Aka, "That time the baby dinosaur stuck in a tar pit was still a big fish in a small pond." (shamelessly stolen metaphor from Emma)
Thank you everyone for the condolences. My grandfather was 98 and had an incredible life. He retired at 55 on an incredible pension. He and his late wife spent their years of retirement visiting over 100 countries on incredible trips. We traveled to NJ to lay him to rest in a Jewish cemetery next to his wife. We sat shiva for the rest of the week.
After the disaster that was 2-3 at the recognized show, I needed a confidence boost before championships. I entered 1-3 at the local dressage venue after making sure the secretary could work with my limited schedule (a shiva service was in the afternoon of the show), and off we went.
While I was doing funeral things after the recognized show, the vet was out to give Penn his fall vaccines, write up a health certificate, and check out Penn's coughing. He had a normal temperature, no abnormal lung sounds, and she agreed it was probably allergies. She left him antihistamines, which he started getting the Thursday after the recognized show. Penn's coughing was much less by this adventure- it was mostly sneezing and he was able to tolerate stretching down and back up with no coughing or sneezing fits. So I think in the future, I'll be getting him some seasonal allergy supplements to try to head this off before it gets this bad. He seems to have coughing issues each fall and spring. Of course, this particular antihistamine is a USEF banned substance (as are they all), and not only is it banned, I need to fill out a drug declaration form when I check in at Championships because it can still show up in his system if he received it within 7 days of the blood/urine draw (even with the 24 hour withdrawal period). By the way guys, feel free to call the USEF drug number- they are super helpful. I've called a couple times now!
Anyway, Penn got his warm up cough and sneezes out, and I should have put a little more effort into making him hold himself up. He felt stuck, but I didn't put out the effort to unstick him because I was worried about making him tired, and I thought part of the problem might be the deep footing.
My first thought after, "OMG, we are completely screwed for championships. That was completely insufficient and thank goodness I didn't ride third here, because it would have been the shittiest score ever." Not only was he heavy in the hand and tense and resistant, we had made 3 major blunders. Cantering in the first lengthening (seriously, wtf? How long has it been since we've made that mistake?), bungling the trot change into scrambled eggs (I pushed him down the diagonal and then said sit and come back and he told me to f-off), and then him breaking to trot at the end of the second canter shallow loop. On top of those, he felt like a dinosaur stuck in a tar pit- he needed more oomph and I wasn't finding it.
Well I know what lesson he's getting before we go to championships- the legs off, pony club kick lesson! That way I have a back up plan for if he peters out on me- take a leg off and he'll dig a bit deeper without the kick. That and a metric shit-ton of canter-trot-canter changes. And paying extra attention to connection.
I was honestly surprised at the 69.411%. Really? Was she blind? Did she not see my baby dinosaur mucking about in the bog? Four 8's, seven 7.5s, eight 7s. 19 of the 27 marks (collectives included) were 7+. The 5 on the shallow loops (double coefficient) hurt the most I think, but I think she was a bit too generous even with a 5. I mean, the loop was great, and he broke at K. I donno, maybe I'm being overly critical? I look at it and go, "That was not third level quality" and my basis for first level quality is now super super skewed.
It was of course the highest scoring First Level AA test (and Open/Jr/AA First Level test if you want to know). Cue the: "OMG you got pretty satin, just be happy already!" I think that's how you know you're really after the score and how things felt I think. Win blue and tri-color ribbons and it's still not good enough!
Though I have to say, it's pretty darn cool to have a meh feeling test score a 69%.
I was still quite nervous- this judge was a bit generous with everyone I think. I know I am expecting 3rd level work in a 1st level test, because in reality, that's what I need to do really well at championships. However, my championship test is being judged by two people I've ridden for in the past and I found them quite fair, if a hair generous. Between the two of them, they've given me a 69.063, 68.971, and 68.088 at first level. I haven't seen the one since last year, and I saw the other in June. They both seem to like Penn and reward steady connection.
(this post is media heavy and word-light- I've got at least 5 posts worth of material as of today, and another 3-4 coming up in the next week... so word-light posts are coming!)
As part of my final prep for the recognized show Labor Day weekend, I went to a schooling show to ride 3-1 one more time.
We had a large block of time where we were waiting for the end of the show so the girl I hauled could ride an extra test.
We took selfies.
I did my new prep: mini-phaser, tack up, warm up. Penn felt good to me in warm up, nice and agreeable. He did seem to forget what flying changes were, oops, but I did one each way and he remembered.
Of course as soon as we got into the ring, he started being a little resistant and disconnected. It showed through all of the trot work: head tilting, gait irregularity, unsteadiness in the bridle. It also showed in all of the halts. Not a single one was square. The trot needed more.
I was super happy with his turn on the haunches though! We've been working so hard on those.
The canter was the highlight of the test really. I didn't push the medium canter at all for some reason, but I really let the extended canter go! Both changes were clean, but the first one had swinging haunches and the second was one against the hand, so not great scores, but 5.5 and 6 are still better than 1s and 2s!
Overall, 61.970%. Too many little things wrong, but he did all the things! Obviously I was a little disappointed in the score, but having the video to fall back on is really meaningful for me. I can go back and say, "Yea, that's about right. Good call judge."
But what we did get out of this show were some awesome pictures!
First centerline.
Half pass right. I love how much he steps forward into it- Mikey's steps always got shorter as he went forward.
Medium trot that's not so mediumy.
Medium canter that's not so mediumy. But it was a pretty picture!
"Against hand" in change. Haha, still clean though!
I liked this pic since my hand is back and his tail is out.
It was a good show though, I saw some friends I haven't seen in years and got to run through 3-1 one more time!
Penn used me as a head rest at one point while we were grazing.
I had an epic weekend planned this past weekend- riding 3-1 at two schooling shows in a row as practice for two days of recognized showing! The Saturday show was with a trainer I know to be fairly generous in her scoring (I believe she is practicing judging to enter to L program, but I think she is also missing 3rd level scores to enter the program), and I decided to go to that show as a confidence boost. The Sunday show usually utilizes L grads or r judges, so I figured I could get my confidence boost, then a more critical eye on me the following day.
Sadly things did not go as planned- due to the recent rain and I'm guessing some lingering footing problems, my easy Saturday show was cancelled and rescheduled for August (I need to email to get my check back from them though- I can't go in August). It worked out for the best though- I was able to do my barn work as scheduled, ride, clean tack/pack trailer, doing evening feed, wash and braid Penn in a more leisurely fashion.
Funnily enough, when I got my ride time for Sunday's show, the judge was the one I was supposed to see the day before! Small world. I'm glad I wasn't riding for her twice in one weekend though, especially at two different locations! I don't mind the confidence boost though!
All scrubbed and braided.
Maybe Penn's rabicano coloring is coming in a bit stronger? He looks like someone missed dying some of his roots!
Mikey had a section of white hair too, almost in this exact spot.
My mom was supposed to come with me, but some family things came up that made it impossible. I messaged one of the girls at the barn (T) who has been a groom before and lives close to the show to ask her if she'd meet me there so I wasn't showing alone, and I'd buy her lunch and then read some tests for her once we got back to the farm. She agreed, so I was back in action to not be showing completely by myself.
I had a 9:07am ride time, so my 4am wake up Sunday morning was rather rude! It was weird to do all my pre-departure things completely by myself. It was actually cold Sunday morning- 60ish degrees with a chill in the air from the humidity.
Who knew mid-July at 6:30am would be cool enough to trailer in the BOT mesh sheet?
For once, I arrived precisely when I wanted to! I usually end up arriving later because I'll leave 10-15 later than I wanted to and I just drive slowly with the trailer. I was good that morning- pulled out at 6:30 on the button, and arrived at 7:30.
I found my stall and took a few things over, and when I got back to the trailer, T had arrived and was ready to help take the rest of the stuff over to the stall. Between the two of us, it took two trips and then we were basically waiting. I hand grazed Penn while we watched the first couple horses go and killed time.
I wanted to be on at 8:47 (20 minutes before ride time). T was incredible- I have never had a helper who has been a paid groom before (I am usually the paid groom, so I manage myself at shows pretty well generally). I helped saddle Penn and picked his feet out, but she did basically everything else. Brushed him, fluffed his tail, used a damp sponge to get the dust off his face and braids. She bridled him, tightened his girth, and still managed to watch me put on my hair net and tell me to tuck in the wispy hairs at my neck! I applied some lederbalsam to my saddle flaps so my boots wouldn't squeak, then she grabbed a rag to wipe my boots down at warm up, and we were off!
Penn was... very sluggish in warm up. Relaxed, but lazy. He did everything I wanted, but I had to continually remind him not to lay on my hands. I did some of the shoulder fore/renvers prep for a single flying change right to left. It was late and leapy, but I was having trouble keeping him up. I opted not to do too much more since he seemed pretty low energy already.
I had a moment before I went in the ring where I thought about Mikey. This show was just a few days shy of two years since Mikey's last trip down centerline at 3-1 and 3-2. I asked Mikey to let Penn channel his inner TB in his medium and extended canters. Basically, Mikey was not forgotten on this day and I almost went into the ring in tears.
However, on to the test! I did a few turn on the haunches in the main ring since I forgot to do them in warm up, but then I just walked around until the judge was ready for me. I always feel like I should do more, but I'm always at such risk of doing my best work in the warm up.
I thought this test felt drunk. I did a bit too much mitigating and not enough riding for points to truly make me happy:
The trot lateral work left was sticky, the right was better (and I forgot to start the second SI promptly!). These are the stupidest half passes on the planet... they are so shallow. Of course they're going to get comments of 'needs more bend'... It's so hard to only move sideways 10m while moving forward 36m. That barely requires bend! GP Trainer's tip of keeping the shoulder on the line really helped here- his haunches were close to leading on the half pass left, but focusing on keeping the line instead of pushing the haunches over really really helped on these excessively shallow lines.
I was pleased with his medium trot, even if it was a bit quick... because it's still BETTER!
Not great, but better!
The halt was awesome... and the rein back is broken. He used to do diagonal pairs nicely, and now we're back to walking backwards.
I pushed him out of the extended walk since I thought he didn't have enough overstep. My bad.
Turn on the haunches are still sticky for us, I didn't think they earned the scores we were given.
I was happy with his medium canter- it's so much bigger than before!
10m circle right was ok, the judge thought it was small, but we got totally lost when I tried to prepare for the change and Penn was ready to give it immediately off the circle, but the text calls for it after crossing centerline... which resulted in a wackadoodle leaping half pass change, haha.
#weeeeee #miscommunication
I was happy with the extended canter, but I could feel it going downhill instead of up. Nothing to be done about that at this point though.
He just looks so strong! And bulky. And grown up. Who is this horse?!
The 10m left circle was where I thought he'd fizzle out, which he did. I lost what little impulsion I had and he broke... I immediately thought, "Oh shit, how am I going to get a flying change in a few strides?" I put him back together as quickly as possible and began setting him up for the change... which ended up clean! Leapy, but clean.
I am honestly surprised this happened with the break so close. #MakeItWork
The extended trot leaves something to be desired, but it's still better than it was a month ago and I liked the feeling he gave me when we got on the line- he was like, "I'M GOING!"
He was already fizzling out by this point on the line, but I think he just looks pretty.
Maybe it was the better effort on the diagonal, but I asked him to collect and he almost quit on me, then I asked him to turn up centerline, and he was 'disinclined to acquiesce to my request.' This is now the second or third time this year that he's said f-off at the final centerline. Each time the judge never seems to catch it and mark it down, but I've got red alert going through my head because his centerlines are our score boosters and if we blow those, I won't have an offset for a weak movement (or a break from the canter).
I chatted with the judge after the test and got the feeling she didn't have much advice or whatever to give me- she herself is struggling at 3rd level (I've seen her around attempting to finish her bronze and I looked her up on USDF Score Check). She gave me a hand toss up and "Good luck!" at the end of our conversation, so I really had zero clue if she thought it was horrible or alright. She covered the general stuff:
"Wow, a lot of things happened quickly in that!" (I couldn't tell if she meant I hurried through it or the test just kept throwing punches or she's not familiar enough with tests of this level and couldn't keep up)
Penn needs better elasticity and uphill balance (I was struggling to get forward out of him... he was SUPER chill, to the point of detriment)
I could have added more angle to the shoulder in (I am very conscious of NOT putting him on like, 20 tracks lol so I took this as a good thing)
Keep working on the flying changes (I expected this of course)
When I got my test back, it looked like the judge and scorer got a bit lost in it, and there were 3 different pen styles in the writing- one for the scribe, one for the judge, and one for the scorer... only the judge's pen also showed up for both of my flying changes scores and comments as well as a few others towards the end of the test... meaning she didn't score them as they were happening, she scored them AFTER she spoke with me. Whatever, it is a schooling show, and she's out there practicing too.
Best comment ever. I may have laughed at Penn for breaking to trot in the extended walk...
#nosmilingindressage
Almost a Third Level baby horse! 62.727%!
And of course we won the class, you know, 'big fish small pond' means you're the only one in 3-1.
When I picked up my test from the office, the organizer was like, "OMG, he's looking so good! And I'm not a dressage person, but it seems like he's really flying up through the levels?" I was like "Yes, I just want to finish my bronze and then we're going to spend the next year working at second and third, until he's really comfortable."
That really highlights how far he's come- August 2015 he scored 59 and 62 at Intro A and B, respectively. Here in July 2017 and he's pulled a 62 at 3-1, with somewhat functional changes (even if they're not pretty).
This week is pretty quiet because we're gearing up to do 3-1 this upcoming weekend at a recognized show. I was hoping for a better run through at this show, but I did get a good feel of where we're going to struggle. I was hoping for a score between 62 and 64 so that when I go to the recognized stuff, I would still be ok when the leniency points are removed. I'm happy with the 62.727%, but this judge is usually quite generous (more than an L grad would be), so I'm a bit nervous about how this test would have scored in the eyes of an S judge.
We will just have to do the best we can this weekend! I certainly can't put any more training into it (except maybe working on the TOH, which I did do yesterday). I'll review the rein back, TOH, and trot work today, and do some generic 10m canter circles each direction without mixing in changes.
I think I may have to take some of Penn's omeprazole for my own nerves this weekend!
If you're friends with me on Facebook, you're already aware of the above information. There should have been a #bigfishsmallpond tag on there too because it's true, but oh well. We had a great day, and it would have been great at any show- schooling or recognized.
Seriously, if you're not into watching my videos of dressage tests or lessons (not offended, I promise), these are the ones to watch, if you watch any on this blog. I'm so proud of these tests. I'm sure in a year I'll go, "eww look how bad that was" but right now, I'm excited to watch them.
We went to a local schooling show on Mother's Day (and my mom was thrilled to just go and watch Penn and I do our thing, and was tickled pink that we did it well that day). This show is hit or miss with the number of competitors- sometimes there's enough people to fill the day from 8am to 6pm. Sometimes it's small like this time when it went from 9am to 1:30pm. They usually don't have many riders at second or above, but this show was pretty equally turned out across intro to second level. There may have only been a handful of riders in each test, but every test from intro, training, first, and second level was ridden at some point during the day.
I had to borrow a trailer (small slant instead of my relatively spacious straight load) to get to the show, and maybe that had Penn a little frazzled from his normal travel state. I got on him to warm up and he was more spooky than he's been in recent past. Like, someone was pulling weeds 40 feet away from the walk to warm up and he had a literal meltdown over having to "pass" them. I've been working hard on Cowboy Dressage Trainer's relaxation technique at home, and I warmed up with my serpentine plan and bouncing him from one bend to the next... and Penn really relaxed. Hooray, the day was saved!
I knew Penn was working on a whole different level from every other horse at this show partway through my warm up. He was relaxed, forward, bouncy, and through. The horses I saw in warm-up... well they were giraffing, lacking impulsion, bridle lame, and faking connection. One rider was almost laying on her horse's rump in an effort to do... something. I've never seen someone lean back so far. My mom thought she was going to fall off her horse backwards.
I talked to one of the moms at this show and she was dismayed with the scores, which I understand. Most were in the 50s and by the end of the day, there would be one in the 40s too. She was like, "You just have to be happy to break 60% today! This judge is harsh." I think the judge was probably spot on, but probably harsh for a schooling show. I'm pretty sure by the time I came around, she had already scratched out her eyes, so nice test riding was probably like getting some visine. I think she might have been a bit generous at times in my tests.
I don't think his first lengthening trot should have gotten a 7, but she nailed me other places where she should have. I'm so super pleased with my 10m circle accuracy- I missed both at the recognized show and these ones were spot on. I have to work on my halts- he was dead square and then stepped back a couple inches. I'm happy with my canter one loop accuracy since that was a miss at the recognized show too. I need to work on the canter-trot transition at A at the end of the test because he anticipates it and ends up breaking early instead of holding the canter like I want him to. I'll have to start cantering past A when I practice at home. I think we could carry a bit more step in all gaits though, throughout the entire test. All in all, I was happy because it was a solid, steady test and Penn stayed very relaxed.
Leg yield left
This test was a "fuck yea!" in terms of accuracy (for the most part lol). Hitting centerline on the 10m circles, one loops, and the halt at X happening with his shoulders ON X. I swung wide turning left at C in the initial centerline and goofed the canter-trot at A at the end. I think the freshly dragged arena helped- I know my centerlines are straight and I could use my own tracks as a marker for the line (only one horse rode it before me, and she swung wide on centerline too, which I think let me go wide too).
Centerline accuracy ftw
He settled here for a moment, then stepped back with the left hind and looked left. *facepalm*
I was so excited to get a run of 7.5's for the collected marks! 1-3 ended up scoring a 70.735%, praise from the judge at the very end (and a comment of nice braids, which was great since it wasn't just "oh at least she did that well"), and we won the class by 17.353%. Like wow, that's a lot. I did see the second place test, and the woman surprised me with the issues she was having- she also does recognized shows and scores very well there at first level. She just had a lot of issues with breaks from the canter work and went off course once. She must have had a very off day.
I got off Penn, loosened his girth and unbuckled his flash and noseband, and took him back to his stall to see if he wanted a drink. My next ride was in a half hour, so I didn't want to put him away, but I wanted him to relax. He wasn't interested in drinking, so we stood and watched a couple tests before going back outside to fix his tack and warm up a second time.
I had a really cool feeling moment as I did my courtesy lap for 2-2- I asked very gently for SI right from a very straight trot and he simply floated into it. No break in rhythm or anything. I may have grinned.
I think there were even more generous judging moments in this test because the final trot work felt like rubbish to me, and Penn simply wasn't going to turn up the final centerline and I had to drag him there via inside rein, yet both got good scores. I lost Penn's attention after the walk work- the wind was really picking up and banging the arena doors (you can hear it throughout the test in the background). For lost attention, it wasn't so bad!
I don't think his medium trot was enough either time. I love how suppling the SI is in this test though. Travers is hard for us (it suddenly went to hell in the last few weeks and the ones in this test are far superior to anything we've done in the last month), and the turn on the haunches aren't very good (they've gone to hell too, especially the one to the right). The left lead canter's 10m circle back to E ended up small from the aforementioned loss of attention. I asked for the turn and thought nothing was going to happen so I was like, "Let's just get there", lol. The left lead counter canter looked so good... then he broke since I had too much left bend and not enough leg. I had to make a snap decision about trying to get counter canter back so I could attempt to not completely blow the simple change... well I got two 4's (the 20m half circle and simple change) but I don't know how else I could have ridden it without getting even fewer points. The right lead was spot on. I would like a bit more roundness in the 20m counter canter half circle though. He totally tricked the judge in his final halt- she said it was square and he was resting the left hind leg again! Like 1-3, this test could have been ridden more forward.
And now a GIF attack!
Shoulder in left. I really like how he settled into it.
10m half circle left, 10m half circle right.
Shoulder in right. Very settled into this one too!
Left lead counter canter. Oops, lol.
Right lead tear drop.
Into the right lead counter canter work.
The judge commented in the test to make my turn on the haunches closer to the walls, and to collect the walk more before them. The collecting is in the test instruction, I just seem to have forgotten that part. But I have let the turns creep closer to centerline than they should be.
Reach for it left hind!
2-2 ended up scoring a 66.795%, for first place out of one, haha. I still count it as a solid first place because it was the highest scoring second level test of the day, and only second highest of the day to my 1-3 test. This is actually my highest scoring second level test ever- Mikey topped out at 64+% at both schooling and recognized.
So: two first places, two champion ribbons (first level high score, second level high score), high score of the day, reserve high score of the day. I may have sent GP Trainer an email with the subject "We are the Champions..."
Two Sundays ago, we trekked back to the winter show series and competed at the Finale show. I am not a fan of this judge- I have 5 tests, and have seen 2 other tests, from her that used ZERO half points. It's annoying. I get that not every movement is a half point, but this is at least 7 tests worth of movements with no half marks.
Penn was so thrilled to get braided, lol.
Penn hauled like a champ, hand walked around the show ring no problem, then stood and took a nap while everyone else was hustling around the show ring to school during the ring change. I was super thrilled with him- he was so relaxed!
I planned on a half hour for warm up- lots of walking, some trot and some canter. He felt so good and relaxed in warm up that he felt ready about 10 minutes before our first ride... which was the kiss of death. Sigh. By the time I got him in the show ring, a lot of the relaxation I had in warm up was gone and he started being a little spooky (as you'll see in the videos).
I tried something new this time, I put the test movements, score, and comments in the videos:
It seems the judge finally found her half marks, but is a fan of the 5/6 over and over still. Not that I'm saying Penn and I deserved more- we were quite average. His trot was not freely forward like it usually is and it was a bit earth bound In my quest to not pull the left rein all the freaking time, I seem to have misplaced bend. The lengthenings in all gaits needed more. She nailed us over and over for the irregular canter rhythm. Her only comment at the end of the test? "Work on canter." Great thanks, I wasn't aware my horse sucked at cantering right now. 59.118%, which put us 3rd out of 4, but less than a percent behind first. The major error of breaking from canter in the 15m left lead circle did not help us along!
We had 12 minutes between tests, which is a full 11 minutes that Penn and I didn't need. I let him walk for a few, then tried putting him back to work in the trot... he was stiff as a board and did not want to play anymore. By the time our second test came around, he was even more earth bound and stiff.
I really liked his entry halt. So straight! Since Penn didn't have enough in his lengthenings, he was obviously short in his mediums. We struggled with bend and angle in the SI, something I've been struggling with since attempting to break my habit of pulling my left (or sometimes inside) rein. I will only disagree with the "more angle" comment on the travers left. I think he had plenty of angle (maybe not in the first step though). I was originally irked by her giving me a 4 for the transition from left lead medium canter to collected canter- he didn't break gait in that transition... but it's better she marked that movement down rather than applying it to the serpentine where it happened (that's a x2 movement). So yay for creative judging to give us more points? I kind of gave up on the last centerline. The only comment again, "Work on canter." Thanks. 57.073%, for 1st out of 2. I'm actually surprised the score wasn't lower, lol!
Not our best day, but Penn put out a good bit of effort and I can't be upset with him for doing what I trained him to do. While I feel the judge was dead on most of the time, and got helpfully creative with some of her scoring so bad scores were on a non-double-coefficient moves, I also feel it was hard to get out of the 5/6 scores with her, and her comments weren't all the helpful. No matter, we got out there and rode it and gained experience at a level he's not quite ready for. It still broke my confidence a little- to be scoring sub-60 at first level, after all last year? Granted, we're still rebuilding his canter... but definitely a confidence drag when the next show out is recognized.
Austen pointed out that she just wanted to give him a big kick forward when I brain stormed with her after the show, and she's completely right. He needed a few more MPH in these tests. (more on that in later posts)
We finished out the show series strong, ending up with AA/Jr/Open Second Level Test 3 Champion.
So on Sunday we went to the "banned" schooling show (I haven't decided what to tell GP Trainer about it since she said, "no more showing second or third" and "keep him at home", haha). First things first, I'm going to do some product shoving, because I LOVE THIS PRODUCT.
Penn has raging diarrhea when he travels. It starts before we even leave home barn. I braid his tail and pull it over the butt bar to try and protect it. I sew his tail flaps up (BOT sheet) or tuck them up (smartpak sheet) to prevent diarrhea from being smashed into them. He generally has a nervous undercurrent running while he's away (excessive stall walking happens away from home) and he's a poor eater (both hay and grain).
GP Trainer is sponsored by Uckele, and I mentioned those things to her offhand and she gave me a sample tube of GUT Paste when I saw her last. I gave him a dose Saturday, and another dose Sunday before we left.
May not prevent horse derpyness though.
The diarrhea poop I usually have in the morning (at home) didn't happen- he still pooped a couple times, but it was all solid. No diarrhea in the trailer. None at the show. None on the way home. Nothing smashed into his tail or rump.
Look ma, no diarrhea!
He ate almost all the hay I brought for him BEFORE our first test. This was 4 hours into our day. I had to take it away from him so he'd have something for the ride home. He stall walked a little after that, but I don't blame him. (and no worries, a bunch of hay fell out of the net as he ate and he was sad that he had to clean up the floor instead of eating from the net)
He drank really well too, half a bucket in the few hours we were at the show.
Right before I took his hay away from him. No worries, there was some on the floor he was sad to have to eat.
He was SUPER chill when we walked around in hand. One rider's mare was super nervous and her rider asked us if we would come into the main ring's warm up area with them and be her mare's buddy while she rode her tests. He was very quiet, even for him.
He was in excellent spirits when we got home. He's usually a little fussy, but nope, happy as a clam in the sea.
Obviously this is just one outing using it, but I will never travel again without it. I found Amazon had the best price (purchased through Big Dees). I think if you buy enough of them though, Uckele will give you a bulk discount if you buy direct from them. I already added their daily GUT powder to Penn's SmartPaks (long story short, I didn't want to pay $9 shipping for his SmartMuscle so I added it to try it out).
Oh, and the G.U.T. products are all legal to use- they contain no banned substances!
Anyway, sorry to push a product, but I really liked Penn on it and I know there are people out there who have similar nervous horse problems.
Back to the show itself.
I didn't really have the warm up I wanted for my tests. Some of the boarders at this barn were in warm up riding and were cantering laps around the inside, which made lateral work and going a different direction really difficult. They also got a bit close, but such is life and you have to roll with the punches.
My own comments: I need to practice my centerlines. For like, an entire ride and then some. I lost so many points at this show for stupid stuff on them. Much better trot lengthening than he used to give at the start. The leg yield right got an 8! It almost looks like the haunches are leading... but I didn't see a comment about that, and she wouldn't have given me an 8 for it if they were. The leg yield left was a little stickier than the right and earned a 7.5. Excellent stretch circle, per Penn's usual. Cue the first of 3 terrible shortening-of-the-reins from a stretch on my part... need to review that too. He was very much against having right bend for the next bit of trot work, and we lost points on all the right bend work. He stepped right into the halt from trot, which was awesome. Hopefully with some work we can do away with the little bit of fiddling behind, because that ruined it by preventing a clean halt-trot transition (note how the first step he had to get back under himself). Good left trot work, good free walk, second terrible shortening the reins. The canter is much improved, but he looked to the outside in the lengthening right and it stayed conservative. Wonderful shallow loop, and a slightly clumbsy simple change through trot. I had to tap him 3 times with the whip in the 15m left lead circle to get him to keep going. I never really got him back from the left lead lengthening, he spooked and fell out from under me. I walked him, put him back together somewhat and went immediately into the next shallow loop. A better trot lengthening and a better centerline to finish.
He still gets me with the flinging hind end (still working on straight yo), but it was more tracking right this time- you can really tell when he's straight on in front of the camera.
I just can't win with the collection thing. She wrote: "keep working on thinking forward for the working gaits at this level, sometimes too collected, especially at canter." *facepalm* But I kind of knew that. He's just not adjustable with his collection yet. It's all or fall-on-our-face nothing right now, and I'd rather have all.
67.647% - 1st out of 3, winning by 7%.
We won the 1-3 class by a whopping 7%. It's not quite fair I suppose since we were 9th in the region last year in this test. :-p
2-3:
I ran through the lateral work in warm-up (I had two tests between 1-3 and 2-3), but some guy decided to hand walk some girl's horse ON THE RAIL of the warm up ring to cool it out. Penn got his confidence in the haunches in shaken because this guy appeared in front of him and Penn didn't know how to cope with that. I tried again on the next long side and he still wobbled. Didn't have enough time to boost his confidence again.
More of my comments: Seriously, WTF is up with my centerlines and halts? He must be so unsteady on all 4 feet that I didn't even notice the shifting. Better mediums- he had a little more to give for them to make them different from his lengthenings. The lateral work suffered as a direct result of our warm up's lateral work. I'm still happy with it because even though he wobbled, but came back to me and kept trying. The halt rein back was an oops on my part- he wanted to fall out of the trot early (I've been practicing halting at C and A), so I had to push him through it and then halt quickly at the letter while falling down onto the forehand. Then he backed up crooked, for the first time ever. The walk needed march (but it falls apart with more, see canter). The first turn on the haunch got stuck, but the second one was good. He stretched way out on the free walk, but at the cost of marching, and then I did my third terrible shortening-of-the-reins. Begin the left lead disaster. The medium was conservative and I fought him from the moment I asked him to collect through to the moment we attempted to simple change left to right. It's all a strength problem. He seemed happier to go on the right lead, and I was very pleased with his right lead medium because it felt very powerful (probably because it stayed STRAIGHT), even if the judge found it conservative. I had to really work for the serpentine, and he was just about out of juice by then. He tried to break early on the diagonal before the simple change, which caused the simple change I'd been preparing for to end up a jumbled mess (push through the bad, only to end up doing bad later). I need to practice making the simple changes happen later on the diagonal so he's not thinking about quitting so soon.
There were so many places in this test where if we had managed to do just slightly better, we would have gotten over 60%. And I'm not talking about the 4/20 for the left lead serpentine, the 9/20 for the left to right simple change, or the 10/20 for the right to left simple change (man, we botched A TON of the double coefficient moves). The entering centerline should be at least a 6 or 6.5, I just seem to be riding them poorly and letting him twitch around, same with the final centerline. There's the 1.5 points it would take to make 60% in that test. The major mistakes we had were all strength related. He simply just couldn't hold himself up and do whatever the move was. I'm excited to see how much stronger he is in a month at the final show!
59.634% - 1st out of 2
The judge wants more forward, even in collection, for greater activity and carrying ability. I totally get what she means and can see it in the video. When Penn gets cruising in trot, his gaits have a bigger quality to them- engagement/collection becomes linked to expression. We can do that in trot, when I remember to let it happen. We cannot do that in canter because splatting happens. He's just not ready for that yet, so we er on the side of too collected while he builds the strength. And so we will continue to test it at schooling shows until has does have the strength. I don't think it will take long!
Penn and Syndrome having a moment on Saturday.
Overall, I'm pleased with his progress (and it's not just better scores- this is schooling, so it doesn't quite count for me). He's much steadier on his feet, and for the first time, we didn't get any comments along the lines of "needs more engagement" or "needs more collection" or "needs a more uphill balance". We got comments of "too collected". I'll take it!
