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'.
...maybe not super duper competitive yet at the level, but god damn it, we COMPLETED! I do whole heartedly believe we will (and can) be competitive if I can get my shit straight. It is not due to any fault because of Tillie.
Dear god ignore me, but hey Tillie looks good!
I admit, I am a dumbass...for either not reading the ombibus right or whatever but I totally went in to this event prepared to ride one test and it required an entirely different test that I have ridden, let alone read or even one I have watched before.
Needless to say, the morning was totally not in our favor for two main reasons: 1) as I already listed I am a space cadet and 2) our times had been moved up and I had no idea.
Sleep tight Miss Tillie...night before the show when i was still superbly calm and confident
Luckily, I planned to arrive super duper early...I generally like to give myself an hour prior to my ride time to arrive to settle in, tack up and then have anywhere between 30-40 min to get on and warm up. I usually hack around to let her look for the first 10 min, will pick her up w/t and then let her walk around for 5 min then canter...etc.
Imagine the mayhem in my brain when I picked up my packet and saw my ride time was 8:10 not 8:39 as I had originally been emailed. I tried really hard not to panic right then and there (It was already 7:50 by this point).
Braided and ready to go!
I got on by 7:55 and was really channeling my inner zen at that moment. I was trusting in the fact Tillie doesnt require much to warm up and it was a test we know well and works well for us. Well Tillie was a bit distracted...it was the first time at this venue and I think others were also feeling the time crunch with the moved times in attempt to beat the rain storms coming. I had only walk trotted around when the steward sent me to warm up on deck. I felt the sinking feeling of "crap" I may emabarass us...
I realized on my walk down to the ring, to my horror, everyone was riding a different test. So literally as the rider before me saluted and walked out of the ring, my dear friend read me the test seconds before I went to trot around the ring we were due to ride in. I am honestly surprised I remembered as much as I did and didnt get eliminated.
I walked away from her trying not to panic and repeated, "Fuck, fuckity fuck, fuck" knowing I fucked up....and will never read the omnibus wrong or not ever double check again.
So after 2 errors for totally not knowing the test and riding the wrong movements...the judge was pretty damn nice and I think pretty considerate not giving me a third which would eliminate us and letting me finish with a score of, dare I even say it, 41.8.
I walked out of that ring so disappointed in myself, which felt even worse seeing Boyd Martin sitting right outside warm up chatting away and watching those in the ring.
Oh yea, did I mention a few other top level riders I shared the ring with that day making me want to shrivel and die?! Colleen Rutledge, Lainey Askher, Jenny Brannigen....
Jenny Brannigan even passed me after my XC asking ME how I did!! And THAT is why I love this sport.
Dont even ask who was there in stadium warm up or watching from the stands....
I got back to the trailer and allowed myself exactly 15 minutes to wallow in self pity over that before switching gears to the next two phases. I thank god for my helpers being there taking out her braids and tacking her up allowing me to divulge but also reassuring me we werent total disasters. I felt pretty embarrassed and then shut it out to prep for jumping.
I have never been more grateful to have a warm up plan in my life and that I was able to chat about it with Dom the day before. It gave me a sense of comfort and feeling like I knew what the fuck I was doing among all these professionals.
It also was a bit disconcerting because the warm up he gave was specific and required adjusting and taking over an oxer: Jump a low wide oxer 2 times off both leads. Raise it two holes keeping it a square oxer and repeat...re jump only if she gets flat or it isnt right. Then make it an ascending oxer same thing. At this point if she knocks a rail go right into stadium and do nothing else. If ok, raise it again to a square oxer and jump off both leads.
Tillie was being pretty stubborn about giving me the left lead, but Dom addressed that the day before knowing it is our harder one...basically it isnt ideal, but dont stress about it and keep going.
So that we did:
Tillie oddly hung her front leg a few times over some of the jumps, which I have never seen her do before...and it cost us a rail at the oxer. But Dom didnt seem too worried about it and called it unlucky with it being atypical for her. Otherwise she was jumping me out of the tack again which seems to be a new normal for Tillie at shows...
So we had 4 faults for the rail and a few time penalties...because of the darn not giving me the left lead so counter cantering and then the laser focus on her part on the lower field after fence #2 so almost not turning.
But again, time wasnt something we should be worrying about just yet. Dom told me to hang out wide on all my turns and just take our time to not worry about making the optimum or accruing penalties right now.
So we went out to XC which was backed up a bit. I dont like waiting...it makes me nervous and I felt muyself getting restless. I jumped the two xc warm up fences they had and was pleased Tillie did them both quite well.
I reminded myself about the coursewalk we had the day before and to go with Tillie. Slow and steady since the rain started at that point and just be safe.
Fence 1 to 2
Just as they called me on deck, the rain and drizzling stopped...I gathered my reins which were slipping and vowed i would replace them with rubber or something less slippery for my next event.
Fence 1 to 2 felt fine...I knew I was riding a bit too conservatively but Tillie wasnt protesting and better be safe than sorry.
Fence 3 was a table i knew after was a bit of an uphill gallop to let her blow off some steam.
pretty inviting and towards the dressage and stadium rings so pretty sure this was going to be a non issue
I didnt ever let her gallop to prevent her not locking on me, but now we had such a successful run, my homework is to practice this and possibly test more of letting her go at our next event.
The 4 a&b angled tables rode beautifully and I sat up immediately asking Tillie to balance since there was quite a long grade down hill steep enough to make me worry the studs I had in may not be enough with only having her tapped behind...after today though she will now be tapped for fronts as well to prevent this fear again.
The downhill approached a narrowish and large produce stand which I had already heard caused a few glances or refusals so growled a bit and pressed Tillie at it.
The next fence was on a decent turn which was the reason Dom had me put in the slightly larger studs and it handled no issues to the chevron, which Tillie didnt bat an eye at.
I breathed a sigh there, but it wasnt long lived before I locked my sight on the first water.
This fence was the first one on course I soooort of questioned. Everything else seemed inconsequential. My good, brave mare charged into the water and took this no issue even with the huge pond just two strides straight behind it...so if she didnt read it right or understand we needed to turn could have been a bit sticky.
I talked to her A LOT this course and it was here I really got vocal telling her "There is the spot!!" probably more for me than her...
After this was another bit of gallop before the lattice into the woods to which her lack of wanting to half halt made me tell her "Eyes up mare there is a fence." It was a lower fence for us so she took it not really paying attention to the fact we had a narrow entrance to woods right after.
But a bit of a swerve we made it in there and I asked her to trot a bit with how narrow it was knowing the next jump was into the second water complex with an A & B with the A jump being directly into water which we havent done before. I could see this complex from the warm up area and really reflected at the horses doing this at how amazing they looked and hoped we could also look like we belonged here.
Tillie took this on like a pro!
She galloped after this feeling pretty proud taking the ramp pretty boldly, which if you listen to the next video you may capture me shouting, "WEEEE, Tillie!" just before crossing the road to the bending line:
I totally counted out loud and we got a bit long to the B element but i was soooo happy!!
She took on the next few jumps so easily its ridiculous, and we came to probably the harder element on course:
Tillie was so sure of herself, my words of encouragement were, again, probably more for me than her. She was so cocky after this I said out loud approaching the last two jumps, "OK mare, dont get cocky, pay attention" since both were still nice and inviting but still decent sized jumps.
Sure we got sooo many time penalties but I got choked up and did almost cry galloping through the finish. We officially completed our first training level event and XC was such a breeze it was ridiculous. The tears were basically an overwhelming emotion of going from not being able to do BN without looking silly to completing training level bravely and confidently.
My next event wont be until early September, so I am looking forward to really getting my own shit together and giving Tillie the ride she deserves!
Well guys, its been an interesting weekend to say the least. I am still recovering from a nasty summer illness...which affected me more than I realized and just has generally slowed me down. I have pushed through though and prepped for yesterday's training debut just a bit slower than I would have liked.
At least I didnt have any melt downs braiding the night before...and I did manage to do three whole braids all by myself before Meri stepped in and helped so we wouldnt be there all night.
All ready to go!
I did try to walk some of my course the night before because I was anxious to see what we were up against...and well, I wish I had more time after dressage to walk and walked it then because it definitely made me nervous...to the point that it completely threw me off my game for dressage and stadium.
Really eerie walking the course at dusk...
Course walking a dusk = creepy and terrifying
I did text a few of my fellow equestrians that evening after walking the first half of my course, slightly freaking out...and every single one were really awesomely supportive and encouraging. Reminding me that Tillie and I have got it!
Dressage break down:
Warm up for dressage at this event was less than ideal. They had two rings running, one in grass, one in sand which I was happy to hear we would be going in the sand. The downfall to that was the warm up was only in a very uneven grass field next to the grass dressage ring...none near the sand one.
She warmed up nicely enough...despite it being really crowded. I did have trouble warming up in our lengthenings because of this which I think led to some of our trouble.
Tillie and I always have issues in dressage with her focus when we cant warm up near the ring. Combined with my lack of focus meant a break in gait in our trot lengthen and a really bizarre sticky lead and wrong lead transition into our first canter lead...and after the first lengthening break, we just didnt recover.
Here is some of the disastrous test:
If we hadnt put in such a stellar test earlier in the week, I might have wanted to kill myself. I would have preferred the better test be in this competition, but it happens. Some days are better than others.
Stadium breakdown:
Being a bit disappointed in myself and not giving tillie the best ride in dressage that I could have, I was a bit anxious to jump. Tillie found a nice rhythm flatting her up in the warm up ring and popped over the little X without issue. There werent any inbetween fences though and when I went to the vertical Training height jump she snagged the rail and got quite offended.
NOW she doesnt want to touch the poles!
After that she was jumping out of her skin...and I had a few moments of OMG.
She went into the ring the same way and I admit, I froze and stopped breathing going into the first line...She pulled the rail (which MANY people did and only 3 people went clear all day in Training). I should have half halted her and made her wait...ah well. The 2 stride turned into a hairy 3 stride and then the one stride line Tillie simply just didnt pick up her feet...and then I soared right past jump 8 winning us a TE - whomp whomp. Tillie was certainly feeling feelings on this day and you can see her head shaking at me multiple times through the course.
Jump 1 before it went down hill
I just dont think we ever hit our stride...we had some nice moments but the whole picture just wasnt there:
Trainer P set the course and told me later the lines were tight and I needed to probably compress her more in them...and she agreed I just stopped breathing. She was very sweet though and told me to shake it off. First Training level event nerves is no joke and laughed and said well now go run XC and the pressure is off!
CROSS COUNTRY!!!!
I warmed her up for XC and we finally did hit our rhythm. She jumped each fence right in the sweet spot and got her leads I asked for and was rideable and adjustable.
Here are the fences on our course:
Tillie jumped this one VERY uphill and landed uphill!
This brush was pretty large...It rode fine though!
I wish I got side pics of these...the A element was pretty wide and tall to a bending 5 or 6 stride line to the B depending on the line you took
This fence scared the pants off me. I had a few other concerns, but this is the one that set me into freak out mode. Not only was it maxed out Training height, it had a bit of a down hill drop on the other side. Plus the gappy space under and placement of the flag sort of freaked me out.
Water to bank up - two stride combo
fence #8
#9 after a gallop through the woods
This was also a pretty tall brush. It came up to just under my bra line
BIG and WIDE table...i should have gotten better pics of it. Def maxed out training...but it rode nicely
14 A of the coffin
C element of coffin
Looking back at the coffin from the C element
Trakhener - more novice sized...not huge
#16
#17
I was really nervous about the first half of the course. I was confident once I got past the water complex, we would be all good.
Jump #6 had me tweaking big time...luckily trainer P was there when I mentioned it and said oh you do a great job sitting up and not laying on your horses neck so youll do fine with that one with the drop!!! Just let your reins slip out!
Luckily we got it on video and just watch it...look at the air time!! That fucker was huge and I almost cried tears of joy when we got through it...not only got through it, but ate it up no problem!
I am sooooo beyond thankful they still let us run XC because it was the saving grace of the day. Tillie was confident, bold and taking me to the fences. She never once got flat galloping and was looking for what was next. We found a wonderful rhythm and she compressed well for me at the combos but also took a nice forward stride when called for it too.
I just wanted to kiss her after! Even with our not so great morning in the first two phases...but we completed a true recognized Training level XC course and that to me is a win. Not only did we complete it, but it felt GOOD.
Sure am I disappointed in the first 2 phases? Absolutely because I know we can do better, in fact we did at Loch moy just the weds before. I know though, that I was way too distracted by the XC and now that it went as well as it did, I can breath a little easier having confidence knowing we CAN do this at Training level.
So rather than dwell on the not so great of the day, Im choosing to celebrate the fact we ate up XC and it was FUN!
So lots of homework for us to try to even out the phases at this level.
