Apocalyptic Weather

So on Sunday, my schedule was this: get up at 5:15am, be on the road by 5:40, grab Starbucks, be at my clinic barn at 7:25 in time to settle into a long day of teaching from 7:30 to 3:00, then hit the road to my second clinic barn and teach until probably 6:30 or 7, be home by 8 or 8:30 and pass out.

The weather was supposed to be hot. We are in an insane heat wave right now where my barn has been reaching up to 108-109 during the day and only getting down toward 75 at night. The latter half of the clinic (the second barn) cancelled and I was relieved, not only for me but for then. But my early clinic was dedicated (and riding early) so we were good to go.

I took the SO to Target the night before to grab supplies. I had heat exhaustion on Saturday with nausea and shivers, so I was determined not to have that happen again. We loaded me up with gatorade, a small fan to put on my chair, and a cooling towel I could get wet and shake. He told me he wanted to come with me to relieve me of the drive back, which he does sometimes and it's so nice. I told him he obviously didn't have to but I was glad to have the option if I was nauseous again. 

I think he likes the turtle top, more on that later

Then Sunday morning I woke up at 3:30am to a lightning storm. Lightning hit every few seconds for literal hours and by the time my alarm went off, the SO and I were not certain I'd make it up to teach. There were eight fires that had started from lightning strikes, there were downed power lines, and there was an insane amount of rain. And the storm was moving right along my drive.

I googled "how to drive in a lightning storm" and Google basically said "don't" and that plus the warning on my phone to stay indoors and don't touch metal or things that were plugged into the wall until 8am made me realize that the clinic was likely not to happen.

So unfortunately, we canceled. It was honestly going to be a terrible day with the heat and then you add a very humid rainstorm. In addition, this literally never happens here, so you never know what weird driving behavior might come out as people try to navigate the storm and the very slick roads.

I'll be back up there this weekend when things are supposed to be a little cooler, so that'll be great!

First posture in canter I can get behind, go TC!

Unfortunately the heat is really oppressive here too. Last week and this last weekend I rode in the late morning and it was way way way too hot to do anything but ride lightly. We have a show this Friday in a cooler location and the heat is supposed to break on Thursday, which is good, but unless I ride early, the first time he'll be schooling anything significant will be at the show itself. So this week, I'll be riding early.

I have a standing lesson I teach at around 8:30 (most) every morning, so that means I need to be done with TC and ideally home (which is 45 minutes away) by then, but I think I'll be trying to ride between 6:45 and 8:15 today and then teach from the barn. If that goes well, we'll do it Monday through Wednesday this week and then he'll get a bath on Thursday evening.

Hopefully it won't be so bad next week and we can go back to the more relaxed riding schedule!

Okay so this is TC and my wonderful SO, TC is for some reason
completely obsessed with him, to the point where when I drive
his car down to the barn, TC drags me over to it to see if he's
sitting inside of it

Luckily so far, TC seems to be okay handling the heat (and the storm), he's a bit hot and sweaty when I've seen him in the 100+ degree weather but his nose is always wet from drinking and he's always pretty perky, especially after I hose him off.

I wish I handled the heat as well as he does!

This is Getting Old

Things remain weird. Is that how to describe it? I don't even know anymore.

Same

Getting used to seeing myself in a mask though

Remaining Healthy

So far everyone I know has remained healthy. Granted, both of my siblings and both of my parents have already had COVID and the SO and I think we were exposed already too. But there keep being these rumors about reinfection (currently people are saying no, other people saying yes but it's less bad the second time around, other people saying yes and it's way worse the second time around). 

But, as of today, I'm not currently freaking out about my family. I'm also lucky that they're still socially distancing and treating it as if they had never had COVID in the first place. 

Still Teaching

Man. So this is the first year where I'm not actively trying to get more students. The SO and I talked about it for a long time and agreed that me putting pressure on myself to teach as much as physically possible only to put more money into savings isn't a good thing for my mental health. 

Turns out that this is the ideal way to get more students, to act like I don't need any (not even like I posted about it). My clinic more than filled up last time, I taught 12 lessons in one day, plus 4 hours of driving. It was exhausting but SO MUCH FUN! I love clinics and I'm already being asked how many more I can fit in, so I might need to add additional days and split the clinic locations. 

I've also gotten a few new local (in person) AND remote clients in the last six or so weeks. I love teaching the remote lessons, they're so fun. And my in person clients (one started last week and two start this week) are super sweet. I just love sharing what I've learned about rider biomechanics and helping people with their tricky horses too. 

I also have a student I teach nearly every day and I've been wanting to write a nice long post about what it's been like to be present (nearly) for my client's every ride. I want to respect their privacy though, so I'm still working out how to do it. I love how far they've come though. It's fun to just relax and have each day build on each other rather than try to cram everything in during weekly or less often lessons. They've learned SO much though, the rider, horse, and lesson content are fully not recognizable from when we started. 

This made me laugh a lot

Hiking

I got the SO super into hiking, so we've been going every week. My friend who I was going with had something change in her personal life (for the good! she bought a horse!), so we put that on hold. I'm looking forward to seeing her soon and meeting the new horse soon! 

But the SO being my hiking buddy is wonderful. He and I are doing the pix in parks challenge that Santa Clara County has offered everyone. Seven hikes that are fairly short and fun with a location we have to find and take a picture at. Then we get a free tee-shirt or something! It's given us a really fun goal for this summer when there's nothing else to really do. 

Also Jesus wasn't white

IT IS NOT A HOAX

How stupid are people? Did the entire world conspire to shut itself down just to... what is the current theory? I can't even keep track. Something about wireless routers coming to live and hunting down everyone with vaccines because Bill Gates hates America?

It's amazing the spectrum people are on. Some people are off the rails believing conspiracy theories. Some people just pretend that it isn't happening. I know someone who literally flew to Florida for vacation and then came home and got tested (negative) and was like LOL I can tell my grandchildren that I survived Flordia in COVID times. Then was immediately going to parties and traveling all over again.

It really does sometimes feel like a fever dream. But luckily I'm in a very liberal area and people are doing a good job with masks, so I only feel like I'm going crazy when I go on the internet.

Yeah seriously, although I do have a free ride to Canada or
the UK if I want it lol

Right?

Not Going Back To Work

We're officially working remotely indefinitely at my office job. The SO's company has said they're not going back until January, but we're thinking that'll get pushed out. They also canceled their parties this fall, which were so fun to go to last year, a bummer but obviously that shouldn't happen. 

With more time to myself without my commute, I'm actually in some ways doing really well. I mean, you can tell by my TC posts that I'm channeling all of my neurotic tendencies into him right now. But I'm driving less than I ever have, I'm spending more time at home with the SO, still getting to spend some time with friends and family, and am in some ways, less stressed. 

It's weird to say that though, because I am really stressed. My anxiety hasn't been the best the last few weeks, I really miss being able to plan things in the future without thinking about the possibility that they'll be cancelled, and the SO and I are house shopping (or house rental shopping, we don't know what we're going to do yet). All that adds up to extra stress, so while I'm enjoying seeing TC more and having even more control over my schedule and all the good things, the net stress:relaxation ratio is still a bit shit. 

LOL I've only had one Zoom emergency when I accidentally
unmuted myself and my coworkers had to listen to me ignore
the meeting and tell the SO that the garbage needed to go out

The L Program

It was officially rescheduled for late October of this year through April of next year, all of it in Arizona. I'm... not sure what to do about that. I imagine it will be postponed again, although horse shows *are* running and uh, certain people in charge seem to not be as concerned as other people (who like, have medical degrees). 

My questions are: do I feel safe going at all? If so, do I feel okay asking someone to come scribe for me? If so, would we stay together and just assume that we'll get it from each other even if we do stay apart? What about getting there? It's a 15 hour drive, and I probably feel safer driving than flying, but do I want to do that shit? Especially in the winter in the rain (and going over the grape vine??) and when it gets dark earlier. I have to go three times. I don't know what I'm going to do if they run it. 

If I decide not to go, what is going to happen? I need to find a part 2 within a certain time or I have to do part 1 again. I wonder if they'll extend that time for our cohort though. I don't know, it's very confusing. I don't know when to buy flights if at all and I don't know which one of my friends I'd feel okay exposing to such an unnecessary trip during a global pandemic. Ugh.

Seriously 

Vacations

The SO and I aren't going anywhere in August after going to little cabins in both June and July. Unfortunately we just couldn't find any on the weekends I was available and now for the next three weekends, I have clinics and/or horse shows. BUT horse shows end on August 30th for me this year (we might go back out this fall if I think we can break into the mid 70s at Third or if for some reason he's ready for Fourth) so then we're free to go on "vacation" again.

Our next trips are planned for mid September and early October. We have reservations for long weekends at more little cabins. I'm very excited because we get to go back to Little Basin and then we head out to Lassen National Park! I was there two years ago and loved it, this time it'll be in the fall, so much colder. Also apparently there are terrifying river otters there that have chased everyone out of the lake so... uh, I guess it'll be a little different this year. Can we take the river otters and put them in the bathtubs of people who won't wear masks?

This is accurate 

Schools Staying Closed

I remember when my boss said in March or April that he thought we may not return to classes (I work at a college) until at least Spring semester. I thought, wow, what a bleak outlook. I figured we'd hold some in person classes in Summer and be back for this Fall. Now we're legit talking about not coming back until the following Fall semester.

It's a good thing to keep these cesspools of disease (schools) closed. I can't believe there are people out there risking their kids' lives or even just risking having to explain death to your child when their favorite teacher catches COVID and dies.

Just because, what, parents don't like having their kids around so much? Don't have kids then if you don't like them? I don't know, maybe this just makes me seem like the most child-freest child free person ever but doesn't every pro-lifer say that a woman has to "deal with the consequences of her behavior" when she asks for an abortion. Cool, let's take that phrase and put it on the parents who think that their kid's teacher's life is not as important as them getting their kids out of their house or *socializing* them. Deal with the consequences. Also maybe stop defunding public education.

Fabulous

Generally, things are okay here. It definitely feels like the ultimate group-project-where-we're-the-only-people-doing-the-work situation with this country.

I find myself looking forward to the weirdest stuff when the pandemic is finally over. I look forward to unsubscribing to the r/coronavirus subreddit. I look forward to not writing these posts anymore. And I look forward to being able to invite people over to my house again. Like, no one but the SO and I have seen the inside of our house in months. It's just weird.

Ride the Horse, Not the Test

I was asked recently to write a blog post on test riding. I thought about it and realized that I had a lot of opinions on it, more so now that I've gone through part one of the L program, probably even more in the future when I've gone through the rest of the program and the following programs.

As always, theory posts only reflect my own experiences as a rider and a trainer and my own perspective. I'm always learning and thinking about this stuff, so what I write now may not reflect how I feel about these things in the future. Read at your own risk. That being said, I've got some competition experience in all levels of this sport.

Best show pony

Here are my best tips:

Know Your Test

Obviously. But not just like, can you tell it to someone out loud or do you have it memorized? I mean know the SHIT out of your test. To the point where it haunts you. To the point where you're dreaming about it. To the point where I still have the Grand Prix memorized 6 years after my last one. I've not had a reader in years because if I feel like if I need one, I don't have my test memorized enough.

For every moment you have to think "wait, does this happen at V or K?" or "I think this transition happens here" OR for every brain cell that has to focus on what your reader is saying and then translate it to what you're doing, that's a brain cell or several that aren't riding your horse. And you need all your brain cells to ride your horse in a dressage test. You actually need more than the number of brain cells humans have, and that's why no one gets 100%.

I'm so happy how white I got his tail!

Have a Plan

Obviously having a plan is a good idea, this is such a stupid tip, but I like to memorize my tests AND my plan at the same time. Rather than saying, up centerline, halt, trot off, track left, shoulder-in, half circle, half pass.... I'll say:

"enter centerline tracking right, he'll try to zip up to X because he's eager so take that energy and recycle it twice, first at D and then at L, halt and make sure to keep him in my left rein so that he halts square and doesn't think about pawing, trot off, keeping him in the left rein until he's trotting well, then half halt around G to put him into shoulder-fore left and then track left, pushing him into my right rein as I do that. Use the corner to talk to his left hind to warn him about the shoulder-in, half halt coming into the shoulder-in and then for the love of god, Megan, do not run him in the shoulder-in, half halt outside rein to turn his shoulders into the half circle, then keep him on that outside rein into the half pass, making sure that I don't let his haunches fall in on the half circle so that I can keep his shoulders leading while also keeping him up to the outside rein"

Best pony last fall

Visualization

The number one thing I make sure I do prior to signing up for a show is visualize my tests vividly. I don't test ride too often, I rode the 3-3 once before our first show at the level and the 3-1 about five times, which is unusually high for me. But I do ride it a TON in my mind. If you can't visualize yourself riding the test perfectly, you won't ride it perfectly.

I've not only ridden my current Third level tests in my head, I can't tell you how much I've ridden the FEI tests on TC in my head. We will have cantered down centerline in my shadbelly together hundreds of times mentally before we ever do it in real life. It makes me think about each individual little thing in the test and helps me with my training of him now. Given the horse I have today, I know that the steepness in the Grand Prix half passes is a PROBLEM and so I keep that in mind while schooling my half passes at home. I know that he might get behind me in the canter pirouettes, so I am schooling the hell out of the quality of the canter at home. I know that he'll get crooked in the tempi changes, so I'm working on changes on the rail to prevent having that problem in the future.


Ride The Damn Corners

You only get a certain number of steps in the show ring. How many steps does it take to prepare for each movement? You can get more steps by going further into the corners! And the corners are a free chance to establish a better bend, more throughness, fix a straightness problem, and make sure your horse is responding well to each aid. Don't cut them like I want to do all the time!

Me thinking about how I'm going to cut
all my damn corners and not be prepared
enough for the movements

Stress Yourself Out at Home

Lots of times, we dumb down the work we do at home. I am guilty of it as a trainer saying "when you have a quality walk, head into trot" when in no test does it say "eh just show us all the movements whenever it feels right, try it again if you mess up." You don't have to practice your test to get good at test riding. Just set yourself up for failure at times. Examples:
- put transitions at specific places and force yourself to ride them, for example, ride a transition at every quarter of a circle while also riding a serpentine and/or ride a transition EXACTLY every ten steps
- combine lateral work and transitions like leg yield to canter to ten meter circle to trot to leg yield and again and again
- ride test patterns at home, I only school full tests occasionally, but I school test patterns constantly
- drill lateral work zig zags and staircases (leg yield to straight to leg yield, half pass to shoulder-in to half pass) and count your steps in there too


Focus on Flow

One of the best ways to reduce your score is to make the movements not flow together. Take for example the 4-1. You have to ride half pass to centerline, a ten meter circle, then ride shoulder-in up centerline. If you ride the half pass, then go "oh god the circle" then faulter onto the circle, then ride straight out of it and think "oh yeah, shoulder-in" and start it a step late, it all looks choppy and weird. The movements that happen right after one another need to flow together. Your half pass should end when you turn onto the ten meter circle, your shoulder-in should start on that ten meter circle. Choppy tests lose in the submission, rider effectiveness, and in the movement scores.

TC says, these tests are so easy, mom, what we do at home is
way harder

Gimme Movements

When I'm working with TC, I think a lot about how many times I have to do a movement in a row before I like what I'm getting. For example, his shoulder-in is as good as it's going to be the first time we do it, there's no improving it with doing a second or third shoulder-in. This, to me, means that the shoulder-in is show ready.

In comparison, when I ask for half pass, the first one is not show ready, we have to do it probably four times in a row to get one that I like and that Tanya has said is an 8. But we don't get an 8 in the show ring because they don't let you do four half passes in a row and then pick the highest scoring one.

So when I'm wondering why at home I get such a great half pass that my trainer says is an 8 and then I go into the show ring and get a 6.5, it's not that my trainer is a liar. It's that I need to get that half pass to be an 8 the FIRST time I ride it

This is also important for warming up (see below)...



Perfect Your Warm Up/Trust Your Training

Related to above, knowing how many times you need to school a movement to make it show ready is really important for designing your warm up!

When you're at Training, First or even Second and Third to an extent, you can totally ride every single movement in warm up a few times and still have a live animal to ride in your test. Once you reach the FEI levels, there's no warming up every movement or you and your horse will pass out before going into the show ring.

You need movements that are good without any warm up for those levels. That takes a long time to develop. An old trainer once told me that you aren't ready for the next level when you can get all the movements right, you're ready for the next level when you can't get any of the movements wrong.


In addition, know the difference between what you'd like for yourself in warm up vs what your horse needs in warm up. I'd love to ride more changes in warm up for myself, to really know that they're going to be good, but too many changes is not something TC can handle right now.

Rico's warm up for the FEI levels was about ten minutes long. It wasn't about me in that moment. It was about him. His first set of one tempis was as good as we were going to get, so I had to go in cold as a rider. His canter half pass zig zag was great every time, so I had to go in cold on that. It's nerve wracking as a rider. It's really rather scary to canter down centerline very aware that the last time you rode a canter half pass zig zag was much earlier in the week. But I did it for him and I can 100% tell you that this is why we were successful at those levels.

Still love this picture so much

The Test Should Improve The Horse

The tests aren't set up to be unfair to the horse or rider. They are made to improve the horse. Every movement you ride should make your horse better, more through, more responsive, more submissive.

Figure out what the purpose of each test movement is and how to use it to your advantage. TC gets out behind in the mediums, but he does have a better outline in the medium and it helps to get more power in him. So I can tell myself, okay, I'll use the medium to get him more powerful and more out to the bridle, but I'll use the down transition and the corners to get him more engaged because I will have lost the engagement in the medium. I use the shoulder-in to get him better connected. I use the half pass to make sure he's staying upright. I use the extended walk to get him to loosen up his back and use the walk pirouettes to put him in a better collection before we have to do a walk to canter.

Judges look for this, they look for a better quality trot after a medium, a more connected horse after lateral work, and so on.

Happiest horse hanging with his new best friend, every ring
steward ever

Mistakes Happen, Recovery Matters More

TC and I have been showing together for three years now and we just had our first clean test last show! Every test we've had a spook, a bolt, a lead swap, or a break. Every single test except that one. The horse has scored very well regardless.

Mistakes can happen in a few different ways but it honestly doesn't matter what the mistake is, what matters is how you ride afterward. If the mistake happens in one movement and then you recover immediately and your test sheet looks like "7, 7, 4, 7, 7" then that's totally fine! Whatever, a singular four, even in a double coefficient, shouldn't affect your test significantly. BUT if your test looks like "7, 7, 4, 5, 4, 3" then there's a big problem there. In the last situation, the mistake wasn't the problem, the recovery was.

At home when making a mistake, it's easy to stop and go back or to ride some circles to get the horse back to you and then go back. Instead, force yourself to learn to recover and go back to normal ASAP. Make yourself ride through the test movement that you're practicing even when it goes poorly. Learn to recover from mistakes and the mistakes won't be a big deal even when they do happen.

In addition, change the perfectionist mentality that is so common in dressage riders. That's not helpful at all. You see tons of riders go in and ride one way when things are going well and then the moment they make one singular mistake, you see everything deflate as the rider begins to focus on how frustrated they are about the mistake. Don't worry about if a mistake will be made (it will), worry about how quickly you can recover and forget about the mistake.

TC after earning a 73% at 1-2 while making mistakes

Know Your Downtime

Figure out where there is downtime in the test. Downtime is anything that isn't a movement. At Training level, there's TONS of downtime, it's fabulous. At Training 1, you track left, do a circle, then you have half the long side, a corner, and half the short side to get ready to canter. If you made a mistake on the trot circle, you've got all that time to fix things before the next thing you get scored on happens (note: they are still judging you there, but the circle is the essence and therefore most important).

Downtime decreases as you move up the levels and is one of the reasons why the tests feel like they're happening so fast as you move up (pro tip: wait to show a test until the test feels like it ISN'T going by so quickly, time moves faster in the dressage court so if it feels fast at home, it'll be impossible to ride in the show ring). There's one significant bit of downtime in the Grand Prix, between when you pick up the canter and when you start your 2 tempis. That's kind of it unfortunately. But it was CRUCIAL to use it to get Rico forward and in a quality canter when I was showing him at that level.

Knowing your downtime means that you can identify where you can easily recover from mistakes. Any movement with tons of downtime afterward is where you can freely make mistakes. Doesn't mean you don't school those movements, but like, in the 3-1, you have SUCH a long time after each change that you can make a massive mistake without affecting your medium canter or trot transition that follows.

But in that same test, if the shoulder-in has a mistake in it, you have a half circle (that is judged with the half pass) before the half pass, that's it! So while the changes in the 3-1 seem like the most daunting part of the test, not having a good shoulder-in could have an effect on thirty points vs the change being worth twenty. In addition, those thirty points are way more steps in the test, so making a mistake in the lateral work at that test is worth more in the collectives than making a mistake in one change.

He was so dapply a couple years ago

Ride the Horse, Not the Test

It's easy to get in the ring and be like centerlinehaltturnleftmediumtrotshoudlerinohgodohgod and suddenly the horse is off the bit, drifting from the track, and you're sitting there shoving the horse through the movements, when at home, everything seems to ride really well.

I forget who told me this piece of advice, to ride the horse, not the test, but it's something I always think about. I think that this is advice that combines three things: having your test memorized so well that it haunts you, knowing your downtime, and also making sure the test improves the horse. But I think it's worth mentioning on its own too.

Basically use the test moments to ride the horse, don't use the horse to ride the test movements.

First level pony

What is the best piece of advice you have heard for test riding?

WW: On the Trails Again

Last weekend we hit the trails! I didn't take tons of pictures but it was such a good time. I really love this horse.

Heading for my favorite tree

Looking down on the valley

This place has such incredible views

Best trail horse ever

The valley

Checking Boxes

I keep getting busy and disappearing from the blogosphere. It feels like I'm a little bit living a lie with TC scoring so well in shows and then being so tricky at home with his condition and his throughness. I mean, he isn't lame, he loves getting out and doing his job. He just doesn't look as well muscled as he should for this level, that's really all it is. But it's consuming me. It's probably misplaced pandemic stress, to be perfectly honest. I can't control anything but I can control how my horse is looking maybe?

Some good moments among other not so good moments

We did get more news this last week from the vet. TC does not have EPSM. So with the last vet check, we've ruled out everything except ulcers. It's time to just give the ulcerguard time to work. I'll also be doing his first round of adequan (7 doses every 4 days) when I can get off my ass and order it.

He is 8 days into his ulcerguard and is feeling pretty good actually. Way more energetic and we haven't had a moment of me having to have it out with him about moving forward off my leg. We HAVE had a day (Sunday) where he was so unbelievably nutty in front of my leg yet low tone that I had no ability to ride him. So that wasn't great. He got yesterday off so hopefully today he's going to use his energy for good.

See, we get moments where he looks almost normal again

Two days after the show, TC showed his classic weakness in his left hind leg. He worked right out of it within a circle or two of trot and has been sound ever since. But it got me thinking.

Back in late 2016, TC came up lame in his left hind and the vet came out to find that it was a stifle weakness. TC had been an avid hill climber as a young horse, we did lots of hills until he got injured in December 2015. Then he was off from hills for a year and he started showing his stifle weakness.

Then we trail rode a lot in 2017 in an effort to try to get him off the property more. It wasn't a ton but he did climb hills semi-regularly. He showed no hind end weakness that year. In March of 2018, we moved to the flat lands outside of Sacramento and abruptly stopped hill work. He showed the stifle weakness in September 2018.

In 2019, TC hated his boarding barn, so we trail rode a ton and he was strong and sound as ever. We continued that into the fall and started back up in spring 2020. With shelter in place, the only way I could really have a good day was to go out on the trails, so we went out a bit.

Then with horse shows starting up, we stopped trail riding in an effort to take more lessons. And now a stifle weakness again.

Learning to be shorter in his body

So I think the horse is telling me he needs hill work! So we went out on the trails on Friday afternoon and it was wonderful. I had TC lower his neck as he climbed up the hills and asked him to sit down a bit more as he climbed down. Not all the time, just enough to make me feel good that he's working the right muscles while out there.

He tripped behind a couple of times at the end, which told me that he was a bit weak. We'll do this same trail (about 4 miles) for a while until he feels strong, then we'll go on longer ones sometimes.

For the hind end, I've also been asking him to rein back up the little mounds that used to be a bank complex in the field at our barn. And I'm putting sore no more on his weak stifle before work, and sore no more on both stifles, all tendons, hocks, and his back/neck after work. 

The sweetest

At this point, I think I'm doing everything I can do. I don't know what else there is to do, really. I think we're now going to play the waiting game to see how all of this is going to help him out. Then we'll reevaluate.

I think I'm seeing a glimmer of hope with his condition. After he works, he's showing really good muscle over his topline. Still not what I'd expect at his level, and there are still some "yikes" moments while we're riding, but I do see a difference now. Fingers crossed that he continues to improve and that I can stop obsessing over him and move onto the next thing to obsess over.

I'm really absolutely done with this covid thing, ugh. Wear your fucking masks.

Needs More Wild Turkey Energy

On Sunday, I woke up at 4:40am. Obviously the only way I get up that early is for horse things, and sure enough, I had to get down to the barn, braid, and leave around 6:30am for a horse show! Let me say right now, I love how strict these shows are being about masks and social distancing (for example, as you drove in, they gave you your number so no office necessary!), it was beautifully run and it felt very safe. 

This was TC's second outing at Third level and I was very nervous because the judge was someone who I have a ton of respect for. He's also the same judge who was judging when I had to withdraw TC from the 1-3 two years ago because he wouldn't stop bucking. He's also the judge who was at my L program last time and really impressed me with his judging and teaching. Now that this show is over, I want to see if I can convince him to give me a remote lesson. 

The happiest horse

So beefy

We arrived perfectly on time with only one of his braids threatening to pop out. I led him around the property and he seemed interested but a little cautious. He is really sensitive to ground and there was a lot of interesting footing changes as we walked around the property. I tacked him up and then we went into the warm up, where he was afraid of walking into it because there were cavalletti near him and he also thought the ring steward was going to murder him for some reason. Every time she moved he stared at her skeptically.

In the warm up, he was a bit tense, but then settled right into the connection with a good amount of energy. I felt like I was riding a horse worth ten times as much as he really is worth. He positively floated over the ground and the connection through his whole body was incredible. We saw a group of wild turkeys and it was the epitome of antifragility, he got even more connected and through with the birds mildly terrorizing him from afar (honestly, he was probably more annoyed that I wouldn't let him go see them vs actually being afraid of them). He gave me big, clean changes, fabulous trot work, and a collected canter that made me so happy I wanted to just go home right there and quit riding forever because nothing would ever feel that good ever again. 

I love his trot, even if I'll never sit it comfortably

TC, your tail is absurd and takes me too long to brush out

We walked over to the dressage court early and it's a good thing we did because we had several footing changes to deal with. The normal gravel path, then a concrete piece, immediately into the barn aisle with pavers, then more concrete, then the arena footing. Also making things tricky were a giant pile of footing near the entrance and a fan or something on the other side. 

I'd have loved the turkeys to follow us over to shove him into the arena, but instead we settled for being coaxed into the barn aisle by the ring steward and then being led into the arena by a trainer. 

TC got into the ring and his eyes bugged out of his head. He's never been in a fully indoor arena like this one. It's fairly light and airy for an indoor, but he was trapped. And he coiled himself up behind my leg and was like "mom I'll follow you wherever you go" and I was like "well uh dressage doesn't work like that, you're supposed to be in front of my leg" and TC said "no mom, it's dangerous out there" and that's how the whole test went. 

Setting up for the change

But honestly, the antifragility stayed and though I was disappointed that I basically had to chase him through the whole test, I won't lie and say that I didn't come out grinning. The trot work was... fine... but the canter work was fabulous, the changes were big, clean, and on my aids, the ten meter circles were well balanced, the medium and extended canters were slow, as you'd expect, but solid. The last trot extension I finally had him in front of my leg and he positively floated. 

At the end of the test I was ecstatic and exhausted. Ecstatic because we'd just put in our first EVER clean test in the history of showing this horse. Exhausted because I'd hoisted him through the whole thing while he wanted to contemplate why he was showing inside a large room instead of outdoors. 

We earned a solid 70% at that test. No moment in canter scored less than a 7, our trot work was 6.5s with a 6 for our halt and rein back because that's been weak lately. 7.5s on both changes and ten meter circles. The judge said that we had some very nice parts, that the changes were progressing nicely, and that we had a willing partnership. His advice was to work to have more energy and uphill balance, which are very much connected. 

Medium canter with floppy ears

We went back to warm up to add some canter half pass and get some more of that wild turkey energy we had out there. Sure enough, he was on fire out there, but I pushed him for more than I'd gotten before, knowing the show ring would have a sedation effect on him. 

Around the outside of the arena, I rode bold trot mediums in posting trot and a few canter mediums as well. I must have looked like a crazy person, especially when I started laughing maniacally when TC jumped clear over a pigeon and then went to bolt. The judge probably couldn't take any more of that and rang us in. 

The 3-3 was much more forward in trot and the scores did come up by about a half point (mostly 7s instead of mostly 6.5s). Unfortunately, the moment we walked, TC fell asleep again and uncharacteristically stuck in both walk pirouettes for 4s. Fuck. Like seriously, FUCK, the horse has had 8 and 9 walk pirouettes and this show we swung wildly down. I'll be addressing that later. But then all of our canter work was a 7 or above, again! Fabulous changes, solid extension, good half passes (even the tough one earned a 7). But then TC stalled out twice coming into the trot transition for another glorious 4 before we redeemed ourselves on centerline with a 7. 

So unfortunately, the fours dragged our score down to a 67%. The judge said that we were a talented pair and again mentioned how well the changes were progressing. He said that he wanted more self carriage and engagement (at least he didn't say energy for this test! Though it's all related) and for us to add more bend in the half passes, another symptom of not having enough energy and engagement with this horse. 

Finally showing good sitting in his collected canter! Now if only
I could also show good sitting lol

We won both classes (the first one was against other people lol) and got some cookies to show for it. Then we headed back and I got home fairly early after putting TC away and grabbing lunch. 

I'm so unbelievably proud of this horse this year. I felt so iffy about Third level at the last show even though we got a 70% there too, but now I feel like it's official, not a fluke, I have a Third level horse. 

Even more exciting is that he is so solid in new places! Not only do I not have to worry about being launched or having to withdraw anymore, he's putting in cleaner and cleaner tests every show. 

I realized as I was driving home that this show was FUN. I actually relaxed and trusted him and our training so I wasn't worried the scores would be bad or I'd get bucked off. Thinking back over the years, I haven't felt like this in a very long time. With Rico, I was moving up so quickly that it was always a possibility that we'd be in the 50s (we only got a 59% twice but we got a lot of 60.001%s, yikes). Then with TC, we'd pretty much score well UNLESS he became explosive. 

Now finally I have both combined, a reliable horse who I'm not shoving up the levels so quickly that I don't get to enjoy some good scores. 

After a change

I wish I'd smile more, but I love the look on
his face here, so happy

We have two more shows between now and the end of September to get our All Breeds scores for this year. I'd really like to be able to do that. I know that with COVID numbers getting worse, we're probably just weeks from shutting the state down again (or even the country), and I do think that'd be best. But until then, I'm happy to go to these little shows with their strict requirements for masks and social distancing, with the hopes that we can have one shining moment of getting our scores in for All Breeds. Getting a big ribbon this year would be extra exciting given how shit it has been. 

But after Sunday, I feel like we've already won! So maybe I'll make us our own ribbon if shows get shut down again. 

Schooling Third Level Test 3

I took the time on Wednesday to run through Third Level Test 3. We have a show tomorrow, one that I've been mildly worrying about because it's a show facility he's never been to and a judge I have a lot of respect for, so I'm hoping that TC holds it together and that I don't disappoint him. 

At least I know our turns on the haunches will impress him

I'm really happy with how these have developed!

We've ridden Third Level Test 1 at home a lot because 1) the first several times we did it, he bolted after the canter extension, it's a very forward, flowing test and he thought that it needed to be more so, and 2) I was really convinced he wasn't ready for Third so I rode it a bunch to convince myself. I remember stopping after one of the tests and asking myself "how many times do I have to ride a clean test on TC before I start realizing I'm riding a Third level horse?"

So, Third Level Test 3, I've ridden three times now: once before our last show, once at our last show, and then this last Wednesday. That's more normal for my show prep, I don't believe in over schooling a test because I think it makes people crazy (case in point, riding the 3-1 a bunch has made me crazy). If the horse is rideable, the test will be fine. 

And the horse was rideable and the test was fine! 

Easy direction for canter half pass

To the hard change

Hard half pass direction

To the easy change

I was really impressed with how he was in the test. The last two times I've ridden it, I've felt like it was right at the edge of our abilities in the canter pattern. He stalls out a lot in the half passes, dislodging from my seat so then I have to basically pull him around the turn and then the change is tough. This time, he stayed way more on my seat in the half passes so I could actually ride some quality changes! 

There were bad moments, obviously. One is that I definitely forgot my test and couldn't look at my phone because it was recording me. So I skipped the halt and rein back (also he spooked there) and then I went to ride an extended trot at the end only to remember that I'd already ridden them, so I had to find my way up centerline. So, uh, I need to work that out in my mind. This test and the 4-1 have always plagued me memory-wise. 

TC also made some mistakes, the spooking is fine, whatever, he spooks sometimes. But he definitely thought that I was going to ask for changes on the rail the entire time during our medium canter. So you can see me in the video blocking each change and trying to kick him forward. 

TC: Change?? Me: No. TC: Now?? Me: No. TC: OKAY NOW
it's such an ugly "extension," my god

Both changes felt STELLAR that test and I wish I could just keep them like that forever. Right on my aids, much better throughness than before, and no theatrics. Just quality changes. I'm so excited to get tempi changes on this horse. But I need to wait, boo. 

I think my big desire for the show tomorrow is to get him more energetic and powerful throughout the test. I knew he was underpowered throughout when I could a) sit the trot just fine and b) didn't think I was going to pee my pants in the canter. If you can sit the trot and the canter doesn't terrify you, TC is not powerful enough. Literally Tanya has said these things to me. The horse has to scare me, that's when I know I've got it right. My next horse is going to be smaller. 

Harder trot half pass direction

Another interesting thing that came out this week was that TC has been downright heavy in the bridle after getting his teeth done. His teeth did need to be done, but they weren't so bad that the vet thought he'd change significantly in the bridle. TC begs to differ. Immediately he was way easier to get over the back and into the bridle, especially in trot. But jeez, he was borderline TOO heavy for me in canter. I had to actually half halt in a way to get him to back off a bit vs his normal half halt, which is to connect the hind legs to the bridle more. 

I think that led to me riding him a bit underpowered for the test, the fact that I didn't know if I could stop him if he got really powerful. I sat myself down and reminded myself that if I got him into a better posture, I could add power within that posture and keep him rideable. So a few half halts to back him off and then putting more power in him helped. 

Having to learn to ride a new horse right before a test is a bit rough, but I'm glad that even when he's a bit underpowered, the test rides very well. Fingers crossed it rides well tomorrow at a new facility! Either way, it'll be a good story.