As you all know, Tillie and I are competing a ton this year and doing alllll the events. After the last 2 years of being sidelined, I made it my goal this year to do all the things (obviously gauging Tillie and how she is doing). With all the events we have been doing, I have entered in a new world of learning...
The difference in test riding versus schooling and also the effect shows have on your horse.
Got our ribbon from Plantation HT!!
Test riding you basically have to get it done and right in that moment. There is no oh wait, lets circle and get a better trot before I ask for canter...there is only ok well this is the trot I have and we have to canter now. It also means sometimes helping your horse out when you normally wouldnt at home in a training ride to quite literally squeak by on a movement.
How not to squeak in a movement
I had a dressage lesson with C yesterday...thank god!! and was telling her how I feel like our flat work has regressed lately and I am a bit frustrated by it. Our canter work is improving, but it seems like our walk and trot work has slipped back to some of her antics and generally just not feeling as consistent there.
C laughed and said not to worry!! What I was feeling is basically a result from all the showing and that "get it done" riding that happens there can sometimes mean training may take a few hits. Basically we are trying to teach our horse to do more self carriage and schooling at home doing all different levels, even harder, but we get in the dressage ring and we may have to help our horse out more or do some things we otherwise wouldnt do at home.
Makes sense...and my next questions was, well should I back off the shows then?
Going all the places
C said no...based on what she was seeing in our lesson it was nothing to stress or worry about. She actually felt the more we show, the more it will help us A) work through show day stresses and B) Get better at improvising in test riding for more correct and accurate riding - basically start trying to ride more correctly at shows and stop helping the damn horse.
Which she laughed and said Tillie is telling you she doesnt need it! I am still riding her like a green horse when she no longer is.
Yea mom, I got this!
So we started out warming up just showing her some of the inconsistencies I was feeling...surprise surprise (NOT) they are due to me over riding her and riding her like a baby when she doesnt need all that. Leg asks for the bend, my hands need to be suppling and that is IT - no more using my reins as much for bend. I need to keep my hands lower and closer together. No more high/wide hands which also makes her look way more downhill.
C then said she wants us to try to break through the cycle of me helping her soooo much and we did that by doing transitions within the gaits in the walk and trot. C was super excited with how large her trot extensions got and said they were definitely the best shes seen in her shoulder to date!
Not current, but yay lengthenings!
We also did the same in canter, really focusing on my seat and finding a happy medium (I either lean too far back or perch and sit too forward on my pelvis). C had me think about my knees coming on and off and using my seat more over my hands to control the tempo.
We also established a stronger outside rein half halt to help back Tillie off when she starts to bogg down and get too low/heavy but then following her when she does soften. KEY: Bend the elbows!
What happens when im too straight in my arms...stiff!!!
C then said she wanted us practicing more sitting trot and that would be the key to helping Tillie get more up hill since it would force me to work on my seat and opening my hip angle properly. So that we did and her canter transitions from sitting trot were on point (when I go with her that is and not get left behind!).
Again in canter, she wants me to think still in my hands and keep them low and together with BENT elbows.
By the end of the lesson it was soooo much better...and exactly the ride I needed to feel like our dressage is getting back on track.
Sorry for the delay in posting everyone, its been hectic and I need to start being better about scheduling my own days off.
Anyway, our first recognized event is done! and we survived! It was HOT and humid...I couldnt have been more thankful I made the switch to my FITS show coat and Smart pak cool show shirt. Both made it bearable for our dressage.
Sneak peak at dressage
I chose to braid her the night before since I havent done it before and a good friend, who has done it TONS, offered to come help me. Thank goodness for her!! I couldnt help but feel like a proud parent prepping to send their kid off to their first day of school. I full expected my to even tear up once she was all done being braided up.
Tillie oddly LOVED being braided
Except...when I stepped back and looked her over it just looked wrong. Maybe I am just not used to seeing her braided or maybe her ears just are that big....but it just looked weird.
all braided up
I also chose to keep her in overnight because a new horse was being introduced into her field that same night and my gut told me to play it safe and keep her in...close to a $300 entry was on the line and I did not want to risk her coming in with anything wrong. It made me a bit worried about how she would be the next day, but I figured it was our best option considering the only open paddock available for turn out left she previously (and other horses like her) have tried to get out of or hate it in there.
all tucked in....looking like batman
Shockingly the day of, I was pretty calm. If anything, all this showing lately has helped my own nerves (excluding dressage apparently) but the build up hasnt been nearly as anxiety ridden as it has been before.
We tacked up for dressage and I tried to let go of some of my more recent frustrations with our flat work and remind myself this was not the time or place...that I needed to trust the training and keep it simple.
Trying to dressage....not stressage
Warming up she felt ok...pretty relaxed, but just like recent flat rides just not totally consistent and confirmed in my contact. But hey, we had relaxation more so over some other events. In hindsight I should have studded her with it being on grass and the ground was soooo hard so I noticed a few horses slipping a little. Tillie when she slips realllly gets herself in a tizzy so I tried to keep warm up conservative.
Cantering has gotten better!!
FINALLY when we trotted around the dressage ring I had the same horse that I had in warm up. Sure I knew our dressage lately hasnt been on point, but I at least had the same horse when in past events as soon as we change location its tension central.
Once we entered the ring things were feeling ok, but the longer we went the harder I had to work to keep her focus on me. She neighed once (so weird she hasnt done that except at home) and was just generally pissy about working. There is something about this particular venue (Ill elaborate more on this later) that makes Tillie just really unsettled in general. I can remember the last time I have had sass or leaping into a canter depart, but that we did:
"off aids"
We kept a lid on it and she started to settle in after left lead canter and event started giving me a better trot. I chose to ride conservatively on her trot knowing we wouldnt score well on it, but my goal was to keep her tempo slower in comparison to our last test...now its just to find the happy medium.
Here is the full video:
After walking XC I checked in on our score and we scored a 32.4, which I was a bit unenthusiastic about, but it put us in 4th after dressage which shocked the heck out of me! I am really competitive with myself and would have liked lower, but hey its progress and we will figure it out. At least we are consistent right?!
we can hang with the best of em!
When it came time for stadium, I took a breath and was hoping it wouldnt be a repeat of last year's stadium where she was a freight train and warm up was a shit show.
Again, something about this venue, especially the stadium area, Tillie bugs out. As soon as we started making our way up the hill to the warm up area, Tillie starts jigging and her head is so high, ears pricked so hard forward all I could do was just sigh....talk to her, leg on and decided to let her trot up the hill to see if it would help get wiggles out.
Not exactly...she felt like she had ants in her pants so referring back to a recent Dom lesson I decided to go ahead and start cantering around working on forward canter and half halt to slow again. She really wasnt thrilled about it, but she was doing it. I was also a bit on the struggle bus with how hot it was and think I also was feeling not 100% in my head and wanted too slow...so I know I was riding her backwards.
The more she jumped the better it got. I threw in a few halts after jump warm up fences to make sure she was paying attention, but trying to stand around to wait for turn wasnt happening. Tillie was flicking her head, offering to back up or move around...this was not the same horse I had a loch moy who was falling asleep one leg cocked.
She at least got her shit together though!
She kept wanting to get too low and lean on me as well I presume from the heat...she was protesting it was hard, but the mare was jumping out of her skin. I literally grabbed mane a few times because she was jumping me out of the tack. When it came time to enter the ring she had a mini melt down like the last two times we competed here (There is seriously a gremlin or something in this ring)....but we got in and I chose to pick a nice steady rhythm.
Not the prettiest round, but I got her listening to ME and the longer we went the better it got. Jump one she just was off in la la land looking at the horses out in XC, so the turn to jump two and three were a bit like hey girl...we are jumping, pay attention please!!!!
Then to jump four she didnt want to do the simple, I should have tried to ask for a change and pushed her forward, but again she was coming towards warm up and locked on the horses there so I worked with what I had. After this line though she clicked in gear and things started cooking...
We walked about being over time so accrued some time penalties which I honestly totally forgot and didnt realize we got timed...#whoops and fail on my part. Im honestly not sure I would have done much differently though since I chose to make her wait and listen. New goal: refine the details here in stadium, clean it up and get a more forward listening stride.
Next was cross country:
Walking XC, it was definitely significantly "harder" than our last few starter events at novice. Quite a few of the jumps were large - not that I was complaining! I knew we would be fine. Even the down hill jump into the woods which was my nemesis last year I walk over and said, eyes on the horizon and we will be fine.
We had a few good questions: a steep uphill incline to a jump, a jump a stride or two before water, a jump one stride after water, a jump down hill kind of like a bank into woods, a chevron in the woods, a bench two stride to a down hill bank/ditch, an up bank, a bending line 6 stride combo and finally a sunken road.
Sooo proud!
I chose to start out of the box slow with the first portion of the course being down hill. Jump one was a breeze, jump two was a maxed out novice table that Tillie rubbed slightly not fully aware of the height and solid fences now. But she woke up for that and jumped three to the steep uphill #4 beautifully and forward. The water series she did so well and confidentially!! We actually cantered into water!! (we havent at an event before....) and she did the jump out wonderfully, galloped to jump 8 and then we really galloped.
The kind of galloping that the wind was so loud and whistling I couldnt even hear myself think but boy was it fun. I probably (ok I know) I pulled her up too soon for jump #9 but it was another maxed out novice table which was leading to the jumping down hill into the woods so I knew I needed to get a nice distance to it which we did...and I had to holler at some people walking the course who had no idea I was coming lol but luckily Tillie didnt care and we breeze through the woods, over the chevron and out to the open field again.
Steeplechase jump we sorta biffed:
We had a roll top then a short canter to the bench to bank/ditch which Tillie did sooooo well with. I was thrilled. I let her open up a bit again into gallop to the up bank and brought her back for the series of jumps after which was the bending line...then we had more galloping which I let her gallop and let the terrain change of the sunken road back her off. Then we were three jumps to home...we got a bit buried to the steeple chase brush but she recovered nicely and ultimately we went clean!
Lots of pats after that last jump
With our jump time penalties we landed in 7th...not too shabby for our first event! I am so incredibly competitive with myself so I was a bit disappointed in a number of things from the day, but all in all I need to make sure I stay proud and grateful for my pony who is trying her heart out.
Lastly, I am forever grateful for all the help from my grooms, to supportive friends...etc. Teamwork makes the dream work! (Ok I borrowed that from Dom!)
...and I reallllly am hoping we dont make a fool of ourselves. Tillie schooling yesterday in our smaller dressage-ish sized ring was much better, so today I am planning to try schooling her out in the grass to test if we learned anything from the smaller ring.
I bought all the stuff for braiding - fair warning - I may cry like a proud mother does when sending her kids off to the first day of school.
allll the yarn
The plan is simple, treat it just like any other show. I am not worried about time, just going around clear like all the other starter trials we have done. Im really excited to return to Plantation since last year we were just starting out and it was interesting to say the least. I am fairly confident going in we will keep a lid on things (jumping im totally confident) dressage is still give or take the situation.
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!
It has been far too long since I have been able to make it out to a jump lesson with P. I finally caved and we got one on the books for last night which typically we dont do weeknights. A little distance isnt a bad thing...because it was nice to catch up with P and talk about what she has seen improved, what she see still needs work and actually get to work!
Sleepy Tillie and Wick
It has been such a long time I found myself getting anxious in anticipation to see P and wondering if Tillie would even remember being at this farm. Tillie was fine, and has become such a pro at new places (minus the whole dressage part). She hacked out to the ring with her head so low and relaxed I thought she might face plant.
She warmed up wonderfully, which after the previous day's ride was a pleasant surprise. What is so nice about lessons with P is the small stuff I usually work on for dressage I can sort of let melt away and test its staying power here...also for both Tillie and I to let loose and NOT have to stress about the small stuff every single ride.
Gettin it! Tillie didnt even bat an eye at the corner
We warmed up over an outside line and Tillie hit the striding dead on. P sent us around to warm up over the skinnies...Tillie just jumped over them like no biggie guys - which is awesome considering skinnies tend to be the rare time where she questions.
Video of the skinnies:
Next P has us jump a three jump line which rode in 3 strides each...the middle jump was at an angle though so we had to jump it almost slicing it. I knew Tillie wouldnt be bothered by this at all and just sit up and maintain an even 3.
The second part we got a bit short, but P admitted her set up was off but liked how Tillie adapted despite that. She adjusted it and said we would get to do it again when we did the entire course.
Then P pulled out the corner which I felt fine with, but knew I would have to come in really tall and confident since it was skinny. To my surprise Tillie ate it right up:
P put the jumps up a bit higher and sent us through a course. I realize in hindsight that I need to start getting better about riding distances when height changes...I am bad about this in the moment. BUT what was cool about my fails, Tillie really stepped up to the plate and showed me how much shes grown up. While there were some looooong distances which got Tillie a bit flat, what I really likesd was how well she recovered and excited that now we can start getting better at finding the right distance.
All in all it felt really good. P seemed to be pleased and really didnt have much feedback other than the obvious ride more to the base but felt that I did a good job when she didnt recovering and fixing it for the next one and reassured me it would come with more miles for both of us. She agreed based on what we talked about the Training level was within our sights and we chatted about the possibility of trying it out at the recognized event this farm hosts since we know it and can school it before they close off the course.
P actually said she felt height wasnt the issue for us, but rather the questions out XC since she hasnt seen us go XC yet. Can we do coffins? Banks into water etc... But promised we would try sometime soon to try to get out there and start testing the waters.
So we shall see! Where ever we are thats feelin this good is where we will be.
I have adopted the #progressnotperfection. It has become my mantra to keep reminding myself that there is always more to improve on and even on the not so great days, there is progress being made.
Tillie has been blowing me away so far this year. Not only is she finding her rhythm and figuring out her job, she seems to be really liking it.
Even when its a monsoon...we get some nice work done
Novice feels good. It feels confident and is feeling pretty darn easy. I am happy to nit pick us apart all day long, but I think the more we do those small details will start coming together. (#progressnotperfection).
Our trainers have begun to push us past this comfort zone and I find myself back in the place of having some moments or entire rides where its like damn this is hard. No one ever said this sport was easy...I am pretty darn lucky to have such a game mare because I am figuring this out as I go, as is she.
Drenched, but we dont care...maybe Tilie does
I had an at home schooling ride a few days ago where it just felt down right awful...the kind of ride that I havent had in months. She called to her friends, which she hasnt done since before the depo, wasnt focused and didnt really want to work...just locked on my right rein and would not work through it no matter how hard I tried coaxing her. At first I embraced the challenge and thought back to my last dressage lesson with C that was grueling, but progress was made. I know it didnt look or feel pretty for most parts, but it resulted in a softer horse who was better on the outside aids.
She is lucky she was cute on this day after the stunts she pulled
At home though....that is much harder to work through without the comforting, reassuring words of a professional telling you that ever evasion your horse throws your way is normal and to keep calm and consistent.
You know...this saying or whatever
I almost got worked up about it until I realized just how long its been since I have had a truly not so great ride. I had a realization that we are in another growing pains phase and Tillie's go to response when things are hard or she doesnt understand is lock her neck and get protective.
I need to work on that not baiting me into arguing with her and just staying the course and trusting that the training will work it out, because it has worked so far!
ups and downs: Training horses is not linear
Training horses is not a straight linear upwards trajectory. It is riddled with set backs, "Growing pains," and many other things along the way. Of course it would be! We are humans riding and training a living, breathing animal. The odds are from time to time ONE of us will have some ish to deal with.
#mareglare for days
I am starting to view the training progression as a stair step. You struggle to climb each stair, but when you reach the step things settle down, you hang out on the platform and get comfortable but when its time to move up a step you might have to push through some unpleasantness and hang out on the next step a little longer or a little less. Sometimes it means going back down a step to regroup.
Allll the hay
At the end of the day, I am grateful that we have been going well and its been feeling so good. I am accepting the not so great rides and moments...reflecting as needed but not letting them get to me. Closely monitoring the why's of the struggle if I can figure them out, but trusting my instincts and trainers I have surrounded myself with. Right now, the not so great moments and even this one particular ride, as terrible as it felt, still feels ok. It feels like progress.
The next day, all was forgotten and we had the most lovely ride so I am holding to it!
Fair warning...I had a major fan girl day yesterday so there will be lots of name dropping and gushing to make up for the lack of media from our outing.
We made the hike back up to Windurra USA for a lesson with Dom Schramm again in the hopes that we would XC school this time since last week we only had time to jump school in the ring. Dont get me wrong, that was pretty awesome too since the footing was like riding on a cloud.
Oh nice footing, where have you been my whole life?
This time we stayed out in the XC field to start and went right into warming up on the beautiful track (also equipped with the lovely cloud-like footing). Dom also sent us around the fields to expose our horses and get them listening a bit as well.
While cantering around, I realized we were cantering around Boyd Martin taking a lesson with Lucinda Green **GULP** - Like seriously, eventing legends watching me and Brita canter around. I had a bit of a pep talk with Tillie in that moment and asked her to please not make me look ridiculous once we started schooling.
Oh hey! We are here!
Dom sent us off to warm up over some logs that followed the perimeter of the galloping/exercise track and told us to start off with a smaller canter and then develop a bit. If that went ok he said to continue on to pop over a novice-sized coop to a novice roll top looking thing and around to a pretty large table. Tillie ate ALLLL of them up and did so calmly - thank goodness!
Borrowed from the website...but this was one of the jumps we jumped warming up...man its big!
I asked him about the difference between chipping into a fence vs getting them to wait and come in deeper to a fence since that was one of our goals for some of these to prevent her from getting flat and landing on the forehand. His answer was simple and sort of made me feel silly for even asking but, a chip is when you approach a fence coming in a 12 ft canter stride but the last stride turns into a shortened 10ft or less stride where as a waiting distance or one when you ride to the base is approaching in a 12ft stride but then you adjust to a 10ft stride the last few making an even striding for a few strides rather than the last second.
Mare glare and not enthused at all
We moved on the banks...which I promptly warned Dom about my ridiculous phobia of down banks which he reassured me and said well its because youre worried about her landing too downhill and yanking you out of the tack - no worries, we will work on your position and letting the reins slip even if it takes 4 laps around the field to get her back.
Fortunately for me, Tillie listened to my pep talk and was on her A game and didnt land taking off ever or get too strong...the mare knows when that pelham is one and respects it.
We talked about how to ride both up and down banks:
Up Banks: Horses like up because they naturally are inclined to want to go up so instinctively its an easier question for them to answer. You want to come in right to the base and not get too long, stay tall and grab mane so you dont accidentally catch your horse on the way up
Down Banks: Look up at the horizon NOT down and stay really tall with your shoulders...many riders make the mistake of tipping forward before the horses shoulders leave the bank and then they may hesitate, launch off etc which causes the rider to teeter a bit and cause a potential issue. Think of staying perpendicular to the ground so if you remove your horse from under you, you would land on your feet.
Tired Tillie
We started with going up the smaller banks then tried the double bank up which went swimmingly. Then we did the down banks the same way...shockingly it wasnt so bad! Tillie totally didnt bat an eye at the double banks and Dom had me trying to stay more in my stirrups rather then sit on her back so much. What do you know, they felt pretty darn smooth!
Then we went off to the ditches. Dom had Brita and Rachael do a few things since both their horses are not fond/green with ditches and I loved how they both were able to do them without any issue as a result!
Then we went. Dom had us trot the smallest ditch, keep going and canter the second, larger, ditch then land and keeping going to come back to the third even larger ditch to a one stride to a roll top. He said to stay tall, allow and be soft but to keep her straight. We did it 2x without any issue :) Yay Tillie!
Again borrowed this from their website...it isnt quite up to date but you can get the idea
Finally we headed over to the water. We splashed around a little to start and then Dom had Tillie and do a bit of a few jumps together coming in and out of the water a few times.
He had us start with jumping a line of two roll tops with brush on top which as we got closer got larger and larger...lol. Tillie sort of questioned the first one, but I sat up tall closed my leg and she did them alright. We landed frm those came cantering through the water, made a right hand turn and jumped the log (you can see in the image) down into the water...made a left turn jumped the rolls tops the opposite way (which Tillie did much softer and more relaxed) and jumped the bank down into water.
Soooo exhausted
Dom was pretty happy with that so that is where we ended. I couldnt be more thrilled with her! I was also super happy with how positive it was for my barn mate Brita :) We just have the best horses.
See I told you guys I would gush!!
Bath time once we got home...much to Tillie's dismay
