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!

Jumping out of our skin jumping show results & recap

With dressage under our belts, I had just enough time to walk my stadium course. Nothing about it worried me too much other than knowing the two stride A and B combo seemed a bit small. Tillie is a bit on the small side so knew as long as I could get her back and ask her to wait coming in, it wouldnt be a problem.

I also reflected to the XC walk and was a bit bummed they didnt get the rain we got the day before because the ground was BONE dry. So dry that my own footsteps felt rock hard and sounded like concrete. I mentally noted my lesson learned jumping here the weekend prior at the Training derby and to try larger studs to remedy any slipping.

SOOOO quiet

Tillie was so quiet at the trailer, I was really concerned something was wrong with her. She let me stud her with no issue and was literally snoozing at her hay net. That changed slightly when hacking up to jump since, at this venue, its a mini trail ride to get there. The closer we got the higher and more giraffe mode over came Tillie.

Once we got back to the open field, I picked up a trot to get Tillie moving and went right into warming up. We popped over the X-rail and vertical asking for both leads and it was on point. The distances where there, her leads were there and all was good. I did the oxer and it wasnt bad but wasnt perfect either so as i came around, Dom started hollering out to me some words of wisdom and took on coaching mode. Dom Schramm was also in our division and warming up a horse he was competing, but if he is anything like me with students, cant help it and just has to help!

Of course then I start biffing distances and we get some pretty hairy flyers a few times but finally started getting it and getting closer distances again. He gave us last minute words and warm up advice to do before going and he trotted off to do his own course. Following his instructions, I did the oxer two more times to ask for both leads getting a better distance and finished with the vertical.

Tillie of course did them perfectly when Dom didnt see...he came trotting out and gave us a heads up the ground was slick because of it being dry around turns and asked if we had studs in. I smiled and excitedly said YES!! glad we got something right. Dom then warned us the 2-stride was tight so dont come in guns blazing. I nodded and said ok, but in my head was super excited I had picked up on that walking the course all on my own.

When it was our turn Tillie was a cool customer going in and it was one of our smoother jump rounds. It felt not as smooth with the awful footing, but it felt GREAT until fence 5 to 6 because we didnt get the lead, but it was more or less my own error and not taking a minute to chill.

You can see Tillie slip a little after fence #7 even with studs in but she recovered well and didnt get upset about it all. All in all it felt like a great round...I had to bury us a bit to the combo, but you can see it rode well after and think any more forward would have possibly cost us a rail so Yay for ratability!!

CROSS COUNTRY:

With the ground being as hard as it was and how well Tillie was jumping, I opted to forgo warming up for XC and just head right to the start box. I forgot to get pictures of all the jumps like Emma does when she competes but did finally start to about halfway through as well as get a few still out from the derby to share with you guys!

Fence 1 and 2 were nothing exciting...Tillie took them on well. #3 we slipped slightly on landing and had a some gallop time before #4 which Tillie got strong, but nothing really to worry about. #5 was an open oxer looking thing which Tillie really soared over. #5 was a bank down which I wasnt even worried about (GASP I know!!!) Tillie slipped slightly here around the turn to a larger ramp as it was a harder left turn, but she didnt lose her composure and popped right over it into a mean gallop.

#7 was a stair step or something or other I cant remember because Tillie could have cared less. #8 Is a giant bench we got on video to #9:

Off we went to #10:

Novice Trakehener

This fence rode really nicely....

The Training level trakehner we did as the last jump last weekend right next to it

Jump before the water

Jump #12 A and B, Water to bank (we did this plus a jump two strides after the bank for the derby)

Jump #13 headed to the ditches

#14 hay/rolltop a few stride to the ditches

Ditch a few strides after

 Here, Tillie was feeling fine, less strong but saw a distance I didnt and took a longer spot. Not ideal before a ditch, but she isnt ditchy so she jumped the ditch right after without an issue...but flew over it I think thinking it was like the one last weekend:

The ditches we jumped at the derby...she jumped them like super man!

 We had a slight uphill gallop which I could let her out for and sligggghtly push:

Our rolltop on course to the left, the one to the right is the one we
jumped as part of our derby course last week so Tillie was pretty unfazed. 

Bank up the hill part A

Part B of the combo

 The hill rode nicely and was the last question before the final fence to home also on video:

Final jump

The training train we jumped as part of the ditch combo last week

It was a great confident round and I couldnt have been happier with Tillie. I felt like i had to ride a bit less forward with the harder ground, but Tillie wasnt too upset by it and responded ok.

She wasnt too terribly sweaty or worked up by it but man was she quiet at the trailer. So quiet I even wanted to take her temp when we got home but i didnt because she ate her dinner fine and otherwise seemed normal...but really was fine to chill, snoozed and ignore the hay (which I realized she doesnt like the new batch when testing with the old later that day).

Ahhh picky mares. But i am eager to work hard and keep pressing on to our next and final novice, the recognized at Loch moy before our move up Aug 7th to Training!!!

loch moy stadium & XC break down

I am very happy to say that this phase was the best out of all three! Don't get me wrong, we have some cleaning up to do...but considering where we were last year with stadium and XC I have a happy, adjustable horse. The cleaning up stuff is piloting error that I need to work on.

A still from the most beautiful part of our course

Warming up she was over jumping like a machine but was totally quiet and giving my both leads. The left lead still is always harder, but I realize its my lack of getting her straight and my own crooked issues causing this difficulty. I didnt jump her too much because she was being soooo good.

We marched right on down went in to do our round:

Fence #2 was my error...I buried her a bit to it, but she recovered well and we made up for it over the outside line. Tillie was forward but not bracing and came right back off my seat. 

Fence #7 after that line rode nicely, but I couldnt get the left lead...no biggie the bending line wasnt too difficult to warrant fretting...she landed cross cantering (that darn left lead) but stayed in a nice rhythm and finished with the outside line in a nice even stride. 

All in all it was sooo nice and smooth I cant complain about the lead stuff...that will come. Weve only just started working on those so I am hopeful it will come together. 

Cross Country

We suited up and headed over to XC. Tillie was cool as a cucumber and I chose to pop over a big coop to let her know what was coming. She didnt it wonderfully and we walked up to the start box.

Out of the gate, She was a bit slow (say what?!) I think she thought we were off for a leisurely stroll...lol. The first jump was friendly enough but we had a down hill approach to fence #2 which I failed to wake her up enough at. Luckily the mare saved my booty big time and I did that silly get ahead with my shoulders thing. But she handled it and we got some better steam after this one.

Haha whoops!

She started to build quite well and we got some momentum by the time we got to jump 4 and 5. 

Jump 6 was a maxed out novice fence which apparently gave a few others in my division an issue...it was angled oddly in a treeline and there was a chance for the horse to lock on to a training level fence a few strides beyond it. 

I knew I would need to encourage a bit here because of the shading issues but Tillie did it just fine!

Then onto the trickier part of the course which was a bit like a combination. We had a relatively friendly jump with a bending line to a bank up option which we could opt to do the larger one, or the BN smaller one with a log that required to go around longer. 

I opted to do the harder of the two...and it was a bit narrow to get up on the bank, but with a small tap on the shoulder she took it in stride and cantered off to do our brush jump.

I let her back off to trot for water since the approach to it was slightly hard to see if you canter it until the last second...but she came in nicely forward and was able to pick up a canter to the jump right after, which also required a hard left to a pheasant feeder. We had a bit of a gallop to the next jump which landed downhill. I dont like downhill..but it rode well and we had more galloping towards the trakehner:

You can see my shorten up at first since she started getting a bit stronger and heavier here so I had to remind her to think up with her shoulders and not get too low. She cantered up to the trakehner confidently and did sorta look at it the last stride not realizing it had a ditch under it. But a little leg and she kept going just fine.

We had three jumps to home all three which we took a bit more forward.

Once again any issues were piloting issues and minor things we will work out schooling. I am hopeful this means a positive outing at Plantation on the 11th of June!

Our Novice debut in detail - stadium

After dressage, my nerves really started to get to me. I HATE waiting and would much rather just do it all right away. Tillie was calm as a cucumber at the trailer seemingly unaware of our looming stadium and XC rounds which helped. Luckily I had to walk my courses which gave me something to do...

Glad this part was over! 

I walked the stadium course, which was on grass, and was glad to know I was rider #7 so was hopeful the footing would hold up ok. We had two lines in the course that made me thankful for my P lessons. One was a one stride, another was a two stride. I knew I had to make sure I came into them forward and with soft hands and could hear Dan in my head telling me how to ride through the turn to get the right approach.

After I got back to the trailer, I went ahead and put hind studs on Tillie and opted for one of the smaller sets I had. The ground wasnt THAT terrible, but knowing Tillie's sensitivity to slipping I figured it wouldnt hurt to have them.

My niece also was a good distraction and her questions kept my nerves preoccupied 

Warming up, Tillie was right with me. She was a bit excited, but not at all leaning on the bit...just a bit reactive to leg like in dressage so I made a point to just warm up easy breezy and stay out of her way before sitting on her and packing her back together.

I sort of followed this "Im not touching you" mode over the small x-rail a few times but did ask her to land on whatever lead I asked which she did swimmingly.

I did the same over a small 2'3-2'7 ish vertical before starting to ask her to work more and it was quite easy and less of a reaction when I did. Once I felt like I found the allusive 12ft canter stride I started warming up over the novice size fences and this also felt really nice. We walked a bit...stood and watched a few rounds and about two riders ahead of me, I popped over the novice fence two more times for good measure.

Oxer in one of the lines

She was giving me some fuss about landing on the left lead, but I chose not to fight it and keep things nice and relaxed, confident in the ring we would be able to manage.

The round went pretty smoothly. There were a few biffs on my part and I was getting a bit jumped out of the tack, but I recovered and Tillie luckily is a good girl and saved my butt. She handled the lines like a champ and I had really nice adjustability throughout the entire thing. She still wouldnt give me the darn left lead, but she at least offered flyings to make up for it.

I was super pleased with how well she went and how much she was in tune with me. There was no leaning, no OMG please slow down moments. I am hopeful we continue on this trend! Any mistakes were my mistakes...and I know i was getting a bit ahead on some. So back to homework for myself to MAKE myself wait more with my shoulders.