Shawanderful CT

Hope you all enjoyed the weekend -- esp US readers who got to enjoy an extra day in honor of Memorial Day Weekend!

charles doin his charlie thing

We've often rung in the holiday weekend with a trip out to Loch Moy for their final event of the Spring season.... But this year, our local combined training association the MCTA reinstated their starter event at local Shawan Downs. Obviously we had to capitalize on this chance to compete at such an iconic venue!

my early morning attempt at cinematically capturing the rain....

It was funny, tho, in that.... not-actually-very-funny karmic sort of way... but all last weekend while I volunteered at the recognized HT in 90* temps, I couldn't help but feel smug that we'd have a much better forecast for our own starter this past weekend. PLUS -- the forecast even called for a little rain to soften up the ground!

charles wishes i didn't take him out in public dressed like this....

Smug is as smug does, tho, and I was singing a very different tune after 1inch+ of rain overnight, and the promise of much more to come throughout the day..... Ooh, and. Predicted gusts of 20mph, rendering it completely unwise to try setting up my nice 12'x12' canopy. Womp. 

i usually hate covering charlie's big beautiful star with a bonnet but... eh, it kept the rain out of his ears

Honestly, at this particular moment in my emotional development, I need basically everything to be 110% perfect for me to feel even mildly comfortable in the lead up to a show. So the whole "pouring cats and dogs" thing sorta predictably threw me through a loop.

guys he's become such a trier!!!!

But... Eh. The weather sorta lightened up a little bit as my dressage time rolled around. So ya know. I got on the horse and off we went. I didn't even stud Charlie up, although dressage was on wet muddy grass.... such was the extent of my non-commitment haha. But actually, bless him, Charlie was fine.  

judges always want more from him, but i honestly quite like this <3

Better than fine -- he's a pro. Obviously. 

good boy, sir

If you asked Charlie how he did in his test, he'd tell you: 

"I put my head down! I go-ed when she said go! I whoa-ed when she said whoa!! And I did all the turns nice and steady with my nose pointed in the correct direction -- and only slipped twice!!!! Basically, I won!"

link to our video here, complete with directives, 

scores, and judge commentary

Yes Sir. Obviously, yes, you won <3

scored test sheet for all y'all non video watchers

Obviously actual dressage judges are always coming into these things with all these expectations about roundness and suppleness and impulsion and uphill balance and energy and and and and... blah blah blah, lol. They're so needy haha.

he was surprisingly snug and satisfied hangin outside the trailer in just his rain sheet!

As far as I'm concerned, tho, I'm perfectly pleased with the test. First most bc I actually did it, go me. Secondly, bc Charlie obviously thinks he's basically the best at this (nobody ever tell him any differently, kthxbai). And third of all -- I kinda love the progression of scores haha. From straight 6's, to... ok, here's some 6.5s, to... huh, ok, straight 7s to finish. 

I don't think the judge loved how Charlie goes, but maybe couldn't deny that, actually, he goes just fine, thanks -- especially after a little canter! (Or, ya know, maybe I'm just *finally* figuring out how to ride his canter in a show ring lol....)

eternally grateful that the rain was much much lighter than anticipated

So anyway. The test was done. I'd walked my course the day before (thus avoiding the deluge), and Amy didn't do her dressage until the same time I jumped. So there really wasn't much else to do during the 2hr break before stadium but sit around inside the trailer, vacillating wildly about whether to jump at all or not. 

On one hand, ugh no let's scratch immediately. On the other, tho.... Emma. Emma. For cryin out loud, get on your horse and jump him around. Jesus christ. Pop in the studs, toss on the saddle. And do it.  

i'll spare you snapshots of every jump on course. but omg is this not THE ACTUAL CUTEST THO OMG?!
Old Bay, y'all. if you know -- you know

So I made a little deal with myself. A little compromise, let's say. I decided we'd just do the show jumping, but not the cross country. Not because anything was specifically wrong, per se, other than something being apparently broken deep inside my head at the moment. There's just this really strong feeling of "I don't wanna," and ya know. Who am I to deny my own self in that moment, lol?

 

helmet cam from our round!! 

sad not to have more media, it was a good one

That probably sounds crazy, but I'm kinda past trying to rationalize it or explain it at this point. All that mattered to me was, I settled on a deal with my own self, tacked up the horse, and set out to execute on that plan. 

We got to warm up right on time to warm up with the earliest birds in our class -- local legends Sally Cousins and Colleen Rutledge. Plus some very lovely ladies I've had the pleasure of riding with in lessons. AND a barn mate was there working as a groom, and thus setting fences. 

for all y'all non-helmet-cam video watchers out there, here's lauren nicholson doing the intermediate version of the course the week prior

This all felt very promising -- we could get in our warm up, benefiting from the progression in fence heights my friend was setting for her rider (not that Charlie needed it, but obvi this isn't really about Charlie any more, is it...). Then I got to watch the pros put together some lovely courses -- plus a couple of friends, before it was our turn. 

The course wasn't much different from when I was timer on the Intermediate through training courses the week prior -- but a couple jumps were taken out, plus some lines shifted to better ground in such a way as to open up the trickier turns. Overall -- it looked great. 

punky had a great day too!

And once on course? It really rode great too. I was very much all aboard the waiting train -- taking a balanced-but-with-impulsion canter to the base of every fence, given the ground conditions. But Charlie was in that perfect zone -- bang on the aids, ready to adjust and adapt at the drop of a hat. Including down the line from 3 to 4 when I wanted the seven strides but got there long and chucked the reins at him lol.... Nbd, he covered for me!

Everything else rode fine -- he landed great from all the jumps, made all the turns perfectly (even that quick turn on landing after jump 7) and nailed the two-stride to finish. Plus was so on point with his auto-changes that I legit do not remember a single moment on course where I even thought about it (tho you can see in the video where he does the changes).

added another white 4th place ribbon to the collection for our dressage placing 

It was a short course of just 9 jumps, but honestly I think Charlie would have done just as well had it been longer. He's just such a pro. 

And obviously I had no reason to suspect he'd be any different out on cross country. But we all know it's not really about that at this point. 

the bestest boy

So we finished show jumping, moseyed over to the TD to let them know we'd be withdrawing prior to xc, and I headed back to the trailer finally feeling relieved and happy haha. 

Honestly couldn't be more thrilled with Charlie's performance, too. Much to my surprise, we were tied for 4th -- right in the middle of the pack -- after dressage. Then moved into 3rd with our clear show jumping. It's pointless to speculate on what would have happened on cross country, but it's nice to think that even with all my ridiculousness, we can still get nice results that do justice to the horse haha. 

So. Another CT in the books haha. And when you consider the epic and wonderful xc lesson we had at the same venue last week, it's *almost* as if we'd done the full three phases lol. Almost. Good 'nuff, as far as I'm concerned!