Redemption

Sir was due for a win in his column, and he finally earned some this week. But first we did have another ride where I had to get off and put him on the longe to maintain a small shred of my sanity. 

Sunday started off well. We had to have a couple of hand-to-knee left spins to unlock him from being stuck in the void of his own rage, but overall warm up was uneventful. Right lead canter was really good--we've been doing lots of transitions within the canter itself. We'll do our super collected "pirouette" canter, and then get out of it by blasting down the long side in medium canter which--because he just loaded his tush to the max--is getting huge and bounding, good boy. And he comes right back at the end when I sit deep again because we just worked on collecting all the way up from me sitting deep. 

See? Complete star!

9 years together got him a 2 second photo shoot (and candies)

Now let's shame him.

When we went back to work, now tracking left, the wheels fell off the bus. Well, they would have fallen off if the bus had moved. But the bus was stuck in park and no sideways or turning or kicking could get the bus to become unstuck. So I hopped off, had a little CTJ on the ground about not running me over as we walked into the barn to grab my longe line, and back into the ring we went. Where guess what? The bus could in fact make left hand turns. 

The last time I had to get off to longe, I ended up keeping him on it because he just kept finding more ways to spiral, but he got the point pretty quickly this time around. I mean, the whole ask was just to turn left. We're not talking advanced stuff here. 

When I got back on, I put him on the circle we'd just worked on and although he was a little tight he did go to work without issue. We eventually managed to get back to working around the whole ring. He even had a moment where I was asking for a little counter canter, and he started anticipating a change and sucked waaaay back, but he let me boot him forward and carry on without giving in to the imaginary doomsday scenario in his head. 

we've had the best hacking weather lately

Monday I wanted to reinforce that we can do the things I'm asking without anticipating and getting worked up over nothing. We had only one left spin to get him unstuck, but other than that he did his job like a grown up. He got his PEMF that afternoon, and had a quick stretchy ride Tuesday that he was 10/10 for before getting yesterday off.

Which brings us to this morning's lesson!

We warmed up with lateral work in the walk--SI to renvers both ways. To the left he struggled more (Do you sense a theme here? Just wait, we'll mix it up!), and I really had to focus on elevating the shoulders first and foremost, and then his little neck could come out. It couldn't go the other way because then his squirrely body started shooting every direction. Collection is a must-have for Opie. 

Quick trot warm up where the neck got to be longer because the back was so lifted and he was cruising along without needing his shuffley warmup. We were already going left so we went into the left canter first. Lots of w-c-w transitions, we showed off our medium canter to collected canter transitions, and then gave MB the razzle dazzle with a transition into the walk where he simply stepped into it from the collected canter and walked off like an UL level horse. Yay, Opie!

looking like an absolute unit right now

That was enough showing off for her though because then we went to pick up the right lead canter and instead got stuck and had a menty b this way instead. Variety is the spice of Opie's life. This way, it's not about being mad about being a straight horse or my right leg like it is to the left. He just didn't wanna for whatever Opie reason. We re-directed with some trot work, some lateral work, and then ope we're magically cantering like it wasn't a big deal after all. Some counter canter serpentines this way got his shoulders sky-high and we wowed with his monster medium canter that comes right back now. 

We still had a ton of lesson time left at that point, but I wanted to continue his confidence-boosting week by not fucking with the changes. MB suggested looking at his HP since we hadn't worked on those in awhile and he loves a HP. Trot and canter both ways, MB fixed the angle of them for us in two seconds, no other notes. Except that it was really fun that we wanted to give him something easy to end on and that was HP. Like, take a moment and appreciate that for him. 

When he's good, he's really so good. The problem is, when he's bad, HE IS SO MOTHER FUCKING NAUGHTY. 

doesn't care, just wants candy

The Missing Piece

Poor abused Opie has been going through it the past week. He's been told he's rude, that he's a bully, that he has a submission problem, that he's pushy, and there has been a lot of loud sighing on both our parts.

Because you know what? 

HE IS ALL OF THOSE THINGS.

apocalyptic skies a fitting symbol of opie's brain 

Sir is going through a bit of a toddler tantrum phase right now. Is it the colder weather? That he's getting quite big and strong and sound again? We've reached the final week of tapering from a long round of ulcer treatment (to help him out during round two of EPM treatment followed by his Lyme treatment), so does that maybe need to be stretched out a little longer?

Whatever it is, no one is feeling it. No one is feeling it, OPIE.

Fortunately, while he's been pushy coming in from turnout, he's still taking correction immediately. He does know he has manners for the kind people that feed him. For me...ehhh.

On Sunday, I was warming up at the walk and there were a few poles scattered around the ring--a single on the short side, and a pair down one of the long sides. The goal was to walk over these while lifting his little feeties and then not shooting off on the other side. Neither of those things got accomplished, and when I tried to help get my point across by halting on the back side, he did his infamous "drop your back so far into the earth it is now physically impossible to get moving again without flinging yourself sideways."

Don't love that for us tbh. Quite frankly I wasn't in the mood, so I hopped off and took him into the indoor for a lunge--after having to do some groundwork on the way over there because dragging me across the driveway just ain't cute. 

He went right into cantering and snorting laps around me once he was on the line. Which, fine. Get some stupids out. It's not like you don't get 16 hours of turnout with equally dumb friends but what do I know. Once he had quieted down some, I sent him over the fan of ground poles at the trot. He. Was. Wretched. Paying zero attention, flying through them, skipping the first pole entirely half the time, etc etc. 

I pressed pause on that and took him in-hand where we did a bunch of lateral work, played with the half steps, and insisted on good posture. Back to the trot poles and with a much more collected horse (with no gadgets, this horse thrives on in-hand work and I wish I was better at it because I'd be teaching him changes from the ground lolol) he could suddenly pick his way through the poles with a working brain cell. 

I went to halt him when he'd gone through both ways successfully and opened up that can of worms. Yes, hello, it should not take you three business days to acknowledge my existence, and then when you DO halt you stare into the distance to see if there's anything more interesting going on. We worked through that for awhile, and managed to finish with his attention solely on me. And both of us thoroughly over each other. 

He had the next day off, but I got on Tuesday with a clear head. Zen Ninja here, you will not bait me into your bullshit, good sir. But also have some fucking manners. He ended up being a good boy--we had our usual "Your right leg lives on planet BULLSHIT" tantrum, but those have been short lived lately. Same ride Wednesday--obedient and boring, though lacking some steering which is always a hit or miss.

"only almost dumped you, but didn't succeed
so i should def get some candies."

This morning was our lesson where MB was excited to dive back in to some exercises to help with the changes. We had a nice long walk warm up, got a good trot right off the bat both directions, and then into the canter we went.

His transitions are getting so much better. I'm getting better about being faster in asking for them so we're not picking at each other, but also he's getting better about suppling quicker. Like, what do you mean I can just pick up my reins from a free walk and he just comes up onto the bit instead of bracing and throwing his body in ten different directions?

I've been playing with his pirouette (ish) canter, and today to the right MB was like, "Sit DOWN down!" and when I did....omgwowamazingwow this neurotic fucker took the cue and heaved his huge ass bulldog shoulders up and around for a good three REAL pirouette strides and MB and I were giddy with delight. 

Well done, Opie! That was the last time you were a good boy for this ride!

Our flying changes exercise was simple changes on the counter canter loop from 1-3.

Tracking left, you do your first simple change at 1. Carry on in the right lead canter, and then another simple change at 2. Repeat the same thing at 3 and 4. Eventually at 2 and 4, you ask for the flying change. We never got there. We couldn't get past our flying change blockade--that is, my damn right leg.

Opie figured this exercise out pretty quickly and got right to work on figuring out how to best cheat it. Break into the trot when you get into the general area of the simple change. Lose steering. And best of all, adamantly refuse to keep your body straight. If they tell you that you can pick the left lead canter back up without letting you swing your haunches in, or if they refuse to take away the abusive right leg that won't get off your side, absolutely do not acquiesce to their request. Slam on the breaks. Start rearing. Start spinning. Start rearing and spinning. Almost dump your rider. Run backwards. It's all on the table!

It was fucking exhausting. Catch me disassociating while occasionally reassuring MB, "I'm trying!" while she called out suggestions on how to do damage control. Bro. It is LIT ER ALL Y just my right leg laying against your side. And it is just me not letting your haunches swing ten feet to the left. I feel like that's not quite the slave labor you're making it to be. 

We did have some good transitions. When he could calm himself and let me ride him, the work was a delight. It helped his canter quality tremendously. I didn't do a good job at riding him super forward between each transition, and that's something I need to work on. The work comes up so fast and on top of each other in these higher level tests, and I need to get a lot better about being sharper and tuned in. There isn't room or time to waste a single stride in sorting things out. It has to be good from the first step. 

But mostly it was drama drama drama. We finally finished on a left lead canter circle where I was allowed to steer him with my right leg. So generous. 

So in conclusion, we're right on track with what we need to fix to get the changes. He needs to be straighter. Which means he needs to accept my right leg. So simple and easy!

Submission

I have riding pictures to share with this post so look out! I mean, sure they're not from any of the rides I'll be writing about, and also they are from several weeks ago at this point, but beggars can't be choosers.

just out here stretching and not falling down

I tried to use Pivo's new Arena app for our lesson this morning, but wow does it suck--to the point that I couldn't even get it to start recording. MB said one of her clients who was trying to switch to virtual lessons hadn't had any luck with it either so in Pivo fashion I'll check back in with it in another year and they'll probably have it sort of going by then.

so much stretchy work

Regardless, let's get into the fun stuff of what we've been working on. The overarching theme has been that as we get back into more serious collection work, I have to make sure he's maintaining a long neck from the shoulders/withers. He loves to curl himself into a little basketball because he thinks his fake frame is the right answer and will get him out of doing the real work--like lifting his back. But then I have to do the hard work and not settle for too much in the other direction. Warm up is there to work towards collection. A slower, cuter trot is fine to start, but we can't stay in it.

warm up trots

To establish forward, I need to think of it as allowing a break from the collection to let him naturally move out. I can't ask for forward because he'll take advantage and go jetting off and then get mad when I tell him that's not the right answer. 

Our main focus has still been the canter because damn it, if you're going to be sound we're going to keep pushing for Fourth. Which means we need to get these fucking changes sorted out for real. 

not that the quality of canter isn't already exceptional ofc

For the left lead depart, in our lesson this morning MB had me thinking haunches in and shoulder in. So basically half pass. He wants to get super crooked this direction and swing his haunches way in. Instead of fighting to get the haunches pushed back out--and then taking my right leg off which is forever and always Opie's goal in life--make the shoulders join the hind end and sneakily he's straight. 

We did a million and a half transitions in and out of the canter. Some were down to the trot and some were down to the walk, and poor Opie didn't get to choose which one we were doing. MB says Opie has a submission problem lolol. 

In our lesson before this one, we had a straightness problem once we were in the canter. Fortunately that wasn't an issue today. In that lesson, MB had us ride SI down the long sides in canter, and wow that made Opie big mad, too. It also worked really well. 

In the trot work, we did the snowman exercise from the Amelia Newcomb clinic our GMO put on last weekend that MB audited (I was on vacation, booo). It's basically riding a figure eight with a 10m circle on top of a 20m circle. We added a fan of poles on one end for Opie. 

Opie found this super hard because he was too busy trying to con me into riding him his way to try my way. Switching the bend from right to left was, shockingly, the main issue. He was making my right shoulder scream until MB reminded me it's not a right rein issue, it's a right leg issue (it's always a right leg issue) and I booted the shit out of him. He reluctantly got on board, and wow things magically turned around. 

you're a bad dog, opie

Once he got off my right leg, we were able to ride the exercise quite easily. He went from flinging himself through the poles to actually holding the collection and bouncing through them lovely. In turn, I was able to sit super deep by drawing up my front line and activating my abs, and that made an insanely fun trot to ride. It's almost as if...I'm here to...help you? Just throwing that out there, sir. 

MB and I agreed he is progressing in his own Opie way though. He's still throwing tantrums to see what he can get out of--that's just who he is, and probably always will be--but he's coming out the other side faster. And the work is better and more correct because he's more willing to trust that my way is the right way.

got one whole clean change so needed a victory lap

WFL Open Horse Show

Look at us, we went to a second horse show this year!

you can take us out of the dressage court,
but you can't take our white breeches

There's a local open show series that management decided to quit on last year, but one of my former barn mates rallied to take up the helm and keep it going this year. We weren't able to make the first one because we were at Houghton (sooo busy showing this year, look out!), but we really wanted to support her efforts so myself and two others from my barn made the point to attend this one. 

Even though we had no idea what we were doing.

me: hello, nice lady. "quarters" has been explained to me 100x and
i still have no idea how to do them
opie: hiiiiii, would you like to give me some scritchies?

This was an english/western show, which means it was not a hunter show, which means our dressage tack and apparel were thankfully acceptable. Because while I have a single pair of tan breeches stashed somewhere in my house, that's the extent of anything hunter I own anymore. We only knew this because we checked with our friend, DS.

DS gave us our showmanship clinic over the spring, and she was generous enough to come over during her lunch break last week to give the three of us a crash course in how the show was going to run for our classes. Thank fucking god, because it was a lot more crashing than coursing. THERE ARE SO MANY RULES TO SHOWMANSHIP. Like, she gave us the absolute bare minimum to not embarass ourselves and it was just the tip of the iceburg.

here i am not carrying my lunch tray and not looking up

We entered the entire Open division. Our first class was conformation, which when explained sounded very easy. Walk to the judge, and then trot around the ring to your spot in line-up where you wait for the judge to come and inspect your horse.

how i should have stood him for the judge

how i did stand him for the judge, looking much more awkward

Out of 8, Opie didn't place at all in this class. She definitely liked the Quarter Horses and that western-type build, but I didn't help his cause any.

Our second class was showmanship where we had to do the world's simplest pattern. We ran through it three times a piece with DS on Wednesday and while I felt better about it, it was not coming naturally to me lol. She told us we needed to carry our hands like we were holding a lunch tray, no touching the horse, walk towards their shoulder to back (lining up their RH with the judge's left shoulder), walk towards their jaw to pivot, to look at the judge as we approached her, feet at a 45 degree angle to the horse's shoulder, never be in the same quarter of your horse as the judge, AND ON AND ON AND THOSE WERE THE BARE BONES BASICS. 

We didn't place in this class either. I don't think I did the quarters right and Opie was super wiggly this time trying to get him to stand up so I finally just called it when he was close enough so as not to waste the judge's time.

We had a long break before our riding classes. Opie was fucking feral once I got on and we had a nice long trot in the grass field before they opened the ring for warm up.

and then we had a nice long canter

The first class was Command, and if you thought we knew what that meant you are wrong. Fortunately DS was around to continue helping us, and she cheerily informed us that it was like a game of Simon Says--but listen closely because if the judge says to sidepass off the rail, don't sidepass back because that might be your next command. To which we said, "Sidepass?? Wtf kind of class is this?!"

It ended up feeling more like an equitation flat class. We got asked to do an extended trot each way, and to halt and back our horses and then trot out of the halt. 

yeah we crushed that

Opie was a lot more settled at this point and while he has twice the stride length and cruises around naturally more forward than every other horse in the ring, he was not in a racing mood which was a delight. He was a gem for this class and got second behind the horse that ended up being champion for the division. 

The second riding class was Pleasure which was a simple w/t/c each way. The judge wanted heads on the ground with long, low necks, but I kept Opie in his dressage frame because that's what he was happy with and I wasn't going to mess with it. We were here to support, not win things! He was otherwise perfectly pleasurable, and we ended up 4th out of 7. 

cute, but not a pleasure frame

The final class was equitation which is what we thought the command class was going to be. Surprise, it was actually another pattern we had to do. DS walked and talked us through it until we knew it like the back of our hands--which we should have because it was very easy.

Hi, I'm here to tell you I still did not remember it!

i'm just here for a good time, not for a winning time lolol

We started at A. Backed one horse length and then walked back up to A where we trotted off in sitting trot. Halfway down the ring, turn right and do a small circle in posting trot. Turn left and canter a larger circle. Trot down the rest of the length of the ring on the right posting diagonal. 

We did the first part. The sitting trot was, uh...not our finest work. And then I forgot to go into the rising trot. Our canter transition was shitty, and then I have no idea what diagonal I posted off on. #notaprofessional We placed 6th. Out of 6. 

is good at trotting around on the rail tho

Overall it was super fun. Our three horses were annoyingly attached to each other the entire time, but we stayed together pretty much the entire time so it wasn't the worst thing in the world. But the competitors were all absolutely wonderful and DS and her staff ran everything flawlessly. They ended up with a great turnout so very promising for them for next year!

Timing

Oh, hey, welcome back. The entire month of August was booked and busy, but I still have two lessons to recap!

Lesson 1:

This was a follow up to the last lesson I wrote about where we touched on the changes for two seconds at the end--except this time the entire focus was changes. 

For the l-r, the main theme was patience. It's easier for me to get him straight and forward this direction, so I just need to put the aids on and wait. It's okay if he buffers for a few strides and has to process what I'm asking. As long as he stays straight and quiet, I'm not allowed to panic and start doing weird things with my body in an attempt to throw him onto the new lead. 

For the r-l, things took significantly more brain cells on my part. For instance, what is straightness? Don't ask me, that's for sure! I kept arguing with MB that I felt like Opie was bent into a C shape to the right as we came across the diagonal, and she kept insisting that this was false. Either way, I didn't feel like I had a single stride where I could fairly ask for a change so I would turn him back to the right before we got to the end of the ring and come around again. And again. 

We eventually decided on a putting a pole on the diagonal so I had a straight line visual. Aim for the pole, aim to be as straight as the pole as we ride alongside it, and then use that straightness to ask for the change. This did help with getting the feel of straightness on my end. It didn't help eliminate the weird karate chop that he does with his front leg in the change. 

MB wanted me to try asking with my left leg instead of my right. That way the right leg got to stay on 100% of the time because Opie's most favorite thing is getting me to take my right leg off. It took awhile to get the canter built back up to big and jumpy enough, but we went in with the new plan and...he actually changed half a stride early behind, but! The front end did nothing weird! So we ended right there, that was a big win for him. 

Overall a 10/10 lesson. A lot of troubleshooting, but for the first time it felt like a horse learning changes instead of a horse panicking and guessing about everything and flinging his body everywhere instead of giving us the chance to help him. 

has been doing a lot of hard work building his grass belly

In between that lesson and the one yesterday, we've been doing actual fitness work (because he's been sound and coordinated enough to motor on out on the trails in both the trot and canter!), but mostly a lot of work on the basics. 

We spent one whole ride working on bringing back our perfect halts because the EPM has really fucked with the RH. He's most comfortable with it parked underneath himself/in front of the LH. Standing square genuinely got hard for him even just out and about in the wild. I've done a ton of posture work--and obviously strength work--and it's improved when he's not under saddle, but we still have work to do. 

The RH has also gotten worse from the EPM as far as how he travels in general. From his conformation he's always brought it under his midline too far, but now--unless he's walking 2mph--it's waaay under there. To the point he has to be ridden in a pastern wrap or he hits himself so hard he starts bleeding. My farrier has done what she can to keep everything rounded off, but it's definitely a mechanical thing. Every step is thinking, "Can I push the RH out even more?"

I did one more ride on the changes by myself with one change asked for each way. The l-r was a stride late behind, but straight and patient and had good jump so that's a win for where we're at right now. The r-l was straight and way less weird than usual so also a win! Mostly I've been working on the transitions in and out of the walk from the canter. In the up, don't hang, but don't chuck the contact away either. In the down, patience again (clearly not a virtue Opie or I naturally come by). It's okay if it takes three-plus strides of collecting the canter before the walk transition comes. Better that than being like, "We transition down NOW" and then it just pukes into the earth. 

Lesson 2:

I had MB ride Opie for this lesson. I got back from vacation on Monday and Opie decided my right leg is actually fine, it's my left leg that he has no interest in. I was able to bully him through that a little bit and ended on a good note. The next ride was good, but then Wednesday's ride was A Thing. 

My original plan was to work hard on the trot because we've been doing so much work on the canter lately. Once I got on, he was super stuck in the shoulders, so the ride developed into loosening his front end up. At the walk. With a lot of following a big open left rein around like a 2yo. 

The frustrating thing was, he did everything right. And it made him so upset. Every exercise I asked for, he was bang on. I'd go to tell him what a good boy he was and before I could finish he'd be like, "I HATE IT IT'S HORRIBLE!!!" Like, bro, what is horrible? Doing a good job and getting praised? It's not computing. I got stuck in this cycle of, "Let's try this exercise. Wow, you did great! Ope okay doing great and releasing just made you mad and lock up again. Let's try this exercise now. Okay, so good! Ope, nevermind." 

I ended up getting off and sticking him on the longe for a quick spin just to have somewhere to end because I didn't have a solution. Thus MB doing the ride in hopes she could figure him out a little better. 

Her theory was that he's so used to working with tension that he would freak himself out letting go and didn't know how to do the work without that as his safety blanket. She also called him a contrarian which is an incredibly apt description of this horse. He'd really rather explore his options and ideas first before trying yours. You can get him on your side, but there's a lot of negotiating to get there. 

I got the report that he felt sore in his right neck and shoulder from our PEMF lady which explains the resistance to stretch his neck around to the left, and both MB and I felt that as well under saddle, so he's going to see our massage lady Monday to hopefully release anything he's got going on there. 

swamp ass of the head

In the meantime, his other main focus is on not melting all his hair off. The humidity this summer has been next level and everyone's bodies are over it. Opie is now sans fly mask and hind fly boots because the sweat is leaving rubs. He got a rub from his saddle pad and the reins yesterday. The day before I left a big spur rub on him which I've never ever done before. I swear he's at the point if I look at him wrong his hair falls off. Yay for light colored thoroughbreds.

Right Side Breakthrough

We had such a good lesson on Thursday!

There was a lot of MB yelling from her chair, "No, Carly! Carly! No!" She even got so inspired by how badly I was riding that she came and took the reins away--and I was holding the equicube so I was barely doing anything with them anyway.

Talent? Why, yes. I do have it. 

dubious of this claim

I was happy with Opie after our show, but I was annoyed with myself for my bad position. I knew at the time I was rolling my shoulders up to my ears, but I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it. And, of course, my hands were down in my lap being gross. So for our lesson I asked MB to focus on me instead of Opie and let's get some things sorted out.

We started with the equicube, my most favorite torture device. Opie loves it too in that it lets him stroll around like a llama acting like he has no idea what being a trained horse is, when in reality he has done a very good job at training me to do all the work for him. Once we got some good lateral bend going to the right, he gave in and went on the bit until we turned left and the real work began.

The problem is two-fold. He hates my right leg, and he hates moving his shoulders. So turning left where he has to turn his shoulders off my outside (right) leg without my hands there to guide him around is for sure impossible. MB wanted us to do a turn on the forehand to solve both of these things. For all the years I couldn't get this horse to do a respectable turn on the haunches, that was all I could get him to do. MB came and put both of our body parts where they were supposed to be going and I still couldn't figure it out. It's not like I've never done a TOF before, I just couldn't figure out the aids between the two without confusing myself.

Opie ended up getting sick of me, and while MB was standing in front of us trying to Show Me The Way, he gave me his "You're a fucking idiot" look over his shoulder and just went ahead and did one perfectly all by himself. With zero input or ask from me. MB and I were cracking up which I'm sure lowered his opinion of us even more. He's really embraced pulling the schoolmaster card on me lately. A couple weeks ago I was working on getting his canter rounder, and because it's me I just kept taking away and taking away. He finally calmly stopped in his tracks and gave me the same "You're a fucking idiot look" again like, "This is literally how fast you're asking me to canter. Zero mph. Do better."

I was finally allowed to give the equicube back so we could start trotting. To the right, bend the ribcage, bring the withers up, ask for a big boy trot. To the left, he has to accept the right leg. If he didn't, 10m circle to the right and then back to tracking left. Never take the right leg away. We finally got there after lots of repetition and moved on to the canter. 

he has complete disdain for my existence

For the left lead, lots of counter canter. The shallow counter canter loop from 1-3, and also lots of square turns. He was BIG MAD about the square turns, but they did the trick of getting him upright and off my outside leg. We went to come across the diagonal to carry on the counter canter and my bad riding made him do a bad change instead. We went back around to try for a good change because the ride before his canter felt so good I asked for one this way and he jumped cleanly over easy peasy. The second time around, he was late a stride, but otherwise boring. 

For the right lead, the canter was bang on right off the bat so we worked on collecting it way up and then oozing out of it. 10/10 nailed it so MB told us to see what our change looked like this way (his bad way). As soon as I turned in I went to straighten his neck and he fell through the change. 

MB was like, "No. Bad. Why." Because he needs to be straight to change, right?! "Stop pulling him into a straight neck. Just hold the right bend because the canter is so good and ask from that." He waited patiently for me to get all my own parts in order and then quietly did his little karate chop change and cantered off. So still not clean because he does the weird thing with his front leg, but at least on the aids and not upset?

We came around from the left again, got the haunches pushed to the right so the RH isn't ten miles under his mid-line, rode him forward, and quietly put the aids on. Nothing. Two strides later, still nothing. So I threw my body off the side of him and flung him into the change and made it late behind. MB said, "No. Bad. Just wait. If you had just waited he was set up perfectly and he would have given it to you. No flinging!"

all the grass and snacks for having to deal with me

He had two days off after that because I simply did not have the time for him, but this morning we worked in the canter on pushing the haunches out and bringing the shoulders in and all the drama of having a right leg. Which he was actually alright for! 

Also I don't know why blogger suddenly hates my phone pics. Fucking stupid platform.

WNYDA Summer Fest

We went to a show! 

And I finally have time to write about it!

Good grief, this past week has not slowed down for one second. Let's roll it back to last Friday and get kicked off with our in-hand work.

being a role model for his 2yo soul mate (that he'd
never met before) in the trailer next to him

Friday's Breed Show

Our GMO brought back a breed show last year after several years of not hosting one, and they thought it was such a success they added in an entire day for it instead of just an afternoon. It did end up running all day, and after another east coast show canceled, they added on a second day as well. This is good news because it was a complete cluster fuck to get organized and everyone was ready to kill each other by the end of it, but I do think they'll do it again next year. Which means another year for more ribbons!

Obviously Opie is practically ancient at this point and not eligible for any of the young horse or materiale classes, but there's no age limit for the amateur handler class or the breed specific classes. 

First up was the amateur handler class where you are being judged with the horse's score only being a tiny part of it. I knew I could do the running part just fine, it was standing this animal up properly I wasn't convinced of. They want an open stance, and Opie was like a dyslexic child with these fucking halts. In hand? Square! Under saddle? Open! Like, sir, bring that RF forward while I'm not on you.

would have taken this halt in our tests

I didn't fuss with him too much because I was too busy trying to get him to hold still for longer than two seconds. The judge was old and walked with a cane, and she started creeping around Opie in a very sus way according to him. I ended up getting the comment to not stand in front of him, but I couldn't stand off to the side or he would have left lol. The walk and trot triangles went as well as expected, and he was slightly better about standing when we came back around. We ended up with 8s down the board except for a 6.8 for his conformation (fair--he's built like a cow and a wiener dog had a baby). The low confo score knocked us out of what would have been first place into second. 

We went right into our Thoroughbred class where Opie was the only participant. He was better with the judge stalking him this time, but still defaulted to squaring up. She liked absolutely nothing about him and scored accordingly, but we still got our champion neck ribbon for showing up.

the pinned ears really help

we borrowed a bridle from MB to look the part

Saturday Performance Show

I got on with about thirty minutes for warmup for 1-1. This is more than I usually allot myself, but I am notoriously horrendous about warming up at shows. I forget every exercise and just end up loafing about with zero plan. Not this time, bitches! I was focused, and we did crazy things like multiple transitions and cleaning up our mistakes until they were better instead of just letting them slide. I got the canter feeling really good and through, and we went into the ring going forward instead of like we'd been standing around doing nothing for the past ten minutes like I usually do.

I did, however, heavily lean into the fetal position. For the entire show. I could even actively feel myself rolling my shoulders forward, but I couldn't convince myself to do anything about it. I got the horse sorted out, maybe next time I can get myself sorted out as well.

The test was a boring cake walk, as it should have been. We got 5s for our trot lengthenings which we're still (re)developing so there was no expectation there, and a 5.5 for the left lead canter depart which was (intentionally) early. Otherwise 7s down the board and a 6 for gaits because he did be looking a little wonky there at points. I don't know at this point. Legit do not know what else to do for this horse. Hopefully his doxy gets here this century and cleaning up the lyme helps him again. Just under a 66% for third place.

We nailed the warmup again for 1-3. More walk work this time around since he'd already been ridden once and it had gotten incredibly hot. He felt a little tighter this time, probably not helped by more horrible hands and rounded shoulders. 

We got a 5.5 for out sketchy attempt at a stretchy trot, which I was personally pleased ended up back at the letter we started at because we took a dang tour of the ring for the "circle". Geometry as a whole felt lacking in this test as I cheated where I could to keep him happy. I probably could have asked him for more, but that was not my goal for this show. I wanted a boring, pleasant experience for the both of us and that's what I ended up with. 

Everything else scored 6s and 6.5s with a handful of 7s thrown in--like for both canter lengthenings which we had been working really hard on.

He actually got a 7 for gaits on this test so who knows. This test was under the judge from the breed show the day before and everyone was complaining about how low she was scoring and how she hated thoroughbreds and on and on. I made my goal to break the 60s with her, but he cruised through with a 63 and change for another third place and the comment, "Good potentional!" 

There was nothing brilliant to write home about in either show, but again, not my goal. I will say I'm very pleased with the scoring from both judges. I felt like they were bang on for the directives of the level, and not looking for or rewarding the unnecessarily over-collected and chased around horses. It's first level. It's not supposed to be exciting!

Our score for 1-1 ended up getting us high point OTTB for first level and high point OTTB overall for Saturday's show, so well done Opie!

missing our 2nd place ribbon, but yay neck ribbons!

So overall we're calling this a success! The fact that we made it there for both days is a win in and of itself. That will be it for showing this year. I had originally planned on doing another recognized show at the end of this month, but show entries have increased so fucking much it's insane. Combine that with still shelling out money for his vet bills, and still trying to get him to 100%, it doesn't feel worth it. We'll hopefully start building up some consistency and come out next year ready to swing towards some bigger goals.