Thoroughbred Series Leg 2 2023

 We entered the first thoroughbred series leg at Penbritte for April 30th, a few days after the midden struck the windmill. Midas suddenly got sick with a mild fever and orbital swelling which do point towards African horse sickness, so I decided to keep us all home until his blood results came back. This turned out to be a good thing because I came down with that horrendous respiratory thing on April 29th, so I couldn't have ridden anyway.

Leg 2 was on the 14th of May so I promptly entered both Lancey and Thunder. This got mildly scuppered as well. For one thing, I was still a bit wheezy, coughing and achey the week before the show. For another, on the Wednesday, Thunder saw fit to try to escape his stable by climbing between the two horizontal poles that form the door. He got stuck and, true to being Thunder, made no efforts to escape. Instead he stood with his back pressed against the top pole for several hours until I found and rescued him. He was okay, but his back was bruised and sore, so there would certainly be no riding.

So it was that only Shaila and Lancey rocked up to Penbritte on the day of the show, which was probably not a bad thing because I don't think I would have survived riding two. It was bitterly cold, cloudy, and blustery when DH and I arrived with the horses.

We had arrived in good time for Shaila's kid to tack up and get ready at her leisure. I made a hopeful bid at getting some of the poo stains off Lancey with wet wipes, but there's only so much a wet wipe can do to a very hairy Arabian. It had been cold for days so bathing him was out of the question. I gave up, threw his hair into a running braid, and saddled him up right after Shaila and kiddo had gone to the warmup.

Our ride times were back-to-back, with Shaila going first, so I had to have Lancey warmed up before Shaila went in so that I could read for her kid. The cold was ferocious -- I was wearing a jacket over my show jacket, which I don't think I've ever done before. My body didn't feel great, but Lancey did.

He was snorty and filled with energy as we took our first walk around the warmup, but there was no real fear in him, just excitement and a little uncertainty. We had to stop and snort and stare at a bench for a few moments, but after that all I needed to encourage him past something spooky was a little shoulder-fore and a few kind words, and he was happy to go. As we worked, he settled into his job so much that he barely noticed spooky things around him. Lancey doesn't spook, exactly, but he will stop and stare at something he doesn't like. I prefer it to running away but we're trying to work on marching bravely past spooky stuff. On this day, he was ready to do that.

We had ridden our tests three or four times each in the week before the show and he felt comfortable and confident in all of the movements. I was working hard to keep him balanced from behind, which really helped to keep him soft and connected. There were still moments that he threw up his head but I could get him back within a stride or two, so I was happy with that, given his history.

Soon it was time to go. I handed Lancey off to DH and went to read Shaila's tests, which were very solid. Then I ran across the arena, pulled off my warm jacket, scrambled onto Lancey and trotted around to the judge. He wanted to have a look at the judge's box but when I asked for a little shoulder-fore and put my leg on -- "We don't need to look at that, it's okay! Let's keep going" -- he was happy to go past.

I was still pleased, though, that the judges were busy sorting out some paperwork and told me to trot around for a while. That gave me the chance to get him a little warmer again. We trotted around and I realized how grateful I was to be on Lancey instead of Thunder that day. Lancey might not like scary benches, but he couldn't care less about anyone else's mood, and there were plenty of feelings being felt that day. Our class was followed by the walk/trot and prelim tests and, this being the thoroughbred series, there were green thoroughbreds everywhere. I saw like four people lungeing and someone tried to walk their horse around in the show arena while I was trotting around waiting for the bell.

This didn't particularly bother me, I get that, even though the judge yelled at them. The thing that did give me minor heart failure was the stallion that pulled loose from his handler and came GALLOPING into the show arena right after my bell went. I slammed on the brakes and Lancey watched contentedly as half a ton of sleek, excited death hurtled towards him. On Arwen I would have turned her around to present her well-armed ass at the intruder, but Lancey would simply have stood there waiting for free hugs until he got murdered. I bailed out, deciding that even my puny frame was more intimidating than Lancey standing there with his usual gormless loveability on his face, and jumped in front of him prepared to yell and wave my arms.

The stallion, however, was almost immediately contained and quite happy to be led gently away even if DH yelled at the unlucky handler (he's a little protective of "his" horse lol). I was back on Lancey and trotting down the centreline before my 45 seconds were up.

photo by Fine Photography

We fell in a sideways heap at X but he stood quietly and I fixed it briskly, so we got 6.5 for that, "halt not straight, more impulsion". Our taciturn German judge wasn't super into writing comments, but he gave us a 7.0 for the change rein in lengthened trot. I love that they allow rising trot in the lengthenings at Elementary these days so I could show a really big loose lengthening, although he was a little unbalanced in the transition down.

Our first leg-yield was a 6.5, I felt he was a tiny bit against my leg, but we still made it accurate and rhythmic. This was followed by another lengthening for another 7.0 and the leg-yield on the other rein, which was 6.5, "more fluency". To my delight, Lancey was quiet and settled in the walk work with no jogging, which garnered us another 7.0 (who is this and what did he do with my naughty nose-flippy Lancey?).

I braced myself for the canter work. This guy has a really beautiful, collected and rhythmic canter but his connection issues are at their very worst in canter and some judges will crucify him for it. Still, he was pretty good into the transition and the 12m circle which was a 6.0 with comment "more impulsion". He got the same comment for his counter canter serpentine, but he was extremely balanced and rhythmic, so we got a 7.0 for that. 

I was conservative into the canter lengthening, worried he'd throw his head and I wouldn't be able to get him back in time for the canter to walk, so that was a 6.0, "more ground cover". Things came apart thoroughly in the half circle to X with a walk transition. Lancey flung his head, I missed the centreline, and we trot-flopped into a jiggy-joggy walk wobble down the centreline. The 5.5, "hollow at X, more activity" was pretty generous. Still, we got ourselves together, made the half circle to R and picked up the canter again for a marginal improvement 6.0, "not totally straight on centreline, more impulsion".

Our next serpentine was another 7.0, again asking for "more impulsion". His next half circle and transition down were better but I flubbed the centreline again, 6.5, "not accurate". We figured it out for the last half circle in walk, the trot transition, and the final centreline where he stepped out to the left with his front end again but I booted him back into place and we still got a 7.0, "not straight, corrected".

As we went around for our second test, I was pretty happy with how the first one had gone. I knew there had been mistakes, but he was also being intensely rideable even in the spooky weather. Several moments had felt really good, and even though he's mentally hard work to ride, I was showing up and doing the work and he was meeting that with a good effort. I petted him and found myself smiling and wondering how I'd ever gotten so lucky as to be on a dancing white Arab.

Both of us were enjoying ourselves as we headed in for Elementary 3. The halt was a little better for 6.5, "more impulsion", a comment that was echoed for the next three movements. Our 10m circle left and shoulder-in left were both 6.5s; his lengthening was a 7.0, but I could feel he was no longer quite as spicy as when I'd first gotten son, so it lacked the power he'd had in the first test. To my delight, his halt and rein-back were utterly smooth, connected and obedient and garnered a well-earned 7.0.

We headed into the 10m circle right at R and he stuck his nose to the outside for 6.5, "twisting head", but didn't actually fling his nose up so we quickly corrected that and went into a solid shoulder-in that got a 7.0, "more fluency". I wasn't holding my breath for good marks in the turns on the haunches. I've honestly barely mastered them myself and Lancey's long-term balance issues have made them a challenge, but we still made a brave effort at the TOH right for 6.0, "more fluency, resisting". The extended walk was a bit conservative for another 6.0 because I was thinking about the TOH left, where he got stuck and made a bit of a fuss when I booted him off my leg for a 5.0, "stuck, resisting". 

Things looked up as we picked up a gorgeous canter transition for 7.0. I was conservative again in his medium canter for 6.0, "more from behind". The first serpentine felt okay but I buggered up the accuracy a bit for 6.5, "not totally straight on centreline" (oops). He spooked at A, scooted forward a step, sneezed hard and lost his balance on his way to V, but the judge didn't mark us down as it was his first spook and I worked super hard to collect him again. It paid off, and we got a 7.0 for the simple change over L.

He had his first proper nose-flip in the second counter canter serpentine. I lost him completely for two or three strides, then got him back and carried on. Some judges would have knocked us on our butts for that but the rest was nice and we got a 6.5, "some resistance, more impulsion". He was smooth and rideable as we approached the second simple change, but I stuffed up the timing completely and so we had a few trot steps down and he flung his head in protest. That was my bad; it was a 6.0, "some resistance, too many trot steps down".

We put it back together for the final trot lengthening, which I rode more boldly for a 7.0. We'd been wobbly on centreline all day so I rode it with intent and his halt was super for another 7.0.

Overall, I was super happy with him (also cold, tired and feeling pretty gross) as we walked back to the box. I wasn't at my best physically, but I was present and calm mentally, and Lancey responded by giving me his very best. He enjoyed his tests that day - dressage is finally more than a chore to him. I know I lost him in the connection twice, but given the fact that just a couple of years ago I couldn't string three movements together in a connection, I was still happy with how we'd gone.

I was even happier when I saw our scores and collectives. We had 6.5 for pages and rider position and 6.0 for impulsion and submission in Test 2, giving us 64.76%. The judge commented "Quite good moments shown. Horse needs to show more fluency at times", which echoed what I felt under the saddle. For test 3, we had 7.0 for paces, 6.5 for impulsion and rider position, and 6.0 for submission, "Quite good moments shown. At times horse needs to engage hindquarters more." We scored 64.8%. If I could just be like 0.2% better then we would have had a lot more grading points, but it was still a really good mark from an extremely strict judge who nailed poor Shaila's kid to the wall for a few slightly BTV moments.

Watching the video, I was so impressed with my little dude. The connection issue is strange in that it's really bad when he hollows but the rest of the time his connection is very solid and correct. His trot lengthenings were stunning and the only movement that felt at all laboured was the TOH, which is on me. Also, my own position was pretty solid for once, so that was nice.

We were alone in the class, but given how far we've come, how incredible he was, and how smooth and fun the tests felt, it still feels like a win. And that's all just a cherry on top compared to the fact that I get to go do fun horse things with my husband in tow.

God is so good.