Dressage + stadium recap!

Since it was a two day event, Dressage and Stadium happened on the same day. Dressage was in the morning and Stadium   Started a Little later at 10am (hahaha. Yup 10am was “later”) my main coach didn’t end up going to this event, but I managed to find someone else to coach me in the warmup rings. It was a bit harder, not because this other coach (let’s call her trainer J) was bad, not at all! She was quite good! But just because she doesn’t know what I normally do in my warmup, or what works for Me and Ollie, etc etc. But my warmup was pretty good. Ollie was definitely tense, (and I bet me being a little nervous didn’t help!) but he was willing to consider listening to me.

A Enter working trot. C track right.

ok… we got a 7. Which is the best mark in the whole test. I think my attempt at a “smile” probably looked more like a grimace as I worked as hard as possible to keep Oliver on the bit.

B to E half circle right.

huh. Half circle? That means… it’s supposed to look like a half square right? Again, a HUGE struggle to keep Ollie on the contract for even the two-three steps that we managed. Mark was 6.5

Between H and C development working canter right lead.

This can be accomplished by having the horse throw it’s weight into the front end then bolting for the middle of the arena. Forget about the up coming “circle” (6.5 was very generous of the judge!)

C circle right 20m working canter.

Comments include, but not limited to, “hurried, rushed, and shaped like a 0” Although a fun 1/4 of the circle WAS completed on a contact. So. We scored a 6.

 between B and F working trot.

I was unprepared for this, and the score reflects that at 5.5 but at least we Survived!😉

K-X-M change rein working trot.

I actually thought this was pretty good. But apparently our pace changed, and we got a 6.

E to B half circle left.

Here my circle was VERY shallow. It more resembled a straight line across the arena.    We ended up with a 5 on it.

Between M and C development working canter left lead.

Ollie can up above the bit again, and I was wasn’t very good about my track. We got a 6 though.

C circle left 20m working canter

The less said about this the better. 5.5

 between E and K working trot.

I needed to balance more, and the down transition was a bit rushed. 5.5

K-F working trot.

A little tense. But not bad. 6.5

F-B medium walk.

Needs more “March” 6

 B to H change rein free walk.

Free walk has never been out strong point. We got a 6, which I think is actually the best mark I’ve ever gotten on it lol. I think I got a 4.5 once.  we could still use more strength in the walk and more stretch. But we can work on that.

H-C medium walk. C working trot.

some tension, and we needed more bend in the corner. 6

A down centre line X halt salute.

i should have done more preparation for the halt, but we got a 6. Overall, our score was 40.8. I mean. Not our best. But then not out worst either! Plus we had moved up a level! While I wouldn’t say I was 100% *happy* with it, I’m not annoyed with myself about it or anything like that. I realize that we have a lot to work on. But both Ollie and I have come such a long way from the four years ago when I first got him! Now on to Stadium…

I almost think it would be easier to just post the video. Ollie was good in the warmup, (although, I’m starting to think that I should change a couple things about my warmup routine… more on that later)  and I was feeling pretty good going into the ring. The first “sign” that it wasn’t going to go according to plan was when I entered the ring and Ollie, would. Not. Walk. He had to trot, or canter. And I ended up in the top corner before the judge had dinged her bell. I did not get a good approach to jump one. At first, he saw it, and started pulling me towards it. I thought, this is awesome! He’s super eager! But then about two/three strides out he was like “NOPE” and started stalling. I gave him a little Whack, and he went over. (though very hesitantly) jump two was… fine. But don’t even ask me what happened at jump three. He brought the whole jump down lol. Then it was the two three stride. Then an oxer on a weird angle, to a yellow upright, then a five stride line, around over the last jump which Ollie and I also bought crashing down. Hahahahahahaha. It felt awful, but again, at least we survived! (Btw, yes. I was starting to FREAK OUT about the thought of XC.)

videos of my Dressage test and Stadium round if you’re interested:

 

 

Ok! That’s all for now. I’ll try and get the XC part of my Adventure written and posted soon! Because I’m sure everyone is dying to hear about the horrifying Brush thing that is still giving me nightmares;-))

The stalls at the event are actually indoor. Ollie hates them. Since the stalls they use for the shows don’t have bars on top of the door, he tries to jump out. Luckily, I was able to contact them and request a stall with bars on top of the door. Unfortunately the one they offered me was in a large barn that did not have any other horses in it. Since I knew Ollie would HATE that, I contacted them again and asked if I could put him in the barn they use for their boarders. Everyone was super nice about it and I was able to stick him in there! He had pony friends with him 24/7, plus the boarder barn was nice and cool so I didn’t have to use a fan. As an extra bouns, they had just refinished the it! And It was very nice. Ollie was super relaxed in there! ☺️

Clear rounds day = Success!

The clear rounds day I Mentioned was on Saturday, and it went really well! I did four rounds, one at 2’3”, one at 2’6” and two at 2’9”. Ollie was super!

I did get some media, but it’s not the best as it was just a cell phone camera. Oliver is so cute though, he makes up for the not very good photo quality.

here is the video of my first 2’9” round.

 

 

And here is lots of pictures!

2’6”

2’9”

Trying to slow down… (2’9”)

2’9”

2’9”

2’6”

2’9”

The show itself was great! But remember how I said that we trail ride over? We do… and we did. However, apparently blackberry bush cutters like to work on Saturday? With their big noisy machines? And block the whole trail while chopping it down? The “absolutely nightmareish” (in the horses eyes anyway.) Tractor/chopping machine was smack in the middle of the trail that my sister and I needed to take to get to our show. Also, it was turned on.

Picture photobombed by my horse.

Ahh that’s better. (But not really…)

Clearly it was scary. We ended up having to dismount and lead our horses (Brianna was riding one of our coaches horses Foxy) past the big scary machine. Which was fine. It wasn’t a big deal… but… there was a… creek right behind the bush cutter. So we ended up walking through the creek and getting completely soaked and having our boots fill up with water. Lovely. Also take into account that all this is happening before 9am so it was quite cold out. Luckily, after the creek there was a log that we used to mount up again, and the trail ride continued without incident. Or… did it? From my house to the show grounds, is a 20-30 minute hack. You have to cross 3 creeks + 2 large lake-like puddles. At that point we’d crossed 1 creek and 1 puddle. We crossed the next puddle without a problem. Then came the next creek…

A Little History.

this is the creek that goes by the name “treacherous river”

after the “Treacherous river” is what goes by the name of “hippie campsite.” OR “party area” OR there was even one person staying there who was a Sasquatch hunter? When it is a hippie camp (that is what it was on Saturday, which is much better the “Party area”) It often has 1-5 school buses that have been converted into RVs, 1-3 tents. 1-4 cars, and a couple couches scattered around in the bushes for resting on. There is also normally at least one dog. Did I forget to mention the people? There is always lots of hippies hanging around to. Because the “hippies” don’t normally say much (just something like “heeeyyy duude.”) they are fairly scary for the horses-people hiding in bushes + mysteries dog woofing that cannot be seen + lots of school buses. It’s always fun to ride past. Haha… not.

Weeeeeee!!

also, Happy April fools everyone!* I couldn’t think up any cool jokes this year unfortunately (NOOO!!! 😫) but I read the funniest posts on Emma’s blog and on Emily’s blog. Maybe I can think up something like that next year? 😁 (hehe, beware.)

*this post is not a April fools joke, as much as I wish the hippie camp didn’t exist, it does. 😦