Olde Hope HT: dressage + stadium!

So. Novice at Olde Hope. It happened and it was awesome. Let's break it down. 

In addition to getting the decidedly unwelcome spider off my truck and passing the hay trucks on the road, there were a couple little things that made me feel better about the day ahead of us. Because I gotta be honest - I was getting dangerously close to 'regret' territory when my alarm went off at 5am and I headed to the barn.  

mare has been SO QUIET at the trailer lately

The event was so far away.... and we were all alone.... and there wasn't time to walk my courses.... and maybe novice was a mistake and I was trying to move up too quickly. Ya know. The kind of self doubt that can easily cloud anyone's mind in those lonely pre-dawn hours. 

But. That's not really my kind of head space, so I just focused on finding better things to occupy myself. Like packing (and appreciating that our packing routine is so well-established that it is essentially a mindless task). Or noticing that my horse was still clean when she came in for an extra special breakfast.

the bridge to heaven!!

And then on the drive - realizing that the farm is actually super close to where my family used to spend the summers on the eastern shore (and where my parents live now). Like, the same exact drive right up until the very end. Including going over the C&D Canal Bridge by Chesapeake City - a bridge my sister and I as children referred to as the 'bridge to heaven' bc it goes up so high.

For some reason it felt meaningful to tow my pony over this bridge that is so wrapped up in childhood memories and daydreams. (have I mentioned that I am a bit sentimental? bc... yea lol)

same bridge, photo courtesy of the google. feels much higher when you're 7 haha

The last little bit of reassurance was an easy breezy drive that got us to the venue with enough time to walk my courses before dressage. Plus the course walks didn't leave me quaking in fear. More on that later.

It still ended up being tight-ish timing, and I had just learned the test and seated myself on the horse 15min from go time. Not how I usually roll... but then again I usually end up feeling like I'm on too early. Plus our recent awesome schoolings have been in the 10-20min range anyway... 

So I figured it would be ok. Isabel warmed up the way she always does - like a total professional. I worked on those modified turns on the forehand, and did all my transitions that way. She felt steady and connected and balanced. 

I also tried to ride a little slower than I would in the test at Dan's recommendation. He said judges like to see a forward ride, but that by warming up slower you can help the horse maintain better balance when you open them up in the test. I'm.. uh... not sure I did justice to this theory haha. 

she says i'm disturbing her from her power nap

So on to the test itself. I really wish I had video! It felt good. Not actually phenomenal, but really consistent and good. I felt like I missed some of our geometry (not quiiiite touching the rail in the circles) and that we lost balance a couple times, esp in the trot-walk transitions that we slipped into (ring was hard slippery grass). 

After saluting at X, judge said Isabel was a nice horse and that I was doing a good job with her. I commented on our slipping around a little bit and she said we could have maybe slowed down a little. Oops. That same comment is reflected on the test sheet too. 

This score definitely took me by surprise. I am THRILLED with it. You can see what I meant by not doing Dan's recommendation justice, as we earned the comment 'running' (and loss of balance) a couple times. That seems like an easily fixed problem tho, and entirely of my own creation. Ah well.

I'm FLOORED by that 8 on the left lead canter depart. The right lead is still a 6.5 tho, just like last week. Probably bc it's both Isabel's and my own weaker direction, so I'll just need to be more diligent in our practice. The canter circles were better this week tho, which pleases me. The 5.5 for the walk-trot would sting, except yea we totally slid into it. So that's maybe even generous.

And speaking of 'generous' haha - do you see that judge's comment?!? I would be embarrassed except she totally nailed it. Isabel is a generous horse. So generous. She consistently puts in a nicer test than my riding might merit. What a good mare!

rustic oxer for fence 1

Then we had a nice relaxing hour at the trailer (since I didn't need to rush around walking my courses) and Isabel got to doze a little more and we could tack up at our leisure. I again got on about 15 minutes before my ride time - just as my parents arrived to watch!! Yay for family support!!

Isabel warmed up about the same as always. One really iffy distance, and the rest were fine. The warm up area kinda sucked tho - long and narrow. Not really the space I wanted for testing the 'whoa' and 'go' in our canter - but I guess we need more 'whoa' anyway so it was ok.

It was a cool stadium course too - all bending lines and roll backs. My favorite! Plus the jumps looked mostly pretty small.

i love these little towers!!!! 

Once out there it became apparent that I actually didn't have a ton of horse. She was fairly stuck behind my leg for the first half of the 8-jump course. We made it over 1 ok, but took the rail at 2.

i actually kinda love all these fences

I can't remember exactly what happened at 3, but I ended up a bit popped out of the tack. Rail stayed up tho.

somehow the rustic 'hunt field' look makes them feel really inviting

And we chipped in kinda grossly to fence 4 too... at which point I finally realized I should DO something to get the mare in front of my leg. (Also the point at which I was grateful for my spurs)

skinny stone wall! and those standards!!

Fence 5 came up a bit more nicely...

these standards too - how neat!

And I finally had Izzy up in front of me enough to get a decent jump from a slightly longer spot.

kinda dark, but this was a neat brush box oxer

We kept the momentum going well enough to get to 7 nicely, except we kinda drifted right over the fence and landed on the left lead - exactly the opposite of our typical mode. And pretty inconvenient considering the tight right hand roll back to 8.

final fence!

Didn't matter tho, Isabel more or less maintained a balanced counter canter around the turn (vs. swapping up front to cross canter) and made quick work of 8.

video here

Phew! It was a disappointing rail... and I was a little frustrated with how lazy/sleepy Isabel felt (in her defense it was a bit hotter out than it has been recently). But in a way I was kinda glad to get it figured out before heading out on cross country. At least I knew what I was working with!

sleepy pony!

Stay tuned for cross country tomorrow!!!