Show Recap: Maiden at Portofino Horse Trials

Posted on August 28, 2017 by Britt

So Saturday was Jack and I’s first show together. I learned a lot about him, and he learned a lot about life, and I remembered just how many things you need for a horse trial (next time I’ll try to bring them all!).

The venue, Portofino, is a stunning facility just over an hour away, and while somewhat compact, it was well run with lots of supportive volunteers helping things go smoothly. But for Jack, who has little to no previous show experience, it was a lot to take in. There were food trucks, tents, horses and people everywhere, and judges blowing whistles from various directions. Jack’s expression in general was fairly bug eyed at the whole thing.

I managed to get him somewhat settled in the warmup, but when it came to walking around the arena for our dressage test, I knew we were in a bit of trouble. The judge’s stand is a large overhang at the end of the arena, standing at the precipice of a steep slope where horses and goats graze below. For whatever reason, Foster, who was normally brave, did not like this setup, and Jack was convinced it was going to eat him. I somehow managed to get him [unwillingly] down to that end of the arena, but we did not execute any of the movements in trot while down there. I’m fairly sure I laughed through the majority of my test at my giant green bean pony.

Scoring a 42 in dressage (richly deserved, with comments of obvious tension- uh, yes!) meant that the rest of the day was more about schooling and getting a positive experience in than competing. I had signed up for one Beginner Novice schooling round which was 50% acceptable, 50% disastrous, but that allowed me to make a game plan for an extra happy Maiden show jumping round about 30 minutes later. Knowing that he had just spooked hard at the plank fence down the long side, I made a plan to trot it, and use my bat to remind him that forward was the only option. Though it’s not perfect, our maiden showjumping ended up being the highlight of the day.

The Maiden cross country course was interesting, ranging from fair-to-undersized all the way up to BEEFY (if a beefy maiden course is even a thing). Fences 4 and 9 gave me the most pause- 4 being a legit BN sized fence in the shadow of a tree and fence 9 being a tiger-trap leading up to the water.

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My plan was to canter everything except 3 and 9. Fence 3 because it was pretty skinny (for Maiden) and 9 to give him time to read the question. Well, in the end we ended up trotting almost all the fences, since each one was somehow a surprise for Jack, as you’ll see in the video (thanks J for the video of fence 3, and C for every other video present!). But he tried very hard to be a good boy, and came in a hilarious 8 seconds over time but clear.

We amazingly didn’t place last, but definitely at the bottom of the pack, and I couldn’t care less. It was an incredibly fun day, and I feel confident that with more exposure my golden green bean will become a super star event horse.

Raleigh Dressage Show II Recap: Day 2

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Britt

Sunday at the show was an exciting day, as TC and I moved up to First Level in an Opportunity class. I felt like despite not really working at that level for very long, TC was more than able to handle it. After all, 10 meter circles are a lot easier on a 14.2 1/2 hony than on a 16.3 gigantor palomino. His trot lengthenings might be so-so, but they are there, and the canter lengthenings were quite good for this pony with a motor.

TC warmed up a little quietly, and I worried that we wouldn’t have enough gas in the tank to make for exciting lengthenings. Though he did wake up once we got into the arena and were surrounded by more of the show environment. In hind sight I should have slowed his tempo down slightly in the trot in order to show more of a difference in the lengthenings, but that’s a learning experience for me. We score 6’s on all the lengthening movements (bummer), but an 8 on the stretchy circle and a good smattering of 7’s. I was surprised to see the judge give him less than a 7 on his gaits, but rewarded me slightly more. Overall we earned a 65% and another blue ribbon for our efforts.

The weekend in general was a great success, and a huge feather in the cap for TC who is becoming a star of a show horse. I can only hope that Jack will settle into the fray just as quickly, but then again, TC has that ponytude to give him an edge in that area. I’m glad to have wrapped up my time riding TC on such a high note- I think his next rider will do an even better job with him and honestly am excited for the little guy’s future!

Raleigh Dressage Show Recap: Day 1

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Britt

Since buying Jack, I knew that eventually I would need to give up the ride on TC, since riding 3 horses (with Riley back in Raleigh) is more than I can manage longterm. Because I also wanted to compete him one more time and improve on the last show’s experience, we determined that the Raleigh I/II dressage show would be our last hurrah before handing the reins over to someone else.

On Saturday, we competed in Training 2 and 3, tests that we also competed in at the prior show. TC’s entire demeanor was that of a well-traveled show horse, not the 7 yr old at his second competition, and he was the consummate professional.

Training 3 was our first test (why, oh why do they do the higher tests first?) and he warmed up beautifully. The test itself was fairly good, barring some spooking/looking at the water in one of the corners that turned into us almost leaving the arena in the next. Our only real bobble was in the canter, where for the first time TC did this fun thing where he got disunited, so I brought him back to a trot and picked up the lead again in time for the next movement, which was the downward trot transition across the diagonal. We got an unfortunate 4 for the break in canter, but that’s fair.

Our test scored a 67%, earning us 4th out of 16 competitors. It’s of course frustrating to think that if we hadn’t broke in the canter that we could have maybe even won the class, but overall I was really pleased and surprised to earn that score.

Training 2 was our afternoon ride, and even the in-laws turned out to witness dressage brilliance (kidding- Training 2 is a boring test at best). Luckily there was enough time to read the same judge’s comments from the morning, and learn from that feedback to make a plan for our second visit. Barring a little lookiness at the continuing standing water in the corner at A and scooting into the downward walk transition in the next corner, I am really happy with how the test went. The judge thought so too, and we finally broke 70% with a 72 for a pretty blue ribbon.

Some big goals (for us) were met in this test. I was finally able to show off his good stretchy trot and get an 8 on that movement (where’s my coefficient at- boo!). One of the goals I stated to my trainer before the show was also improving my rider score in the collection marks. Depending on where we are, I generally get a 6.5 or 7. So a 7.5 was a definitely step in the right direction, as I am finally getting the feel for where my elbows should live and keeping my hands closer together.

Tomorrow, we look at TC’s first First level test!

Show Recap: Capital Dressage Classic Day 2

Posted on June 19, 2017 by Britt

When we left off last week with TC and I’s recognized dressage show debut, we chronicled the ups and downs (as in, downs- falling off a pony at a dressage show, and ups, as in blue satin) that always follows horses.

Day 2 was a little more subtle in general. We were only doing 1 test, Training 3, which was the test I had practiced most before the show. The arena we were to compete in was in a different part of the showgrounds than TC had seen before, so I spent lots of time hanging out near the ring so he could see the busier side of the facility. We decided to stick with our plan of not cantering in the warmup, and instead focused on extreme relaxation and throughness. For myself, I made sure to stay very quiet with my hands and focus on moving him off of my right leg to keep him straight.

Heading down centlerline like 🙂

Really truly, we had the best warmup yet. He was attentive, obedient, relaxed- all the things I wanted and more. We went into the dressage court feeling super confident and ready to eek every possible point out of the test.

Overall, I am thrilled to pieces with the test. Sure there are things to fix- him staring off into the distance in our free walk because Oh! vendors! and Oh! Ponies! and Oh! bleachers!. That bogey right lead canter (earned my first ‘2’ for that one!). Some moments where I lost his attention after the last downward canter transition.

But for me, there’s a lot to love. I love how swingy he is through his back and his forward but balanced tempo. I love how despite some blips, he was [mostly] obedient and focused on me throughout the test. I love that he was able to stretch and release tension through the stretchy circle, and how prompt our first canter depart was. And for the first time, I was able to focus on not hollowing my lower back and keeping my elbows from expressing their inner chicken! For me, despite scoring a 62% on the test (4th place in a biggish class- judge was harsh!), I felt like this was a huge breakthrough for TC and I, especially at his/our first show!

We are now discussing taking TC back to the fairgrounds for the show at the end of July. It may be hotter than blazes, but I would love the opportunity to improve upon this first experience!

Show Recap: Capital Dressage Classic Day 1

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Britt

So in and amongst the activities involved in exploring the qualities of a future next horse, I also competed in my first recognized dressage show.

Just to recap, I have been riding TC, a 14.2h Paint gelding, for the last few months, imparting my admittedly limited knowledge to him along the way. Not to puff myself up (don’t worry, my ego gets thoroughly deflated if you keep reading), but I’m exceptionally proud of his progress- he has literally changed shape, become consistent in the bridle, and in general become a fairly solid little dressage pony [hony]. We took him to one clinic, which was my first off-property adventure with him, and promptly signed him up for his first show- and a big one- a recognized dressage show at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh.

So we arrived at the fairgrounds the day before, and I had a beautiful schooling in a fairly quiet atmosphere, running through our tests and feeling like the 70% I was shooting for was there in sight. Our first test was bright and early Saturday morning, and the atmosphere was definitely more electric. For the first time since high school, I luckily had a coach to get through warm up, and things were going swimmingly until I asked for the right lead canter. Now I should caveat this with saying that TC has been fairly reactive to my left leg of late, but that morning he simply wasn’t game to pick up the canter. So I tapped him with the whip. Which induced a series of bucks and crop hops, almost running into another horse, and between steering, sitting, and pulling out a braid in my effort to grab mane, I ended up in the dirt. Cue 5 people who were sweetly concerned about my fall from on-high, and after assuring them that it wasn’t far to fall and thank goodness for good footing, my adult-amateur self girded my loins and got back on the damn pony.

We schooled the right canter a couple more times, which continued to induce drama, and I determined to sit way back in the transition and let the chips fall as they would. Our test, as you can see in the 2 photos above, was a little high and tight, and my position a bit defensive and hollow itself. We scored a 64% and a fourth place ribbon for Training 2.

After chatting with the trainer, we decided to leave canter out of our warmup for the second test (Training 1) and focus on relation and suppleness, and getting him off my right leg which he was bracing against. The warmup then was much more pleasant, and I went in to the arena and determined to ride the shit out of every movement.

Overall I am really pleased with the transformation here. We earned ourselves a 69.78% with a tough judge and a blue ribbon, which felt like redemption after the morning’s damage-control type of ride. I actually felt like the free walk maybe even deserved a little more credit than was given, but after trainer said we could round that up to 70%, I felt like it wasn’t worth nit-picking over.

Pony got lots of praise and cookies and we washed him down while avoiding getting nipped (a fun new habit of TC’s). 2 ribbons, and roll in the dirt, and our first day at a recognized dressage show was in the books!

Post show thoughts

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Britt

Now that I’ve had time to process our whirlwind first show experience, I can attempt to put together the lessons learned, both for Smitty and myself.

I think my own overarching feeling is that of relief in terms of the weekend. There have been times in the last couple months when I wondered what I have gotten myself into with a talented youngster [read: handful] like Smitty. I doubted that I would have the confidence to lead such a horse through new experiences and create a positive outcome. But driving away from the show, I felt that even the speed bumps along the way that I made the right decisions and gave Smitty the best experience I could given the environment. He learned to be polite in his stall, to look to me for guidance over new fences, and to focus on his person rather than the horses around him. Though he continues to need lessons in some ground manners, for instance the difference between nuzzling and nipping, I am learning that I can trust him and I learned that giving him a job is the best way to navigate any mental obstacles he may face.

This is my dance space, this is your dance space. Figure it out, Smitty.

As part of giving him a job, I think I will be proactive rather than reactive in terms of lunging. Getting him moving, and his brain engaged, was a good way of balancing the atmosphere of a show, and while shows are still a novel thing to him, we’ll calculate lunging into our warm up plans. I’m not a fan of lunging much in general, but it’s the safer alternative to a ticking baby bomb. Though next time hopefully he won’t be so tired that I feel like I have to hump and kick him to get him forward in a basic walk trot test.

We also learned that as far as a plan, at this point in time it’s safe to say that having extra folks around is a necessity. Holding a wiggle worm that attempts to eat anything and everything in sight makes even sponging him off a two man job. Once standing is easier, maybe we can manage showing on our own, but for now… not so much.

How I feel trying to manage Smitty and basically anything else

One of the wonderful things about the weekend was feeling like Smitty and I bonded a bit, as cheesy as that sounds. There were moments walking around, or in his stall, or just hanging out in warmup, that I felt like he would turn and look at me. It’s those little moments when I can tell him he’s a good boy (or you know, yell it at him a thousand times in a row) that makes me see a glimmer of a partnership down the road. Though basically I relish any opportunity to communicate with him that’s beyond “get that out of your mouth” at this point.

Smitty is getting a full 3 days off to recover from his long weekend and hopefully process all that happened. And I’m taking the 3 days off to recover and soak my aching everything. After being stepped on at least 4 times, my feet have been thoroughly abused and staying horizontal is the name of the game until Thursday.

What I haven’t decided yet is where to go from here. I have a couple off-property lessons I am attempting to plan, but no shows on the calendar for now. I think a W/T/C test could easily be in the books next time, but where and when are still up in the air. Still, lots to think about and lots to be excited about for now!

Horse Show Recap: GaG at CHP

Posted on October 17, 2016 by Britt

While I’m having a serious bout of horse show hangover (y’all, it was 2 years since my last show!), I can definitely look back on Smitty’s first competition and smile.

We arrived Saturday afternoon and settled him into his stall, and he seemed fairly content to relax and munch his hay and drink his water like a good boy. We walked a few laps of the venue and let him see the bikes, kids, dogs, tents, and other general show atmosphere that was slowly building. Since he handled it well, I tacked up and schooled him a bit. Luckily for us, there was only one other rider schooling, which had little to do with Smitty and a lot to do with my mental composure. Once I relaxed ~~my death grip on the reins~~ and gave us both a job of moving forward and changing direction, life got suddenly easier and we were able to find a good note to end on.

The next morning we went on another walk around the venue, which was decidedly much busier than the day before. All was well until about 10 minutes in, when the atmosphere got to Smitty’s baby brain and resulted in a minor meltdown. In the interest of self preservation, and of those around me (read: horses, children, dogs everywhere), I found a quiet unused field to lunge him and get the sillies out. It took a lot longer than I would have hoped to do so, but eventually he got his brain reinstalled and was listening and doing transitions politely on the lunge line and it felt safe to venture back into polite society.

At that point it was almost time for my dressage, and so we tacked up and found another somewhat quiet area to do warm up before heading into the arena. Baby pony was tired at this point, but put in an obedient test and was completely unfazed by his sandbox experience. We had wiggly centerlines (straight lines are hard, yo!), and geometry in general left some points on the table, as well as a lack of free walk (which we haven’t introduced yet). But given that, Smitty still scored a 29.7 and got his first 9 for a movement- what more could I ask for?

After dressage, Smitty got to nap for a couple hours before heading out to show jumping. The Green as Grass showjumping was held on the grass, and I was surprised to see the cross rails of the past replaced with a full set of verticals and even an oxer, complete with gates (which I have no idea if he’s ever seen) and ferns and the like. It was a proper mini showjumping course.

Celebrating with some dressage with some Chardonneighneigh

Celebrating dressage with some Chardonneighneigh

My warm up consisted of a couple trot circles, one lazy jump over the warm up cross rail, and heading into the arena. Smitty perked up a bit at the sight of the new fences, and we proceeded to fence one. At each new jump, I could feel the baby brain wondering why this one didn’t look like the last. But he was incredibly honest and with a little encouragement took each one with increasing confidence. As you can hear in the video, I did my best to convince him that he was superman after every fence, the dominator of 18″ fences all over the world. Apparently my nattering was highly entertaining to my friends, so enjoy the commentary.

Our clear showjumping result left us in 2nd place (or 1st, they haven’t posted official results) out of 10 horses, and I couldn’t be happier. With the help of wonderful friends, and a great venue, baby Smitty had a wonderful first show experience and hopefully set the bar for things to come.

Let’s Discuss: Your First Show

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Britt

With Smitty’s competition debut looming in the oh-so near future, I’m trying to get together a mental game plan. But the first time out, it’s hard to make a plan at all, since pretty much everything is going to be a gamble as to how he will take it in. I do know a couple things that I hope will help though- he doesn’t seem to get attached to other horses, and based on our one off-property adventure so far, I think he will take in a new venue fairly well.

But how will he handle masses of horses? Loud speaker systems? Horses galloping cross country, bikes, scooters, cars, dogs, etc? All of this is a total unknown. But the only way to find out is to try!

Foster’s first show was a smaller occasion, a local dressage show with a distinctly casual air. He handled it beautifully, winning first and second in his Intro tests (video below). It was a rousing success, and I can only hope for the same with Smitty, even if our goal is just to stay in the tack.

I chose the Carolina Horse Park because I’m very familiar with it, and because it allows us the get there the day before and expose him to the grounds, the arenas, etc all while slowly increasing the number of people around (rather than arriving at a show in full swing). Hopefully by introducing these elements the day before, riding the day of the show will be less of an ordeal. We’ll find out when we get there if a bigger venue for his first show was a big mistake, but I’m hoping the both of us will put on our game faces and get it done.

What was your horse’s first show? Was it a success, a disaster, or somewhere in the middle? Why did you choose that particular competition as a debut? If you have a baby horse, what is your plan for introducing them to the show scene?

First show in the books

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Britt

The entry has been sent, the hotel is booked, and just like that our first show is on the calendar.

I’ll be taking Smitty to my favorite venue, the Carolina Horse Park. We’ll get there on a Saturday, and the game plan is to walk Smitty around the facility as the chaos intensifies, and school him in one of the dressage arenas (which will be his first time in a sandbox). Then Sunday, we’ll compete in the Green as Grass combined training division.

Green as Grass is the lowest division offered at most of the local horse shows, and the dressage test is Intro Test A and the jumping is set to 18″.

My hope is that by getting there a day early, we will have plenty of time to show Smitty the grounds and introduce him to the atmosphere of a show in the easiest way possible. By doing GaG, I’m keeping the expectations low– this is not about ribbons in any way shape or form. This is about staying in the ring and hopefully giving a baby a positive experience.

It’s only a couple weeks away- guess I need to start learning my test!

First Impressions of the AECs

Posted on September 7, 2016 by Britt

Now that I have had a couple days to catch up on sleep (14hrs my first night back- yikes!), I have begun to formulate some thoughts on the American Eventing Championship experience.

First off, the show was very well run. Unlike some of the local events I have been to, the Tryon International Equestrian Center was absolutely crawling with volunteers. There were so many scribes that signed up to volunteer that I actually got bumped to bit check, and overflow volunteers went wherever they were needed. The overall atmosphere as a volunteer was really positive, and the faculty made sure to make us feel welcome and appreciated throughout our shift.

Coming into this AECs, knowing that it was Tryon’s first, and the USEA’s largest, meant that growing pains and hiccups were to be expected. But wherever possible, the Tryon team was exceptionally quick to make improvements on the fly. When trailer parking was filled up, bulldozers graded the rest of a scrubby field within a couple hours to allow for more. Anywhere there was an issue with the footing on cross country, you could see that they were putting down sand and gravel immediately. In one instance, where a downward hill caused lots of problems on the first day, we returned the next day to find the entire hill sanded, an effort that probably took the better part of the night to make possible.

We squeezed our trailer into the last spot available (white bumper pull), only to come back and discover the trailer parking area had been doubled

And while I won’t get into my own thoughts around the technicality, etc, of the cross country course in this post, I will say that the even was absolutely spectator friendly. With the help of jumbotrons and grandstands overlooking the derby field, it was well and truly possible to see a lot of each rider’s run. While the giant screens were turned off at the lower levels, it was especially cool to be able to watch the water complex go and still see the majority of each Advanced rider’s course. Say what you will, but there is a pro to this set up, and that’s that it makes the sport more accessible to spectators and the public in general, in that through these new ways of watching the heart and soul of our sport, they can more readily understand and appreciate the tasks we ask of our horses.

Lastly, the main takeaway from the AEC’s is that this wasn’t a dressage show, folks. There was a real shake up in the standings at all the levels after both cross country and showjumping. Time was a factor for sure, but also occasional bogey fences that really tested some pairs. For instance, the unsuspecting table pictured above caused plenty of problems for the Beginner Novice riders if they didn’t keep their horses’ attention after the change in footing. Showjumping had a lot of atmosphere, and demanded a forward and balanced ride. It was obvious which horses were less fit when the rails came pouring down.

While there’s certainly room for improvement, it should be noted that every effort was made to make the competition a true championship. Regarding some of the controversy… more on that in a later post.