Region 4 Championships; Saturday

Riley and I back in May.

Riley and I back in May.

The Open division 2nd Level Championships were held today, in which Riley and I competed. Our test was so much better than yesterday. It was not perfect, contrary to popular belief, I do occasionally have such rides… If a ride has mistakes and no one who knows you saw you ride, then were there actually mistakes? Or as a fellow competitor put it, “my mistakes flow from one movement to the next.” All (or some) joking aside, I was pleased with the ride. It could have been better, it could have been worse. That’s life and you live it.

In more detail, our warm up was good. I was more confident in the saddle. Riley had his resistances, but he was being Riley. Not stallion Riley. Just Riley. In the ring, we had lovely medium trots, passable lateral work, and unsubmissive canterwork consisting of a wrong lead, and a “moment” during a medium canter. In the moment, I had to decide between a couple options. A) Ask for the collection, and have his head pop up so high as to possibly cause him to blast out of the arena or B) use the short side and corners to collect. In the moment, I choose option B. We lost the score, but stayed in the ring. Okay, so maybe it would not have been as dramatic as ring-jumping, but I only had a moment.

Our judge at C was Hilda Gurney and it is always a pleasure to ride for her. I felt that she judged the class very fairly, as always, and one of her comments, “Nice sitting rider!”, has put this silly grin onto my face that I can’t seem to wipe off. I would not have gotten that comment in years past.

Riley, an unofficial SLADS volunteer, hard at work on weed eating the fence row.

Speaking of judges and their comments, I picked up my test sheet from yesterday and here’s what the judge further remarked upon, “Needs to be in a more sophisticated frame…” I passed around the laughable test (a fabulous 55%) for laughs around the barn and was told that if I rode for this judge again, perhaps I should stick my pinky finger out while saluting, for a more sophisticated flare. And maybe trade out Riley’s plain browband for a blinged out one. I suppose he thought that Riley and I were just heathens, running amok in his ring. Feral, undomesticated beasts of the field. I feel so blessed to be able to have that kind of ride and not feel negatively pressured or guilt-tripped, or harped on by those who are invested in me and Riley. Instead, those around me are supportive, understanding and helpful in their comments and criticism. How much I appreciate that and them, I can only hope to somehow convey.

Tonight was the Prix St. George Jackpot, which I would love to go into detail about, but I won’t because I need to be up at 4am tomorrow. Many of the riders did not place at all where I thought they might, which only served to facilitate my growing desire to pursue a judge’s card. It was a fun class to watch, as there were different horses and ways of going and different riders and ways of riding.

Let’s end on a mini-rant, just because I can. I know that we are in a barn but that does not mean that people need act as if they were raised there. Yesterday I was in the restroom minding my own business (see what I did there?) and in that very brief time period, I kid you not, only one person knocked while five others opened the door on me. It was locked with a chain so I wasn’t scandalized by any means, but I was astounded by the lack of common courtesy. Knock, please.

Region 4 Championships; Thursday

Riley waiting on his dinner after a relaxing massage.

The stars were still out and the sun had yet to show its face when I went out into the pasture to catch my show mount, Riley. I could see him, his dapple gray neck turned when I called out. “Ri-Man!” The chain jangled and clinked on the gate. He meandered over, the headlights of the truck and trailer illuminating him further.

Six hours later and we arrived at the National Equestrian Center in St. Louis, MO.

I felt at ease and ready to get out there and work and show Riley the show rings. I started off at ease. Then the worries set in. The old, nagging fears gripped me by the shoulders, reminding me. They reminded me of spooks and falls and bucks and rears. Of the unexpected adrenaline rush, of nervous butterflies, of fear and disappointment and not being good enough. The thoughts in my head manifested in my body and my body just so happened to be astride another body, Riley’s.

Riley waiting on his dinner after a relaxing massage.

It was not a bad ride. I spent most of it in my headspace, which is not usually the best place to be while riding. I spent even more time thinking about how the ride had went for the rest of the day, which is how I came up with a better plan for tomorrow’s ride. It’s all about the mental competition. With myself in my head. It is about the serenity and confidence that I need to feel inside that will translate to my horse and show up in the ring.

You are not going to make a training break through at a show. You are going to ride the horse you have the way that you know how to ride it. You are not going to “fix” anything at a show. In fact, you will probably ride at least a step lower than you do on your most mediocre day at home. It’s called a show. You don’t learn something new. You show off what you know.

I know a lot more than I used to. I know what I am doing and I am capable of doing all of it, as is my horse.

No one ever told me that it is easy to break old habits. No one said that I could get over old fears by force. I know the key is to be repetitive and positive. It’s all you can do. Small steps, one at a time. There is no quick fix, no easy out. It takes dedication.

No wonder this is a sport (which I go so far as to call a career and lifestyle) that I love.

The Daily Ride; 07042012

Partially because it was hot and partially because it was a holiday, we got to have a “take it easy” day. By that I mean I did barn chores/feeding, taught a lesson and rode two horses. It was rather nice to relax, watch some YouTube, and take an afternoon nap in the A/C.

Maybe I was feeling a little liberated and adventurous for a change, but regardless of what prompted me to do it, I went ahead and rode bareback for the first time in a long time. Riding Sadie in or out from her field doesn’t count. The last time I remember riding bareback was on Christmas Day. I was home and went out to the barn to give Miss Take her Christmas treats with my sister and so we had a little photo shoot and I rode her bareback then tackles. I may have ridden Sadie once or twice bareback between then and now, but it’s safe to say that I don’t ride bareback nearly as much as I used to. I didn’t even mind the sweat on my breeches because I had already been sweaty since I stepped out the back door.

I brushed off the section of Racharee’s back where I would be sitting, fly sprayed her, bridled, and mounted up. It very well may have been her first time being ridden bareback. I don’t know. Bareback isn’t a big thing here. I tried to recall the few bareback lessons I had taken back home, but couldn’t conjure up enough memory of them to really work on anything, plus work wasn’t really my goal for the ride. I just wanted to w/t/c around the ring and feel confident about it.

Rae was fairly comfortable bareback. I give her 4 out of 5 stars for her bareback comfort rating. I could feel her spine, but as long as I kept her back up, it did not jab me in the crotch. And although her barrel filled up my short legs pretty well, she had a nice area for my legs to fall around her. We did a bunch of upward transitions from trot to canter. As usual, I started off a bit leery of the transition. Not only is that a scary place for me, it also used to be the only bad part of riding Rae. I struggled through a year of bad canter transitions before we finally had a breakthrough lesson. Once I felt comfortable about the transition, I tidied it up so that we kept a smooth flow from one gait to the next.

Of course I couldn’t resist a little fun, so we did some trot half pass. I wanted to take note of something, which is when I stretched her down in the trot, Racharee maintained a steady tempo. When I ask her to stretch during the trot undersaddle, she most always speeds up. I don’t know if it was because I was sitting the trot rather than rising since I wasn’t planning to torture myself with stirrupless posting or because she had caught on to the whole “taking it easy” and noticed my lack of whip and motivation. Nonetheless, I will try sitting the trot when stretching her down the next time I ride her. If I remember, that is.

Since Rae was so good, I think I will make it a point to ride her bareback whenever I can. I think it would be an especially good idea in the winter because it’ll keep me warmer. I certainly sat a lot straighter doing our walk pirouettes!

As a nice touch to this sweltering Independence Day, we had a mini cookout and ate dinner under the shade of the trees in the front yard while watching the mares and their fillies. It’s so much fun trying to figure out their developing personalities and studying their developing bodies and conformation. I guess today Tesla was taking a dip with both of her front legs in the water trough, as that is what was reported to me. If she tries to go for a swim again, I will try to capture it on the camera for you. And I suppose one day or another the fillies will have a few posts dedicated to them since they are quite endearing at this stage. (: