOU ARE NOT BUCKING ME OFF FOR THE FIRST TIME AT A SHOW" because your logical brain is just OUT the window in that situation.

A bit leany but such a good pony

When I got done being nearly launched, I turned to see several people who had jumped up to come catch my loose horse and pick me up, as well as all the riders halting their horses looking horrified. All is well, people, continue your warm up, I'm sorry for the disruption. I got offered a longe line but I'm too much of a stubborn idiot to take anyone up on that. Why am I like this?

I continued my warm up and we just cantered for days. He settled a bit, but was still very tense, we did not really have a walk... Soon I was told I could head over.

I figured I'd just go see how he was, maybe he would be fine in the wind.

He was vehemently not fine, he was better than I thought, but he did keep bolting and bucking in the small warm up arena next to the show ring. I actually said the words "I need to scratch" but then kept going.

Oh hey, it's me, not scratching. Look at all those damn leaves!

Soon it was our turn and he had a good 3 minutes of not bolting or bucking, so I decided to be stupid go in. I warned the judge that I was probably going to trot around and then withdraw. I just wanted to get him around the show ring. Then he took a deep breath and tuned right in. Like he saw the court and the judge and the crowd (I think people came to watch me die from warm up) and he was like OH YES PROFESSIONAL SHOW HORSE COMING THROUGH.

We went down centerline and I felt him surge coming in, he was so excited to be back in the ring. We halted for a 7 and then went in for our first medium. I felt him want to GO and so I held him back and we got another 7 with the comment "little out behind" which like, yep, gotta fix that shit, but the tension wasn't helping either. Our transitions earned a 6 because I was so slow to start, unsure of whether he'd go to launch me or not.

The shoulder-in pattern rode well, except he got wiggly about a GIANT FUCKING BRANCH (okay not that giant but still, a legit branch) on the track, so we got a 6.5 for the first shoulder-in, solid 7 for the second. Our rein back wasn't great, again tension meant that he didn't keep his hind legs as far under him, so we got a 6.5 on that. Then a 7 on medium walk and 6 on free walk (uh, not letting go of the reins, kay?).

Not certain about this decision of mine

The canter started terribly with a 4.5 as he stuttered into it, threatened to bolt, then lost his lead behind and had to pick it up again. After that bullshit, I wasn't going to let him go in a medium so we got a 5 with "unclear"

BUT then we got a pair of 8s for our circle and counter canter and a couple of 7s for our transitions after that. The medium canter the other way also started out with him considering taking off with me, so we got a 6 saying "show more difference" yes judge, yes.

We got another 8 on the next circle "good balance" yay but then a 6.5 on the counter canter on the left lead because he got crooked, mostly because I felt him want to change so I swept his haunches a bit. Another 4 on our right lead canter depart because AGAIN he went to bolt through it but I stopped him "disobedient"

Then we ended the test (!!! we finished!) with 6.5s on our medium and transitions and a 7 on centerline.

Turn off centerline, all our trot pictures were very tense, that's
the gait he shows the most tension unfortunately

Collectives were a 7 on gaits (so respectable given how he was that day AND moving up a level), a 6.5 on impulsion (I bet suppleness of the back and engagement is a big deal there), a 6 on submission with (attention and confidence, as well as acceptance of aids, circled), and I got 7s on both rider position and rider effectiveness.

Comments said that he was a lovely horse who was a bit distracted, but that we were a good pair who works together nicely.

It's blurry but I was so glad to get through
the test that I gave him a hug, he is skeptical

I walked out and decided to scratch the 2-3 if my score was at all low, then decided that I just fucking DIDN'T WANT TO SHOW IN THE FUCKING WIND so decided to scratch anyway. There's no way we'd have walk pirouettes in there and those were supposed to carry the sometimes questionable counter canter pattern in that test for us. Not worth it.

I went to collect my score, a 65.81%, totally respectable for our very first time out at this level! I'm bummed that it was such a stressful day (and weekend) but so glad that he held it together despite being so nervous. I really think he loves showing and that the show ring itself helped him calm down and get focused. And I'm glad I made the decision to scratch the 2-3.

And that's a wrap! Easiest show year ever, just one show, one test, one... insane windstorm. Hopefully next year is a bit better, I think we're on our way to being able to kill it at Second level. Woohoo!

Applying the Fire Hose of Information

I returned late Sunday night from the L program. I was not in a good place physically, and honestly not all that good mentally either. What I thought might be allergies all weekend turned into a full on unpleasant cold at the PHX airport as I waited for my late flight to take off. As I flew my ears started to hurt and I was so miserable the rest of the night. 

I worked from home on Monday to save my coworkers from my illness and so I got to ride TC for a normal amount of time. I did feel better that day and at this point, I just have a lingering cough. 

Absolutely bursting from knowledge over the weekend, I actually did manage to have a good ride without completely flinging myself off our pathway. I rode in the covered arena and there were things that I really liked and things that I realized were going on that I hadn't noticed before. 

Best pony

New realizations:

TC doesn't want to connect to the left rein, but I think he is connected because I pull on it so much. I started to really notice when he was connected vs when I was just filling in the gap in the connection by taking back on the rein.  

TC's lazy leg isn't his left hind, it's his right hind. It doesn't want to push as much and so it pops off the ground early. At the program, the instructor REALLY emphasized the need for two even hind legs (crookedness is apparent in all movements, so I'm basically giving away a point per movement, that's 10%!). I've known that TC has that unevenness in his pushing, but this is where it really needs to start going away. 

LOOK AT THIS CAT, he's so cute

All the tiny little bobbles need to go away. It makes a huge difference in each movement AND in the collectives if TC doesn't need bits of communication like a slight wiggle of my inside ring finger or a poke with the spur to keep him on the left rein. A 9 is attainable even for horses who are 7 movers, we just insist on riding too much to earn them. 

Along with that last note, I began to notice all the weird shit I do to keep things together in the harder movements. We are not showing ease of movements in the simple changes or the counter canter. He labors a bit and I move my body around to accommodate him. It's not ideal and I need to continue to build his strength. IMO we're coming into this show with very weak canter work. I'm not expecting more than a 6 on either of those movements. We are weak at this level. I'm choosing to go anyway, and it's not like I'm beating him on a regular basis to get the movements out of him, but this is borderline unfair to him and he's going to get himself a lot of sugar and maybe a trail ride or two next weekend. 

Early morning ride before I left for the program

Tuesday I also got a good ride in and I chose to test ride again. Again, I don't normally test ride this much coming into a show but I really don't know how things are going to go and it's making me nervous. Plus, I haven't had a clean 2-3 yet. 

This time we had a beautiful 2-1! His canter medium was stellar, trot medium was on point, shoulder-in felt free and steady, halt was a bit too close to the rail so hitting it disrupted the rhythm but whatevs, the transitions were all so good, the ten meter circle is easy and fun. My main complaint was that he's anticipating a lot in the walk work and ruining his beautiful walk. So we're going to walk on contact a ton this week. 

We got through the trot tour at 2-3 and through the walk work and I did the stupid thing of thinking "is this going to be our first clean 2-3?" and then he BOLTED down the long side in the canter medium. He just gets so excited about them. 

He got in trouble but we kept going, had a good serpentine and simple change, then bolted in the second serpentine and then bolted coming up centerline. Fun! It was mostly because they were working with a tractor near the arena, so I get it, but still frustrating. 

Pls don't bolt in the medium canter thx

I took him into the covered and checked on the walk pirouettes. They feel slow and sticky but they're solid. I just can't feel his hind legs, remember? So I just have to trust that they're fine and not override them like an idiot. 

Then we cantered a bit and did a ton of counter canter. I don't like over schooling it because of Third level, but I really want this to go well. He was a good boy about it. A few solid simple changes later and we walked a bunch on contact to get him to stop anticipating. Then we were done! 

Generally I love how he's feeling. I'm able to ride the canter in a way I've never experienced on him (at least, not consistently) before. His trot is active and rideable as well. I think Tracey is really onto something and I can't wait to see her after this show and throw everything I've got into transforming his gaits.

Feather-Induced Test-Ruining Leaping

I signed up for the show at the end of this month. I was feeling kind of questionable about it but decided to just do it. I should have tried harder to get into the same show a year ago and show these tests, there's no reason to wait any longer. They just aren't going to ride any better.

Well, they could ride a bit better. We test rode this past weekend and it was fine. It was fine. I mean, we would have been eliminated from the 2-3, which sucks because I honestly think that might be our better test.

Still got time for wandering

The 2-1 rode fine, there's really not much to it. The mediums are on the shorter diagonal, the canter mediums are only 3/4 of the way down the long side, there's no walk pirouettes or canter to walk transitions, and it's just shoulder-in. But at the same time, some of the elements still were tricky, mostly because there aren't a ton of movements to make up for some of our weak stuff. His walk to canter transition just isn't as through as it needs to be, and because we've schooled the simple changes enough, he thinks about doing them during the counter canter pattern.

But generally I was really happy with the test, being a bit easy isn't a problem, but I do believe a clean 2-1 will result in a lower score than a clean 2-3. Not that my horse is a clean-test kind of horse.

The 2-3 is a much better test for us when things go well... His counter canter loop is excellent unless he gets off balance on the right lead and goes to swap in front. I can hold it but it feels slightly precarious at times. Whatever. A fully confirmed counter canter before flying changes can get you stuck at Second level indefinitely. The walk pirouettes ride beautifully, there's something about this horse and that movement, he really has good instincts with them and I can really fuck that movement right up and he just does it. Good boy, earning your keep.

The haunches-in is... well, it exists. He slows down a bit in it and shuffles to get the right amount of angle, but it's fine. The shoulder-in to ten meter circle rides quite well so I'm not too fussed about a weak haunches-in. I feel like Second level is the level where you're just kind of low key bad at everything.

Simple changes feel great, going away from the judge is preferable, although she'll be able to see him get wide behind. Rico didn't have clean simple changes until like... Fourth level. TC's are clean, they just sometimes feel like I'm riding a bag of rocks down a hill.

Sunrise driving to the barn before teaching and working and
teaching some more

Now, the place where we would have gotten eliminated in the 2-3 was OBVIOUSLY the medium canter on the left lead. He exploded a few times in our test riding, which is fine, it's just him. But he saw a feather when we just started the medium canter and then he leapt sideways, landed with the court in between his left and right pairs of legs, then leapt again and we were outside the court.

Ugh. Horse. Seriously. Please keep your fingers crossed for a low-wind day, not that he's afraid of wind, it's that he likes to play with things floating around in the wind.

So we'll see how THAT goes. It's not a big deal to get eliminated, really, I just want to get in the show ring. Ideally we'll like, end our test inside the court with a halt and a salute rather than by jumping out of the ring, but unfortunately this is just who TC is at times. He really has no respect for that tiny fence around the arena (non-horsey SO thought I was weird to be nervous that he'd jump out of the arena "is that really a concern?" I forgot to explain that I'm not worried about him jumping out of the actual arena, just the court).

Remember this bullshit?

But other than that, we're feeling as ready as we can be given that 1) I've been working VERY hard this fall and have been a whiny bitch about it for weeks to the point where it's a miracle if my friends or family don't murder me before the show, 2) I haven't been able to ride TC nearly as long or as much as I would like coming into our first show of the year, and 3) TC is clearly a show jumper who missed his calling and I'm making a bad decision trying to contain his enthusiasm in a tiny sandbox.

I want to test ride a bit more and we have our last lesson with Tracey this weekend (unless it's another shit show lesson and then I'll take a day off work to get one before the show). Then it's just a weekend off of riding for me to start the L program and the following weekend is the show! I am genuinely excited for it, I want to braid him (using Peony's Spot On Braiding Wax, of course!), get all dressed up, brush that damn tail out, and hear how pretty his color is from strangers. It will be fun and I'm managing my expectations score-wise to keep it fun even if we don't get the scores I've been hoping for.

Back in the (Practice) Court

TC has been his wonderful self recently and things are getting kind of fun. I mean, they've been really fun.

At our last lesson, Tracey and I chatted about doing Second level this year, even as soon as like, a week from now. While TC has all the training to do the tests, after reading all the judging material (more posts coming later), I'm wanting to revisit the movements and see what is going on with them.

Is he kind of looking like a Second level horse? I think so

I test rode the 2-1 this week, a few times.

By the way, having access to a dressage court is AMAZING. I haven't had one to ride in since... boarding at this barn in 2017. Also mirrors, haven't had them since then either.

Anyway, back to the test. TC warmed up great and I felt like I could legitimately sit the trot for the first time in a while. Weird. I didn't do much other than just walk, trot, and canter in a circle because I had to share the covered ring (the horror, I normally ride at 7ish and am alone). I left the arena earlier than I would have at a show, but not that much earlier, and headed to the court.

It was TC's first time out in the court and he was a dingbat obviously. He was relaxed but wanted everyone to know that he was out there just in case they wanted to come hang out with him. No, TC, it's way easier to not share the ring, then I can look down as much as I want to (and I want to look down all the time).

When those ears flick forward, sometimes shit goes down

The first test was... ridiculous. I kept feeling in the corners like he wanted to duck and bolt, which is his annoying habit in tests when he's too excited (and this was the first time in the court since he moved). He didn't do it, but it made for a very broken feeling trot pattern, where I'd kind of stuff him in the corner to keep him from zipping off but then we'd get stuck there. Still though, the mediums felt surprisingly good, though I know that they are quite conservative, and the shoulder-in pattern was rideable, although I'll be riding it a ton (those turns are wonky for us).

The walk work was fine, except he kept wanting to jig and scream, which led to a mistake in the canter transition, causing him to leap sideways over his left shoulder and kick down the court. Cool. I circled back and repeated that and then got a very good, well balanced, controlled medium canter that was only slightly less powerful than I would ride it in a test.

I forgot the first 10m canter circle but the counter canter rode well and um, well, my horse doesn't like doing canter to trot transitions so we kind of just cantered until I had to yell TROT at him and then get him in walk by the corner. The canter pattern the other way went well, as did the last medium trot.

He's so fun 

I opted to ride it again because I wanted a clean test with no forgotten circles, screaming, or leaping sideways to kick down the court.

And this time it was clean! I mean, it was like mid-60s clean, not mid-70s clean, because his mediums aren't yet powerful enough, the transitions between movements need to get way smoother, and he still thought about not trotting when we were cantering, we did get them this time but it's tough. I know a certain bay horse who struggled with them too, so I think there's some way I'm sitting that encourages him to just sit down rather than to trot. He has been told frequently not to break to trot when I ask him to collect his canter more, so he's just doing his best.

With a clean test... that gave me a ton of hope! I have been feeling less than ready for Second but this test gave me confidence. I plan on riding it again today (so I probably already have) and ideally getting a soloshot video of it. Then I'll bring it to Tracey tomorrow and see what she thinks it will score. If she says 65%+, I'm entering.

Then we'll make the push for both 2-1 and 2-3 at Greenville. And probably a few more Second level tests next spring before possibly debuting at third in a year from now. Wow. It's all happening so unbelievably... normal paced. Lol it's fine, he's still the most fun I've had on the back of a horse and I honestly don't care about anything but having fun, more on that in another post.

Why We Can't Have Nice Things

On Sunday, TC and I attended a schooling show! We've been to this facility once before for a schooling show in May, where we did 1-1 and 1-2. This time, we did 2-1 and 2-2. That's a lot of progress in five months.

TC wasn't quite ready to debut at Second, in my opinion. The counter canter is weak, the simple changes are hit or miss, and his medium trot is way out behind. I want to fix all of those things before we try the rated ring. But it was a schooling show and my trainer rolled her eyes at me when I said I wasn't sure if I was going to do it. So we did it!

Yeah she was right

We got there and TC unloaded well, walked quietly around the facility with only one whinny, and then proceeded to scream and rear and slam himself against my trailer when I tied him back up for 20 minutes to wait for our test. Um, yeah.

Once as I started to tack him up, he was all business though. He walked quietly over to the covered arena and had a great warm up. So great that I got someone asking me when he'd be for sale. He is totally her kind of horse apparently, not spooky, super quiet, totally relaxed. I'm like um... did you see him rearing at the trailer? No?

I love warming up in arenas with mirrors, so I finally got to look at the walk pirouettes (they look amazing) and his canter work (could be better) in person. We did some simple changes, worked on the collected canter, and did some lateral work before heading over to the outdoor arenas.

As I walked outside, I saw E!! Or really, E saw me and said hi! E is a rider at L's old barn and I had met her a few times before L moved. It was so fun to see a familiar face (a few of them) since this was another solo show for me.

Walk to canter, sometimes this is sketchy because he is still
gaining confidence in them, but yay we picked it up

In the outdoor, we continued our warm up with some medium trot and canter to try to get him a bit more forward. See, the whole time we were warming up before our 2-1 test, I was kind of having this dilemma. TC has been so reactive and terrible in new places, even this year. So when he is relaxed and quiet, I want to praise him and not get on his case about it. HOWEVER Second level is a bit beyond our ability right now so he really needs to be "on" for me to not feel like I'm hoisting him through the tests.

The perfect balance eluded me and we went into the show ring a bit behind the leg.

The test felt kind of blah. I felt like I was chasing him through it, the canter wasn't as collected as it has been, and there were some questionable moments, like the rein back where he kind of just gets hollow. BUT this was the first test in a very long time with no major shenanigans. He didn't try to leave the arena (I mean like once he thought about it okay), he didn't launch through the air, he didn't bolt... nothing. He just went in and did the thing. He did the thing behind my leg and made me work a lot harder than I'd like to, but the thing was done without any antics.

10m circle, the fact that he's even capable of doing these is still
kind of amazing to me

Our next test was 2-2 and after I reminded myself what the pattern was, I walked him straight back over to the show ring right before we were due in. My goal was to just jazz him the fuck up. Get the hell in front of my leg. He was not amused. His favorite part of the day was standing and being pet by E and by the person who wanted to buy him. Why not more of this? Why do the dressage?

The 2-2 was much better, sort of (I wish I had video but the videographer was feeling sick so had to go home). Our walk pirouettes were on point, our shoulder-ins felt much more normal, and I actually had enough trot to get a medium out of him. The canter work started out terrible. I went to put him into canter, which is a transition from trot at C. At C there was also a beautiful flower box with the letter C on it.

TC, destroyer of all that is beautiful, decided to kick the SHIT out of the flower box as he took off into canter. The flower box went FLYING and broke apart, flowers everywhere. The letter C was in the arena upside down. The box had a large dent in it.

Second medium trot... er... more of a lengthening, but he will
figure it out!

I was fucking mortified but we didn't get rung so we kept going. He did well in his counter canter, though my geometry was kind of off because I had legitimately practiced this test once. The simple changes both felt like they had one trot step in them (though the judge disagreed and we got 8s on those). Coming around near C again to the other counter canter, TC saw the wreckage of the flower box that he had kicked over and decided to get all sassy about it. Then he slammed to a halt having to pass it again in trot.

At the end, I walked up to the judge and apologized profusely for him. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have to purchase another box, but luckily the box was made of plastic and was able to be popped back into place.

The judge had a break and we're friends so we got to chatting after my ride. She and I were at the same barn when I was riding Leo in 2011. She was also the judge at the schooling show we did in May of last year when TC was an absolute dingbat. She reminded me how bad he was there and told me that she was impressed with our progress. I didn't know my scores at this point so thought she was just being nice. I told her that he'd calmed down a lot, too calm at this show. She said he didn't look behind my leg and actually looked really good, and I was like hah I'm glad he looks better than he felt!

Medium canter, and yeah he did kind of try to leave the arena
(and then you see me pull on the left rein since THAT is the cure
for everything, right?) 

And he sure did, we walked away with a 68.788% on the first test and a 72.436% on our second test. The 72 was enough to win the open high point for the show.

I have a lot of respect for this judge, she's a beautiful rider and got her current horse as a yearling and did the breaking/all the training herself. Buuuut I still think she was WAY generous. For example, we got a 7.5 for kicking down the flower box at C and that should have been like a 4. We did get our classic 6 for submission on 2-2 though. Any time he does his bullshit he gets a 6 on submission. I was pleased to see a bunch of 8s (even if they also felt generous), including on the medium trot, a walk to canter transition, our right walk pirouette, shoulder-in right, a medium canter that I actually rode boldly, both of our simple changes out of counter canter, my rider position (yay), and his gaits (yay). Still, most of those were probably more like 7-7.5s at a rated show.

Her comments were fun. On 2-1 she said "Bold horse. Training is headed the right way" and also noted that he was holding up a front foot during one of his halts. Um. Yes he wants to paw and our halts are the fucking worst. On the 2-2, she said " Funny and bold horse! Have fun!" Which is a huge change from "GOOD LUCK" on one of our tests this year...

Despite it feeling very generous, I'm choosing to celebrate anyway because I can get myself all down about the tests feeling a little blah. But we went and debuted at Second level and hey, someone thought we deserved a 72%. There may be an asterisk beside that debut, but I'm happy about it anyway.

We'll keep plugging away to get the tests more rideable. I'm still unsure of whether I want to do the rated show at the end of this month. We'd be doing 1-3 and 2-1, so it's not like we have to do the 2-2, which is definitely a tricky test for us right now. But I have this week to decide!

Test Riding at Second Level

Thursday morning I saw that the covered arena had been cleared of jumps/cavallettis and had also been watered and dragged! So that meant one thing: test riding.

We tentatively have a schooling show in early October where I'd ideally like to ride 2-1 and 2-2 to see how they go. We've never ridden 2-2, and my attempts at 2-1 happened last year when he was just baaaarely able to do the test. It was like trying to ride a Fourth level test now except that I couldn't even stuff him through those because he doesn't have half the movements at that level yet.

Random soloshot pictures because I don't have anything current

Anyway, I figured that I should test ride it before I decide to show. So between yesterday and today, we rode all of the Second level tests. Here's a quick rundown of how each went:

Second 1: totally clean except that at the end of the test he exploded for no reason. Cool.
Second 2: totally clean except he thought that he'd do a lead change in the first counter canter, oops.
Second 3: again totally clean except in the first counter canter pattern he broke.

Overall I was super pleased with how easy the tests felt! We definitely have some homework, which I thought would be more interesting to talk about than to run through each test. Here are some of the things I want to really fix up before we have to do this in a show:

The best pony

Sitting the Medium Trot

This horse has a hell of a trot in general, and once you put it over the ground it becomes even more impossible to sit. What I noticed is that while I sit the medium trot just fine even on the long diagonal, I get tired enough where I tend to shut the trot down as we slow down and then it's hard to put him back up in the lateral work.

So I think I need to sit the mediums a lot more (this is news to no one) and focus on how I'm handling things afterward. The medium trot can be used to develop a much better, more cadenced trot, and I should be utilizing it a bit better so that we can come into our lateral work stronger.

I also realized that they set up 2-1 and 2-2 so that you don't have to do that much trot work all at once, but that 2-3 has all your trot work front loaded. I never considered it until I was facing my second medium trot in 2-3 and was like you know, I'm fucking tired.


Counter Canter

Obviously all of our mistakes came in counter canter, so we need to work on that the most. There area  few things going on. TC knows his counter canter, but hasn't been asked to do it in as small of a space.

TC is still learning to stay really up and in front of my leg in the collected canter, so add the counter canter to that and it's really tough. I feel like his canter shuts down a bit in the counter canter still.

The plan is to continue to school the smaller patterns in the dressage court (or in a manufactured one, I think I am going to measure out the big arena) and then also to ride larger counter canter patterns in the big arena focusing on the quality of the canter. Hopefully the two will collide and I'll be able to maintain the quality of the canter on the smaller figures.

This was from before Tanya had me bring him up

Simple Changes

The simple changes are foot perfect when I'm practicing them, but like everything, they get worse in a test environment. This is because I'll go to put him in the very collected canter and he'll get a bit slow, or he'll prop a bit, or he'll lose depth of his inside hind, and when I'm just in practice, I will push him out of it and try again. In a test I just walk from there. The transitions are clean, but that's not what an 8 simple change feels like!

The upwards are fine, but he needs confidence, he only feels confident in the upwards if I kiss at the same time as asking, so I'm going to be doing a lot more of those.


Turns on the Haunches

These are pretty damn good but I'm struggling a little bit to ride them as turns on the haunches vs walk pirouettes. Meaning I have not a lot of control over the size of them. I think my goal over the next few weeks is going to be to just put a damn good walk pirouette on him and forget about it.

Yep too downhill here

Overall I'm super pleased with how the tests rode! I don't think that it's so far out of our wheelhouse to think that we'd be okay at this schooling show. I think we're good to go for 2-1 and 2-2 in a couple of weeks and then we miiiight go to a rated show at the end of October and do 1-3 and 2-1. I don't think I want to risk too much counter canter in the rated ring just yet.

A Closer Look: Second Level

Ah the dreaded Second level is the topic of this continuation of my exploration of the dressage levels.

I actually like Second level well enough, but like everyone else, I'm always itching to get to Third from this level be it on my own or with students. Second is hard for a few reasons, let's go through them!

Travers

You can just see me wanting to leap off and run away 

Purpose of the Levels

To confirm that the horse demonstrates correct basics, and having achieved the thrust required in First Level, now accepts more weight on the hindquarters (collection); moves with an uphill tendency, especially in the medium gaits; and is reliably on the bit. A greater degree of straightness, bending, suppleness, throughness, balance, and self-carriage is required than at First Level. 

There's a lot here. But I want to point out a few things- they finally say the horse should be reliably on the bit, implying that First level lets a horse get away with being slightly unsteady at times. It's not saying you can run around off the bit at First and getting a 70, but they won't ding you as hard I guess. That's not been my experience with judging and training though.

Collection, in my opinion, is the key theme here. And they say especially in the medium gaits. Sure you can get away with riding what would be acceptable at First as a lengthening at Second, and you'll probably still get a 6, but the medium gaits are important. Especially as the extended gaits start showing up at Third.

You can tell that I'm really struggling with connection at this point

Look at that, Rico tipping too, he still does that

Second 1

Depending on your strengths (counter canter vs simple changes), you may hate this test or love it. Generally, for a Second level test, it's pretty friendly. There are none of the harder technical movements (no haunches-in or turn on the haunches, only the friendliest kind of counter canter pattern).

The trot pattern is nice and simple- a medium across the diagonal and then shoulder-in for half the long side, ride across the ring, and shoulder-in again. This gets people wiggling, but that across the middle bit you did in First 3 should set you up well for this. This is your first halt with rein back, and yay they threw it right in front of the judge! That's a bit mean. But with this pattern, it's the only place they can have you walk out of it, so I understand.

The canter is complicated, but the 1-3 was fairly complicated too. Some people hate the 2-1 pattern because you pick up your canter at F and immediately you're walking after the first half circle of the serpentine. I think it's a great movement for a strong horse but a terrible movement for a lazy horse. It would have been challenging on Rico, but I'm glad for this on TC (though they will probably change it by the time we make it there). The counter canter is minimal, it's just going across the short diagonal to either a long simple change (walking in the corner, canter at C) or a trot transition. I think this pattern is kind of easier than the 1-3 loop, again depending on the state of the simple changes.

Coefficients are both shoulder-ins, the halt and rein back, and the free walk.

Oh hey look, I used to tip right. Progress. Because now I tip left.

Forgot my gloves at this show, so dumb. You can already see
that at Second, I'm struggling to get him off his underneck.

Second 2

This is a decent test. It once again starts with the medium (get used to that) and then you have shoulder-in, two ten meter half circles to get you across the arena, and then haunches-in. It's a good pattern. It sets you up exceedingly well for Third 3, which has those half circles following a shoulder-in as well (but ending in a half pass, which is related to haunches-in).

The walk pattern includes turns on the haunches for the first time! These can end up being hilariously bad. I should write something about those... They put them on the line between H and M, which is good. On the rail, it's harder to do enormous ones and stay on your line, in this pattern (which persists through at least PSG) you can see lots of people do their half turn and then half pass or leg yield or just turn back onto their line. Doesn't mess you up too much.

The canter is an entire half circle in counter canter to a simple change. This can be rough- to simple change out of counter canter. I much prefer to simple change into counter canter, but that adds a level of difficulty as well, so there's really no winning if they were to change it to suit my needs.

Coefficients are both haunches-in, both turns on the haunches, the free walk, and the last medium trot before centerline. I find that last coefficient interesting. I think it's because that movement is a good test of whether the horse is truly uphill, where they can remain so throughout such a long test. Cool. Not cool if you want to ride it, but cool from an observer's stand point.

Derping along in a turn on the haunches, what the fuck am I looking at?

So wide behind omg. It would be 7 years before we got good ones

Second 3

I like this test.

The trot work is nice, arguably easier than Second 2 since the 10m circle sets you up really nicely both out of shoulder-in and into haunches-in. That 10m half circle wiggly thing can be really tough. Once again your halt and rein back appears in front of the judge, I guess that's just something that you do now.

The counter canter serpentine shows up at this test. Again it's just preference, I find it fine, I like that movement a lot. Much better than the Second 2 counter canter pattern because again I find it tricky to do simple changes from counter canter. The simple changes instead show up across a short diagonal after a ten meter canter circle (a very similar pattern to 3-1). I like that a lot, even though you have to put them exactly over the middle with no rail to help you and they're sort of more on display.

Coefficients are both walk pirouettes, both counter canter serpentines, both simple changes, and the free walk. This means that your canter work is suddenly worth a LOT more. Look at 2-1 and 2-2, at least half the coefficients are in trot. Here? More than half are in canter. Gotta get to it.

I'll be honest, I had a student skip 2-2 last spring. I just don't like the trot pattern this early on (she's doing 3-3 now and it's much easier) and the horse's simple changes out of counter canter were questionable. So she did 2-1 and 2-3.

Breathe, it's only second level. Wait, no, panic.

I used to ride so good guys

Overall

Second level gets a bad rap because it's just hard enough to be annoying and frustrating but arguably not so hard that it's fun and impressive. But the level is important and mastering the movements are part of learning the basics of dressage.

It's really apparent when you look at Third and Fourth level. You're asked for flying changes and half pass at Third, tempis and canter pirouettes at Fourth. The counter canter and simple changes are essential for flying changes (and tempis), the haunches-in and some of the patterns (10m circle and the half circles) is essential for the half pass patterns, and the turns on the haunches prepare for walk and canter pirouettes. Mastering the level is essential if you want to produce a rideable horse for Third and Fourth.

Struggling through some mediums

I think the hardest part of this level is that First level (especially 1-1 and 1-2) is an easy enough level for many different types of horses and for riders who are maybe not as serious. It's quite accessible. Second tests a lot of things: the quality of your own basics as a rider (such as sitting trot, ability to half halt), the dedication of the rider (can't really get there if you aren't riding regularly), the quality of the trainer (lots of trainers can get people to First, but Second is a different ball game), and, yes unfortunately, the quality of the horse. Some horses are just going to find this work easier than others, which takes a lot of the pressure off of the quality of the rider and the quality of the training.

But who doesn't like a challenge?