Save the Best for Last: Show Recap, Carmen the Magnificent Edition

 My last post was all about Quaid. But Carmen would like you to know that she also went.  I realised after my ride on Quaid on Friday that I was looking forward to an 'easier' ride on Carmen. The whole weekend showed me that with all the focus on Quaid I just assume that Carmen will be fine. 

Freshly bathed and ready to shine

Spoiler alert: she was more than fine. As long as her servants (Paula and me) made sure she had fresh water and hay she was quite content.  On Friday I tacked her up and took her to mount. Just as we left the barn a woman mounted her horse who immediately dropped his head and bronced her off! She had the wind knocked out of her but ended up being fine. It was scary. I was starting to think that this Friday the 13th thing was real. Or it was me.  Our ride was good. She was very mature in the ring and we had a really good schooling session. 

honestly, all she needs is a bell to ring for service

We were riding Second Level Test 1 & 2. and they were scheduled for the middle of the afternoon on Saturday. I was tired which actually took care of any nerves. Our warm up was good. To be honest, it's kind of a blur. I do remember thinking she walked into the ring saying Which one of you scared my Quaid?!   I don't have videos of the tests but they felt really good. She was good with the half-halts and didn't get too fussed about things. For 2-1 our scores were really consistent: 6-7.  She got 7's for her gaits and I got it for 'riders position and seat'. Our final score was 65.57 with the comment to work for more suppleness. 

At the time I didn't know the score because I usually don't check and I didn't really have time to dismount between tests. I did know that it felt good. In between the tests I walked her in small serpentines, SI/HI to keep her supple and on the aids. Close to our ride time I did some canter transitions. Going in I was pretty sure I had 5 minutes of riding left in me but it was a close thing. Our test was really consistent again: 6-7 with 5's for our turn on the haunches. The comment was that she was stepping out. It's hard because I actually don't feel her step out so that's something to work on. Our final score was 64.74 and the comment was to work for more engagement and self-carriage. We had first place for both classes. 

enjoying some post show walking and grazing

By Sunday afternoon I was pretty beat. I was really glad that I had paid a young woman to clean my stalls (it was a great option for this show).  But no one forced me to show 2 horses so I got my butt in gear. When we went into the warm up Carmen felt stiff and tight. Fortunately Jane was there to coach us through it. She had us walk and change the flexion left and right. then we did shoulder in to haunches in. That helped so much. I could feel her start to loosen up and begin to swing over her back.  

For our first test (2-1) I worked really hard to sit up, half-halt and keep my butt in the saddle. We had a few bobbles but I was able to sort them right away. It felt really good. Our scores were 6-7 with a lot of 7s! Our final score was 67. 29. Again I found this out later but I was thrilled. This was a personal best for us!

Soon enough it was time for our last test (thank god I thought). This time I tried to really pay attention to the turn on the haunches. Our first one received a 5.5. In the second one I kept my outside leg on to stop her from swinging wide, which resulted in a brief hesitation but garnered us a 6 so I'll take it. Our other low score was as 5.5 for the free walk. But otherwise we had 6's and 7's. Our final score was 65 even. 

This was the most consistent Carmen has been at a show. Often by Sunday she is over this crap and gets feisty. But not this time. She stayed right with me. Any 'squabbles' were small and short and we carried on. I attribute that to the work I've done at home not being in to any spooking. 

At the end of the show they always do the awards. They give out the ribbons for the afternoon and then the champions for each level and high points. It can be a bit long but it's important to support other riders. In our classes I placed first and second. Which was lovely.  Then I sort of zoned out while they started on the awards. Not completely I clapped for everyone but I was mentally thinking about the trailer ride home and that my feet hurt. All this to say that  when they said that the Second Level Champion was me I stood there stunned, pretty sure I heard it wrong. That's you! Said Paula. Teresa you won!  said Tanya. 

No.  I said. it must be a mistake. 

Spoiler, it was not a mistake. I freaking won.  I actually got a little teary. Which probably sounds silly but I've worked so hard with this mare. And she's not been easy but this weekend she was there for me and it paid off.  A few years ago I said to Jane I know that it's shallow, but at some point I'd love to win an award at a show. It's not why I do it and I know it's not important but still.. Jane just smiled and said 'don't worry,  you will' 

Jane was right

I won a beautiful blanket and a bunch of swag. See that fern behind Carmen? As we turned to go back she spied it and dove right in. NOOOO  shrieked the poor woman who had arranged for the loan. For a second I thought I bought a fern but it seemed to be okay. 

I was so happy

isn't it gorgeous?

the lovely thing about the blanket is that it was sponsored by Steele Family Warmbloods. Theresa Steele has always been so encouraging and supportive to me which made this all the sweeter. 

So that's a wrap on the weekend. It was hard, tiring, fun, stressful, and absolutely fabulous. I was so proud of my two horses.  And of me. And Jane. 

I knew that Carmen the Magnificent could live up to her name. 

Forward Solves Everything- Show Recap

 So last weekend I took both horses to show. It was an epic weekend filled with lots of action, fun and learning. To keep it simple, I'm going to divide it up between the two stars of this blog, starting with Quaid. 

The show takes place over 2 days but you can haul in the day before and ride in the show ring (5$ per 30 minute slot, which is a good deal).  I left Friday morning. I was all alone so glad that both horses walked on without any difficulty (probably because I had a plan if there was any problems).  The trip was uneventful and we pulled in around 11:30. Paula met me there and we prepared the stalls and unloaded them. 

Not sure but fine

 

I had two slots for warm up- 1-2 and 4-5. I decided to ride Quaid first. I got him tacked up and took him out to walk around the ring. He was really good about it. So I left to mount up outside and ride back in. Just as we were walking towards the mounting block a horse got away from her rider (trying to put the bridle on) and took off. She ran at us, then past us then back again. finally she was caught. Quaid was wide eyed and, understandably, a little freaked out. So I walked him a bit and then got on. 

We went into the ring and he was definitely tense. I did what I always do which is try to contain him. Spoiler alert, Jane is not a fan. She says that the more we contain the more explosiveness we create. And she is, as always, right. But when you're riding it feels wrong to push them forward. I (and I'm sure I'm not alone) want to hold hold hold.  Jane got us to trot forward and keep his mind busy. She was also on me for leaning forward and not having my butt in the saddle. 'SIT DOWN'  was a refrain that all of her students heard that weekend. That, of course, worked really well. I was quite pleased with our ride.   

My rides were very reasonable: 9:15 and 10:00. I had lots of time to braid him and then take him into the warm up ring. It's been a long time since I rode Training Level and I've forgotten how the warm up ring can feel like Thunderdome.  There were quite a few horses going every which way. Poor Quaid was quite rattled. There was one horse that it didn't seem to matter how much I tried to avoid always seemed to be crowding us or being hit hard by us. It's a lot to ask of a young horse who's essentially ridden mostly solo or with one other horse.  He was really uncertain about horses coming at him or near him. Sometimes there were horses coming at us and beside us at the same time. 

Then a horse spooked at the open window. Quaid, who had been quite fine with it before was oh god. that horse is scared of it so it must be scary. Now I'm scared.  He started to get spooky and throw some big spooks. I totally understood, he was responding to the herd dynamics and was in full self-preservation mode. My 'let's go forward and it's all fine' was not really cutting it. I'm not gonna lie, without Jane to do her magical mix of cajoling, advice and ass-kicking I'd have gotten off and scratched right there.  But I listened and tried. Failed, tried again, and kept trying.  We slowly began to settle.  I took him towards the centre and had him walk around and let down some adrenaline.  We breathed.  He showed an incredible amount of trust in me. 

Then it was time for our class. I rode Training Level 1 & 2.  I have videos of our rides Saturday but not Sunday.  But that's okay.  Here's the first one:

When I was watch it I can see how conservative I'm being and I should have not 'held' so much. But I'm also being quiet and steady. Our scores ranged from 3-7. The 3 when he balked going into the corner at M. 7's for our trot and centre line work. Our final score was 56.35 with the comment "Unfortunate. Think to stay forward, more on the aids'.   

We had a brief break and then back in the warm up for 10 minutes (it was a lot quieter) and then in for our second test. This went a lot better, with scores ranging from 5-7.  It felt so much better and I was really pleased. Our final score was a respectable 63.62.  He was done for the day and I was pretty happy with him. Honestly, I think he was relieved to be out of the warm up ring. 

I should note that for both our tests I would ask for the canter but did not make a big fuss when he broke early. I simply tried to settle him into the trot and carry on. The goal was not to win but to lay down some groundwork and experience.  We ended up placing 3rd and 2nd. 

Sunday our ride times were similar. Our warm up was a lot better until I tried to do some more canter work.  The wheels fell way off the bus for that. Jane was on me for going forward and lightening my seat. He needs you to be the stabilising force. If you go on his withers you're telling him to buck.  I really really tried.  We had good moments. He was WAY better about the other horses being around. I was really happy with that. 

yup

nope

 

When we rode our first test (TL1) he had a full on melt down in the corner by M.  He balked, backed up refused to go forward. I was expecting the bell to be rung to eliminate us so instead I made a diagonal line to B and carried on. I cut that corner but just carried on. I felt I rode more forward but I have no video proof. Our scores ranged from 4 to 7 with a final score of 57.5.  I was happy to not be eliminated so was not going to cry over a very generous score.  The judge asked me what happened and I shrugged and said 'babies'. 

Our second test I went in with a plan to ride forward. In TL 2 we track right, right into the corner. By then I figured out that it was the reflection in the glass freaking him out.  Anyway, as we went to the corner he full on balked and carried on. I thought about saluting the judge and giving Quaid a break. But instead I took a breath and decided to carry on and show him it's all okay. I sat up guided him forward and carried on. Laster one we were to come through that corner and pick up a canter between C and M. I decided that I was not asking for the canter. Instead I bent him to the inside, put on my inside leg and trotted him through it. When he went through I patted him and asked for the canter at the centre circle. It was a shit show. But I tried.  When we trotted down centre line I squared my shoulders smiled at the judge and trotted him forward. Again our scores were 4-7. Our score was 56.9. But the comment was awesome: 

new favourite comment

I think we placed 3rd and 4th. I was so proud of those ribbons. They were hard earned. Jane was able to watch this test and she said she was really pleased that as the test went on I rode better and better. I didn't unravel.  I realised that I hadn't been nervous or worried at all. I was just thinking about how to support him. 

It would be easy to frustrated with how his show went.  Old me certainly would have been. At home we can do the Training level stuff easy. But the current me can see all the gains we made at this show: 

1. we tried and no one died, cried or unraveled. It was really close and without Jane's support I probably would have scratched. 

2. Quaid tolerated the show without kicking the stalls when left or refusing to eat. He did call but even that was not as frantic as last year. 

3.  I think if we had down intro level it would have been easier but not the challenge we needed. He can do this work.   We need to learn to travel and do the work. It will get easier with miles and experience. I talked to Jane about it. She said something along the lines of 'if you rode him walk/trot then you would think of him as a walk/trot horse. A baby. And he's not that.  To quote my friend Tanya: 'he's just a genius, not a baby genius'. 

4. Quaid tried really hard to listen. Just sometimes what I asked when against his instincts and he responded. This has informed what I need to do with my training at home. He's pretty easy going so I need to introduce some stressors at home and show him he can work through it. I can't expect him to know how to deal with it without practice. And clearly I can't assume that because he's fine at home he'll be fine in other places. 

5. He handled the warm up really well. Each time I rode him in it he was better.  He coped with the chaos and I got really good at keeping him in his own zone. I scanned the ring and moved us away from other horses. When I couldn't I sat up and kept my outside rein.  I really tried to keep Jane's advice in the forefront: 

• he needs me to be his stable centre. To do that I need to stay over his centre of gravity and not move around. 
• I need to not be passive or try to contain the energy. Let it go out. If you activate the hind legs you engage in the brain.  

6. Forward is key. Not fast. But forward into contact. 

Like I say, I don't show to win. I show to see where we are. And to hang out with friends.  Friday night a bunch of us go to dinner. This year the show committee held a reception on Saturday night with pizza and beverages. It was a great time.  

Generalization

 Back when I was studying to be a Speech Language Pathologist we learned the concept of generalisation: the ability of an individual to apply something learned in different situations and settings. It promotes independence and adaptability. 

This applies to horse training as well. At home Quaid is doing incredibly well. He's a solid horse with a lot of try. But the proof is whether we can do the things we working on: WTC, rating his speed, steering and focus in other settings.  For example, he's quite good at ground tying in the ring but not in the barn. I've started working on that and it's coming. But he'd much rather explore the barn. 

Quaid: standing is boring

We have a show this weekend. It's the first one of the year. I wanted to get him off property before we went so I arranged to travel to Krista's for a lesson with Jane. It's not a totally new place, he was there last year for a clinic. To be 100% honest I was a little worried. I was leaving Carmen behind but I wanted to test that as well. I got everything ready and asked him to get on the trailer. He walked on by himself but needed some encouragement to take the last two steps. I got there about 90 minutes before our lesson. I put him in the stall. 

I walked him around and was happy to see that he wasn't a nervous wreck. Just more on edge. 

he approved of the grass

When it was time for our lesson I was able to bring him in to do some ground work. The wind was high and the canvas ring was flapping a bit.  It was definitely unnerving but he did well to focus on me. I then mounted. I wish I had some footage but I messed up and decided otherwise just get to the lesson rather than fuss with it.  

Not gonna lie, it was a really tough lesson. Quaid was nervous and uncertain and I was tense and worried. Not the best combination. Jane, however, was great. She kept telling me to put my butt in the saddle and ride. You are a good rider. You need to ride like it!  I was really struggling though.  Riding is hard but the mental part is the hardest part of it. The physical is, by comparison, easy.  He was a speeding up and slowing down and getting pissy when I tried to rate his speed. My tension was not helping either.  

At one point she asked me to canter and it was terrible. Bouncy, zero steering feeling really precarious. I rode like I'd never sat on a horse in my life.  I brought him to a halt and Jane said 'you decided that you were coming off and gave up.  I looked at her. Absolutely. I said.  She laughed. I think she was expecting me to argue, possibly blame Quaid. But she was right. I went into full self-defence mode.  

That seemed to break something loose and I was able to, finally, buckle down and ride the damn horse. And when I did things got better.  I was able to follow instructions and get back to work. Jane said that at the end it was good. She was firm that I need to be stable to help him find his balance. Which is true. And hard. But anyway we got it done and it was a valuable lesson. I might have thought that Quaid needed practice off property but clearly so did I. 

I put him back in his stall and loaded my stuff back in the trailer. When I went to load him he refused to self load. I was at the end of my stamina by then so I walked him on and tied him. Fortunately, he followed me easily and did not pull against the tie.  We made it home and I hosed him off before letting him out in the field.  

I was going between being frustrated with myself and recognising all the positive things.  

I gave him the next day off and rode him on Tuesday. He was not happy and the things I thought had been solid at home were definitely not.  The canter wheels had totally fallen off the bus.  I decided that this was a great opportunity to work on making what I thought was solid, truly solid. Because clearly it was not.  It was a difficult ride again. But rather than give in to my nerves or be frustrated I took what Jane had taught me and put it to work.   I refused to hide from the canter work.  Even when it sucked. Especially when it sucked. I did my damndest to sit up and ride him forward.  I rested when he gave me a good try.  

I just love teal on him. 

I was bit worried about the show after that ride. I texted my friend, Tanya, that we no longer had a canter and the show was going to be GREAT (sarcasm font).  But she told me to get a hold of myself.  So I did. 

Today I decided to ride Carmen first. I figured that if my rides on Quaid were going to be hard then it didn't matter and Carmen would give me the chance to work on keeping my seat in the saddle and not tensing my thighs.  Whether it was the weather (warm and sunny vs cold and windy the day before) or the hard work I did or the stars aligned but I had my horse back.  Early in the ride he picked up a canter by accident and I just rolled with it. and it was fine. We had a great schooling session of him listening and me supporting. It was nice to feel us jell again. 

Tomorrow both horses are off while I pack. We leave Friday and come back Sunday. I don't know how it will go there.  But my goals are not to win any red ribbons. It's to support and ride my horse while keeping my eye on the real prize: being a team. 

Out and About

 After the clinic and all the work we've been doing I've been really wanting to get out and hack at Coveside. It's such a beautiful location and riding there is good for the soul.  My worry was leaving one horse behind. But I've been doing a lot of work on separating them so I figured I could take Quaid and leave Carmen for the first time. I've also thought about riding one and ponying the other. 

Anyway, before I could reach out to Tanya to see if she wanted to go Julia messaged me that she was home for a visit. So before you could say 'wait, what?' I arranged for all of us to go to Coveside for a ride on the Monday after the clinic. 

We trailered there pretty easily and pulled in at the same time.  I tied Quaid to the trailer and had Carmen ground tied. I was pretty impressed with how quiet he stood in the parking lot. It was busy, there were side by sides, tractors and large equipment moving around. 

Quaid: this is fine

Carmen: does anyone even care that I'm not secured? 

We mounted up and headed off. We decided to go the longer way to the trail to avoid having to go by the large excavator doing some digging.  This meant that we rode by the paddocks and the horses got a little excited. There was also a donkey who was wondering who the heck we were. But everyone walked by with some tension but no shenanigans. 

Tanya took the lead and Suzi was excited. Carmen was pretty cool about the whole thing. Last time I rode Quaid here (last year) he was pretty excited and took a lot of half-halts (that he resented). This time he was much more mature. Still worried a bit but not fussing with the bit or getting annoyed that I kept his pace calm. 

Tanya slightly more excited than Suzi, lol

The nice thing about Coveside is that there are ton of trails but it's completely fenced around the perimeter so, while you can get lost, you can't get lost lost.  

I love walking in the woods. Riding in them is even better.  Suzi was really striding out, Carmen slightly and Quaid was being a little short strides and then trotted to catch up. I let him because, at some point, I do want to trot these. We did a lot of hills. Some of them were quite steep. I was impressed with how he dropped his head and just powered up. Carmen was the same. 

We skirted some fields and walked over bridges and by some buildings and rocks. He looked at everything but was good about going by.  Carmen, as always was completely chill about all of it. 

Now before you start thinking 'my goodness that Quaid is a perfect horse. I'm gonna steal him'. He had a pretty baby moment. About 2/3 into the ride we decided to put Carmen in front and Suzi behind Quaid. Carmen went from total relaxation to more alert. Julia said it was like she realised that she was now in charge and had to be vigilant. She still was fine.  But Quaid was not happy about Suzi being behind him. But not greatly unhappy, just aware and a little annoyed if she got too close. I should have paid more attention to this because he suddenly gave a big buck.  At least I thought it was a buck. Turned out he kicked Suzi!  I was appalled. Fortunately, Suzi was okay. We moved them around again so it wouldn't happen again. In retrospect I realised that he doesn't yet know that he can't work on herd dynamics when being ridden.   More on that later. 

Other than that one incident, it was a good ride. We rode for about an hour and did 5.7 km. Not bad. After we untacked. I made sure that Tanya forgave me. Suzi never did get sore (thank god). 

I am hoping to do this again pretty soon. It's good for us. 

Establishing Contact- Clinic Recap

 But wait, there's even more lessons!  If you've read my blog for any length of time you know that I have done many clinics with Johanna Beattie Batista over the years. She has been as much a part of my journey with Carmen as many other people. Johanna is a level 3 Centered Riding Instructor and has a long history of classical dressage training in Spain.  She is now semi-retired and living in Portugal. 

This year Stephanie and I managed to snag her to our area for 2 days of lessons. Johanna stayed with me and I transported her back and forth. It gave us time to have to some lovely chats. 

A little side story: I told her about starting karate and she said 'good for you!'. It turns out that Centered Riding encourages their instructors to do martial arts training because it's so good for breath and body control. She herself does Tai Chi. 

I did two lessons back to back on both horses. I do have some video and photos. 

We started with Quaid. When I ride both horses I almost always start with Quaid because he's, well, easier. Carmen can be a bit draining so it's just better all around to start with him. If having these two has taught me anything (too much really), it's that it doesn't matter the age so much as the temperament. 

Cordelia fell in love with Johanna. It was 
hilarious and adorable. 

Anyway, Johanna wanted us to work on his taking of the contact. I was to ride with soft hands and follow his motion so that he learned to go into the contact. This is not new, Jane has also been working on this with me. It was a slightly different approach and it's good to learn the same thing in new ways.  Johanna was quite impressed with Quaid and really seemed to like him (he's hard to resist).  You will notice that I'm not in a t-shirt because the weather turned cold and cloudy. A typical May in Nova Scotia is full of warm days, cold days, rainy days. Sometimes they are all in the same day.  

lovely square halt

This sort of work can be frustrating because it's so subtle and it's very tempting to just 'take' the contact. But, if I understood Johanna correctly, if he learns to go to the contact then everything will be easier as we move to more advanced work. Which I totally get. It was interesting because I suddenly felt when took the contact. It was cool. 

getting closer

Here's a video (because my phone battery is not so great, I managed to get media of Quaid on day 1 and Carmen on day 2.):

What I love about this horse is his try. He really wants to figure things out. He can get frustrated and annoyed but he almost never says 'no'. 

Carmen went next and she was in a totally different mind set then Quaid. As you know I've been struggling with her barging through my rein aids and half-halts. It has been getting better but today she not in the mood for my crap. Johanna took one look at this said 'Okay, she's not allowed to pull this shit'.  'This shit' being leaning on my hands and pulling me all over the ring. There's a difference between being heavy and just bullying.  As I think about it, it really is the same as her old behaviour of spook and bolt. But because she can't bolt on me anymore it manifests differently. 

Anyway, Johanna's solution was to not let her build up a head of steam. I was to not ride any straight lines. I had to do 10 metre circles, shoulder in, haunches in, leg yields, half-pass, turn on the haunches, forehand., etc. This accomplished a few things: one she couldn't get super strong and pull the reins out of my hands, two, she had to think and three, it set her back on her hind legs and not her forehand.  Carmen can be a real physical and mental ride and this was no exception. When we were done I felt pretty wrung out. I'm sure that Carmen felt the same. But we definitely ended in a good place. 

After lunch Stephanie picked up Johanna because I had to wait for a repairman for my washing machine. Because, of course it would happen now. Adulting is hectic at times.  Fortunately, it was an easy repair and I baked a cake while I waited. I managed to get to see Stephanie's ride. All I'll say is that its been wonderful to watch her partnership with her new horse blossom.  

Bob and Stephanie came for dinner that night and Ed made a wonderful Mexican meal.  After eating, laughing and talking they went home and we all collapsed into bed. 

The next day was also cold but not super windy so that was a win. Quaid came out and was like 'oh I remember yesterday. You want this, right?'  It was so neat to see the carryover. He felt a little tired to me as well. The day before hadn't seemed so hard but it's possible that he was just not feeling it. Either way we decided to work on him going forward into downward transitions and not just fall onto his forehand.  It was a good lesson and, once again, it was wonderful to see how good he is given that he's five. 

Then it was Carmen's turn. She was less feisty but still not super keen on the this whole work idea.  We basically repeated the lesson from the day before- no straight lines.  The goal was for her to come to contact without trying to take it over.  Johanna kept repeating that the whole point of, say, a shoulder in was not that it be perfect. But that it keep her thinking and listening. 

And it definitely worked, I could feel her come onto her hind leg and take real contact not 'gimme that rein'  contact. 

Here's a video. 

At the end Johanna suggested that maybe a different bit would be better. I like her current bit in that it prevents her from getting her tongue over it. But I think I will try her in Quaid's bit to see if she's more respectful. 

The next day I drove Johanna back to the city and gave her back to Stacie after a great lunch. It was a good two days and I really enjoyed the intensity of the work, even if I needed a nap after.