blowing smoke -- dressage edition

Oh hey there, happy Monday!! It was a WARM weekend around these parts, holy moly -- I lost count of all the flocks of geese and spring blossoms, but it was a LOT! 

behold! the dressage thoroughbred! 

Saturday in particular was pretty much perfect. It dawned chilly with below-freezing temperatures that promised not to flirt too heavily with 45*F until about 11am-ish... But... The air still had that balmy sort of feel where you just KNEW it was gonna be nice. 

I had planned to turn Charlie out in a sheet since we'd be bringing him in around 11 anyway... but damn, the 30*F at 7am was just so nice that we stripped all dem horses (Charles included) and sent them on their merry ways to bask in the sunshine as they saw fit. 

ooooooh and if it ain't the peanut gallery come to tailgate!! <3

Lucky for me, Charlie didn't actually roll much -- or if he did, he did it in the grass not the dust. I say "lucky" bc literally the only thing we did in preparation for this weekend's Fix-a-Test Clinic at Thornridge was, um, ahem, groom the horse. I tidied his mane, glossed his tail, trimmed his "feathers," and.... eh, called it good!

on our way to warm up

It's funny looking back on my post a couple weeks ago when I was like, "Ohmygod let's ride 2nd!!1!" I was so young then. So idealistic, optimistic, ambitious..ic. More realistically, tho, riding a big (for us) test means big preparation. And in winter, that's hella hit-or-miss. And esp when maybe we are excited to start jumping again too... Well. The sitting trot took back seat. I'd apologize except... nah, lol.

looking down to the warm up from inside this absolutely stunning barn

So. We decided to just carry on with riding the new Novice A test. It's a good test, and clearly our first foray in riding it showed some key areas for improvement. Plus, not gonna lie, the easy option felt like the right choice here. Almost without me knowing, Charlie has ended up on the trailer just about every single week for the last few weeks -- and has started showing signs he's ready for his spring wellness appointments. 

ha, sorry guys, my folks aren't horsey and this is legit the only action shot i have. bask in its glory!

And AND -- my aunt was in town from the West Coast, and we all had dinner plans that night --- meaning my parents were driving in from the Eastern Shore -- and, obviously, why wouldn't we all just meet at Thornridge for a little tailgate pregame, amirite?? 

Plus, as if we needed additional reasons, a new barn mate was coming along too, for her first official off farm fandango with her amazing horse George. I love George, he's a seasoned chestnut TB gelding who has done all things hunter, plus some. And now he has his very own person who wants to spoil him rotten and learn everything he has to teach. It's basically perfect -- so we were all aboard the "positive experience" train, ya know?

"come at me" -- charlie, 100%

Which... Was useful. Bc guys. Omg. Charlie was a BAD DOG for our own rides, oh my fucking god. 

Like. I don't say that lightly, but.... I also say it while my heart brims with love for this ridiculous emotional off-track brontosaurus that I'm lucky enough to call my own. 

But wowza. He was not good haha, and we learned nothing. 

very pretty at standing tho <3

AND!! We have like zero media to share with you so hahahaha you're just gonna have to take my word for it ;) 

For real tho, for those who have been following along for a while -- y'all already know that basically every horse, but especially Charlie, has a go-to tell when something is bugging them. Charlie's is all about refusing to go forward. His "dinosaur-stuck-in-a-tarpit" moments, as I've fondly referred to them over the years. 

click to embiggen if you want to see comments

Mostly we've moved beyond that via a mosaic of various approaches --- wellness, obvi, but also training. Wellness is probably the root cause of this ride's evil, since I already knew he was ready for his spring juice (and had already actually made the appt) but just sorta figured a lowkey dressage ride would be fine. 

Training is the other bugaboo tho bc... Guys, the lowkey dressage ride *should* have been fine. Woof, Charles, once he realized he wasn't in Kansas any more when he got away with his first little indiscretion (bc I was inadequately armed and not altogether emotionally prepared to use, ahem, all my aids in front of my non horsey family), he just went to fucking town haha. 

ermagerd they had the CT series ribbons for us -- we were novice champions, woot woot!

Like, at the end of the ring where the judge and scribe (AND MY FAMILY) sit, which also happens to be exactly where Charlie would like to halt and grow roots and not ever move ever again, thank you very much.... Well, if I so much as *touched* him with a spur in that general area, homeboy started letting fly with his hind legs jazz hands. 

for real, tho, bad dressage aside --- the tailgate with friends (esp new friends!) is where it's at!

Not even joking when I'm saying I was sitting up there on him, begging him to just go forward and "PLEASE DONT KICK THE PEOPLE, SIR!! :( "

It was, ahem, not our finest. 

everything is better with a little brewskis anyway <3

Scores were pretty banging tho, so uh, if you ever need a self confidence boost --- haul your ass over to Thornridge when Phoebe is judging!! And I say that as like, Person #1 in Phoebe's fan club lol. But.... The scores *are* a bit inflated. Tho, it's interesting to me to study the chart below and see what was the same with the last judge too, or esp what got worse. 

and obvi so nice to share my special (in every sense of the word) creature with family!
also please let the record state that charlie is obsessed with my mother

Honestly, I think this particular test, *for us,* lives and dies with that second 2-loop serpentine after the free walk. For whatever reason, Charlie is CONVINCED I'm going to ask him to canter in those corners, and since he's especially touchy about left lead departs, he gets a little riled by anticipation. So we end up losing basically that entire serpentine. 

Or, at least we have so far to date. I'm hoping it's something that can mostly be fixed by integrating new and different patterns into our schooling routine. Plus, ya know, the whole "wellness" thing. 

warning: positive trend lines may be misleading and can instill a false sense of security!

Anyway, tho, while the day wasn't really worth much in terms of experience or education or whatever, it was honestly a great day. Our new barn mate and George had an incredible experience --- including all the ups and downs of mistakes and whoopsies and total and complete validation. Such a good feeling! 

Plus --- possibly most importantly, it was so cool to have my parents and aunt there! My mom brought sandwiches and beers and chairs and the sun was shining and Amy came to hang out even tho Punky is still :( out of commission and we all hung out and and riffed and it was wonderful <3

Not gonna lie. At some point it's entirely possible that my horse habit is going to evolve to where we basically just ignore the horses entirely and enjoy the tailgate. But, eh, not quite yet ;) Hope y'all had a great weekend too!