MDHT #2: Dressage + Stadium

Ok guys. Let's get right down to business. This is a marathon post, mostly due to pictures, but also bc I've naturally got quite a bit to say about Charlie's first full 3-phase event at Loch Moy.

Brita's and my times were basically right on top of each other, and as soon as Brita finished dressage, I hustled off to walk my course and then get ready for my own dressage.

It didn't leave a lot of time, and I ended up with too little warm up - about 20 minutes. On a good day, that's plenty sufficient time for Charlie. But on this day? Homeboy was tense. We were in the upper ring (the GIANT one with the most horses and right next to a stadium arena and the xc start box) and the difference in the horse's focus and attention was palpable.

i especially appreciate this picture bc of the Brita & Bella cameo. they've got our back!

He was mostly good, and mostly staying with me. Fussy about the left lead, and we had basically no brakes... Asking him for more lateral suppleness was a major issue.

And despite the horse being quite schooled to arena traffic, the combination of seeing so many horses running and jumping in the distance, and being constantly nearly bumped into by ppl who had staked out their own private 20m circles in the middle of the giant arena took a toll on him. Understandably so, big guy. I feel ya.

After realizing we were kinda in a bad place, I tried to do a few trot-walk-halt transitions but.... eh. There's not a lot of "training" you can do in the last 5 minutes before your test, ya know? So in we went.

Emma: "Hello Judge. This is my horse. He is a very impressive horse."
Charlie: *face plants*
Judge: Looks like a 7 to me!

The ring had been sitting empty bc it was running early, so when I went to the judge's stand and gave my number, she immediately rang the bell. Probably I should have asked for a second lap around the court before entering at A.... but oh well. In we went and Charlie immediately stumbled then totally biffed his halt. Great.

please to note we are two full strides past X

This pretty much set the tone for our test. And also, incidentally, for my interpretation of this judge's scoring. That score is the first thing I looked at when I got my test. And... it was a 7?? REALLY?

Anyway. Charlie was sticky and tense, and danced a little in the halt. I tried to be very tactful in asking him to trot out, and he kinda jigged a bit in the corner (got a 4 for that....), but then found his legs and trotted on for our little circle.

trot right. "6 - lacking bend." fair 'nuff

Then it was time for his first canter in a test! I was marginally concerned with Charlie executing an unplanned exit at A.... but he was a good boy and picked up his canter with no sass.

first time cantering in a dressage test!! good boy!!

Our steering was questionable but whatever. He did the canter thing, and then also did the trot thing when I asked! GOOD BOY.

 <3 him

He trotted across the diagonal well enough, tho it was maybe a little hairy. He maybe wondered if we would immediately canter again (since we practice simple changes across the diagonal often). Plus for whatever reason, heading toward C brought out his strongest, most unpredictable trot and I was more than a little afraid we'd accidentally jump out of the arena.....

trot left. "4 - tight neck & poll, lacking bend, circle not round."
ummmm... i feel like that 4 ("Insufficient") is a little harsh, judge.  #justsayin

He didn't jump out tho. And actually seemed to get a little better as we went. His trot started getting a little slower and more shuffling, but I was also able to let go more and push the reins forward more. To me, this felt like a better option than asking him for more trot. Bc I wanted him to relax more, settle in more. And he mostly did.

Tho we got a 4 on that next trot circle which like... I don't understand. In pure dressage, a "4" means "insufficient." The directives for this movement were: E: Circle 20m. And directive ideas are: Roundness and size of circle, clear trot rhythm and bend. The judge dinged us on size of circle and bend, which like, sure are critical pieces of this puzzle. But were we insufficient? Esp after nearly falling down and missing the mark on X big time netted us a 7???? Idk.

cantering left in a dressage test!! good boy got both leads and 6s on all of his canter transitions!

Anyway, next up was the left lead depart, maybe the part of this test I was most worried about - Charlie has been sticky about that lead since day 1, and misfired quite a few times in warm up. In the test tho? Nailed it. Good boy.

free walk also got a 4 (the third of four 4s on this test, if you're counting), which was fair. he was tense, choppy and rooting.

The transition to trot at A, then medium walk between B and F, and then free walking across the short diagonal from B to H all felt like it came up pretty fast. But Charlie did it. Got us another 4 on the free walk, of which I'm more understanding. Tense horses don't really walk super freely, it turns out.

wand a 6 to finish off the test. good boy charlie.

Then a final little trotting tour of the arena from C to A, which garnered us our fourth 4 for "no bend," tho the directives for this movement were "willing and balanced transition, clear trot rhythm." Idk. Then up the center line in an ugly-but-accurate turn, and a final solid halt effort by Charlie, who kindly waited to dance until after I had saluted. Good boy, you did the thing!

I'm a little sour about the fact that everything in this test was either a 4 or a 6 except for that damn earthbound-as-fuck-literally-bc-we-actually-almost-fell-down first halt, which got a 7.

video here with directives, scores and comments

Oh, tho Charlie scored a 7 on his gaits too, which was nice. But like, my best guess is that the judge was looking for a very specific picture for this test, specifically with regard to acceptance of the bit and bend. And we just simply didn't fit the picture. Oh well. Final score of 44.5%.

Tension is tough. And this test was a good reminder for me that, altho Charlie is a very good horse, and has been very "easy" to work with - he's still very green. And "easy" is a relative term. Because.. well.. it's one thing to be easy to ride when the horse is at his best. When he's not at his best tho? He's actually not easy to ride.

he jumps tho <3

I kept that thought at the forefront of my mind as we got back to the trailer to prepare for the jumping phases. We had very little time (so little that I actually opted not to bother changing my boots and breeches, tho these whites aren't my fave for jumping...), tho Charlie got to chill without tack for a little bit while I got everything organized.

We then got over to warm up with about 30min until go time. With being so fresh out of dressage, Charlie didn't necessarily need that much time to physically warm up. Rather, he needed that time for exposure and calm in the face of chaos. So we headed up to the arena to watch a couple rounds go first, and for me to get an idea of how the jumps rode. Only one related distance, which everyone was getting in 5.

i love his face

That established, we headed back down to start riding, wherein I tried to keep instilling the idea of flat work - quiet, relaxed, asking for softness and bend. I figured out in a recent jump lesson (post coming eventually) that the reason Charlie feels so not-great when he gets strong is bc all our flat work flies out the window. So. Ya know. He has to learn to be soft through his body even when we're going fast and jumping all the things lol.

Warm up was honestly kinda stressful bc it was in a small-ish corner of an otherwise-large arena, and we warmed up at the same time as the junior divisions. Which meant there were loud coaches swarming everywhere. LOTS of yelling going on. Lots of ponies everywhere.

a little blah over the first two, but blah is not a dirty word

We mostly dodged them and kept our own jumping simple. Trot the cross rail (x2). Trot the vertical. Tranter the vertical, then wait for them to put it back up after we clobbered it, to canter again. Canter the oxer.

Charlie was a little sticky but was listening. Good 'nuff. Not much more to do there, so we headed back up to wait our turn - along with Brita, who had just finished her rides and made it over in time to watch ours.

looking for our turn to jump 3

Once in the ring, Charlie was a star. We trotted a long loop around the full ring, tripping in front of the photographer (natch, thus the shit-eating smirk on my face in those pics haha), then trotted in over fence 1. Cantered on along to fence 2 mostly ok. Then cantered on along to fence 3 and TOTALLY ATE IT OMG. Brita says Charlie trotted the thing with his hind legs, one on either side, and I completely believe her.

Somehow, tho, he didn't touch the jump at all. I applied excessive verbal praise for his agility there lol, and then we organized a bit better for the end jump at 4. Then off to the only line on course - the one that had been going in 5.

jumping into the line. my expression says, "yup we're gonna leave a stride out, aren't we."

Haha. Hahahaha. Five strides. That's a good joke, Emma.

pictured: leaving a stride out as if we could have left out two....

I knew basically the moment we reached the in jump that we weren't gonna fit 5 in there. Charlie LAUNCHED through the line in 4, and you can actually hear me cackling a bit in the turn after the line as I desperately tried to wheel the horse into some semblance of order for jump 7....

charlie's face says: 'OH IT IS ON NOW'

Which, naturally, we also FLEW over. It's like I kinda just gave up on the idea of order and balance by this point. Like, we've already established that the horse is kinda green, and kinda super inconsistent....

Might as well just roll with it. I'll train him later. For now? We gotta jump these jumps the only way we know how haha.

WHEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Which, incidentally, included much leaping. Charlie did NOT want to touch these jumps, and his experience over fence 3 apparently inspired him to reach higher heights than ever before lol.

pictured: how a 17h horse gets air time over a 2'3 jump lol

What a good boy haha. Such a star. Admittedly I was a little embarrassed by the round, like I kinda just let it go to disorganized shit. But whatever. The horse did his thing, and as far as he knows, there isn't necessarily a better way to go about it yet. So I'm not gonna sit here and split hairs with him!

video here. moments of note include: totally biffing fence 3, FLYING down the line, laughing about it, then basically just surviving over the final two....

The reality is tho.... I shouldn't consider this an "embarrassing" round for him. Like, yea he's green and I basically stay in the back seat for everything. And parts of the course were a little wild and woolly. But damn if that wasn't an honest, forward horse who basically understands what he's about out there.

Charlie's nowhere near "schooled" yet. And he goes absolutely NOTHING like the horse I jumped for the past four years. But we're figuring it out. And I feel pretty good riding him, and feel even better at our prospects for further gelling as a team.

That feeling was only reinforced after cross country, where Charlie was surprisingly much more reliant on me than he had been in stadium. Stay tuned for details next!