Riding Forward to Redemption Part 1: Quaid's Show Report

 Last weekend I took both horses to a two day dressage show.  It was a really good weekend. Full of friends and ponies and so much learning. Not all went according to plan (does it ever?) but that doesn't mean that it was a failure. 

I had booked an hour slot to ride each of them in the show ring. At $5 per 30 minute slot it's a great deal. I decided to ride Quaid first because that one had only one other rider in the ring with me, where the other slot had 3/4 other horses. It turned out that we had it all to ourselves. At first he was super tense and very resistant. He was okay to walk but anything else was a flat no. I was ready to get off because he was almost rearing on me. Fortunately, Jane showed up and coached us through. What she wanted me to do was bend him a lot to the right because when his neck and shoulders were straight he could pull all sorts of shenanigans. It was bend and ride him forward. It felt like we were flying around but really, when we weren't. It was a good session and helped me to understand some things (not everything as you'll see. OOH, foreshadowing!).  Jane grabbed a short video because she wanted me to see it. It's very hard to coach and film at the same time but she did well: 

I honestly felt good about how we went and frustrated that this is still a problem: him not wanting to work in new places.  And yes, I understand that this is not logical and he's five but I try to be super honest on this blog. 

My ride on Carmen in the ring was great. She was tuned in and tried her hardest.  I was really thrilled with her. 

My rides on Saturday for Quaid were at 8:55 and 9:51. My plan was to start riding him at 8 to walk and warm up and then rest in between. Our warm up was good. Once again I was not pushing him forward enough. I know that at some point Jane is gonna lose it at having to say, yet again, push his hind legs up, ride him forward, he can't pull any manoeuvres if he's going forward. Fortunately, that day was not Saturday.  All this to say that our warm up was really really good. Except I didn't canter before it was time to go in. whomp whomp. But, I thought, he's listening and forward and when he's like that at home the canter is easy. 

When I watch the video I can see that I need to ride him more forward. I'm being too careful and trying to contain him. But I am, at least putting my leg on and our halt was lovely.  You're supposed to walk a few steps and pick up the trot. I walked too many but I was trying to get him balanced and made the choice. 

Our trot was tight but it was at the first canter ask that the wheels came off. Anyway here it is in all it's glory: 

I gave up asking for the first canter and carried on. Which, fyi, netted me my first ever zero in a dressage test. If, while you're watching this video you want to yell at your screen 'for the love of god ride him forward' , I hear you. All I can say is that I had a lot of thoughts in my head and Quaid had a lot of feelings and I was doing the best I could in that moment. We actually got like 3 strides of canter in the second attempt. And I managed a square halt at the end. 

Not surprisingly, my score was a dismal 45.77. This is, I think, my first below 50 score. Our scores ranged from 0 (two of those!) to a 7. The judge's comment was "unfortunate tension today. Keep working at building confidence and harmony'. 

Of course at that point I didn't know my score, just that it was awful. I made the decision to scratch our second test because at this point I knew I was just giving him a crappy experience in the ring and I needed to change. Jane didn't even argue. So, yeah, it was a good call. I know she would have supported me if I chose to ride the second test but I needed to do some thinking.  

I made a plan and discussed it with Jane and she was fine with it. I went to the show secretary and asked her if I could drop down to Intro A and B on Sunday. if the answer was no, I was going to ride one of my Training level tests but not canter. I felt that I needed for us to have a successful school in the ring. She and I discussed it and she asked the judge. By her report the judge thought that it was a great idea because she was worried about my safety in the ring. For the record, I wasn't worried about that.  She agreed to come in a bit early Sunday so that I could ride Intro A before the official start time and then do B 20 minutes later.  

A little aside her to say that Judges often get a bad rap for being mean, or biased or whatever. And I know that some of them probably are like that. But my experience (bar one several years ago) is that they want riders to have successful rides and try really hard to be fair. And show secretaries are responsible for keeping the show flowing and on time but they also want people to have a good experience. 

All this meant that I had to get up at 5 a.m. to be ready to ride my first test at 7:20. Honest to god, this alone is enough to motivate me to move up levels.  I started my warm up alone in the warm up ring and that was good for me. It allowed me to get my head level and think about moving him out and forward. Then Jane came and redefined 'forward' for me. One thing that Quaid has a tendency to do is to get tight, flail his front legs faster then his hinds which are out behind. It's been a real learning curve for me to get his front to slow up a bit and his hind under without holding and kicking. But all that aside it was a really good warm up and I felt ready when we went in. 

I had Tanya read for me because I hadn't memorised those tests.  As you can see he's tight but I'm doing better ar riding him forward than I did on Saturday. At our first trot circle at A he broke to canter and I was like seriously? In the video you can see him also thinking about exiting at A and when I stop him he kicked out.  Our ride across the diagonal was pretty much free-form and squiggly but I kept him between my legs and we straightened out before the end.  

At our second trot circle he broke again but this was more of a spook and not wanting to go to the corner. I put my leg on and asked him to trot quietly. It all worked out and I was happy.  Here's the video: 

I rode a lot better in this one. And yes, I know, I can still go more forward. It's a process, lol. Our scores ranged from 4-7 (no zeros, yay!). Our final score was 60.31 and the judge's comment was nice "Unfortunate tension today, Rider handled it well". I got a 7 for my position which was nice. 

We walked back into the warm up and did some walk and trot until it was our turn to go again.  Quaid was kind of done by now but I was not and so in we went. This time I did much better job of sending him forward.  He became wiggly down the centre line and I just kept contact and leg and sorted him out. Our circle at E was actually pretty good and you can see how nice he looks when he steps under. I even gave him some rein at our free walk. 

He wanted to scoot at the corner at M but I was like nope and put my leg on and rode him straight. I think if I hadn't there'd have been a lot more drama.  You can see at the middle circle that he's thinking of doing all sorts of things. When I went to turn up the centre line he didn't want to and I, finally, had enough, and gave him a boot and growled at him. He halted early and I made him walk to X and then halt. So we ended okay. 

Our final score was 58.75 and the comment was 'some bottled up energy today. Keep working at creating steadiness and harmony."  Yup. 

I was glad that I had dropped down. I think it was just what we needed. I have a lot that I learned with Quaid this weekend but that will be a separate post as I need to sort out my thoughts. I also know that Jane has some too. It feels to me that he really needs to learn to listen and work even when he's not feeling it. Which is part of growing up. And I definitely need to move him out. 

Let me finish by saying that I am not upset, frustrated or angry about how the show went with him. None of this is malicious and fortunately, none of my goals had to do with ribbon colour. Not that I didn't have moments of feeling uncertain or flustered. I sure did. But they were just that, moments. Also, if, on watching these videos you feel the need to pick me all apart or @ me, don't. I share these because I've always been honest in this blog about the good, the bad and the ugly. I'm an AA doing her best and trying to improve.  

At one point I joked that he was for sale for $10. This started a  (joking) bidding war all weekend which ended at $60 and a pack of gum. But in the end I kept him. I still love this horse and I know we have a great future.