Stressful Sunday

Sunday was quite stressful for me and I wont bore with the details...but it was filled with a lot of good things too. I am choosing to focus on the positives :)

I FINALLY got my truck back from being fixed! YAY!! After months of it sitting because I was going off of a dealership quote that was ridiculously high, I finally found a trustworthy mechanic through word of mouth that was able to do it at half the cost. I am so beyond happy to have it back I almost cried.

Nighttime photo...hard to see :(

So some other stressful things happened and when things started settle, I decided to squeeze in a dressage lesson with C to de-stress since her lessons always have a knack for soothing any anxieties (riding and non riding). Lucky for me she had an opening!

Tillie knew what was up when the BOT blanket came out and was not entirely thrilled...
maybe if I dont look at her she cant see me?

In my excitement to add some positives to my day, I got the barn a bit early and gave Tillie a spa day complete with trimming her mane and brushing out her tail. She LOVED her tail being brushed and was literally following me with her butt so I could scratch it.

I got done a little early so decided to go help with the first dragging of our NEW footing! This stuff is so cool...it has rubber in it and Im told riding on it is so elastic and wonderful! This is our smaller "dressage" ring and our larger ring is supposed to also get some as well.

New footing!! EEK!!

Once that was done, it was time to load up. This is the first time I hooked up my truck to my trailer...The wiring was all recently redone on the trailer and I was disappointed at first to find the lights not 100%. BUT with some cleaning, they all worked!! YAY! I also noticed I need a bit more of a drop hitch to get my trailer sitting more level. But it was good enough to get us the short ride to C.

Tillie was a bit skeptical to load on this trailer as its a bit narrower then the others we have been in lately. She just sort of hesitated once on the ramp, sniffed around to make sure all was fine and then loaded on. I really need to make a point to teach her to self load...she close, but not quite there yet.

You can see how not level my trailer is here.

Once there, Tillie was a cool calm customer. I think shes starting to get this all down and taking it in stride. C had to go turn out and bring horses in so we had 15 minutes to play in the indoor on our own and I really wish I had gotten a photo...but I had left my phone in the truck knowing I was by myself for this lesson and didnt have my trusty friends this time to get video.

As soon as I picked up rein contact she started trying to root. She tends to go in phases with this it seems...she'll try to do it to evade, realize it doesnt work and it will go away for a while, but it always surfaces again. It irritates me to no end because she'll do it especially when I allow for the free walk or try for stretchy trot which Ill touch on a bit later in this post. 

Tillie says its all good as long as I have hay

So after some additional warm up when C returned, we touched on me trying to open and close my elbows more in trot since Tillie now is consistent enough in the bridle, I have to work on being more quiet with my arms and not lock my elbows. It felt a bit ridiculous, but C had me look in the mirror and it was totally normal. LOL funny how that works.

Her right lead canter was on point, left lead she felt a bit down hill and falling in a bit. C wasnt too concerned and decided to have us try running through a few training level tests for an upcoming dressage show in Jan. we would like to attend.

We talked about the differences of test riding - corners vs circles and since Tillie does corners so well, to show them off when not riding the circle portions.

So then went through 2 different ones to see which worked better for us. We went through USDF Training level test 2 first and it worked quite well for us. There is a lot going on in this test, but C liked it because there was a lot of time to allow for preparation for each movement. I liked it because there were a lot of circles, changing rein etc which means I can ride Tillie more forward and start showing off her trot and canter without her building too much.

The stretchy trot and free walk each time she tried rooting which C gave me tips to correct, but said not to over stress it since she thinks its her learning to likes opening her throat latch, albeit rude...yes correct it but by pushing forward not using rein.

C was so excited about her right lead canter and remarked "it is on fire today!" haha. Left lead wasnt as sharp but definitely started feeling better and more balanced by the end of this test.

So then we moved on to try USDF Training level test 1 which C was concerned would invite Tillie to build with the canter being somewhat on a straight line and the transitions happening right in front of the judge.

Shockingly, she did the test quite well and by riding into the corners helped half halt her quite well. We both agree though, test 2 would be the better choice and we would try test 3 next lesson before we go.

All done! Isnt she just the cutest! 

I ended up staying for a bit after to watch C ride her new 3 almost 4 yr old baby and it was lovely!

Unfortunately, the weather isnt looking too promising this week, so not sure how many new updates Ill have :(

Where there are highs there are lows

So my lesson post two days ago was so over joyed that I admit I felt like I was on top of the world. I have to really watch and manage my emotions better when it comes to our progress because such highs make the lows that much lower.

Let me stop right here and preface the rest of this post by saying, my ride last night was not a low worth complaining about at all by any means. It just feels that way after having THAT fabulous of a ride...and in all fairness, I did get on knowing I would probably not get even a shadow of the ride I had in my lesson with C. I know it will take way more time for both Tillie and I to achieve the consistency of what we can in a lesson setting, outside of one at home.

Sweaty Tillie says "I tired"

The tone of the ride didnt start of well for a number of reasons. First, there was a HUGE lesson happening with 4 or 5 students in addition to two other rides (aside from myself) also trying to get in rides. Now, I can share my space...and I also teach beginner lessons at my barn so understand the difficulty of trying to herd the students and remind them of ring etiquette...But trying to ride amid the chaos was really frustrating once I tried to start our trot work.

Look, I totally understand, these students are learning and just don't always have the degree of control and sometimes cut the ring corners, come off the rail..etc. I ALSO understand I am an adult advanced rider that should be capable of navigating and adapting to this environment. I guess though I was on the struggle bus because I felt like every time I began to ask for our trot we would have to suddenly veer or dart out of someone's way.

I at first was frustrated with Tillie...Why mare cant you just soften like the wonderfully flexible cloud I was riding the day before? Why on earth are you falling in left and speeding up tracking left? Well take a stressful day at work + the chaos of that many riders in the ring = a very tense me. 

I pulled a few one-rein stops because she would tense up, especially tracking left, brace and cross her jaw - to which a spectator would think I am crazy for flexing my horse into a one rein stop. Can I add: I HATE getting after my horse in front of other people. I know sometimes you have to and I feel terrible too because I know it wasnt her fault exactly...but I still really get unsettled by it. 

The wonderful thing about horses - they dont hold it against you.

Hey mom, dont be sad! 

So the ring cleared out a bit and all was left was myself, fellow blogger Emma and a lease rider. So all perfectly capable of navigating a ring. Well struggle bus was still full force because I STILL felt in the way. 

I also admit my homework from C is to stay off the rail so Tillie can balance herself without the rail as a guide so I am probably the one at fault here. 

I basically threw up my hands at one point and just took a minute to try to erase the first 20 min and start over. After a few more conversations with Tilie and pushing through tension, I felt like we FINALLY got over the hump and parked the struggle bus for the night. 

A very worn out Tillie just wants to go to bed

I did a lot of changing rein again, REALLY trying not to let her rush to the left or pull her out with my right rein. I played around a bit with my weight like we did with C and VOILA!! Magically we got left bend. 

From there, things got better. Cantering was a huge win...I could throw away my inside rein and she would stay bent, turning off my outside aids. Right lead especially I got the most lovely soft connection and downward transitions. Something really clicked in the canter for me and I felt like I could use leg and ask for more without thinking "OMG this is way too fast!"

I let her stretch at the end and played with her moving off both legs and a stretchy trot...which shockingly Tillie did without pulling or yanking the contact down like she normally wants to. 

All in all, I walked away from the ride feeling a bit let down on myself for not having patience and not adapting to the situation (considering its the perfect show ring warm up scenario) and feeling incredibly happy my horse is resilient...for the most part. 

How do you guys turn off and reroute your frustrations?