Easter Festival 2023

 One of the most epic shows in South Africa every year is Toyota Easter Festival. With a massive sponsor and tons of classes across ten days for almost every discipline, Easter Fest is tons of fun, always well supported, and truly feels like a joyous celebration of equestrian sport. I've only actually ridden in it once before - in the show riding on Arwen and two of Thunder's worst Novice tests, back in 2018 - but we go and watch the big showjumping class every year.

We didn't actually plan to return to the Easter Fest show ring this year; I felt I needed to go to a small show at a big venue after the way I choked in the Bob Charter arena on Arwen at Horse of the Year's Supremes. So we entered a small provincial show at one of the big, classy venues (Summit Ridge). They ended up cancelling their show, though, and the only other weekend that worked was last weekend... so Easter Festival it was.

This early in the year, the tests they offered were easy, at least. They had Medium 3 and 4, as well as Novice 3 and 4. I planned to enter Thunder in Medium 3 - we only had one day to devote to showing horses that weekend - and Lancey in the Novice. Then I, uh, totally forgot to enter Lancey. So I paid Kyalami Park's pricey temporary membership to ride one single test. Womp womp. It was for the best, though, since Lancey really hadn't gone well since we got back from East London, while Thunder was being a superstar.

I woke up super early that morning, as I usually do on show days, and went through the test in my head. Weirdly, I didn't feel at all worried about remembering it, maybe because we'd practiced it so many times on Wednesday and Thursday. Still, I couldn't stop thinking about it and could feel my brain going down a bit of a rabbit hole, so I practiced it on The Equestrian Game on my phone. (Don't judge, okay, you are literally nobody in this riding school unless you have The Equestrian Game and I pride myself on being the cool coach). Then I did a spot of Scripture study and was reminded sharply what Easter really is.

We get redemption and eternal life. And we get dancing horses thrown into the deal. In the face of that, what on Earth is there to be nervous about? My stress evaporated, replaced rapidly by excitement. Thunder and I haven't gone out to do dressage since our Medium debut in June 2022, and I was so ready to go out dancing with him again.

Shaila and her kid came too, so at 6:15am on Saturday morning, K, DH and I loaded Shaila and Arwen into our horsebox and headed for Kyalami Park.

We arrived just after 7:30 and unloaded two calm, happy horses. Shaila came to us with very serious loading and traveling issues, and the fact that we can take her to shows stress-free is a huge victory, thanks to a local guy who works with horses who have problems. She's been competing regularly and was very chill when she got out, if a little surprised to find herself somewhere other than Penbritte.

Thunder was a little bouncy when I unloaded him and looked around with interest, but soon settled down to nibble hay while we got Shaila ready. He accompanied us to the warmup arena, and K held him while I read the tests for Shaila's child. Kiddo has a history of performance nerves but did a totally stellar job in the ring and stayed calm for two nice, solid tests. Shaila, too, handled the big atmosphere really well.

Kiddo and her family hung around for the rest of the show day, which was very nice as it liberated K and DH to help me out with Thunder. I gave him some breakfast - running out of energy at a show is the last thing we need - and we slowly started to groom him and make him pretty. Erin arrived at this point, which basically turned the whole thing into a party.

I did pull-through plaits because his mane has gotten too long for buttons. They're a little harder to get really neat (and, to be honest, I sort of didn't get them all that neat lol) but they're very quick and easy to do and hold a lot better than a running plait. K watched and offered unsolicited advice. DH arrived with food, which is one of his singular talents. We had a great time grooming Thunder and being a trio of happy pony girls enjoying ourselves, while DH talked cars with Shaila's kid (who is a 16-year-old girl, but my husband can find common ground with literally anyone).

Then it was 10:20 and time to tack up. We swooned over Thunder's purple stirrups, and I went off to get dressed. When I got back with show clothes on, K and Erin had already finished tacking him up and he was all ready for me. I hopped on and we all hacked over to the warmup together, including Shaila.

We had one little hairy moment as we rode over to the warmup. None of the vendors were open yet (boo!) but they were setting up an enormous white tent behind the clubhouse. As we walked past it, I spotted a guy with a big hammer and a gigantic tent peg, and thought "yep, he's gonna hit it". He hit it with an enormous clang and Thunder almost sat down on his voluptuous bottom in shock. I don't think I even picked up my reins; the big guy gathered himself, took a big breath, and then plodded onwards.

That's not to say that he was a settled and calm Thunderbird when we walked into the warmup. He was SPICY (a sentence I never thought I would write about Thunder). One of us is currently quite fit and had had a day off before, plus a whole morning of just hanging around. He had also decided that Shaila, whom he normally sees only at a distance, was now his One True Love. Separation anxiety used to be a real issue for us at shows, and there was definitely a little of that in play here even though Shaila and her kid were chilling just outside the arena, but he wasn't giving me solely nervous vibes. Nervous, yes, but also frisky and excited.

We proceeded to squeal, whinny and occasionally tantrum our way around the warmup ring for a little while. He did throw a buck or two, and flip his head and shoulders once or twice in protest as I attempted to redirect the enthusiasm, but there was no meanness. I didn't feel like I was going to get dislodged. I was nervous for the first few minutes, but like maybe a 3 out of 5, absolute maximum. He never pulled or threatened to do anything ridiculous. So we just quietly kept on working, and once we had frisked our way through about ten minutes of walk/trot/canter, we were back in business.

He was a tiny bit tense as we finished our warmup, but I did like the energy we had; he was ready to work and happy to have something to do with his brain. I had to remind myself that we haven't been traveling out for lessons, so he hadn't actually gone anywhere since the show in June. It's understandable that he was a bit nervous - and he's never been to this particular arena (the May Foxcroft) at Kyalami Park before.

Anyway, once Erin had tightened my girth and saved me from certain death, and Kathleen had checked that I was allowed a whip because I suddenly had doubts about that for no good reason, we were heading up to the show ring and despite the bit of nervous tension in Thunder, I was feeling more relaxed than I've probably ever felt in a show arena.

I had a momentary wobble when I second-guessed which arena we were in and nearly got in the way of the Advanced horse who was about to go into the other arena, but we got out of the way, the horse cantered past (and spooked hugely at K and Erin who were innocently walking up to the show arena), and then we were walking around to the judges' box. It's a spooky arena with big grandstands, the dreaded Deadly Pile of Jumping Stuff in one corner, and a random fountain just a few meters from the fence, which splatters and glitters. Thunder didn't care about any of it. He let out a few whinnies and felt a bit spicy under me, with a little bit of tightness in his neck and jaw, but he was ready to work. We halted by the judge and Thunder announced his own self with a loud whinny, so I just waved and then rode away because I low key hate talking to judges anyway (sorry judges, it's not you, it's me).

The bell rang and then we were cantering down the centreline for the first time. My clever Thunder knew that the halt was coming and started to slam on the brakes a bit too early. I squeezed him forward and we lost a bit of balance in the canter, so that there were a couple of trot steps down into the halt, but it was a steady, square and straight halt so still garnered a 6.5. We proceeded in collected trot, turned right and then did the looooooong collected trot all the way to P, which I used as an opportunity to sort out my sitting trot a bit and find my balance in my inner thigh a little.

photo by Denford Studios

The half circle to L and half-pass to R felt smooth and easy, although I did have to work hard to get the bend I wanted, reflected in the judge's comment of "More bend and uphill", for 6.5. We rode a smooth and accurate 20m half circle to S (6.5) and then proceeded to V, where we rode another half circle to L and half-pass to S. His half-pass left always feels fantastic to me, and is effortless off my leg, but he was quarters leading as we went into it and lost some balance. We got our first 6.0 for that: "quarters leading at beginning, then improved. More self-carriage".

Proceeding on track to R, we had our little whoopsie. As we passed the judges' box, a lady with two dogs popped out from behind it. Thunder just about had a heart attack. He had a big and genuine spook and jumped sideways. I didn't feel wobbled, but we were way off the track, so I rode a little circle back to the same point and petted his neck and talked to him. He let out a breath, realized it was just a lady with doggos, and carried on like nothing whatsoever had happened. That was such a mature moment for us both - we really didn't let it get to us in any way. He spooked because he is a horse and we just dealt with it and carried on. Also, your first spook is "free" under South African rules, so we lost no marks for it except that we got a -2 for error of course because we made the circle. I thought it was rather generous of the judge not to penalise me for using my voice to soothe him.

We changed rein R to K in the dreaded medium trot, which was OK but boring for 6.0, "Cover more ground, show more cadence". Yeah, always. The transitions at R and K were 6.0 as well. Then came the first coefficient: the halt at A, with a rein-back of 5 steps. We got 6.5 for that, although I was a bit surprised, since he took a teeny step back in the halt and I miscounted the rein-back steps (my signature move) and he only took four. Still, the halt was steady, square and attentive and the rein-back was smooth, willing and quality, so I guess that made up for it.

photo by Denford Studios 

I was a little disappointed in our mark for the extended walk, 6.5, despite the fact that he was stretching, active, relaxed and forward. "Good reach from shoulder, active, relaxation. Could cover more ground". I expected at least a seven for that. Anyway, then we collected the walk and headed for my least favourite dressage movement in this universe - the walk pirouette. This time, though, I remembered to breathe and ride the movement, keeping his inside hind active where he often wants to get stuck and pivot. I overcompensated a bit and made the pirouette right too large for 5.0, "tension, too big", but the pirouette left was significantly better, 6.0, "not on line, more centering". Not the best marks, but I felt good about the fact that I actively rode them instead of just panicking and kicking. We got a 6.0 for the collected walk in the pirouettes, "rather tense", which was fair - we are both a bit tense in the pirouettes.

Next it was the canter tour, starting with the collected canter at C and the extended canter H to V. The extended canter itself was 6.0, "more ground cover" but the transitions were a 6.5. The half circle K to D followed by half-pass D to S was 6.0, "more bend", although I was glad I kept his quarters from falling forward at least. We got our first 7.0 for the counter canter half circle S to R - a triumph in itself given how much we'd struggled with that a few days prior - and a 6.5 for the flying change at B, "could be straighter". The next part of the canter tour comes up quickly, but Thunder was ready for it: half circle F to D, half pass D to R, half circle in counter canter R to S, flying change at E. We got 6.0 for the half-pass, again "more bend", 6.5 for the counter canter, and then 7.0 for the flying change, which was beautiful, through, straight, relaxed and collected.

the show photographers didn't get the change, but Erin did!

At this point, I was shamelessly using a little voice to praise him because he was being absolutely fantastic. He felt like he was just skipping along, smooth and easy through every movement. Sure, they weren't perfect, but they were coming easily to us both, and I was soooo happy. As we went around the corner for the next part of the canter tour, though, I felt his energy starting to fail a little bit. His shenanigans in the warmup meant that he wasn't exactly tired, but he was no longer jumping out of his skin, either. This was evident with our mark for the change of rein FLE with a change of leg at L: "not at marker, not quite through", 5.0. I felt his bum pop up and knew it wasn't through so I got to work revving him up and ended up revving far too much. He absolutely bounded from E towards M and, before I could ask for the change, changed in front, changed back, changed in front again, and then when I tapped him with my spur, changed behind. That was a 4.0, "late behind". Clearly the judge was totally unappreciative of his Interpretive Dance Moves.

I managed to get him somewhat together but we still weren't quite sorted out by the time we transitioned to trot at C and then had our loooooong extended trot, HXF. We gave it our best attempt, though, with 6.0 for both the trot ("more swinging, cadence") and the transitions ("more collection and engagement"). Fair. I'm okay with 6.0 for the extended trot given that Thunderbirdy doesn't exactly have the hugest gaits and his rider is not particularly good at sitting an extended trot, but I'm encouraged that we could have gotten more had I put him together a bit more quickly.

We finished up with our centreline and halt at X, by which point he was Decidedly Fired Up and wriggled a tiny bit in the halt for 6.0, "not quite straight".

I was soooo happy as we walked out on a loose rein with my good boy getting all the love and patting in the world. Sure, it wasn't a winning test, but it felt so good. There was no point when it felt laboured and, although he was a little tense, we were both present, thinking, enjoying ourselves, and in harmony. It had been difficult, in the warmup with all the big names and all the purpose-bred dressage horses, to feel like we belonged. After the test, it felt that we decidedly belonged. Not as a winning pair, perhaps - one has to accept that one is not going to win against pros who have 30 years of dedicated training on you, riding horses whose breeders put so much effort into blending the perfect bloodlines for this sport - but it doesn't matter to me. We are a solid pair, a good partnership, we enjoy ourselves, we are not overfaced, we are dancing. That's all I want.

Our placing, collectives and overall mark reflected that. Not brilliant, but solid. He got a 6.5 for his paces, 6.0 for impulsion, 6.0 for submission (usually he gets a better mark, but the tension on the day messed us up a bit), and I had 6.5 for my rider position and aids. We had a 60.78% with comment "Pity about the little tension. Show more lateral bend and a steadier contact in a more uphill frame". The unsteadiness in the contact was certainly tension too; he's normally rock solid. Bend and engagement are things we can improve.

We hacked back to the horsebox, laughing and grinning and over the moon with ourselves, and then fussed over him for a while until the tests came out. I almost didn't want to leave when we headed for home. It was genuinely fun and awesome (in no small part, thanks to getting to hang out with K and Erin) and I feel really good about the place I've found myself in my competitive riding now. It's a place of joy, of gratitude. The performance is solid, but it's not everything. My horse is fantastic, but we both make mistakes, yet neither of us get flustered by them. And as I was eyeing the horses cantering into the Advanced in the arena next door, well, it was starting to feel like that might be very much in our reach towards the end of the year.

This is supposed to be joyous. This is supposed to be fun; it's supposed to be worship. And for the first time perhaps ever in my life, it feels like it truly is.

God is so good.