Riding the Dragon: Quaid's Show Recap

 Better let than never, right? 

I had entered Quaid in Intro B & C for the show. Intro C has a bit of canter in it on both leads and I knew we could definitely do it. I had spent the weeks leading up to the show practicing the 'pick up X lead in first quarter of circle' and 'transition to trot' before A.   I wanted to be sure that we could do it with zero issues at home before asking for it at the show venue. Honestly, we cantered here, there and everywhere. We were the Roy Kent of cantering. 

I had booked an hour in the ring on Friday for us to practice and to work on him being comfortable. Spoiler alert: he was not comfortable. In fact he was totally NOT comfortable and had zero desire to listen to me (or Jane). It was incredibly frustrating. Jane did a good job of keeping me from getting harsh or busy with my hands but it was tiring. Near the end we still hadn't successfully cantered and my time was ticking away.  I was determined to get the canter. He was determined to buck and scoot and run sideways. The volunteers were trying to catch my eye to let me know my time was up and I was not making eye contact, lol. I even said to him I don't fucking care, we're cantering.  Finally I got a good (well half-way decent and not at all dangerous) canter and I halted and hopped off. I was about 15 minutes over my time (sorry, not sorry). 

I was a bit discouraged. And, to be totally honest, for the first time I thought 'what if I can't get him through this? I will have to sell him'. It is just so fucking glaring the difference between home and away. If he acted like that at home I would never dream of taking him anywhere because we wouldn't be ready. But he doesn't. It's not like he doesn't have feelings or acts up at home. He does, but it's short lived and he gets on with it. 

Anyway, Saturday morning was on him about 45 minutes before our first test. He was, as expected, tense in the warm up but Jane kept us on track and we were able to do all the things. Including some half-decent canter in the warm up ring. Intro B is just walk and trot and he felt really good. There were zero shenanigans and I was really happy with our test. Our scores were mostly 6's with a couple 7's and 6.5s for a final score 62.8. The judge noted some tension and wanted 'more forward and uphill balance'. 

pro photo from the test. I think 
we look pretty good here

There was a short wait between this one and our next one. In the warm up I just worked on keeping him focussed and supple.  The test went really well up until I asked for the first canter. And that was a giant 'nope'.  I regrouped and asked again. It was a flail, a teeny bit of canter and then we fell out of it. All of this garnered us a score of 1 (for canter) and 0 (for the transition from and back to trot).  But the good news was that we regrouped and carried on. Our second canter actually happened. But it was tight and the circle was smaller than the required 20 m. I knew that but felt that it was better to just accept that we cantered and not get too much in the weeds lol.  Our scores ranged from 0 to 7 for a final score of 53.5. The judge noted 'some tension' and that there was 'potential for much better riding experience when addressed'. Which made me laugh. It reminded me of report cards when the teacher wrote 'Teresa has a lot of thoughts that she likes to share". 

But overall, he was much more rideable than Friday and I was pleased that we worked through it. I celebrated by buying this hat that a vendor had: 

from Blondie's Cinches. 
It felt apt. 

On Sunday I also planned to a 40 minute warm up. He was a lot quieter and seemed more settled.  Our first test (Intro B) felt really good. In all he felt more with me and relaxed. He was a bit tight in the free walk and I didn't let him out completely so the judge dinged me on that (fair). At times he got a little low in the neck as well. I think that was fatigue. Either way we ended up with a 60. 

We did a little walking around and some cantering before C. I could tell he was tired but still had gas in the tank. Again, he got a little low at times but was very rideable. Then we got to the first canter circle. He was a firm no on that again. I didn't give up but kept asking because he can't learn that bucking stops the work. The score was a 1 with the comment 'much bucking'.  And a transition score of 1. 

I honestly can't believe I sat that
( I tried to buy it but the show photographer
said that bucking photos are free lol) 

When it was time for our second canter he was all ready to battle. I decided that I was just going to ride it out and he needed to sort himself out. That got us a 3 because he was disunited, then switched and finally sorted himself out while I stayed up and balanced. The good news is that we tripled our score lol. And the transition in and out got a 5 so.... a massive improvement (*lol*sob*). Our final score was 53.5 with comments about tension and riding the horse forward. Noted. 

After Jane wanted me to go back to the warm up and canter him. I took him and back and really tried but he was completely done and could not horse. I realised that he was past the point of being able to learn and we were interfering with others trying to warm up so I got a nice trot and called it a day. 

Funnily enough I didn't end the show with the thoughts that I have to sell him. Other than the canter debacle he became more and more rideable as we went on. So I persevere. 

Jane and I have a theory that a lot of this is stemming from separation anxiety. So we have a plan that we're executing at home.  I'll write more on how that's going another day. 

see, he can be lovely