In my latest mission to sort out our tension issues at events during our dressage phase, I signed up to do a fix a test at Loch Moy yesterday. This venue also happens to be where we score the lowest because it is so massive and busy that Tillie just cant seem to settle in. Or I cant seem to shake my own tension. Can anyone say stressage? Either way, some soul searching for this phase is needed to be had.
Im ready to try mom!
I had one goal: Test various things in warm up to see what works for us so I got on a good 45 minutes early. So I walked around in the top ring (which was busier) for a while and warmed up in that area and then walked around for a long while and made my way down to the lower ring where we would do our test and warmed up there too.
This was one of our better warm ups...not as great as Elkrdige (our first novice), but I was able to ask for some stretchy trot circles and soooome lengthenings. Doing the bigger trot helped confirm her more in my contact and realize forward is ok without cantering since she start anticipating canter a lot during this phase.
Unfortunately I didnt get it on video...and I wish I had, because the feeling of the first and second test, not so great. Granted, they were definite improvements from the last events and I did get some moments of softening through her back, but the mare is smart and she knows the test even though we never run through it at home. This means she anticipates and she baits me every. single. time.
What I basically need to do is stay consistent in what I am doing. If she blips or whatever she'll learn from it. I need to stop trying to help her.
I was good yes?
The judge couldnt have been nicer and agreed she could tell the horse anticipates, I need to step more in my left stirrup and it will help her and just work on over all suppling her. Most of my marks improved just from smarter test riding so my new goal is to practice at home schooling in the smaller ring and just portions of tests for accuracy. (No oval circles or early transitions kind of stuff).
Test 1 I was definitely in my head too much and I realize now most of our issues probably are my issues - like OMG this turn is coming up too fast, shes too heavy on my rein here shit it has to be fixed right now...just over all general heightened over the top trying to be perfect.
I need to let it go. Just like TIllie does with her own tension (I am sure I am creating most of it)...its soo much easier said then done, but thats the new goal!
Test 1
Test 2
On a side note some other barn mates came and did the CT and it was such a blast!!! They also XC schooled after as well which I was insanely excited for them...poor Tillie thought I was killing her by not allowing her to participate and only do the sandbox for the day. It was so fun watching them both do so well!
As I stated in my post yesterday, dressage left little to be desired...especially with how well Tillie has been going for me lately. Don't get me wrong a 31.8 is a decent score, but I know we can be in the 20's and if I can get her going as well at events as I have been at C's or home, we would be in the low 20's according to dressage trainer C.
Basically Tillie when shes tense...all or nothing
I had a dressage lesson with C yesterday because I literally just cant get enough of her lessons and I wanted to pick her brain about the tension and judges comments from the event. Which were minimal and one worded comments BTW. Just not helpful and either she really didnt like us, or she didnt want to be there that day. Either way, C was pretty riled up at the lack of any remarks...there werent even collective comments.
Side note: I do love how Loch Moy is ran and the jumps are beautiful...but the dressage part of these shows now both times have my a little disgruntled. Both times I have competed there the judges have really lacked on the commenting or even completing the tests. My trainer, C, has been a bit peeved by the test too and flabbergasted at the lack of a completed test and remarks.
Soooo tense
Anyway, I planned to get on very early and just walk Tillie around on a loose rein to take in all the things to try to help. She did this quite well and was very relaxed. She even was pretty good when I picked her up in the walk, but as soon as I asked for trot all bets were off.
Now, there was no airs above the ground or blows up like we had a few events ago in warm up...but she just would not relax no matter what I tried. I tried everything from rating the trot - going slow to fast and back to slow, I tried lateral movements, counter bending, loosening my reins to see if she was claustrophobic, cantering a bit...the trick was it was also pretty hot, so I didnt want to get her overly hot...but C suggested yesterday maybe just let her canter it out next time a bit longer.
We chatted a lot about it and if its possibly me and something I am doing differently even though I feel much less nervous and more relaxed at events than I ever did last year. So our homework is go do some dressage shows.
Here is the video of the test:
You can see its slightly quick and shes against my hand pretty much the entire time...especially after canter she wants to root and pull down and low. That was the name of this test either bracing and racing or low and slow.
Its quite frustrating knowing how well she can go and THATs what I want to showcase...not this reverted version of a racehorse....**sigh**
I know I am being picky. I am still proud of her and shes come a lonnnng way with this, but it has been a bit of a consistent thing at shows I want to iron out. It also didnt help I came prepared to ride Novice A and realized when I was on deck I needed to actually ride Novice B - EEKS!!
Luckily we have been riding that test...lol but it was one more unsettling thing to add to this phase.
Anyway...C watched my video and compared notes to the test. She said she saw lots of things to like and some not so nice things lol and we worked on a few more ways to get Tillie unlocked. It was one of the hardest lessons I have had in a while because it didnt FEEL good, But C reassured me and asked me to trust her - that we need to focus on getting Tillie unlocked at the base of her right side of her neck.
Mind blown after that lesson
We did A LOT of 10 meter circles tracking right basically over bending her and asking her to MOVE the F away from my right leg since C said shes a bit dead on it. She said this is also why left lead canter is tough because she locks on the right side. So LOTS of counter flexion in canter too.
What FINALLY helped is when C had me both in canter and trot totally ignore her fussing and being connected and just keep her poll up and basically leg leg leg to get her booty under her with a TON of outside rein and then be soft to let her be straighter and carry herself rather than me helping her. This made a HUGE difference in canter and a few moments she even lifter her back.
So we have some things to work on, but at least we have a plan and I am determined to make sure Tillie doesnt get too worked up with this new set of homework we have.
This past Sunday, Tillie and I loaded up and headed over to Loch Moy for our second Novice event of the season. If you guys remember, last year this event was a bit of a shit show. (Read about the XC fails here and dressage fails here). So I headed back in the hopes we could redeem ourselves and have some dignity this time around.
For the sake of keeping these posts from turning into novels, I am going to once again break down each phase in separate posts. But this one will be a sneak preview ;)
All prepped and ready
With our jump lesson thursday feeling really rough/forward I was a bit less confident going in to this weekend. I had a dressage lesson Friday that felt ok, but we also were schooling some newer things and working on upping the game so things just felt different. Tillie tends to get a bit defensive when changing the game on her so its a bit of a fine line trying to coax her into the new stuff...and with what horse is that NOT like? Lol... So my last schooling ride the day before the show was ok and left little to be desired since she still just seemed to not want to let go of some tension and really relax like she has been in recent rides.
What happens when black polish gets mistaken for regular hoof polish - lots of scrubbing
I went home Saturday night feeling a bit in my head and less confident, BUT I did find comfort in our training and found some solace in knowing even with things feeling ok, we still could do it, it just meant me needing to be more on my A game.
We pulled into Loch Moy and I mentally prepared for our dressage knowing this venue is pretty darn crowded so fully expected Tillie to have a harder time. We got there so early to give me time to get her to settle in and I chose to walk the XC course first (which in hindsight I am soooo glad we did). It was humid and muggy so relaxing and cooling off at the trailer was a better move than trying to walk the course between dressage and stadium.
I hopped on for dressage and Tillie walked on a loose rein quite well and would only get slightly jumpy if someone came too close or ran up behind us. She recovered in a matter of moments though and was content. This made me hopeful for our test...until I picked her up and started asking for her to work. The walk was decent enough, but then going into trot she woke up. It was either bracing and racing or low and slow...no in between. It also didnt help I came in ready to ride novice A and actually had to do novice B - Luckily I have been riding both lately so could adapt but it was a bit of a last minute "oh crap" thing... Despite this we put in an ok test and got a 31.8.
oh so tense Tillie...and me trying realllly hard to be soft
Stadium felt amazing and was by far the smoothest phase of the day. All the mistakes made were piloting errors and non faults of Tillies (Like burying her to fence #2 which she luckily got over with no rails).
Part of the outside line to two stride line
XC was also pretty good with the exception of a few things which Ill go over in my posts...but we did all the harder options and it was pretty darn smooth!
We need to work on cantering into water...but she was forward!
We ended on our dressage score and ended up in 5th place!! All in all it was a successful day and I think prepares us a bit more for June 11th!
Of course I am still very excited about how smoothly things went at this event...it was put on by a local pony club so we did compete against mostly against pony clubbers (ok ok, its not like it was all children here...there were adults too). It was their home turf and I honestly thought more outside competitors would come to this event with how much it was being chatted about in our smallish horse community here.
Tillie had her game face on from the minute we loaded on the trailer
I have never been to their event before, but have done a paper chase here when I first got Tillie a few years ago. I had asked around and done my research before entering because I wanted a friendly lower key event for our first novice.
It was exactly what I needed for my own nerves. I knew many of the people there which put me at ease and made it feel just like a ride at home almost. Sure nerves crept in a little...but for the most part it felt relaxed. I think it also helped I had a dressage lesson with C the night before that was one of our best to date complete with really big extensions that C said made her get chills (eek! my OTTB can dressage!!).
Anyway...I opted to ride in my jump tack, because lately the one I have been borrowing has been really making me crooked and twist. C agreed that my jump tack was the best shes seen me look compared to the others and Tillie goes well in it so to use it. I am in the process of getting my hands on a custom saddlery VLX for quite the steal :) but I didnt get it in time for this.
Probably the best feeling part of the test
Immediately upon arrival I was put at ease at seeing the dressage ring with footing inside an arena. After all the rain we have had I was a bit nervous at what a grass ring would be like. Plus there was only one ring running which was nice and a huge factor as to why this event was so chill.
The warm up was in grass, but shockingly the footing wasnt too terrible. It was a bit sticky but at least it wasnt muddy or sloppy. I was relieved at this point because I knew I needed to use studs, but could wait until after dressage to think about them. (Side note: This was the first event Tillie and I used studs...I have applied them many times on my trainers horses when grooming for him, but this was a first for my own personal horse).
Hello uphill downward canter to trot transition!
Tillie was so relaxed and calm during warm up. Luckily we didnt have to share with more than 3 other horses at any given time so that definitely helped. It was quite muggy and humid, so I really didnt do a ton in warm up despite getting on 30 min early. I reminded myself all our training has been done, its just do what is needed to get her supple and alert without being too reactive. C gave us some pointers for warm up which were super helpful...we threw in some trot extensions to get her opening up and me more comfortable riding a more open trot needed in novice.
Let me tell you, my new Smartpak purchase (at Rolex) of the Bradley Performance show shirt really came in handy because of the nice cool mesh under arms. I also rode in their new white piper full seats which I think looked pretty sharp!
Anyway...we were about ready to go. Once we were on deck, we headed up to the ring which I wasnt of fan of this small part because it meant we had to stand still and wait while the rider before us did their test. Tillie was quiet and fine standing, but I prefer to allow her to keep moving as much as possible before going into the ring.
Sure enough, as soon as we stepped foot in the arena to get going again while the judge finished commenting the previous test, Tillie coiled up and was too interested in looking around.
At least she was good for her canter!
She started sucking back a bit and not really being soft in my hand so that she was super reactive to my leg...right after the judge rang the bell and I prepared to enter the ring, Tillie broke into the smallest canter. I circled regrouped, took a sigh out and told her to chill and we entered.
When she gets like this, straight lines are a bit questionable...so I knew right away we were slightly off our centerline and I knew I couldnt do a whole lot to "fix" it since she was pretty wound up.
I just focused on the rhythm and being VERY quiet with my hands to set a "this is where we need to be" tone before expecting anything else.
Canter left lead also went well
She slowly started to relax and I was able to start applying more aids...and then I forgot a portion of my test (Novice B you trot circle before cantering...well the second trot circle I skipped and went right to canter).
It was a lovely transition both times though! And we didnt let it set us back, in fact it really helped her in her trot circle to relax a little more.
She's so soft here! Excuse whatever the F I am doing with my upper body though
The judge was super nice and said not to worry, my error didnt hurt us too badly and it was a nice test. Tillie seemed quite please with herself and I have a rule to not go look at scores...so I threw Tillie back on the trailer and set out to walk my course.
By the time I got back the trailer next to us in good spirits and in a friendly competition way said "You beat me in dressage and are currently first!!! better not have any rails!"
I was delighted, but more eager to see my actual score rather than placing.
So long story long, I know we need to work on more relaxation in our dressage and try to get the same great feeling we get at home and in lessons in the ring.
