To New Horizons

 Thunder's year started off so well. We had our Elementary-Medium (between 2nd and 3rd Level) debut in December 2020, and went on to compete every month up until March 2021. I was working really hard on improving my attitude and confidence levels at shows, which I honestly did, and we were pretty solid. We had one bad show in February where we scored in the low 50s, but overall we scored 61-67% and garnered 7 grading points. We need 10 grading points to move up to Medium (3rd).

We also became a real little team at competitions, and I'm not just talking about Thunder and I. The beloved, trusty driver and groom, is just as much part of the team as the two of us actually in the arena. Getting to do this with him is one of my favourite things about competing Thunder.

groom extraordinaire in action, taking the reins and handing over the Powerade in one movement while also listening to me complain about our walk-to-canter transitions and wearing a T-shirt reading "I can do this all day"

also cracking some silly joke to make my smile come back and realize how honoured I am to be here, walk-to-canter or no

Our last show was in March, where we rode Elementary-Medium 2 and 3. Test 3 is a little harder, with optional flying changes and a few little half-passes, and Thunder absolutely aced it. We opted for simple changes on the day, but we still got a 67% and third in a big strong class.

Then, in April, Thunder got biliary. It was very mild but I gave him six weeks off on the vet's recommendation because it's so hard on their circulatory system. That put us back to work in mid-May, when we did some good work but all the shows were closed because of COVID. Of course, just as things began to open up again, he hung a leg in his haynet and got another six weeks off.

By the time he could come back to work in the last week of September, Thunder was well and truly unfit. I decided to take the opportunity to really build him up from square one with a solid lungeing program.

I haven't been good about keeping him in a good fitness program historically. Part of this is just because I am so, so busy and when I do get a gap to ride my horse, I really want to ride him, not lunge him. But it's time for me to get a little more serious about my goals and intentions with this horse. I will love and enjoy him no matter what, but if I want to spend money on dressage, I want to go as far up the levels as is comfortable for him. And that means taking our work a bit more seriously.

What's more, summer is finally here. I can bounce out of bed at five and tack him up by a quarter to six in lovely soft daylight, long before the rest of the world wakes up and starts making demands.

We spent the whole of October almost exclusively lungeing. I started with just six minutes of trot (three on each rein), and built it up by two minutes each week, then started adding two minutes of canter. We lunged at least three days a week and worked at least four days a week; I rode him a few times, but mostly just in stretchy trot, no real schooling until last week. We've built up to ten minutes of trot and six minutes of canter in total now and he is doing so well. The angry, resistant Thunder I used to have for the lungeing is gone, probably because I took my time conditioning him properly.

I would love to have gotten some long, slow distance miles on him first, but there is nothing long and slow about Thunder on an outride at the moment honestly. K is going to help me fix that this summer. This fitness program has also worked extremely well with the Friesians: I think this body type benefits a lot from a program of short but correct lungeing. Coach J has had good success with it, anyway, considering he has several Friesians and other "off-breeds" in the international levels, including a little 14.3hh Boerperd that he bought from an auction for the equivalent of $30 because he felt sorry for it. (That one went GP, and I got to ride him once!)

The footing in the lunge is pretty hard. His legs are flawless despite 7 years of pounding on it, but I do worry, so he gets IceTite in the evenings after lungeing

In October, I rode him about two or three times and actually schooled him once, going through single flying changes a bit of canter-walk-canter - nothing hectic. I was pleasantly surprised to find a LOT more energy under me. We spent a few rides in the winter arguing about responding to my leg, and I think that it did help that I focused on this quite a lot, but there always seemed to be more to it than just sheer lack of responsiveness from him. I do know how to get a horse in front of my leg and have done it successfully with others, but I just couldn't quite get it from him. I had the niggling feeling that he just didn't have the oomph - not that anything was sore or "wrong", just that he kept running out of energy.

nothing like the morning light on a freshly raked arena

So I rang up the nutritionist and said, "I need something to make my horse HOT." She first suggested Capstone Perform Time, which I've used before and which made the kids' horses into tail-flagging, snorting maniacs but had exactly zero effect on Mr. Thunderbird. Then she suggest Spurwing Energy Supplement, which is basically a handful of pure energy designed to make even the dullest schoolie leap through the ceilings. Also tried that before, and it does nothing to him. Eventually she had us try Capstone Stud Time, which is a very high-energy, high-protein feed designed for pregnant and lactating broodmares. I had the sense that she feared she might be sending me to my grave, but it has had just the right amount of effect on Thunder. He has a bit of sass and plenty of stamina these days, and the extra fats have done wonders for his coat - and the extra protein is bulking him up really nicely.

mid-October

All that combined to give me a really great ride on him on Tuesday. He was feeling super strong and happy under me, so I asked for a bit more - more push in the lateral work, walk-trot-walk transitions in shoulder-in and half-pass, a few of his poor desperate little mediums, and then some more correct flying changes and a few steps of pirouette canter here and there. He totally rose to the challenge, so much so that I decided we were ready for a lesson on Wednesday (yesterday).

end of October

I was hoping that we could just work on a few basics, even if the lesson ended up being very short. I know him well enough to know if he started to flag and Coach is pretty good at spotting a tiring horse anyway, and wouldn't push us past his limits. He was a little bit hesitant to load (the beloved was not amused) and a little more chatty and curious than normal when we arrived at the Friesian farm. Coach was riding their Advanced stallion and doing insane piaffes and pirouettes and whatever, which Thnder watched intently. I had a little concern that my new, energetic Thunder might also be my insane, spooky Thunder, but as soon as I got on his back, he was all business, marching around the arena and even stretching nicely. Seems like we've hit the sweet spot of more energy but still his usual workmanlike calm.

I have no lesson media so here he is covered in Equi-Soothe in a bid to stave off his itchiness

We warmed up with a lot of lateral work in walk. I had forgotten my spurs at home but he seemed quite OK, if a little slow off my leg. Coach immediately got on my case about that, reminding me not to push harder with my leg if his response was slow. Instead, I had to give him a bump with my heel ("tap with an imaginary spur") or a touch with the whip, asking for a brisk response to a LIGHT leg aid - not escalating the leg aid. This worked really great and soon he was dancing off my leg well in the walk. We also did a few walk-trot transitions in a steep leg-yield or half-pass. Coach emphasized that if I intensify my leg aid, he should immediately break to trot or even canter. "More leg should always be more energy". I actually do know this and apply it to other horses, and now that Thunder had more gas in the tank, he was able to rise to what I was asking him to do and we had a big improvement.

my eleven-year-old helper does little chores in exchange for lessons and she adores him. She was supposed to be doing his mane but when I checked on her through my cottage window she was just loving on him which is fine by me

Once he was powerfully through and responsive in the walk, Coach had me start collecting and extending the walk, focusing on keeping the collected walk short and active. He also emphasized that I need to change Thunder's neck as well as pushing his bum underneath him. He can't lift his shoulders if he's overbent or pulling down onto his neck. Instead, I have to let him come up in front, much higher than his Novice/Elementary frame. When he felt "hollow", he looked good in the mirror - poll the highest point, neck long, throatlatch open, but definitely higher than he used to be. This allowed him to become far more uphill.

With the collected walk improving, Coach had me pop him straight into canter, thinking about staying at exactly the same speed - cantering as fast as a walk. It took us a while to get here. We cantered a 20m circle and Coach just had me think about keeping his neck up and pushing him under from behind, not trying to pull him slower from in front. (You know... like, super basic dressage). I felt like I was using a lot of leg to hold him together, but it was a soft, lifting leg, more just contact than actually squeezing. Squeezing just made him rush. I struggled with keeping my hands higher (higher neck = hands need to be higher to maintain the straight line elbow-hand-bit) and kept wanting to jam my hands down to slow him down.

Eventually, though, with much "HANDS UP!!" from Coach, we suddenly hit a canter that I have never felt before on this horse. I've had moments on Navarro, but never so many sustained strides of such a collected canter. He literally cantered at the speed of a walk, and it wasn't a huge, springy canter, but it was solidly three-beat and uphill - I don't think he ever dropped to four beats. He was strong and straight and uphill in his neck but soft when I asked him to bend a little, not locked. I was actually not leaning forward for once (who knew that sitting up straight helps your horse balance better???) and it felt... almost effortless, honestly. And we held it! Not just for two or three steps but for circle after circle. I was grinning and Coach actually said "Good! Nice!" a few times, which honestly you have to really work to get praise from Coach. We also played with a few strides of pirouette canter at a time, and he tried really hard. One positive change was that if he started to lose energy or balance he would plunge forward a bit rather than just giving up and breaking.

We did a few figure-eights with single flying changes over the middle. He was late behind just once, when I totally failed to keep his shoulders straight, but the rest of the time he skipped quietly and correctly through each change. The collection made a big difference to keeping his changes clean and straight. After a few changes, he broke to trot once or twice, but still seemed very willing to try. Coach immediately spotted that he was starting to flag just a bit and had us do a few circles of stretchy canter before calling it a day. He boxed perfectly to go home, too, and seemed very cheerful in himself.

I was totally blown away by him. I definitely hadn't expected to be playing with a canter that could have gone into the Advanced mini-pirouettes, so soon after bringing him back to work. We finally seem to have found a good schedule that leaves him fit but not muscle-tired, and with our lovely summer mornings, we can sustainably stick with it.

After the lesson, I asked Coach what he thought about us going to Gauteng Champs. With typical bluntness, he said it would be a waste of our time, then went on to explain how difficult it is to get really good - as in, winning - marks in Novice/Elementary/EM (1st and 2nd level) on a horse with ordinary movement. I love my Thunny, but he doesn't have a toe-flicky trot or a big expressive canter. We can improve those but he's just not on the same level as the flashy WBs who can pull out an 8.5 for a medium trot from the moment they're born. The lower levels have a lot of lengthened or medium movements and a lot of riders who are very capable at these levels. Coach explained that my focus in these levels should be to go to quiet local shows, not spend tons of money on championships where we honestly aren't going to get a 75% and win things even if he behaves perfectly and does a nice test. I can go to Champs on the Friesians who are big and flashy and score well, but with Thunder I should focus on schooling and getting to the upper levels, because that's where we can actually stand a chance. "The big, flamboyant horses winning in the lower levels will start to make mistakes in the upper levels," Coach said. "If you keep all of your focus on training, and only compete to get points, then in a year or two you might be able to ride a flawless Medium or Advanced test. Then it won't matter as much that he doesn't have the flashy movement."

With that, I plucked up the courage to ask him the big question: "Can he go as far as Advanced?"

Coach snorted. "Any horse can go to Prix St. Georges, as long as it doesn't have a physical disability."

So, we're not going to Champs. Instead, I entered him in a little local show for this weekend, just at Elementary 5 and 6 to get some grading points. If we go well then we can enter our first Medium early next year, and rack up the points for Advanced by the end of 2022. And maybe we'll even have a Small Tour horse on our hands someday!

I'm so excited and so glad to have my horse back. God is good!