Cob Jockey

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.

What happened at Heartland goes back to my lesson on Thursday.

Photos from schooling ride on Friday.

I wouldn't say Connor was running away with me, but he was strong at the canter and very difficult to pull up.  He finally relaxed when I figured out three things: I was gripping with my thighs, I had too much inside rein, and I wasn't tall/firm enough in my core.

(My trainer also constantly nailed me for my hands being too far back/reins being too long the entire lesson, which helped a lot.)


The first two, gripping with the thighs and the inside rein, affected the canter.  He softened, relaxed and stopped running through my hands when I fixed those.

(It goes back to something Nancy K told me, which is that something about the way I sit naturally, particularly in my thighs, doesn't encourage him to think he can go "up", which makes our transitions flat and the quality of our gaits poor and quick.  You can see it in most of our photos, especially at shows, I just look tense through my whole body.)

August of 2015: TENSE.

My core affected our upward transitions and the gaits that followed.  If I 'sat on my pockets', moved the tension from my thighs to my glutes and abs, and thought "up" with my ribcage, his transition and the subsequent trot was awesome.  Every. Time.




I schooled just long enough Friday night to cement those ideas from Thursday in my brain, and I have the photos to prove it stuck on Saturday.  My default position usually includes hunched shoulders, a floppy core, long reins/elbows too far back, and lower leg nowhere near it's supposed to be.  Even if I was aware of those issues in lessons, I was never present enough in the show ring to fix them, so when Connor needed me most I was not physically helping him out:

August of 2015:

And in the test on Saturday:


I finally feel, and can see in the pictures, that I am actually sitting on this horse and not death grip perching on top of him.  PROGRESS!

Edit: Double posted, no apologies.

Finally, we're to the show!

1-2 was first, and it was fantastic.  I was able to put into practice a lot of the things Nancy K had me change in the lesson on Friday, and it helped so much.  We scored a team-high 73.125% on that test.

8.0 - balanced halt, prompt step off All show photos by Lisa Brezina.  Thank you!!!

Most of our scores were 7.5's and 8.0's, with two 4.5's and a scattering of 6's and 7's.  One 4.5 was for the right leg yield which we totally deserved.  It should tell you how one sided we are that the left leg yield about 15 seconds later got an 8.0.  The other 4.5 was for a really disorganized first 10 seconds of trot after the halt.  We deserved that too.  Overall, I can't complain, we got 7 8.0's.



The comments we got were unlike anything we've ever gotten in the past - 'energetic jump' (15m canter circle), 'uphill jump' (other 15m canter circle), 'expressive' (lengthen canter - and that's a good, obedient expressive, not a "your horse bucked and I'm being nice" expressive), 'balanced & good ground cover' (working canter), 'good prep' (downward transition to trot),  We got 8's on the things we've gotten our worst scores on in the past - leg yield and lengthenings.

7.5 - stretching with active march, more ground cover

I know he's on his forehand in this next picture, but can I just have a moment over his neck here?  I just love chestnuts with flaxen manes and tails.

With a ride time of 11:41am, I thought I'd get on a few minutes after 11.  In the event Connor came out breathing fire like at Majestic, I would need time to chill him out.  My trainer explicitly told me not to encourage him to be up - he needed to relax.

Within a few minutes, I realized I had my old pony back, the one who gets just up enough at shows to give him some extra impulsion that makes him super easy to ride...and I was on way too early for that pony!  I kept him moving and thinking literally until they were yelling at me to get to the ring - which I trotted all the way over to, in order to not lose him:

Trotting over to the show ring

We went straight in for 1-1, he was ready.  And it felt so good!  Definitely way better than I expected to get my first time on my own.


Our scores went from a low of 5.0 when he broke into the canter for a step when I asked for the trot lengthening, to highs of 8 for the downward transition at X from the left lead canter to the trot "well balanced and fluid in transition," and an 8 for our final halt.


Her remarks were "What a willing, hard-working horse!  Good job!"  She gave us a 67%, good for first by 7 percentage points in a class of 5.

When we finished, we had about 90 minutes before our next test, and I knew impulsion would be a problem coming out of the stall for 1-2.  I was not surprised.

All pictures are from the first test.

This test was just flat.  I had what I had, and what I had wasn't much.  He was too quick, and lost that impulsion that makes my job easier.  We ended up with a totally respectable 64% and another first (of 3).  The judge actually commended me for not asking for more from him, saying "Willing partner with rider careful not to push him too much in later lengthenings yet - he needs more strength to cover more ground and come back (sit)."

Ribbons and scores aside, I was thrilled with this show.  We went there by ourselves, and got it done.  My position is, overall, much better in these pictures than in my last Dressage photos from a year ago.  Connor came in ready to work, and only screamed once the entire weekend, when another horse called at him as we were entering the warmup area.  Otherwise, it was like he said, "Oh the Hoosier Horse Park, time to get to work."  It could not have been more different from Majestic.

Look, the beginnings of a stretchy trot circle.

What needs more work?  Sitting and pushing muscles need more work - his lengthenings are mediocre at best.  I know these tests wouldn't have scored nearly as well at a rated show, and that's okay.  That's why you do an $87 (total!) schooling show first.  Also, we keep getting "needs more crossover" in the leg yields in 1-2, so that needs work too.  But we're headed in the right direction.

This horse and his constant need to rest a hind leg as soon as we halt, I swear.

What a good pony and a fun show!

Do you know what this is?


Well, okay, that's the mailbox that came down when the house painting began in September that's still on the ground because hanging stuff in brick is hard, yo, and those are my porch Christmas decorations because...it's cold.  Should probably take care of that...

Anyway, sitting in the mailbox is my entry for a schooling show on February 14!  My first Dressage show since January of 2013.

The only picture I have of that show.  Our barn at the very end of the world at one of the biggest competition venues in the area (besides like the KHP)

What you're not seeing is my intense back-and-forth the past three weeks about what level I should show.  Sorry, JenJ.  Here's the short version:

- We're past Training level for sure.  That I know.

Just for fun, baby's first Dressage show from June of 2012.  "Distracted" and "skywatching" were the judge's comments.  Hahaha.  Photo by Austen.

- We can do everything required in First Level (10m trot circles, 15m canter circles, leg yield, lead change through trot) except for trot and canter lengthenings, which my trainer didn't believe my tends-to-be-on-the-forehand pony was ready to school yet.  She believes it's asked for too early in the Dressage levels, and it wasn't something we had to focus on as eventers, since BN = training level Dressage, so we just didn't do it.

This canter was not yet ready for lengthenings (August of 2015).  Photo by Connor's breeder.

- We can do all of the Second Level movements, but probably not well enough or quickly enough to do them in a test yet. (Counter canter, shoulder-in, simple change, collected and medium trot and canter, rein back, travers, half turn on the haunches)

I talked through this with my trainer on Thursday. She said she thinks as of recently he's developed enough to start introducing lengthenings, but we're only going to school them once or twice before the show so as not to create new problems before the show.

Then whatever happens in the test happens, since it's a schooling show and the point is to get feedback on what we need to fix before our rated shows this year, not to necessarily score high.  Then, we work on lengthenings for real after the show.

Seems solid to me.  We're entered for 1-1 and 1-2 because JenJ said she liked 1-2.  That's really the entire reason.  I'm looking forward to getting some objective feedback (finally)!

When I asked my trainer about taking Connor to some early season shows before our first event, I had no idea that the early season would come so...early.

"That's funny you bring that up, I was just checking a date on my phone for you.  Would you be interested in showing Connor at a schooling show in Cincinnati on the 19th?  Just Dressage?"

Yes, that's January 19th, weather permitting - three months before I thought we'd start showing.  Thank goodness my trainer will make sure we are presentable.  How on earth do you turn out a woolly mammoth of a Welsh Cob out for a show in sub-freezing weather?  Is his clip show-ring acceptable?  Where are my white breeches, for goodness' sake?!

I am not a cold weather animal!

Those details don't matter as much as what we'll be doing, though.  My trainer doesn't like the way the canter is done in the Intro C test, so we'll be doing either Intro A or B and then a Training level test.  Wahoo!  My first show with a trainer - how much less stressful is that going to be?

Anyone want to join us?

It was during this lesson that I rode my first Dressage test.  We worked on some basics (primarily not stiffening during certain things, like halting), and then she said she was going to have me do a couple of tests.  I didn't say anything, but I was nervous that I would get in the middle and forget where I was going and yell "Where's the next fence?!"  Wait.  Wrong sport.  Anyway, I'm not the greatest at remembering courses/patterns, but I ended up doing quite well on the Dressage tests.

There is so much to remember that she says (and that I feel) during lessons, and I can't really remember it all when I sit down and think about it after my lesson.  It's nice to have the 40 minute drive home to think about what happened in my lesson, but even still, so much of what I'm learning is accomplished physically and automatically right there in the moment that it's hard to remember in words what happened.

That said, there were three things I took from this lesson: One, I really understood and felt the purpose of the outside rein.  I was controlling his shoulder with just the outside rein when we were doing 20m circles in the middle of the arena (which, by the way, I had never considered that that figure in that location existed before last night.  Yes, I'm not the brightest.)

Two, for the first time I equated the movement in my seat with the horse's movement at the canter.  Bear with me here, people, and remember I came from hunter land.  I was taught to rate the horse with my reins and not pump with my upper body.  That's pretty much the extent of my "sitting the canter" training.  I followed whatever the horse's canter was, because in IHSA, you ride what you draw.  So last night, she tells me that my big seat motion at the canter is driving him forward, and that I need to rate the canter from my seat just as I rate the trot from my seat.  Whoa.  Big lightbulb moment here.  The canter is the same as the trot.  Or at least the effect of my seat is the same in both gaits.  Why hadn't I thought of that before?

Three: I thought of the arena as a four-sided polygon rather than an oval.  Again, something I have never had to think about before, but she made me think about actually riding straight on the short sides as well as the long sides and making quality turns every single time.  Again with the details, I've made an extremely concerted effort to make every turn as if a judge was watching me, and it's paying off.  I'm not letting Dillon dictate the turn, but I'm really holding with the outside rein and inside leg and not letting him turn a second before I say so.