HHSC Dressage Schooling Show

I had wanted to attend one or a few of these schooling shows since I used to volunteer on the board of HHSC (Hollywood Hill Saddle Club). The pandemic threw into question whether the series was even going to go forward, and I was really excited that they were able to figure out Covid safe protocols for at least one show. Entries were restricted and we were encouraged to leave as soon as we were done. I decided to sign up at the last minute and ended up snagging the last few test slots. M, from the barn, was also going with her gelding Finn. We did not trailer together because she was worried that Finn would attach himself to Gwyn. A second barnmate came to be our test reader.

I brought Pivo to be my videographer and it did okay. I'll have a more thorough review of it once I use it more than three times. Each time I learn a little more about ideal placement and it was not in an ideal placement for a morning dressage test, given the light angle. But I didn't have much control over placement since my test reading barnmate was bringing it in with her. It caught most of two of my Intro tests. After that, my phone had 11% battery left and I gave up. 

Stuffing her face and being just chill

Warm Up:

My test schedule for the day was nice, Intro A, then B, then C with about an hour between each test. I knew that once I asked Gwyn for canter, she would get really sensitive to aids and want to offer canter as the answer. So I decided we weren't going to canter until after Test B was over and our warm up would consist of LOTS of bending and asking her to come into contact from the walk and trot. I also knew that she tends to be better about contact if I wear spurs. So that's what I did. 

Overall, I was really pleased with her brain in warmup. She was very relaxed all day in general and the chill nature of the show definitely helped. She was nothing like the horse I had at the Donida Schooling show and our scores definitely reflected that. More on that. 

Screen shot from Pivo. It was set at E and I think it would have been better at K given the sun. Plus then it would have a harder time sticking onto horses in the warm up. 

The show ended up running a bit late which was fine. I more kept track of the order of go rather than my time slots. When it was my time to do my first test I just walked Gwyn around the arena, letting her see the tent with the judge and scribe. She didn't care about the pop up tent, which I expected given that I've put her under one. Better to be safe than sorry though. Just as a "Hey, this end of the arena has a blue tent with humans"

Intro A: 

My goal for this test was to replicate the moments of contact we're getting at home in the show setting and I absolutely achieved that goal! It felt so good to have her relax and drop her head into contact. 

Scores ranged from 5.5 to 7

1. Enter Working trot rising, medium walk - 6.0  S + E in trot (not sure what that means)

2. Track right, working trot rising - 6.0   Need bend in corner

3. Circle right 20m, working trot -  6.5 Haunches fall to inside but circle round

4. Change rein (diagonal) - 6.0 Haunches falling right

5. Circle left 20m working trot - 5.5 watch left leg, haunches falling in , circle slightly small

6. Medium Walk - 7.0 (no comment)

7. Free Walk - 6.5 Good swing, steps could cover more ground

8. Medium walk, down center line - 5.5 over eager, jigging some

9. Halt and salute - 7.0 S + E

You can see the warm up behind us

Collective marks were average with a few key words circled. 2 5.5s and 4 6.0s Comments included Haunches falling in , watch legs from going back to cause this. 

Further remarks:
Attractive horse! Has tendency to be a bit tight in back, work for more overall suppleness. Watch haunches in on circles and corners

My thoughts? I know when I go to apply leg I have a bad habit of sliding my leg back, or lifting my heel, I think? So that's something to keep in mind. We probably have a host of biomechanic things that I need to fix in myself, honestly. 

I really love this moment. 

Final total score: 60.63% for 4th place

Mandy and Finn

Intro B:

Again, my big goal was to achieve moments of contact, which has been our big breakthrough of late. 

The sun was in a better position for Pivo but I still didn't get the whole test recorded.

More of this, Gwyn, please.

Our scores were very similar to the first test though just a touch lower. We need generally better bend, she was against the hand in the medium walk before the free walk. We had good ground cover in our free walk but could show more consistent stretch. She was hurried in her trot and drifted slightly coming down the center line to halt. 

Collective comments were better overall, the trot lacked regularity at times (yeah, she wanted to canter and I was trying to keep her from rushing), tense in the back. 

Horse tries hard for you! Needs to develop better confidence and suppleness over back - should help with bend and balance

Overall score: 60.31% for 4th place

My show jacket was hella wrinkled so we just upped our matchy game: Lemieux bonnet and saddle pad with Kerrits shirt and my EPSR purple and black breeches.

YES! The fact that I can screen grab this amazing moment (Elbows tho...) speaks volumes. I used to not have any like this. 

Turn down center line

Halt through medium walk, salute

Intro C and Canter Warm Up:

 I cantered both ways briefly and then mainly focused on walking more and changes of direction, with some trotting to just work on lateral movement and respect for my leg. 

My goal was to stay in the arena with our canter circles, since the first one would be at A... and.... well...

It didn't go as well as I'd hoped. But it also wasn't' all that bad either. We did exit at A for the canter but I got her right back in and continued. Our score dropped about 4% for that, which is fair. I should have been eliminated. But it's a schooling show, so I'll take the little bits of grace given to me. 

Lots of comment about needing more bend.   Transition in and out of canter "a bit explosive" LOL  While I think her free walk stretch is pretty good, they want it more consistent. Then straight and balanced for the final center line. 

Marc Grandia Clinic: Ditches and Coffins

 I was really excited to talk about this. Especially because I actually have AMAZING media thanks to a friend. But then I woke up to a fucking comment about weight on my IG where they grossly overestimated what I weigh. I just deleted it rather than engage, but fuck. Way to ruin a good mood. I was in such a positive headspace with constructive things that I could work on and improve. 

So understand that I am sharing these in an absolutely wretched state of mind. I don't mind being picked apart for my equitation or form over fences. Those are things I can fucking change way more easily than my weight right now.  And I'm just... ugh. There's just a lot of self doubt and spiraling self hatred in my head about this. And there shouldn't be. There really fucking shouldn't be. 

Anyway.

I board 5 minutes down the road from Polestar, a local eventing facility owned by Meika Decher. It's so close and I've never been there and I really should have by now. You can trailer in and flat on the cross country course for a small fee and by notifying Meika. She also has trails on the property. To use the cross country course you need an instructor. 

For this, I signed up for 2 days of a 3 part clinic with Marc Grandia, who has a training facility a town or two over. The 3 sessions were spread out over 3 months, so June, July and August. I couldn't do June thanks to moving houses, but I snagged a spot for July and August.

We were in small groups and trailer parking was basically at the start of the cross country field so there was very limited clustering of people. I operated solely out of my trailer and even had my camping toilet with me to minimize contact. It felt very safe. 

I was in the third or fourth group of the day. In fact, I was arriving to grab Gwyn when the barn owner was returning from her clinic session with him. We started off with establishing a steady trot and canter in the field. Gwyn was AMPED up. She wanted to gallop. She knew it was something fun we were doing and was ready to just go hogwild. So our canter had some steering issues BUT I was able to implement the things I worked on in lessons to stop letting her blow through my right aids and for the most part was able to do broad left turns at the canter, lol. But if she got too strong in the beginning, I really only have control if I tightly turn her right. There's still work to be done.

We started over a small log and BOY, suddenly the game was on! The focus to the first jump was staying straight and steady. Then we added in a couple more to string together a small course. 

Because these were smaller jumps, and Gwyn was having some straightness issues, Marc had me focus on coming in in a nice trot and encouraging a forward canter on the other side. As Gwyn got a little tired (haha) and I got my sea legs back, so to speak, I built up the confidence to string some of the jumps together with cantering completely. 

I have a weird mental hangup where I don't fully trust Gwyn to jump out of a canter yet. I'm not sure what's going on with that, but I do know that we just need to keep doing it so that I can outweigh the hesitation in my brain with good experience and examples. Maybe once I feel like I have more steering control? And that will only come with more cantering time in an open field.

Once we'd finished stringing a few fences together and establishing steady pacing and straightness into and away from jumps, we added in the ditches and coffins. Specifically working with the natural elevation changes and maintaining good rhythm despite downhill or uphill striding. 

The baby ditches/coffins for my level were simple rectangles of landscape timbers with stapled landscape fabric on the bottom. There was no depth to ours to start, just the illusion of depth. Gwyn handled these fine. We had more troubles being straight to jumps than anything. I'm seeing my right size weakness magnified out on the cross country course, so I'm filing that away for things to work on at home.

I'm also a little bit ahead of the motion. I'm not sinking into my heels enough which would help me fold more. So that's also something I'm working on at home on the flat. Lots of two point and really redeveloping a better base to jump out of in shorter stirrups. This did lead to two falls for more, though thankfully both were a roll and I was on my feet. None were head impacts and I definitely appreciated my vest. 

Despite the falls, it was such a great time. Blazing hot and I could feel Gwyn losing some power over the jumps as we moved from more starter level heights to true BN as she got tired. She still had power on the flat and was not content to just stand and wait our turn, so I'm crediting our endurance conditioning for that. She can trot for hours, but I know that her conditioning won't fully convert to jumping condition, especially in the heat. I rode conservatively and we didn't do everything everyone else did, which Marc was on board with. My legs were getting to be jelly anyway. 

We ended on a really strong note, tying several fences together and cantering the course, far better than our start! And again, my confidence rose as the day progressed, even though we were both hot and tired. It was such an empowering clinic, I'm really excited for the August one, which will be on conditioning and pacing! 

In the meantime, I intend to return to Polestar specifically to use their fields for cantering work. Gwyn feels better balanced in the open like this where our turns can be wide and sweeping, rather than tight and controlled in an arena. I would like to get to a point where we can canter around the perimeter of the field and that's going to require more stamina from me. 

Really, this gave me more of a desire to push forward with my AEC goal in 2022. And these clinics are a good stepping stone on the way there. 

Jompies!

At this point I'm finding it easier on my time and commitment to use the trainers that come to the barn. These are typically the ones my barn owner is using as she trains for eventing (she's moving up to training). Plus the BO typically schedules for groups of lessons so we all split a travel fee which makes them overall very affordable. 

All this to say, we had a jump focused lesson on Sunday! Since that was Kaylee's birthday, I didn't want to be at the barn ALL day, so I chose the 9 am lesson slot. I was the first out there. Gwyn had already been turned out with her breakfast hay and willingly left it to come to me at the gate. It was sunny and in the 60s, perfect temperature.

Mismatched brand, but matchy purple gear! 

Freshly groomed arena too

I was mounting up when Trainer S arrived. She seemed nice and got to work setting up the jumps which the barn owner had moved into the arena. She asked for a brief history of me and Gwyn and explained a little about her teaching style. She's very big on rider form and correctness. I let her know that Gwyn's education in jumping was very basic to nonexistent and I wanted her to develop a good sense of how to approach a jump.

I found her to be a bit of a mixed toolkit instructor. But what I LOVED was how brutal she was with my position and jumping form. She almost immediately had me raise my stirrups a hole (OUCH) and then proceeded to pester me about my heels, especially my right heel. I like to post from my toes. I'm not sinking into my heel as much as I should. When I apply leg my foot raises and swings back. So there was a huge biomechanic component that we worked on to make me more correct and secure.

To warm up my goal was to get Gwyn a bit more energetic and less dressage ploddy. This was the morning after all the personal fireworks of the 4th and Gwyn set the tone for all the horses today. They were TIRED and slow. It took a lot of effort on my part to perk her up and even trying some canter didn't wake her up like it has previously.

I was pleased, however, to find that my form over fences is still there in muscle memory from being a kid. We started with a set of trot poles, then moved to a simple trot pole into cross rail. My first task was to get Gwyn energetic to the jump to get her actually considering a jump rather than a big trot cavaletti. Eventually we strung a course together. It was all right turns but had two bending line approaches. I totally biffed the course a couple times, thanks ADHD, but Gwyn was a superstar.

She was a tired Goober when we were done. We did the final, middle cross rail once more and she just barely trotted it and immediately walked. Trainer S wanted once more but we had just finished the round and it was a good round on the course so I insisted on ending on a good note and letting her walk. There was no issue with that. 

So far, I like Trainer S. I think she'll be good for me and Gwyn to incorporate something with a little more technical difficulty. And it's a good step towards AECs 2022! She definitely thinks we could bomb around a BN course really well. And that's what I've got my sights set on. She even has experience with working with Friesians and F-crosses so she knows the struggle with that weak hind end and tendency to just be super front heavy.

I stuck around and watched a barn mate's lesson and took some pictures and video. The day was starting to get warm and I had to get home to celebrate a certain newly 8 year old's birthday.

A Tale of Two Judges, Puddles and a Tailbone

Last week I went out to the barn to ride and practice some of my dressage tests for the show this weekend. I want to make sure that I was passingly familiar with them. There was also a grid set up in the outdoor arena and it was so sunny and temptingly nice that after we'd gotten some solid flatwork in (Gwyn's canter is getting progressively stronger!) that we went to play with the very low grid.

Skeptical...

It was all great until the very end when I decided "one more" for the video and we crashed and burned. I fell hard and it hurt SO much. My low back/tailbone was immediately on fire. I could barely bend over to buckle Hazel into her car seat.

Kid hugs

 Anything requiring suspension of my upper body without support from my arms has been impossible. I've been gimpy all this week, which is problematic since I move a LOT for my new job.

She was reasonably amped on this day. And feeling VERY good. 

And warm enough I was in short sleeves. 

 But thankfully all the walking I do at work helped start loosen up what the hell I did to aggravate my body. Plus constant advil/tylenol and liniment. By Friday I was feeling optimistic for the horse show. LOL.

Not me going through, but the gymnastics grid in question. Gwyn went left after botching the bounce and getting flustered and I did not follow...

Then this showed up in my facebook feed and it became my mantra for the week. HAHAHA

 So Friday rolls around and I'm feeling reasonably sure I won't reinjure myself if Gwyn decides to be an ass so I leave work a bit early, pack my things up at home, have dinner with the family, then drive out to the barn to load up. I'd already paid for overnight stalling and just didn't want to be rushed in the morning. Gwyn loaded right up and then it was 90 minutes south to Donida Farm.

Lights make loading in the dark SUPER easy. 

 I dropped her off, thankfully finding our assigned stall in the first barn I looked through with my phone flashlight. Got her set up with hay and water and headed back north to Cortney's. I got there around 11pm and was greeted enthusiastically by her dogs and pretty much crashed immediately in the guest bed. I got up when she did and it was nice to only have to get myself ready because all my stuff was at the show already. Cortney's mom came too and they left together to go pick up a third person.

This is Rio. He was rearing so he could see over the top. It was hilarious. 

 My first dressage test wasn't until 11am, which left me a lot of time to chill. I grabbed breakfast from the cookshack (they let me open a tab with a blank check!) and then headed out to watch Cortney and J ride their first tests.

Cortney and Reign in Intro A

 While Reign is still a baby, she came out with a 'been there done that' sort of attitude. Nothing super phases her, which is good, since Cortney intends for her to be a husband horse! They did really well.

J and Rio in Intro A

 Rio is an 18 year old Arab gelding and this was his very first dressage show. He'd never been in a dressage court before and he did REALLY well when you take all that into account.

 Once they finished, it was time to go back and get me ready to ride!

Horse Trailer Parking was on the racetrack

Gwyn kept stealing hay from her neighbor's hay bag while I tacked her up.

 As I was walking her out to the warm up she was high like a kite and VERY light on her front end. I needed Cortney to hold her so I could mount up. After that the mere suggestion of walking was like a foreign language. My goal was to get her to relax and stretch. I tried incorporating the thing we'd been working on in lessons, like lots of walk/halt/back up transitions. Asking for a back definitely caused front end liftage and I abandoned that until she was a little less sensitive to the aids.

 She was so sensitive, in fact, that we were half-passing every where. Leg pressure definitely was working and I had no spurs!

 To my amazement, she immediately stretched down when we walked through the copious puddles. So that became my plan. Stay in the puddles and reward a relaxed frame and snorts. I did lots of small circles and figure 8s in the puddles and slowly, S L O W L Y her brain rebooted.

 I didn't dare canter her since my low back kept catching when I would stay with her forward movement. The plan pretty much became don't canter in my test (Beg Nov B eventing test) and take the points hit just to have a controllable horse. My main goal, given the past couple of dressage tests I've done, was stay in the court

 So then it was time. Gwyn actually felt pretty focused on me once we entered the arena. She was pretty forward and rather giraffey but we had good moments. Enough so that when the test called for our 20m canter circle, I cued for canter. And you guys... she cantered. And we completed a 20m circle without leaving the court.

Counter canter when it's not called for... but also not blowing through my outside aid.

We continued to have more good moments. Like when I remembered Jim's voice in my head and slowed my posting and breathing and her head dropped and her pace slowed, for just a couple steps. On our second canter circle she counter cantered the whole damn thing but actually did a whole circle again. As we started the stretchy free walk, I did get an error bell, apparently I did my canter circles wrong? I'm gonna need someone to chime in here because I don't understand the judge here.

For step 3 and 4, then 8 and 9, I originally rode it like the diagram below. I picked up my canter between the center line and E, then did a full circle ending at E and going straight. The judge had me stop and do it the way I have it diagrammed on the right. I didn't argue in the test, I understood what she was asking me to do though I don't agree. 

Can anyone weigh in on how the test reads? I really loved this judge and she was exceedingly kind about the whole thing.

So I repeated the canter circle, getting the correct lead this time though Gwyn thought it was all bullshit so she did end up running through my outside aid on this go round. But... did not leave the arena.  I recovered and we finished and she was very proud. I thanked the judge profusely, who I think was just plain enjoying that it was a schooling show. She scored very generously.

We all took a break for lunch, then it was time to get ready for USDF Intro B. This time Cortney, J and I were all basically riding back to back. This time, Gwyn latched herself onto Reign and was a hot mess unless we were next to Reign. Ugh... Gwyn... if we can't show with friends....

My Intro B test was a hot mess. Gwyn didn't want to do the initial halt/salute and given how light on her front end she was starting to get, I took what I could get and saluted when all four feet were stationary, despite her body being at a 45degree angle off the center line.

One of my trot circles also exhibited a total loss of outside aids but I didn't leave the court (notice a theme?) and we survived. That judge? Super SUPER stingy with points. I got a 49% and we'll thank our stars there's no video of that one.

"Lack of cooperation on steeds part mars today's test"    Thanks? I couldn't tell.... -.-

I had signed up for a third test, Intro C, and it wasn't for another 3 hours. And when I mounted for this second time I super wrenched my back and it took me forever to feel effective as a rider in that warm up. Gwyn still wasn't being polite for mounting. And Cortney and Company were leaving since J had to catch a plane THAT EVENING. I was tired and I couldn't face the idea of having to pack all my stuff up without help on top of trying to get on a horse that was losing her damn mind for a third time AND fully memorize the test (Trudy was reading for us). I just wanted to be home and snuggle with my kids.

So I scratched. Instead of doing the one more, like the day I had fallen off, I decided to just call it there. We had a good day. Even if the only people listed after us were the scratches and no-shows, we accomplished the goal of staying in the dressage court. We even cantered and stayed in and that's a lesson I want to enforce with this mare.

I'd like to think it would have been a different show day if I wasn't protecting my back the whole time. But maybe it was a good day because I was being very careful in the warmup. Because it was raining the whole day (though miraculously never heavily during our ride times).

I got to go show with friends. I got to have a show Mom (I love Trudy). I got to have a horse who cantered without a ton of theatrics (all that work has been paying off!)  I had a horse who listened to my seat aids in the middle of the dressage test and I remembered all those lessons and applied them, even if we couldn't maintain the effect. There is improvement. And for that I am grateful.

This test earned me a 61.25% 

Kind comments are always welcome.