Monday, April 3, 2017

Show Time

This weekend we went to another schooling show.  Two flats and a colic (not Stinker and the horse is doing much better) later we finally made it home.  Minus all of the adventures I was really happy with the show.  We did Intro A again and I had the added bonus of my favorite dressage judge (DJ) was riding her horse at the show.


Friday after we got up there, I had a lesson with DJ and she got after me for being too passive.  Once I was more demanding with my aids he improved so much.  She had us trot some and agreed with me about his right hind.  It is still weak and he struggles with it in the trot, but she had me post on the incorrect diagonal going to the right and that seemed to help quite a bit.  We also talked about my indecision about how to approach things with the trot and his weakness.  She wants me to do short bits of trot regularly and keep up the lunge work I have been doing, because he has been improving and it gives him a chance to think things own without me.


Saturday, I didn't have my ride until the afternoon and I was struggling with my nerves.  Once I got on the main warm up area was quite crowded and there was lots of cantering going on, so we went over to a secondary ring that had been set up for an FEI show previously.  We walked and trotted over there and he was going really nicely.  As it got closer to my ride time, we moved over to the main warm up area which had cleared out a bit and mostly had Intro riders (so no cantering).  He handled warm up quite well.

He did not like his back neighbor

We did have one spook when he realized there were riders out on XC and towards the end he was getting himself worked up a bit.  Next time I think I will cut my warm up a little shorter and see if I can avoid that. I was in the ring that is across the road from stadium.  Last time that resulted in lots of staring in that direction.  He didn't look at stadium at all this time.  He spooked at the judges stand (someone let the door slam right as he was approaching it) so I walked him by it multiple times and they were nice and talked to him.

Blurry picture from the test

The test was about as good as we could put together now.  It was a massive improvement from our first one, but he is still way too tense.  I did put a couple extra circles in to get him back together when he was getting really strung out and I think it helped a lot.  I had to laugh at the end, because the judge asked if I knew that I received an error each time I did an extra circle.  I said, "Yes I know." She looked shocked and said, "Really?"

Pretty blue participation ribbon

I was really pleased with the fact that we got a 7 on our halt.  Standing is not a strong point for him, standing square for 3 seconds is almost impossible for him.  Typically he will pause and then try to creep forward.  I do think he is starting to get the whole show thing.  And as an added bonus he loaded and unloaded really well.  We are not going to be Intro A champions any time soon, but we are making steady progress and he is learning that warm up and the show ring aren't terrifying.

15 comments:

  1. I love your attitude and approach to this. Sometimes I think that judges forget that we are at a show for training purposes and not just to win pretty satin. Irish got very tense at shows and my warm up became a lot of walking and stretching until he relaxed. It took longer and people thought I was crazy for not practicing the 'moves' but honestly it worked much better for him.

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    1. Thanks :)
      It really is tricky figuring how how to get them to relax and stay relaxed when there is so many external stimuli. I figure if I start teaching him that it's no big deal now, when we actually are ready to show it won't be a big deal. I'll be used to it and he will be too.

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  2. aw yay! it seems like each time you get out there you're able to give him more and more of what he needs to figure out that it's ok and everything is gonna be fine. congrats on the satin too! i also need to work on not being too passive... it's such a fine line between being low key and low pressure, and not actually showing the horse that they can work at the same time lol!

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    1. That last line is so true. For so long he was so reactive and unwilling to listen that I got in the habit of not doing anything to set him off. Now that he is actually cool with getting input from me, I need to give him firmer directions instead of my well maybe if you feel like it let's try this

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  3. Good for you guys. It sounds like you did a great job at giving Stinker the best possible outing.

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    1. Thanks! I'm trying really hard to keep things low key and just get him used to traveling and the show environment.

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  4. So awesome that you focused on giving him what he needed in the test, regardless of errors. Yay for satin, boo for flat tires and colic.

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    1. It was really hard for me to knowingly put errors in there. I was mentally thinking, "Man a 10m circle would really help him. But it will be an error. But the points have already been blown on this movement what difference does it make? It doesn't matter just do it. Oh god please realize this is intentional and don't blow the whistle on me." 😂

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  5. Two flats AND a colic? Wow, the universe had it out for you that weekend.

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    1. Yeah, there were definitely some stressful periods but I'm just glad everything is ok now.

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  6. Ditto to thehorsedream! that sounds like some seriously rotten luck. Kudos for keeping a positive attitude.

    I love the participation ribbon!

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    1. I made S pick it up for me because I felt ridiculous going in there as an adult and asking for my participation ribbon 😂

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  7. Yay progress! Who cares about the circling. He needs an education, not a score, right now. Plus it's just 2 points each (though I know that's a much bigger hit at Intro A than a higher level test!)

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    1. I think it ended up being about 4% points or something. But really until he figures out that he can relax at the shows it doesn't matter. We get slammed on movements and collectives for the tension (rightfully so) and while getting a ribbon is fun I would rather school him and teach him something than let him run around like the caffeinated deer he is.

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  8. Way to go! I love your attitude about it all

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