GVRDC Twilight Dressage

Our prep for this "show" was less than satisfactory. I somehow broke the canter last week--I couldn't get him on the bit for the upward transitions, or get him to come round until the very end of the ride after a ton of work--and even in our lesson we didn't get far on fixing it. DL is trying to change my seat. She wants me to not be so tight in my hips which usually leads to inadvertently blocking, and she wants me to deepen my seat. My hips need to move for sure, but Opie it not feeling the sitting deep thing. It instantly shuts him down. So I'm trying to figure out a compromise there.

I worked hard at the canter over the weekend, really pushing him to use himself and sit down so the 10m circles were possible. It worked in that it made him feel better in the changes, but everything still just felt like it was coming up hot and fast and mildly out of control.

We took a barn mate with us to the show. They were scheduled to ride right around the same time as us, just in the other ring which was in a far away field partially hidden by a hedgerow. They kept on walking while we stayed to start warm up. This naturally upset Opie greatly, even though there were several other horses warming up with us.

I gave us thirty minutes of warm up, and all of it was spent getting him to relax. A lot of walking until he asked to pick up the trot on the own, and then lots of big circles and changes of direction until he could un-gumby his neck and take a breath. Some canter that wasn't great but at least under control, more walking while I tried to sneak in some SI, HI, and half pass--none with much success. I remembered to do a couple TOH right before we went in, and he did feel like he took a breath so I was hopeful.

Then we went around the ring, Opie caught sight of the other horses in the field next to our ring, and up came the periscope and away went any relaxation we'd achieved.

The test could have been worse. For the first outing of the season, at a very distracting venue, doing a level he's still super green to, it wasn't awful.

The judge was one of those judges that wants everyone to have a very positive schooling show experience and her scores are always way overinflated. So we got tons of 7s for things that should not have scored that well, but her comments were super and that's what I'm always here for. 

extended walk: "inconsistent contact"
LOL at least she didn't comment on the side eye

There were some good moments. Like his SI is miles above where it was at Second and it's even better with DL so that score can go up, and his medium and extended trots are getting really good for him.

It scored a 62% which on paper should make me think we're ready for Houghton, but nah. It's still too sloppy on both our ends for that much money. Instead we're going to stick with these shows and maybe get wild and do a couple of our GMO's shows. I do think mileage is going to be good for both us. We do better by doing.

This morning I was like, "Ughhh I don't really want to ride but we need to fix the canter and the half pass there's work to do!!" Fortunately a barn mate saved me by coming super early, helped me finish turnout, and then went on a trail ride with me.

opie converted another one to splashing. he loves
when he finally gets them to play with him.

The trail ride was super relaxing, he got to have a splash party, and then we went to the outdoor. Some long and low trot with poles thrown in, and then I got him low and super deep in the canter while in half seat and did the (simple) pole exercises a bunch of times. His canter was lovely and soft with his back up and a big step so that will probably be a good exercise to help us in the future. 

Overall a much more pleasant and productive ride than what I originally had planned!