Cob Jockey

Thanks for all your love on the WW post! When Google Photos brought up those '5 years ago...' photos, it made me stop in my tracks. That season, 2016, was my first full season of Dressage after I failed Connor out of eventing, the first time I ever chased year-end awards, and we were doing First Level. 

Beginning of 2017

Five years later, we've only advanced one level further in the show ring, but we're miles ahead in terms of our fundamentals, which is no accident. Those of you who've been following this blog for a long time know that the summer of 2017 saw many emotional breakdowns on my part. I would stop at Lowe's on the way home from the barn and cry in the clearance plant section at the back of the garden center, lol.

End of 2017

I knew in 2017 that I wasn't doing this Dressage thing right, but I didn't precisely know what was wrong. After I took a flyer on 2-1 at a schooling show in July of 2017 (omg I thought it was three years I've been doing 2nd, but it's technically four!), I barely showed in 2018 and 2019, and then 2020 happened and made it almost a three year break, which was very intentional, (aside from COVID) - I wanted to fix the holes in our fundamentals before showing again.

 

Somewhere in there (May of 2019) I rode in my first Mary Wanless clinic (and my second), which led to riding with CGP, which led to sending Connor off for full training, and I started Pilates, which has been as influential my riding as any time in the saddle has been.

And thank goodness I found Mary Wanless, lol. Look at that torso.

We aren't ever going to be the pair that rockets through the levels one per season. I'm going to continue to overthink every fiber of my body in the saddle, he's going to continue to be "a complicated ride" as CGP thankfully validated for me. But feeling and seeing progress like that is all I've ever wanted out of my Dressage journey, so I'm okay taking the slow route while people whizz past me on all sides.

 

IDS Show, 1-3, September 2016:

I never posted my goals post for this year.  I wrote the following goals as four lines of text with no descriptions and left this in the Drafts folder until today.  Not really sure why - just forgot I guess.  Anyway, here's how I did with the goals I never posted:

Pay off truck - Success!
I paid the truck off in February of 2017 and have spent the following 10 months building up my emergency fund, funding my retirement accounts and all sorts of other lame adult things.  At some point I'll start saving for my next truck, although I love this one so much, I'm in no hurry to replace it.

Nearly 13 years old and with obsessive preventative maintenance and how little driving I do (#workfromhome) I hope it goes another 5.

Fix up trailer - Success and then some!
Not only did I get it fixed up, I also sold it for what I had in it and bought the perfect trailer for me and Connor.

What I started 2017 with...

What I'm ending 2017 with.

Show 2nd Level - Success!
We showed unrated Second Level in July and squeaked by with a 60.000%.  

Our "Are we really doing this?" selfie from a couple hours before my test.

Complete a starter event
I didn't even attempt this.  My trainer had no students eventing this year what with all the upheaval from the move, so we didn't go XC schooling.  

Proof that we used to jump some legit stuff back in the day.

I'm trying to find the motivation to write about IDS Championships, and I just can't.  It's not because it went badly.

Nope.

Honestly it's because it went so much better than last year.  The bar for me being happy with this show was set so low this year after last year's IDS Championship 1-3 ride left me sobbing, questioning myself as a rider, and putting my horse in a month of full training because I could not figure out what was wrong, but I knew it was me.

2016:

PC: my mom

2017:

PC: Paul Wood Photography

My 62.3% this year was 0.1% higher than last year's (with a -2 for forgetting that damn 15m canter circle at A!), but that doesn't tell the whole story.  Last year's scores were wildly inconsistent movement to movement, with a 4.0 and a 4.5 in the mix.  This year's scores were pretty level across the board, with no 4's.

Baaaaaaaasically need to totally start this canter over this winter. PC: Paul Wood Photography

Should I have made more progress in scores over the year?  Was it even worth showing this year if I was going to "not improve"?  The scoresheets say one thing, and I'm trying to be pragmatic about it: my score didn't improve, and that's good feedback, but I know I'm a different rider with a different horse vs last year after all we've learned this year.

2016.  PC: my mom

We both changed a lot this year.  The pictures back me up on that.  I get a lot out of showing, and of course I wish the scores were higher, but I know we are in such a better place today than we were last year, and that we have a much more solid foundation built now than we did then.

2016:

PC: my mom

PC: Paul Wood Photography

(I mean, if I'm being honest, primarily shows are a great excuse to drink booze water with Karen and Liz all day!)

Even if the scores don't reflect it, this has been a truly transformative last six months of my riding life, and for that reason, I feel so much more upbeat about this year's 62% than last year's 62%.

PC: Paul Wood Photography

1. I am coming closer to being able to hold my new position through an entire test.

2. My torso can get behind the motion sometimes.

3. My reins are too long.

Way too long

But!  The most important takeaway, and the reason I'm not upset about my too-long reins, is that this is the first test EVER in which I can hardly find throatlatch tension in a single photo.  I did see evidence of it in one photo, and two strides later you can see in another photo I gave forward with my elbows and he relaxes into the contact.  Look at my elbows and his neck in the next two photos:



Relaxation had to come first.  Relaxation is a result of sitting well and not pulling.  Now that we've internalized everything that leads to relaxation well enough to do it at a show, we can start focusing on all the good things that will happen when I shorten my reins.

Last weekend's rated show was eye opening.  Saturday's 1-3 was our highest score ever by 0.2% but really...we did the same test we've ridden for 18 months now, only with a lot less tension owing to my better position.

I was frustrated that all that progress we've made was not demonstrated in the scores or the way I rode.  My position was great, my piloting was not. Overnight, I studied every comment on that score sheet until I could recite the test with the comments.  I also thought about how NK always tells me I ride him too politely.  And we BROUGHT IT.  I rode the s*** out of Sunday's 1-3.

Not pictured: Karen off to the side shaking a tree branch at Connor

We scored our highest ever by 4+%, 66.618%, good for second by 0.3% in the open division to a good local pro.  (And remember, I have done an embarrassing number of 1-3's at this point.  Slow learner and all that.  I sincerely dislike this test.)

It's weird to be able to see the end of this year's show season.  I went into this one with no plan and no expectations (unlike last year, when I was very much points chasing).

And that worked out pretty well.

This year, I am so much more obsessed with how much Connor and I have learned/changed than I could ever be over points or year end awards, I didn't think about or check points once this whole show season.

Like, uh, this was two years ago this month.

So I still kinda can't believe this is a picture of me.

But, turns out I did qualify for my GMO's championships somehow, so I'll be riding 1-3 again on September 30 for that.  And then it logically follows that I'd use the last rated show of the year to practice 1-3, so I'm doing 1-3 both days for that show in mid-August.

I really hate 1-3.

I think we both do...

But.

I hate it because it's hard for us, and I hate it because it always seems to kick our butts, and those are not valid reasons to avoid it; really, they are reasons to attack it.  We're going to spend all of this month and next month schooling like we're chasing 2nd level, but practicing the first level movements.

I won't say it's the last time we'll show First Level (because there's no way we'll be championship show-caliber ready at 2-3 by National Dressage Pony Cup 2018), but I'm going to ride those tests as if it is and school 2nd over the winter like we're done with First.

Done with First, and more importantly, done with rides that look like this

So this happened:

I'm sure equal parts of you are thinking "What was she thinking, she's not ready for that!" and "Go you!" right now.  It's hard to know when to tackle a new level, even just at a schooling show, but this is why I did it:

1. I can get away with all my bad habits at First Level.  At Second, I can't.  Second forces me to ride better.

2. When I'm sitting well and he's on my aids, he's totally capable of Second. (See: yesterday's post in which NK tells me I am the problem.)

3. I wanted to take a stab at Second at a schooling show halfway through the year to get judge feedback that I could then work on the rest of the season, while still showing First rated.

4. I can reliably get him on my aids every ride now/I have an effective, if lengthy, warmup/I don't feel like I will go into the ring unprepared.

5. I don't feel like we're going to improve at First until we start seriously focusing on Second, or, as JenJ says, "It's amazing how well a Second Level horse does at First Level."

And...

We were terrified.

We survived, with a 60.000%!

First outta 2, but, y'know.

I am definitely not going to call us Second Level confirmed.   We are Second Level "didn't embarrass ourselves" and Second Level "not going rated anytime soon."  But it was such a great experience for us and definitely the right call to do that test.

Pretty sure we did well because my braid game was exceptionally on point on Sunday.

Our scores ranged from 4.0's in the canter serpentine (well-balanced simple changes, but no walk steps) to 7.0's for things like the walk, the halt/rein back and free walk.  Most of our comments were "more", and our collectives were "Capable pair.  Work on better uphill balance and more half halts for more engagement of hind end."

(Also 2-1 is suuuuuuuuuuuuuuch a nicer test to ride than 1-3.  Counter canter = easy, shallow loops = die in a fire.)

I sat in a lawn chair in front of Connor's stall drinking my coffee and watching the rain all morning.  Had a horse's head in my lap for most of that time.

I did...forget my test in the middle of it.  Just, mind went blank, forgot what was next.  The judge helped jog my memory and gave me a nice red -2 for that.  But even with that, our score was respectable.

The funniest thing all day was that the horse that went right before us in the same ring, doing the same test, was...a chestnut with flaxen section D Welsh Cob gelding.  What are the odds?!  The judge had to think she was seeing double!

I internet stalked his sale ad.  He's lovely.

So, now we have a nice roadmap for what to work on, and we won't feel totally terrified the next time we try Second (and I won't forget my test!).  I waffled for so long on whether to do it or not, but in the end, it feels like a good decision for both of us.

My game plan for 1-2 was to use the warmup that's been working at home lately.  That is: develop a forward trot with hands forward and still, reins short and upper body slightly forward.  Throw in a few transitions, but mostly leave him alone until he stops gawking at stuff, starts paying attention to me, and I feel him relax over his topline.  Then start sitting and doing some lateral work.

It took a lot of courage on my part to do that at a show, because it takes a LONG TIME, and he looks awful for most of it.  Plus I look like I don't know what I'm doing just trotting in 20m circles and diagonals for forever.  But I just have to take a deep breath and wait him out, because I know it works, and if I start asking for too much too early the entire ride suffers.

Still waiting... PC: My momma

The warmup won't always be like this, I know at some point I will figure something out and it will take half as long to get warmed up, but this is where we are right now.  And, it does work:

PC all photos in the rest of this post: Lisa Brezina

Connor's full sister's owner/rider was watching me and someone else who was very handsy warm up at the same time, and she told Connor's breeder "I wish that girl would just take an extra 10 minutes to let the horse relax like Jen did."  She rides I-1, and with as insecure about this warmup as I am, that made me happy.

We seriously took that into the ring too.  This is the most straight this horse has ever been at the canter:



Unnnnnnfortunately halfway through the test I started trying too hard and got tense.  If I had just relaxed and rode inside the ring the way I did outside, my score would have been better.  As it was, we scored a 61.719%, and won a three way tie breaker on our collectives to take 7th out of 14 in the open division.

Ughhhhhhhh GIVE WITH YOUR ELBOWS!  The comment here was "head nodding, relax elbows".  My trainer was giddy with delight that a judge validated what she tells me constantly.

Was I disappointed?  Maybe a tiny bit.  It felt like a mid-60's test to me at first, and we usually score well on 1-2.  But after I thought about it, you know, this was a championship level class, with most of my competitors driving 5-10 hours to get here.  And I say this not to disparage myself, but in total honesty: we are absolutely still mediocre at first level.  So 7th out of 14 is exactly where we should be.

I scored around this last year, but this feels totally different.  I'm riding better than ever, most of the time, except when I try too hard in tests, which I can overcome and have already this year at a different show, and the score reflected it.  I don't feel desperately sad at this score like I did after championships last year: I feel upbeat and awesome about where we are, because we have made miles of progress.

And best of all, the pictures (mostly) show a relaxed pony with an open throatlatch instead of a tense pony being held back by hard hands.  My warmup WORKED, on both his brain and his body, and that's a huge achievement.

It's another stop along the journey, and win or lose, boy is it fun.