pre-show practice

It’s honestly a little hard for me to know how best to spend the last few days leading up to a horse show. Over the years, I’ve taken just about every possible approach — from trying to school each phase in the last few days, to prioritizing jumping, galloping, dressage, hacking, or even taking a couple days off.

this silly mare and her floppy ploppy muzzle

There are pros and cons to everything, ya know? And sometimes I’m weighing my options based on what I think *I* need, vs what I think might most benefit the horse. 

it was so dusty just a week ago!! it’s been raining ever since tho

Real talk, tho. In the grand scheme of things, it’s not really entirely clear whether it makes much of a difference haha. At least, not for me and Mondeuse, and not from a “results” perspective. 

From a “feelings” perspective, tho? Actually I’m coming to believe that at least the day before, and realistically probably even the last 2-3 days before a show, should be fairly intentional and disciplined flat schools. Maybe a couple jumps too on one of the days if needed, but mostly focusing on the flat work.

those curious can just skip directly to the video

i trimmed out all the walk breaks etc

Doozy has this interesting sort of quality about her that, whatever she was yesterday, she’s a little bit more that way today. 

So if yesterday she had off or just hacked, today she might be… more inclined toward expressing a preference for liberty and freedom. But by tomorrow she might be coming around to the idea of civility, and the day after that she could be a perfect prim little princess.

we did a LOT of walking tho, much of it actually nicely on the aids

This seems to be true too regarding how relaxed she can be in the acceptance of the aids. It always seems to be a calibration game with her — support with leg, but omg not too much! Or, conversely, she may need very exaggerated bending and suppling aids on a Day 1 ride, compared to something a little more subtle by Day 3. 

just trying to normalize relaxed balance

She also seems to benefit from practicing and recognizing patterns — whether that be with verbal cues or how we arrange various exercises etc. Doozy is a very anticipatory type horse — she always wants to know what’s coming. So it’s not like we drill the work or whatever, but I definitely aim to give her a nice predictable schooling experience day after day to ideally help her sorta relax and breathe into it. 

and more walkies

Again, this obviously hasn’t necessarily proven to be a winning formula or major difference maker or whatever in the show ring. At least, not yet. Our experience in the warm up ring at Loch Moy, however, gives me confidence that we’re sorta kinda getting there. Maybe. Lol.

and halties too bc mare Could.Not with the flies and required personalized swatting

Regardless, the last three days leading up to Loch Moy were all dedicated flat schools. And I did my best to set myself up for success by recording the first of those three with the Pivo. With the idea being that: 

1) Having the pivo rolling would keep me accountable for sticking to the plan; and 

2) Reviewing the footage afterward would still leave me with a couple practice days to work on any key adjustments — like remembering to shorten my reins, or prepare the mare more proactively for balance in changes of direction

we’re both learning to hold our balance a little more upright

Basically treating it like a bit of a coaching session while still ensuring there was time to work on any findings etc. That note on balance in particular being one of the biggest topics for us lately.

plenty of decent moments despite the tension!

It was our last lesson with Matt that kinda helped me connect the dots that some of Doozy’s tension, anticipation and rushing are directly related to how balanced she feels — or doesn’t feel, as the case may be. 

Doozy is naturally a very balanced horse, that’s a big part of what I like most in her natural way of going. But it’s like once she kinda gets into that rushing frantic rigid place, everything snowballs.

would love to be able to do more of this in the actual show ring!

There’s actually a really nice example in the video from this ride where I try to trot a little serpentine change of direction from tracking left to tracking right, passing in front of the camera to turn toward the gate. And Doozy just like completely loses her balance, bend, suppleness, rhythm, all in a flash. She goes from feeling supple and on the aids and in a nice tempo to hollow, rigid and counter bent and rushing almost instantaneously. 

the overall picture at canter is still middling at best but the balance is coming along!

Obvi that’s not exactly uncommon, right? Like there’s a reason you don’t see very sophisticated changes of bend in the earliest dressage levels and tests — horses have to gain the strength and learn to hold that balance. But it’s becoming more clear to me that it’s the feeling of imbalance itself that’s part of what gets Doozy a little frazzled and upset and hard to put back together again.

might not look like much but this is light years better than just two months ago

So that’s something I’m trying to keep in mind, keep working on — and stay proactive about. 

In our last dressage lesson with Trainer C (I didn’t take the pivo so there’s no media so probably no dedicated post, sorry!) we kinda integrated this idea by doing more serpentines — but throwing in circles within the serpentine as needed to reestablish balance if we lost it. And also tinkering around with feelings of shoulder fore down the long side. 

lots of cookies for the good girl

I’m also working on doing more canter. Just in general to help channel Doozy’s energy and not lose sight of the commitment to “forward” that has been so important for us these last few weeks. 

And it seems like it’s working! Suddenly it’s like, even if Doozy feels like she’s rushing and flat and hard to sit on, I can throw in a fairly dramatic half halt to really kinda sit her down a bit — but then she stays there and holds it. Almost like this feeling of, “Ah, yes, actually this IS better!”

smooshy biscuit <3 <3

The next thing I want to work on is spending more time in an actual 20x40m space — but like an actual court, not against a fence or wall, as with our smaller indoor ring. Probably I’ll measure out a couple corners or something with poles + cones in our outdoor ring. Mayyyyyybe in one of the grass paddocks if I’m feeling really ambitious LOL. 

Bc this topic of balance has me wondering if part of Doozy’s difficulty in the show ring itself comes from trying to hold herself together without the crutch of a proper wall or fence, when she’s already inclined to be rushy and over pace. It probably wouldn’t be a silver bullet — if such things even exist with horses haha — but seems worth a shot, right? 

We’ll see. In the meantime we’ll just keep chippin away with the regular practice haha.