The World's Worst Dressage Show: Arrival!

I did it. I made it! We got out for the first time since New Years Day. 

In true ADHD fashion, I spent the evening before leaving, finishing sewing my  outfit for the show. I made a batwing shirt (pattern from Patterns for Pirates) and fashioned my giant sequined shrug into more of a cape because it really didn't fit my shoulder width in a way that would make it riding comfortable. 

On Friday, Kaylee and I packed up and hitched my trailer at home while I was in the middle of a work call and we picked up Gwyn and the rest of my tack. From there we drove to Cortney's house where Gwyn hopped off a  bit confused and had to dragon snort at Cortney's goats. I tossed her in a stall, much to Reign's HORROR (she kept pinning her ears at Gwyn from the cross ties). Gwyn was just happy to find that the hay bag in the stall contained alfalfa. 

We transferred all our gear into Trudy's (Cortney's mom) trailer and camper, followed by Gwyn, Reign and Saffron. Reign and Gwyn were polite for each other in the trailer and each had their own hay. 

We all piled into the truck and headed south! 

Good ponies get nose pets from their kids

We stopped once for a bathroom break and then it was straight on to the Clark County Fairgrounds. 

The stalls at the fairgrounds were safe, if dark. They were excellent for biosafety, at least, with no nose touching. My one regret was not having any double ended snaps because Gwyn knocked her water over CONSTANTLY.   Each stall had 2 bags of shavings in it and no instructions for us to clean at the end, which definitely saved us time!  We were going to be there for about 24 hours, so the stalls didn't get incredibly messy in that time. 

It was a little bit of a struggle because Reign couldn't see Saffron, only Gwyn (who blended in behind the wire grating and looked like a disembodied head most of the time) while Gwyn could only see Reign because Saffron decided that she was being pampered by the shavings and her own private stall and promptly laid down. 

We took the girls out to walk in the indoor arena and get oriented to the space. Gwyn was chill about it all and just kept trying to go touch noses with Reign and Saffron.

Both Reign and Saffron decided the dirt was amazing and needed to be rolled in immediately. Saffron practically bulldozed her nose through the dirt before finally dropping. 

Nice face... then NOT NICE FACE.  Gwyn doesn't react to these faces from Reign, which we're pretty sure just infuriates her more. 

Gwyn: "Hi best buddy, I miss you and you smell like boy goats"

We decided to tack up and ride, which kind of became a wild situation. The high school drill team that was going to be putting on a demo the next day was practicing their routine. Gwyn was SPINNING. For a horse that I struggle to find a heartbeat on when conditioning, I could FEEL it pounding in her armpit with my hand.  This is probably the most scared I've seen her. Between the flags, the loud whistles to indicate  a movement change and shouting, she was frantic. 

I kept a hold of her though and eventually she started to realize it wasn't coming after her and her pause periods got longer and longer. In those moments I scratched her withers and just kept talking to her and praising her. Then we'd work on moving her feet so she knew she had to listen to me and that I was still there in control.

While the drill team was cooling their horses out, I hopped on and started walking Gwyn, who was now breathing heavily too. I just focused on my goals for my ride the next day. Keeping Gwyn's head straight, making sure she was bending from the base of her neck, that my inside hand wasn't creeping across her neck and that I was really sinking into my inside pelvis in asking for turns. She finally got some nice relaxing snorts out and I felt comfortable enough to let Kaylee hop on for a ride around the arena too. 

Then it was dinner and bedtime for ponies and bedtime for humans before the show the next day!

WWDS Scrubbed But It's Okay

Well, the World's Worst Dressage Show got postponed for very legitimate concerns. Many of the competitors were going to be traveling over mountain passes to attend and the show organizers opted to postpone to the end of April so that they and their ponies could travel safely. 

I was honestly, relieved. I've been GO GO GO all of February and while that was okay and I could manage, having a weekend to finally breathe and spend time with family was what my body needed. 

I was able to go consign some of my unneeded horse stuff at the 4H Tack Sale at the Fairgrounds on Friday which I've been meaning to do for YEARS. Discovered a family of mice had nested in some baby blankets as a result, so those are now trash. Gross. 

Had my regularly scheduled riding lesson Saturday morning. Had a minor breakthrough in discovering that I really look too far to the inside of my circles and it's making it hard for Gwyn to be straight. If I adjust how I look, suddenly she can become straighter easier. Amazing how that works, sometimes.

We worked a lot on straightness, even in bend on a 20m circle since Gwyn offers the illusion of bend by turning her neck but not really engaging from her hind. I was really starting to get the feel of the whole horse and putting all the aids together. I need to keep more contact in the outside rein, which will help keep her nose more to the center of her chest (not pulled to her chest, just aligned). This helps my inside leg aid be more effective in asking her to step under herself (with whip tapping to enforce the ask) while controlling the shoulder with outside leg and rein. 

At least I look good. Gwyn decided on mare ears

We had SO MANY good moments. I'm still in Feel, Think, React, which makes my "React" too late, but I'm getting better about reacting on instinct and correcting AS Chriss points out that Gwyn is crooked. So I'm feeling faster when her body gets misaligned and not needing to think the mechanics through for what my response should be. When I started I didn't have the feel AT ALL so yay! Or sometimes even know what I needed to do.  

I like to say that Chriss's lessons are super simple but also super tough. I have basic skills to be competent on a horse, but this is giving me finesse and I love it. 

We all went to the tack sale after lessons and I found some good deals on the few things I was looking for. I only got one item that wasn't on my list, so I'm proud of that one. And you'll see why I couldn't resist it.

On Sunday, the sun came out and I needed to pick up the items that didn't sell. Hazel wanted to go play with Riley and Kaylee opted to come too to ride Gwyn. She also helped me groom and I'm always struck by how good of a kids horse Gwyn is on the ground. She is so careful around them and is starting to be a good under saddle kids horse (with heavy supervision). 

My splurge purchase from the tack sale. It's hand embroidered with peacocks. 

I was shocked that this was available and for the price I snagged it. It's an equipedic endurance pad which retails new for $270+. It was listed at $100. I was hoping to find a saddle pad that was shimmable so I could get spinal clearance for use with my TCS. But then there's a brand I've been considering buying new anyway! Instant yes. 

I need to remember to bring stirrups and leathers for Kaylee so I can just switch them out. Mine don't go short enough for her. Check out good girl Gwyn. After Kaylee, I hopped on to practice what I'd worked on in my lesson. 

We enjoyed the sunshine while the kids played. 

And we enjoyed the view of the snow capped mountains on the way home across the river valley.

World's Worst Dressage Show

This thing, y'all. 

I am GOING.  I am RIDING. I am a COMPETITOR. And I am OUT FOR BLOOD.  I WILL be crowned Dressage Queen, as the most matchy matchy rider with matchy matchy horse.  

I can't fucking wait. 

My outfit, in pieces. My coworker, Lee, is taking the train down to Vancouver and attending the show and watching. Cortney and I are trailer pooling from her house in her Mom's trailer and we're camping the night before. 

I'm making myself a batwing holographic shirt and planning a giant REVEAL salute to start my ride and reusing my grim reaper cape I made for the Wine Ride in 2021. 

EVERYTHING WILL BE HOLO

Even my nails. 

Halfway through January already

I'm resolving to work with Gwyn twice a week. This will easily net me the PonyUp100 goal of 100 sessions this year. I have a habit of falling into work too much to my own detriment. I need to remember to prioritize me. I'm doing pretty good so far and have a regular lesson time scheduled on top of Pony Club mounted meetings, though I'm passing on the first one because it's at Magnolia Ridge and I really don't like hauling up that hill. 

I really have to plan out my midweek barn visits because I end up so tired at the end of the day, or I suddenly find that's it's super late because I've finally been able to focus and get work done. Thankfully Claire gets me and is more than willing to solo parent for an evening. Me having the time at the barn is incredibly beneficial. 

I decided to cut basically all my hair off within the the first week of the year though. No more fussing with my pony tail for a comfortable helmet fit. 

This was a lesson day and we did some long lining since Gwyn was just distracted with kids running around and other horses doing stuff. It was really good to learn what I can do to bring her focus back to me and not escalate a situation. It's never an escalation in a dangerous way, but more a matter of maintaining her working in a helpful biomechanic.

The kids and I went on a mini hike after that lesson even in the rain. It was a fun adventure!

I got our ball python an accordion tube and I think she likes it. 

This mid week ride was hard. One of our clients was running a stress test audit in preparation for an FDA visit next month. I get tapped hard for audits because I'm amazing in front of auditors (Gonna brag here, because I'm fucking proud of that ) But it means heavy socialization and 'masking'. In this sense it's about presenting myself in a neurotypical way, with minimal fidgeting, and answering questions almost like an oral exam where you kind of have an idea of what they will ask you. Saying you don't know is okay, but being confident with the subject matter is crucial. And knowing when to stop speaking is even more crucial. 

Either way, it's exhausting. I knew the week would be exhausting. I planned a barn trip. I even wore my black Romfhs because they look just like my black ponte dress pants so I figured no one would know I was wearing breeches and I was correct. Then the traffic was awful because the highway going north shut down so all evening commute traffic routed to back roads. 

Nevertheless, she persisted. 

No regrets. 

Gwyn needed new grain premade, so it was good I did. She supervises well. 

Then it was lesson day again and I realized that I have a lot of tension that I'm carrying myself that is now starting to affect Gwyn. So I'll need to work on me with that to help her. And I'm just really pleased that Gwyn is telling me, in her own way. 

I was super stiff for this lesson. But I made sure that I helped Gwyn release her own tension before letting her back out. That posture prep groomer is amazing and Gwyn loves it. We had immediate yawns as I worked across her body.

And then, because it's been so rainy but the sun was out today, I spent time just hanging with her while she got to graze.

I'm so pleased with her condition. 

And then I went shopping for a special, special project....