Cob Jockey

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.

1. Riding our most physically challenging test twice in one weekend is out of his reach right now, and it may always be that way.

A smarter decision on my part would have been to enter 1-2 and 1-3 on Saturday and 1-1 and 1-2 on Sunday.  I can get him more fit, but he's not a Thoroughbred, and even if he is physically capable of surviving a hard test twice in two days, that second time won't be as good as the first.  Quality matters a lot in Dressage.

Those are two exhausted faces right there.

2. 1-2 feels really f'ing good.

It just does.  Love the way that test rides for us.

We look awesome, Liz looks bored.

3. He doesn't need a whole lot of warmup...at First.

Even now that he's more of a professional and less fired up about showing, he's still easier to ride at shows than at home.  I'm not sure if it's because he actually is easier to ride, or my "welp, gotta ride what I got," mindset at shows.  Turns out what I got on any given day and any given moment is good enough for First Level, but I'm know my warmup will have to change when we start showing 2nd.



4. We HAVE to develop more thrust from the hind end.

Pulling breed = naturally travels with his hind end trailing behind him = would rather pull than push.  We've come a long way with the "stop pulling with your front end" campaign, but not nearly far enough with the "start pushing with your hind end" campaign.  Our 1-2 scores would be low 70's for sure if we just scored better on the lengthenings.  And in fact, while I was in Vegas, Connor was in partial training with the explicit instructions to work on the lengthenings.


5. Judges like his canter and free walk.

I don't think we've had a free walk yet that scored less than an 8.  And if you had told me two years ago that our highest scoring gait would consistently be the canter, I would have laughed in your face.  But it's true.

6. Stretchy circle champ
...when his rider realizes they do sometimes tell you whether you're allowed to sit or post a movement...file that under "mistakes that will never happen again."


7. We ARE ready for rated First Level
I hemmed and hawed and skipped the first rated show of the year in our area because I wanted to be certain we were ready.  I don't regret that decision, and it's clear now that we are ready.

Sunday was...interesting.  This was our first two day Dressage show, and we had 1-2 at 1:10pm and 1-3 last of the weekend at 2:30pm.

No filter.  I joke that you can see your reflection in his coat when Mary is around, but...it's not a joke.

I'm beginning to develop a feel for what he needs in a warmup, and at least at First Level, it's not much.  This is the easiest horse in the world to show (*at the HHP, at first level).   Lately, he has come out like a professional and needed very little from me.  I start out with a lot of suppling at the walk, make sure the engine is engaged with a lot of transitions and lateral work, and we're pretty much there.

Also, he needs not just going around the outside of the ring while we're waiting on the judge.

When I came out on Sunday, that was especially true.  I got on about 20 minutes before my ride time, and after 10 minutes of warmup, he was so ready.


There was some confusion with the warmup steward, and they said they couldn't find the girl ahead of me so I could go early if I wanted.  He felt so good, I was relieved, and I agreed to go early.  So I went over, but then the ring steward said the girl ahead of me finally showed up and I should go back to warmup.  But back at warmup, they said the girl ahead of me didn't want to go now since she was late, and wanted to go out of order.  So back to the ring I went!

The judge is smiling at us in the background.

All that said, that 1-2 ride is the first time I walked into the Dressage ring and just owned it from warmup to the final salute.  I don't know if it was the confidence of winning it the day before, or if we are just that comfortable with the requirements of 1-2, but I managed the test start to finish, thinking ahead, executing my ride plan.  I walked out knowing it was an even better test than 1-2 the day before, although it did not score as well.  I didn't care.  It felt good to feel competent.

I have a horse that likes the stretchy trot.  I do not take this for granted.  Thanks, Connor!

1-3 though...1-3 was a shit show.

At least his braids looked good...?

He was tired, I was tired.  It was our first time doing four tests in a weekend: I knew it wasn't going to go well, and in hindsight, I really really really should have scratched.  Instead, I borrowed a pair of spurs from Mary (who hasn't ridden all summer but somehow still travels with spurs?) and marched into the ring.

We did win the foamy lips award, at least.  You can see his white lipstick from all the way across the arena, where this picture was taken.

Everything was fine until the first canter shallow loop, when I tapped him with my whip, thinking the spurs would surprise him since I haven't ridden with them in so long.

"I am so tired, why are we doing this AGAIN?"

In retrospect, the spurs would have been the better option.  He kicked out at the whip and landed crossfiring, then broke, then picked the wrong lead back up.

Yeah, not the lead we're supposed to be on there.  Luckily I have since figured out what's going on with our shallow loops and fixed it, so hopefully even when he's tired, this will never happen again.

And that was our strong direction!

Trying to be a good boy, but so tired.

The other direction was more tactfully ridden, but I was out of horse.  He broke twice.  As I walked out of the ring, one of the IDS ladies asked, "Tired pony or tired rider?"  Not one to blame my spectacular failures on my horse, (and it truly was both of our faults), I said, "Both.  "First time doing four tests in a weekend!"


We ended up with a 55% for 5th, and on that note, we packed up and headed home!

I don't normally post on the weekends, but this is two week old news at this point and I have new things I want to post about. Plus only like four people read Dressage show recaps anyway (and I don't blame you!)  At least I have loads of pretty pictures for you!

My first rated show, and the first thing I noticed is that horses, generally, are a LOT nicer than the ones at the schooling shows.  Sure there are nice horses there too, but schooling shows are kind of like lower level eventing in that you get all types.


I didn't let it intimidate me though: since it was my first rated, I didn't allow myself any expectations.  Sure we had scored well at the schooling shows, but those judges could have been really generous compared to rated judges, and I wasn't about to set myself up for disappointment.  I wanted a 60% on 1-3 for rideoffs, and 60%'s for my bronze, and anything else would be a bonus.

Warming up.  Jackets were waived, but I wore one to avoid turning the show into a wet t-shirt contest if a spot shower hit during my ride.

1-3 was first, and I was happy about that because I'd have a fresh horse and enough impulsion for the serpentines.  Sure enough, it was our best 1-3 to date and he didn't even come close to breaking in the (very very very long) canter.

Fun fact: That's Karen's friend (and my friend now too) Liz in the blue in the background.

Our biggest mistake was mine: I sat the stretchy trot.  In 1-2 it doesn't specify, but in 1-3 it does, and I got a -2 for sitting.  Now, the funny part is, I have done that all season and this is the first time I've been called out on it!  Guess I need to read the tests more closely!

Liz is in the background going: "...why isn't she posting?!"

Even with my -2, we ended up with a 62% and change, which gave us our qualifying score for IDS year end championships.  Could it be higher?  Absolutely, but it was our best 1-3 to date, so I was happy.

Still scored 8's on our free walk, so those scores weren't flukes at least.

A few hours later, we did 1-2, and it was ballin'.  I barely warmed him up, because I got out there, felt that I had what I needed, and went straight in as soon as they let me.  As usual, our trot lengthenings (especially that very first one) scored poorly, but the free walk, stretchy circle, halts/entrances and canter work are all good enough to pull the score up.  Still, something we need to work on.

Nope.

When I went to look for my 1-2 score, I started at the bottom of the list...going up...wondering where I am...and was shocked to find that my 67% not only put me in first for my AA division, but was actually the high scoring 1-2 ride of the day for pros and juniors as well.  Blue ribbons don't mean everything, but for the first time, I thought, "Wow, we really can compete and we really are ready for rated."


Now imagine how well we'd score if we could improve our lengthenings...

I actually did write these posts on a plane, as promised, but turns out attaching pictures at 35,000ft just doesn't happen.  The last week was a whirlwind at VMworld - literally didn't have time to read your blogs, let alone write mine!  But that changes now.  On to our first rated Dressage show!

Yeah, I'll use just about any excuse to post this picture again and again and again. :)

Best barn friend and supergroom Mary has spent the summer at an internship in Florida, and it just so happened that she was able to arrange the end of her internship so that she could come be my groom at this show!  (And having groomed for Grand Prix jumpers in the past, she is a GOOD groom!)

My two best friends.  Her secret is elbow grease, tons and tons of elbow grease, and attention to detail.  I should really step up my grooming game...

In addition to being my supergroom, she also asked to drive my truck and trailer!  It was a big leap of faith to be sitting in the passenger seat of my truck with my horse behind us, but she's a good trailer driver, despite not having done it for a long time.

Check out the rainbow!

This seems to be a trend with me, and maybe this is TMI, but for the second show this year I forgot to pack a sports bra for schooling the night before.  It happens so often, I should probably just put one in my glove box or something.  Given my anatomy, that pretty much precludes doing much more than walking, and I almost decided against riding at all, but I hadn't ridden in a week thanks to work.


Not sure about you guys, but if I haven't ridden in a week, my first ride back is spent entirely going, "Who am I?  Why am I here?  What is this...Dressage thing?"  and even considering my wardrobe problem, I didn't want my first ride back to be in the warmup ring the next day, so I hopped on.

"Who are you?  What are we doing?"

As seems to be his usual the night before a show, Connor was a good boy, but a little flat.  Not sure if that's a him thing or a me thing.  I did quite a bit of the serpentine exercise and the "massaging" his left shoulder over at the walk, and as much trotting and cantering as I could stand before calling it a night.

Not straight, but very cute.

Also, for I think the first time in my life I had a color coordinated riding outfit that has belt loops.  Is this what being an adult feels like?  I'll take all your high fives, thank you!

#wesoshort