Tillie's first show back of the season - Fair Hill

I was feeling a tad worried going into Fair Hill...I really only started digging in to prep about two and a half weeks out. I realized the week before, I had yet to ride my dressage test at all on Tillie let alone some of the movements...nor had I stadium jumped her.

Ummm unprepared much?

Attempting to prep for braiding all by myself!

But our jump prep felt great and our final dressage lesson the day before felt really good, relaxed and consistent even through the test.

I did it! Although not beautiful, I did not melt down

I got her all cleaned up and braided...which if any of you remember is a big deal for me lol. I am not a good braider and in the past would get about 3 braids in before losing it and calling someone for help. So was super proud I did it!

Tucked in and ready to go

Tillie the next morning was really offended I left her in all night...so lesson learned, we will try next time putting her in the smaller paddock with Kiss and hope she keeps her braids in. Because her angst lead to some major issues in our dressage test...like 44.5 points of issues to be exact.

Yea not great. Especially since our flatwork has greatly improved. You can see she just was persnickety and super tense....and it led to me getting flustered. The head flicking...well not ideal and I believe to know the cause and working towards fixing it:

I will say, I didnt feel horrible when I saw a few other riders in my open division with similar scores (I mean we were dead last, but at least we didnt canter out of the ring like that one time though). I had Ryan Wood, Jenny brannigan and similar quality riders in my division...OH and Icabod crane. You know Phillip Dutton's previous mount. 

F- ME. 

We could have used this relaxation in dressage

So new focus...dressage boot camp for a week (currently happening). I was feeling really frustrated and resolved to get this figured out because I KNOW we can do better and more than that we have to do better. I was however happier with her canter and trot lengthenings over previous tests...even if the score didnt reflect it.

But on to jumping!

Tillie warmed up amazingly well. Got all the distances, leads and was forward but would rebalance and jumping like a beast. I opted to go in early and felt ready. The course had a lot more combinations than I was expecting, which were a huge issue for us last season we competed. So I prayed our last jump lesson paid off and we would keep the rails up.

So jump one...we pull a rail. Not exactly how Id like to start...and left lead, not sure where that went?! But I will fess up to the first rail. I got too impatient and didnt keep her balanced...I dropped her before.

But all the hard stuff she nailed and was adjustable and responsive...through the second line however she felt pretty darn heavy. She did respond to be, but I had what felt like 25 lbs in both reins.

We pulled the last oxer's rail as well...as you can see in the video, she got low and I didnt hang out long enough in the turn to get her back so we basically came in low and hot.

But we survived and at this point still in the qualification for waredaca...so XC it is.

Out we went...I had the goal to get as close to time as possible knowing full well I tend to run her too slow. 

She came out strong. Like way too strong. So I had to keep her in check more than i would have liked the first few fences. 

You can see here her pulling my arms off down the hill...and i was thinking oh god if this is the whole course I might die. But knew after jump 4 we had a downhill to a good uphill stretch to let her have at it and get out that pent up energy. 

It worked and rest of the jumps came nice and steady out of a good distance...without always adding!

So not exactly the first outing I had anticipated. BUT there was a lot to like despite the frustrating lows. At least coming out of this i know what we need work on. We at least got the qualification needed for waredaca so 3 more to go!

A few people recommended trying perfect prep or something before dressage...if anyone has suggestions on show day help for relaxation please let me know!

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!

Back to familiar territory but with new tests and challenges

I sadly do not have any new media for you guys...at least not a ton of interesting stuff. But the great news is that I finally have had two rides where my horse feels back in business.

Soooo sweaty

I chose to do two dressage lessons two days in a row to help kick start us back to our happy place. Tillie showed up ready to work and I couldnt have been more relieved.

Yesterday's lesson we finally ran through Training level test A since that is what we will be tested on at our next event. Boy let me tell you what a jump it is from Novice. Here is the test for reference: USEF Training Test A

We realllly hate flies even after being sprayed

Unfortunately the test is still in a small dressage ring, which makes me nervous about the two trot lengthenings and one canter lengthening...they are hard enough in the larger, full sized ring! So definitely something Ill be practicing in the smaller arena at home.

She says I soooo pretty! Also really curious about the foals running around

Yesterday's lesson she was the perfect weight and contact in my reins...she felt willing to work both ways and we finally had some nice canter work. C commented my riding on our lateral work and said I am getting better at riding the movements and fixing Tillie when she attempts to give the wrong answer!! YAY!! Let me tell you, lateral movements fry my brain...but Im sure the more I get comfortable with them it wont seem soo challenging.

There's her pretty face!

Anyway, back to riding through the Training level test...not only is it way more going on than Novice, it all happens really fast in succession...you dont have large trot circles to help prepare, its literally one movement into the next.

Which, luckily for us, seems to ride pretty well for the most part. C hadnt remembered this test but was happy with how it rode for us and said it did tend to show off Tillie's best qualities.

After running through it once in the larger full size ring just to get the lay of the land, we ran through it again but focusing on the areas that gave us a harder time...which C said she was surprised at which parts did. She said she would have thought some other parts would but that she generally liked how we did.

The stretchy circle is tough because it comes right after the trot lengthening...so to change modes that quickly is really hard. Not to mention, stretchy trot with Tillie we always let it slowly build with her tendency to want to rudely root or throw her head down. It also happens to be the only 20M circle in the whole test...everything else is 15M.

C recommended we play it safe but to def work on it at home as long as she didnt start to pull down.

The other thing we worked on was getting our lengthenings to happen faster out of the turn because that small arena is small and there is not a whole lot of time to let things build. The trot ones we got pretty darn good!! The canter one I still am a bit of a weenie and dont really go for it as much as I could.

All in all I am super excited to have her back...now we need to go XC school to make sure *I* feel good out there too!