A Weekend of Firsts

What a weekend! It was full of a bunch of firsts for us including some first places, but more importantly (I mean I was the only one in the jr/yr division) it was my first time riding at DevonWood, both Pony and my first recognized, our first time doing 2nd level, and I just thought of this but it was also our first weekend long dressage show. That is a lot of firsts for one weekend! This is going to be a long one so I will try to break it up with pictures :)

We will start with a picture (by Alanna!) of the gorgeousness of DevonWood

We hauled the ponies up Friday early afternoon and both quickly settled in. After getting slightly organized we tacked up and went for our first ride. As a warm up I decided to walk him around the property. For those unfamiliar, DevonWood has 5 outdoor arenas with walking paths all around them all and the view includes mountains, trees, and the gorgeous barn. Just simply being on my own horse walking around that property, with that view you see above, was a dream come true for me! Seeing all the big fancy upper level horses and actually realizing I was at a recognized event started setting in and I definitely let it all get to our ride. It wasnt awful but it wasnt anything close to what we can do. The good part was that we got to ride in the indoor, where we had to ride both our Saturday tests, and our ride was in no way a reflection of how he was being. He was cool as a cucumber, as usual, and after untacking he got his dinner and tucked in for the night.

A spacious room with a view. Just how he ordered it!

Saturday morning we started out with first level test 3 (they dont really run anything in order). He warmed up really well but I was definitely super thankful to have Mary there to warm us up. I tend to, like many others who have putzed around the lower levels, get into my test and stop actively riding my horse. Who would have thought that if you keep riding your horse your ride gets better?! The last minute advise was to not be afraid to really lift up on my inside rein and get him bending around my leg. We headed down the centerline, turned left at C, headed for the diagonal for our trot lengthening, and boom the best one I have ever felt from him! So springy and powerful, keep in mind he is a fat Gypsy so it isnt anything spectacular still, and the rest was smooth sailing from there. It wasnt a perfect test and I didnt ride him super well but it was a solid test and earned us 65.96 %. It was easily our best first level test ever and I was slightly disappointed with the score but I just needed to tell myself that the judging is MUCH tougher than anything we have been faced with and out of 12 or so horses in the class (if it was not split into divisions) we were in a 3 way tie for 2nd but we got ourself a blue ribbon because of the division split :) A huge thank you goes out to Alanna for always showing up and cheering us on even when we are an hour and a half away! She is the best when it comes to helping me get ready (like when I have had all morning but still end up not getting ready soon enough and end up rushing to get on!), keeping me relaxed, and taking the best pictures. Good horsey friends are seriously priceless and there is no way half the shows I have gone to would have gone as smoothly if she wasnt there!

Pony cuteness before our first test

We rode our first test just after 11 am and then had a nice 6 hour break before we had to ride first level test 2 just before 6 pm which gave him a nice rest and he got to visit his favorite part of DevonWood, which was the grazing area that had foot tall green grass to eat. I literally had to drag him away from that area the entire weekend and he tried dragging me to it during every walk! Going into our second test we knew we needed as little warm up as possible and I hoped on him 25 minutes before my ride time and had a nice walking warm up. Sadly what was supposed to be 25 minutes until my ride time ended up being about 40-45 minutes until my ride time. Tired Pony + extra 20 unneeded minutes under saddle = really lazy/tired pony. The long day definitely took its toll on both of us and I didnt pull my weight as much as I should have. I began tickling him with my whip throughout beginning of the test which helped but since I havent ever really used it in a test I forgot about it towards the end. Something that I need to keep working on as he responds very well to it. That being said it was still a respectable test, under a more stingy judge, and got us a 64 %.  Considering that not one single horse broke into the 70s that day I think we held our own against the big boys! One thing that I was also proud of was that on our collective marks, for both tests, I scored a 7 on riders position and on harmony between rider and horse! He is just so consistent and reliable but really needs my help to get him carrying himself and if I dont show up to really ride he doesnt get the ride he needs.

M is for Mystic :)

With day 1 under our belts, along with our first level scores needed for our bronze medal since they were under two different judges, we only had to focus on one test for today which was our second level test. Thankfully we didnt do first level today because they started out the day, beginning at 7:30am, and I was so glad I didnt have to get up any earlier! Our test was not until 2:12 so I had time to help/watch Mary along with re wash Pony and take him on a few "here have some more energy" grazing walks. I hopped on at 1:40 and we just walked around for 10-15 minutes before picking him up and really getting him to work right away. I tend to let him talk me into less demanding work so it was nice to finally have Mary with me so she could help coach me through a shorter yet more effective warm up. Our parting words were to a) still dont be afraid of lifting my inside rein b) dont be afraid to tickle him with my whip, especially in the mediums and c) if he gets heavy push him forward do not pull him back. That was, by FAR, the best ride I have ever given him in a test. I had some errors here and there, as far as the geometry of the test and letting up to early in our mediums, but we didnt completely blow anything just had a few not as great moments (such as one of our shoulder ins that I didnt get him into very well so it took about half way through for me to get it back... hello 5.5). I was THRILLED from the moment I saluted at G at the end of the test. He was spot on for the ride I gave him and all of the little mistakes were completely my fault.

So what does a fat black and white pony score at 2nd level? 64.4% of course :) Out of the 8 riders we tied for 3rd, but ultimately got 4th because ties are broke by your collective marks (aka: our 6 for impulsion). What a good Pony! We actually got quite a few 7s including our walks (both medium and free), both our simple changes, a counter canter serpentine, collected canter circles, our centerline, and for our collective marks in both rider position and harmony. Not to shabby for our first time! Nothing new but we just need to keep chipping away at improving our mediums, especially at the trot. The good part is that I feel like we actually improved some of our work over the weekend and found ways to begin improving it also. Now we have a month to get back to work to hopefully do even better at Heart of the Valley in May! Overall I could not be happier with how this weekend went and Pony earned himself a couple days off, he was one exhausted pony tonight!  I will try to write more about the non-show aspect of the show such as peoples comments and thoughts about him later. For now, I am off to bed!

For those that made it all the way through... I leave you with this seriously amazing pictures taken by Alanna

Getting Ready

Monday we had an awesome pre show lesson where we got some seriously fun collected canter going on. He may not be the most amazing mover ever but dressage has seriously improved his gaits, especially his canter! We know that our trot lengthenings/mediums are going to be low scores but as long as I give him a good ride he is pretty solid in everything else. Trot lenthenings have always been our weak point and although we have improved them for some reason I am not great at setting him up for them or riding them. Sometimes I can get good ones, for him, and sometimes it looks like a train wreck. I have a bad habit of getting into my test and just being a passenger but I think with Mary being there with us this weekend it will help!

He got a nice pre washing yesterday and today and depending on how he looks tomorrow will get more touch ups while at DevonWood. We are hauling up tomorrow early afternoon but dont show at all until Saturday so we will be able to go school in the arenas and do some clean up work on him should he need it. Then Saturday we get to ride both our first level tests in the beautiful indoor arena and Sunday we get to debut at 2nd level in the seriously gorgeous big outdoor arena (one of the 5 outdoor arenas!). I am hoping there is a videographer there and will get all my rides taped. Alanna is coming up Saturday armed with her camera so I am sure we will get gorgeous pictures too :) This weekend is what I have been waiting to do for years and years! Go Team Pony!

Almost Time

We are now officially one week away from having the first day, of our first recognized dressage show, under our belt! I am getting very excited for it and cant wait to see what the judges think of us. I am trying not to get my hopes up but when I see other horses scoring really well with not so correct looking work (to me at least... I guess I could be all wrong!) I thank God that Mary is helping us get correct work instead of faking it, which we might still do sometimes but try not to! It may not be easy now but when we are ready to move up to 3rd it would bite us in the butt! Seeing other horses tests and scores makes me feel a lot better about where we are at and definitely encourages me. It may be my super competitive side coming out but everyone that knows me knows how much I like to win. Not to mention Pony has spoiled me rotten by winning majority of his tests. I honestly think we have gotten like 3 second places, either behind our trainer or another trainer who is also our friend, and have won the rest. We have also only scored below a 65 % very rarely and over 70 % several times. Yes, I have been very spoiled :)

We have had several really nice rides this last week. Yesterday we had a relaxed bareback ride to break up a few hard dressage rides before getting back into work today. We have a lesson on Monday, then will do a light ride Tuesday, dressage Wednesday, bath on Thursday, and hauling up on Friday morning!

Tomorrow after we ride I will get back to work on his hind feather and pee stains. I also still need to go over my tests. I havent looked at them at all and my memory is awful. I have ridden both 1st-2 and 1st-3 but it has been over a year and I dont remember them in full. Although I have never ridden 2nd-1 I watched Mary ride it with Pony last year and have the gist of it also. I just need to print them off and learn them really well so I dont do something stupid like going off test on a 1st level test haha! YAY for the start of our 2014 show season!

Vacation Hangover

I definitely have a bad case of a vacation hangover and havent quite gotten back into the swing of things but I am getting there. We didnt get home until 1 30 am on Sunday morning but I still managed to pull myself out to the barn the next day to take Pony for a spin. He really wanted to be really heavy but by the end we got some nice work and called it a day. With the new term starting on Monday and me not catching up on my sleep enough I headed home after work on Monday and didnt get a ride in. I figure it isnt bad for him to have a few days getting back into the swing of things with me since we are now officially in buckle down mode until DevonWood in the Spring which is next weekend (SO excited!)!

His best beggar face after his ride

Tonight I got in another ride (after getting trampled in the pasture while trying to catch my horse by another stupid gelding) but it wasnt anything super hard. Alanna ended up bringing baby Emi up to the barn because Roz is a little off so we just did a quick walk/trot/canter getting him moving off my legs and not being heavy in the bridle before we took Emi over for some ponying trot work. Both the ponies were good and Emis trotting by us improved a lot by the end, yay for baby ponies :) It is really nice to have Mystic for all of these baby sitting duties! He is really good and even if she would get a little excite or run in to his butt he just kept trucking forward (probably wondering why his mom makes him do all this crazy stuff ha). I love this boy!

Tomorrow we are back to real dressagin :)

Pictures!

I am currently on vacation but have gotten good reports from back home about Pony :) here are some pictures from last weekend at the Expo, they came out super good!

Perfect Weekend!

This is going to be a long one, but here we go! What a great weekend we had at the Horse Expo! After a long day at the barn yesterday getting him all bathed and packed we hauled out to the fair ground last night. Both ponies settled in great and after setting up his stall and getting situated I took him for a nice walk in the arena just to let him stretch his legs after standing in the wash rack all afternoon. As usual, there were no issues and both ponies were happily munching their hay and had drank water. Horse like these two making traveling and showing so much less stressful!

All settled in!

This morning I headed out and took him for another walk around the place where he of course had many fans watching him. He is usually a personable guy but he was all about being right by me and just hanging out all day. He even wasnt munching on they hay in his stall because he was pretty sure the longer he looking at me all cute the better chance he had of coming out to hang with us, adorable! Just before 1 our favorite helper showed up with some braiding string that I had forgotten and she got to work putting up his forelock while I re braided his mane. We tacked up, hopped on, and walked the ponies around outside since the the warm up arena was super crowded and figured that Dolly would probably warm us up anyways. While we were walking around Dolly actually came out and introduced herself so we got to chat with her a little. She was very complimentary of our horses already and said that all of them already go on the bit (the topic of this session) so asked us what we would like to work on. Mary (our wonderful trainer) also pointed out to me that Dolly will actually be one of our judges at Heart of the Valley in May, it will be fun to show her our progress.

Because when we had talked to Dolly prior to our session she had noted that all of us had mentioned some struggles with, or involving, lateral work that was a main focus of our session. The cool part about our group of horses was that we had Mary and Rheiny (showing 4th level), me and Pony (showing 2nd level), and a western dressage lady (I think showing 1st?) so between all of us we were able to show the audience the different stages of of movements such as the half pass and flying/simple changes. We started with all 3 of us on a circle, with Dolly in the middle, turned in facing her and had to leg yield our horse on the circle. She was very complimentary of Pony and kept telling everyone that he was just showing off! One big point that I took away from today was that I need to be more in tune with my position in our lateral work, well in general too but really in lateral work. The horses want to follow your weight and if you are asking your horse to move off your left leg but are also sitting to the left you are making your horses job much harder. After moving into the trot we did some shoulder in where she noted that tracking right she would like to see more bend (already know that!) but tracking left she was pleased. After showing the audience going down the long side she had turn in to face them and do each movement so that they could really tell the difference between them. We then moved on to the travers along with the half pass. Pony pretty much has solid travers and Dolly loved that right off the bat I was really riding him on 4 tracks and made a special point to say that is exactly how I should ride it. Next up was the half pass, Pony and I haven't done much of it but recently have really improved on it at home. We didnt get nearly as nice of a half pass today as we do at home but because of how we were having to show the audience we were coming onto it at an awkward angle (and not how it would be in a test). Dolly still said that we have a good start and although we didnt have enough bend to put in a solid 3rd level half pass she said she has no question that we will. Along with making sure we sat straight, or slightly towards the direction we were asking our horse to go, she also got onto us about keeping our eyes up. She said it is a super common habit that people who ride alone get because in her words "People think staring at their horses head will make them go around better!". I didnt realize how much I try to look down until she kept saying to look at her. It is definitely something I will try to pay attention to more and make a better effort at not doing. After doing our lateral work we got to move into the canter. She said he has a nice rhythmic canter but that she would like to see him moving more uphill and knew that it was a constant battle for us and said to just keep working on it. To end the session we did a few changes of lead across the diagonal. Mary got to lead the way with her pretty flying changes and the first time across Dolly had us just do a change through the trot where she complimented our nice steady transitions. For the second time across we did a simple change where we had a nice canter to walk but I didnt set him up well for the walk to canter and ended up getting the wrong lead before correcting it. Our final time through she wanted us to do two simple changes across the diagonal. We have never done this before and I was super impressed that Pony laid down 2 seriously nice ones! Dolly was very impressed and said we had beautiful simple changes that would have scored really nicely! Our hard work is paying off!

Waiting to get braided, he loved checking out his sign.

At the end she complimented all three of us and said we were all very nice balanced, coachable riders and she wanted to take us all home with her :) She told me that Mystic is a very nice horse and will do very well at 2nd level. Everyone loved him of course and he had fun at the end walking along the outside fence stopping and saying hi to all the kids sticking their arms up. We actually had quite the crowd watching our session by the end with the stands full and many more standing. Alanna texted me and told me she got 700+ pictures of today so I am sure there will be many to follow once she can go through all of them!

Alanna sent me a few to tide me over :)

Getting some love after a great, hard ride!

All hosed off and ready to be braided for turnout. He was hamming it up for cookies :)

Back to normal and just in time

Let just say that our rides this week have been less than stellar and has had me just a little worried about this weekend. And when I say less than stellar I mean the worst rides we have potentially ever had and all in a row. I was beyond frustrated and was at a loss as to why all the sudden we were having so many issues doing basically anything. Some friends asked if maybe he was hurting but he didnt feel different and was happy to go on a stroll down the road but after train wreck ride #3 I started to question things. I even stuck him on the longe line just to make sure and he was totally fine, ears perked and doing his normal pokey I dont want to move act. On that note I decided to just have a nice easy and relaxed bareback ride yesterday as I was really not feeling up to really riding and obviously I needed to change something (and soon) that I was doing.

This morning I headed to the Expo with Alanna and some more friends to hang out! We did some shopping (the sales are getting pretty lame there but I picked up a new dressage whip, some bit wipes, and some boot polish for my new tall boots) and some watching, it was super fun! If anyone ever has a chance to go watch Chris Cox, DO IT! We saw him here last year also and no matter what discipline you ride he is super fun to watch and you really see results in just a short amount of time. I could never do what he does as he deals with some pretty crazy people (and their just as crazy horses). Along with showing dramatic results he is also super hilarious. He is one cowboy I would put on any of my horses!

After going to the Expo (and work... ewww) I headed out to ride Pony, praying all the way there that we would have a decent ride. And... we finally did! Although he is a really good boy, he definitely knows when I am frustrated and then he tries to throw all of his new found dance moves at me at once which is even more frustrating! It is something I need to work on and be mindful of but sometimes I forget that because rarely do we ever have rides like we were having. Underneath his fat boy exterior he is just a big sensitive teddy bear :) I am excited to hear what Dolly has to say about us on Sunday. Then early Monday morning I am off for a family spring break trip and his Auntie Alanna will take the reins for a few rides while I am gone!