but i'm already pulled over!!!

Ok. Let's kick this thing off with a little moment of honesty: Charlie and I are.... uh.... not very good at dressage. Like.... I can talk all day long about how he's showing improvements in his balance, or that he's beginning to learn about contact, or whatever.

But the fact remains: Charlie's early streak as the Undefeated Intro Champion of the World Dressage Horse was.... well, a joke. Obviously.

it was so goddam hot out that all the horses crammed into whatever shade was available. 

In all seriousness tho, I'm proud of the progress Charlie and I have made on the flat. But damn, it's still not a very nice picture. There's still a LOT of work to do.

charlie in particular was quite enamored of this tree

A large part of this is my own relative inexperience with dressage. I've jumped countless horses. Like, actually countless. Even if I just narrowed it down to the horses I've actively competed over fences? Yea. Still in the countless territory (tho I bet I could figure it out if I reeeeeally tried).

"mmmmm treeeeeee"

But dressage? Do you know how many horses I've seriously and purposefully ridden dressage on? One.

Isabel.

"ha, i got a branch!"

Sure, I had the occasional lesson last summer on one of dressage trainer C's horses. And naturally, since I've learned more about dressage, I try to take those core concepts of flat work into every horse I ride. But the fact remains the same: Isabel is the horse on which I learned how to ride dressage.

horse trots right! (and may or may not topple over in a stiff breeze...)

And the core essence of learning with Isabel revolved around getting her to reach out to the bit, to lengthen her neck from the base and move up into the bridle. While continuing to come forward from the hind end, obviously.

look it's the other half of that circle!

Charlie, on the other hand, is, um. Hm. How to put this delicately? Well, he's built entirely fucking differently from Isabel lol, and he goes completely differently. Charlie's defining physical attribute is his extreme length. His neck, his legs, his back. Compact, he is not. Nor, as a matter of fact, is he particularly supple - longitudinally or laterally.

He's the opposite of Isabel in so many major ways, that I'm basically starting from scratch again in learning how to form and shape him.

he canters left too!!

It's ok tho, ya know? Like, my dressage journey with Isabel was overwhelmingly positive. That horse taught me many, many, many things. So many things. Included in that is actually a fairly deep appreciation for flat work.

So I can objectively look at where Charlie and I are in our dressage training and kinda shrug like, 'ok so we kinda suck,' but it's not demoralizing. And it's not like.... A problem, ya know? It's just where we are, there's just more work to do.

he also.... does this. lol? this progressive move netted us two 4s - one for the centerline turn, and another for the halt itself bc as you might imagine.... it took a little bit to recover from.... this. lol. at least we didn't actually jump out of the arena?

But I need to keep that in mind when interpreting judge's comments and whatnot too. Like. I know Charlie is doing well. I know he's improving. But I also know that it's kinda a shitty picture that we present to the judge. And that I should be prepared for feedback that is maybe more pointed than I would wish.

Like the dressage judge this weekend at a schooling show at OF, who told me that I needed to "go back to the basics before [I] start jumping the horse."

this. forever. just me and my basics. we will never leave.

My knee jerk reaction is to be like, "Lady this horse is already jumping, and isn't a BN-A test pretty much as basic as it gets anyway? What do you think we're working on piaffe or whatever and maybe need to dial it back a little? No, all we do are straight lines and 20m circles at three gaits - how much more basic do you want me to be?"

it's easy to find a nice 'picture' of our free walks. bc.... he puts his head down. needs more energy and overstep tho, in a big way.

Which .... well. Ahem. That's not a very productive mindset. Esp when the judge is totally right. This judge, like most before her, was very unimpressed by our tests (BN A and B).

look, he still trots right! and hey, that RH decided to come play too!

She called me out for a lack of suppleness in the horse - in every dimension - and a lack of balance. And in our chat after my first test, told me that I need to be more rigorous in our fundamentals before I even consider moving him up in jumping.

he canters right too! sometimes!

I consoled myself by remembering that it was hot as fuck out (mid 90s with plenty of humidity to boot) and I had legitimately gotten on the horse 12 minutes before my test, with the express intention of using that test as part of our warm up.

that blue ribbon: for when you win and lose a class at the same time! 

So for test two (BN-B) I tried to be a little more disciplined. Tried to show the judge that, while we are very green, we are working on those fundamental areas. And good Sir Charles put in a pretty reasonable test that I was actually quite pleased with as a representation of our current level of training.

he looks cute in his satin tho!

The judge agreed - but only in part. We received exactly zero 4s on this second test (three fewer than the first!), but our collectives took a big hit for lack of impulsion (Charlie can kinda be fast or slow, neither of which really demonstrate 'impulsion') and submission (we, uh, almost missed a couple downwards), but also went down for the gaits and rider marks. Not sure why, but oh well.

BN A, note the very special set of 4s at the end haha, oops! no comment needed there, i guess. the picture above speaks for itself!

In some ways tho, this little schooling show was kind of a good reality check for me. I honestly didn't take it very seriously - it was hellishly hot outside and I was kinda regretting even entering.

BN B - final score was a 43% penalties

Brita and I had been trying to plan a cross country schooling day, and opted to make a big to-do when we saw this dressage show on the schedule. It would be our own fun pretend two-phase! But then with the heat wave's arrival, the jump plan got tossed and we just did the show.

also, have i ever mentioned a nasty side effect of my horse's tie back surgery?

But I hadn't really seriously prepared the horse for the show, and hadn't even ridden in dressage tack since our last lesson with dressage trainer C. Our recent rides were an easy trail hack, a couple quick arena schools focused on correcting our nascent gate sourness issue (plus a little jumping at home bc fun), and a jump lesson.

he, uh, blows giant gobs of half chewed grain out of his nose. like. often. it's gross. and i would say it's a total waste of grain, too, except.... uh....

Then, ya know, the aforementioned abbreviated warm up bc again, I can't stress this enough, it was HOT out. And warm up was in the indoor which basically felt like a dust-filled oven. Bleh.

yea he totally goes back and finds his boogers to EET THEM AGAIN WTF EW

And whadya know, our tests once we entered at A reflected our lack of preparation. They reflected our lack of practice, and of discipline. The exact things the judge said I needed to focus on before forging ever onward and upward.

dis his guilty side eye after i caught him eating his boogers

So. I just have to remember that Charlie is new to this job, too. He only knows what I tell him. He thinks he was a very good boy at this show, and for all intents and purposes, he was. I haven't told him any different, haven't shown him that actually I'm going to need a lot more from him.

destroying all the evidence. 

But if we want to do well in the dressage ring (and I do), I need to start showing Charlie that there is more. And showing him how to get there. Seriously and with purpose.

Because I do truly believe Charlie could be quite the striking horse in the dressage court. I think he's got it in him to earn some nice scores, to present a test that the judges enjoy watching. We just gotta keep working. But like, actually working. Not lip service, and not settling for mediocre when something better is within reach.

That's always the way tho with horses, isn't it? Always needs more. And better.