Reflecting on the 2016 season

Where do I even begin? I feel like this season, compared to previous ones, was so jam packed with events and things that it makes my head spin...and probably why I sort of called it a season slightly early.

I am a bit disappointed I will not be doing any more events, but with the hard ground lately and my feelings of my own riding...I decided that digging into lessons and really smoothing out the wrinkles is what we need to focus on right now.

This time last year, we still had this happening frequently in every ride

Its incredible to think back to this time last year, where we started this year compared to where we are now. Even with that knowledge, its easy to get caught up in the now and think we still stink...which relatively speaking, we still do in many ways lol. There will always be more to work on.

But back to the point: Our show season in review.

March:
We started off with a dressage fix-a-test trying out Novice USEF tests to see if moving up to novice was even feasible. (Full recap here)

Great way to kick off the season!

April:

Next up, I entered in a Dom Schramm clinic (conclusion and recap here) pretty last minute on a whim and boy did it pay off. I truly believe this clinic was the catalyst to our season and the HUGE confidence booster needed.

Then we had our first event of the season at Beginner Novice at Olde Hope where we finished 2nd! (Recap here):

May:
With the success of the BN event, we moved up to our first novice at the middle of May at EEHC horse trials where we got FIRST!! (Full recap here)

Schooling at home right before our show, this is prob the most confident jumping I felt all year

Then at the end of May we did our second Novice at Loch Moy where we got 5th and finished on our dressage score (recap here):

June:
I decided to try out recognized shows at novice then to start prepping for down the road. Since only a handful of Trainings are starter events...and so we wouldn't have to worry about both that and a move up when the time came. I remember the time penalties being a bit of a shock, but a good learning experience. If I recall, we were 4th after dressage, but stadium time penalties bumped us down to 7th (recap here)

July:

We did a training level derby at Fair hill...which I sadly had no media of, but it was a test for the bigger fences. Tillie ate them up and I felt good about it. We went to another starter Novice event at fair hill and it was probably the most confident I have ever felt (recap here)

Later in July we went to our second recognized event...and I just wasn't on my A game. Tillie carried us through dressage despite my errors and forgetfulness, we woke up a bit in stadium only to run out of gas in XC and misread a fence we both took a spill at (recap here)

So we pressed on with encouragement from our trainers, and it really did feel like we bounced back as we prepped for our big move up to Training.

I returned to loch moy and conquered the fence we fell at plus a few more in POURING rain...definitely made for an interesting story. But I decided to do a CT before we gave our move up a go.

August:
We did a Training level CT at loch moy to determine how things felt and boy did Tillie knock it out of the park. Again, jumping her never felt better and our dressage was one of the best feeling tests Ive ever ridden (recap here)

But then I think the fall started to creep in and by the time we got to our first ever training event at our old stomping grounds (a farm we visit almost weekly) and I slightly panicked when walking the course leaving my headspace not where it needed to be (recap here). Funny thing is, the XC portion was the most laid back and easy thing of the entire day...when it was what I was worried about the most:

So I realized at this point, on an off day, we can no longer squeak by...the higher fence height, width and questions in stadium tattled on me...We were consistently jumping this height and here at this farm without ever touching rails so to knock two, and then blow by a jump all together...well rider error sucks.

So I decided to try again this time at waredaca (recap here). Once again, HUGE rider error in that I totally had prepared the wrong test...and it didn't help the test I needed to have prepared I hadn't even seen ridden before...compounded by the fact that they pushed up all our times but neglected to tell me so literally had 5 minutes to warm up and as the rider before me was halting and saluting, I was trying to learn my new test. Once again, stadium was ok with some weird out of sync stuff...but XC Tillie owned it and it wasn't exactly the easiest XC course!

 Sure we went around soooo slow accruing a TON of time penalties, but Dom reassured us that is what we need for right now and we would work on adding the speed. Which I am pleased after last weekend, I think we found the ticket to do it.

So we aren't doing any more events this year...I would have liked to, but because we ended so strongly XC the dressage and stadium we can iron out in this off season as well as me getting my crap together and learning how to read omnibus'.

Training Level test run results

Yesterday, Loch Moy had another one of their lovely Twilight Events where you can run a full 3 phase event right in succession...so basically you would do your dressage and proceed right over to jumping.

I chose to do an XC lesson with Dom (Recap here) on Tuesday so decided to only run the CT portion of this event and skip XC as not to over do it jumping for Tillie. My goal was simple, go and run through the dressage and stadium portion of Training level and see how it goes. I didnt set the bar too high and I just went into it with the repeating theme lately of: Leave Tillie the F alone and let her training come through.

fancy pants

Warming Tillie up she felt like a well oiled machine. She new her job and was pretty on point. She felt really nicely relaxed and she required me to use a lot more leg to get her going a bit which isn't surprising with how hot it got on that black surface.

 My only tiny nit picking complaint is that lately our stretchy trot has seemed to disappeared. But its a small thing, and something we can get back with more work. I usually do it every single ride, but since starting our rides back after her feet issues, I have sort of lost sight of it which clearly reflects in the movement not happening right now.

BUT we are getting more adjustable and able to be moved around!

 I think a huge factor of Tillie feeling so relaxed is I shockingly was pretty relaxed. Maybe because I wasnt sure what to expect and didnt set any expectations other than lets not forget any parts of the test...maybe from showing so much that these twilight events feel like awesome relaxed glorified lessons. Who knows, but whatever it is, its working well for Tillie and it is also allowing me to be a whole lot less fussy with her in test riding which means shes balancing more and more on her own!

Getting some uphill trot moments!

 I do think the judge was quite lenient and scored generously, but I was really floored with our results when I finally got our tests: 26.9!!! I even snagged an 8.5 mark towards the end of our test with an 8 in rider position and aids!! Heck I used to score terribly there!!! The collective remarks at the bottom were in regards to our stretchy trot and lengthenings which I agree with and I think will come with more time riding this test. I couldnt be more pleased and over the moon with Tillie!

Here is our whole test:

After a quick tack change we headed over to warm up which I chose to keep her in the snaffle since shes been jumping in that for stadium quite well. Dom also recommended that to see what we had. And boy was I not disappointed. Tillie was lovely in it. She was a bit stubborn about giving me her leads, but I think some of that is still me being a bit off my own game...but I do feel it slowly coming back!

My goal for this stadium was simple: NO pulling back. I *think* I did a good job with that. There is only one instance where my reins had to slip I did need to shorten them, but other than that on approaching fences I dont think I fussed with her or tried to bury her to any. Tillie was pretty forward but not pulling or being overly strong at all...she did however celebrate after one of her flyings:

Watch vvveerrry closely - she throws some head tossing sassy my way

We started off in a nice rhythm which unfortunately my videographer forgot to start filming but thats ok! Im thankful to have any footage!!

I think this round was really educational for her because I made a point to leave her alone more. Especially the bending line to jump 5. I didnt pull her up, I simply closed my outside leg and opened my inside rein to get the turn...so you can see she got a bit surprised at it because she got a little low looking for me to help her. After that she sat herself up and I didnt have that issue again!

As much as I wasnt sure about doing this CT...it was exactly the confidence boost I needed going into this weekend for our full debut. Tillie continues to surprise me and it makes me incredibly happy. 

I was of the belief not that long ago that I would have one of my trainers run her through her first few training levels, but I think we got this together and we will figure it out. It certainly has helped I have gotten the vote of confidence saying we are ready from 4 of my current trainers! So all i have to do it trust in tillie more, not pull on her and keep my leg on!