June 2024 Terrouges

Professional photos by NC Phillips

Long time, no post. We spent April and May tucked away at home, putting in the reps and giving DH time to heal and adjust as he returned to work five months post-op. He's doing super great, but we'll be on this recovery journey for a little while. In the face of having my sweet husband by my side, horse shows on the back burner was barely even an inconvenience.

We took advantage of the time off from test riding to do loads of strengthening exercises. Coach J came out twice and got us stuck into endless canter travers circles, then endless canter half-passes, flying changes on the wall, and medium-collected-medium canter transitions. We cantered until both horses had big round bums and I had legs of steel.

Thunder was originally not into all the cantering

Things came together for us to do another horse show last weekend. Of course, since I had picked a much further show venue than usual, I also drew the first ride time of the day. I dragged my poor, long-suffering husband out of bed at 4am on Sunday morning to load the two beasties in the box. Love is patient and kind indeed, even when your crazy little spouse wants to run around outside in the dark when it's -1C (30F).

We were alone with loading the two critters and I don't really want DH to hold horses who might yank him around yet, so I made a master plan. While DH hooked up the box and sorted out lighting, I got Arwen and Thunder dressed, then brought Thunder---the less chaotic one---to the box. He walked right in, we shut his chain, and I dashed down the hill to grab Arwen.

To Thunder's credit, he was really good. He called a few times but didn't stomp around even though he had no other horses in sight. DH stood by the box door and chatted to him while I attempted to wrangle Arwen, who had been totally chill until she heard the velcro on her travel boots and knew that she was Going on a Quest. She was galloping around the small paddock where she'd spent the night, tail flagging, snorting, and as I always do, I wondered if she was afraid to load in the box.

Nothing could be further from the truth. When I got to the paddock gate, she ran up to me and shoved me so hard with her nose she nearly knocked me over. I leashed the beast and she physically dragged me to the horsebox---not back to her home field, in the other direction---and then trotted into the box with me flapping behind like a kite's tail.

You're not leaving me behind, she snorted on a cloud of steam.

not even kidding about the steam

Thunder looked mildly concerned by her chaotic presence, but she booped him with her nose and then settled in to eat hay with great violence. Despite the cold, I travelled her only in her day sheet to see if we could mitigate her sweating. Thunder had his fleece on and I left all the windows open.

We stopped once to check on them when we picked up BarnRat at her house down the road, and both were eating contentedly, so we set off without further ado. The drive took nearly two hours, but the horses barely moved, and when we arrived to a frigid sunrise just before 7am we were right on time.

We unloaded the horses and BarnRat wrangled Thunder while I tied Arwen to the horsebox and got to work. She was much quieter than she'd been at Easter Fest, and stood chowing her hay while I ran a brush over her and saddled her up. For once, she'd also barely sweated in the box, only a couple of spots on her shoulders and pectorals. I hadn't put a tail bandage on---she hates them---and I think that may have contributed to her stress level being lower, but also, honestly, I think she gets really hot in the box more than actually stressing that much.

Either way, it was nice to have a cool, dry dragon to saddle up. She stood tied like a champ while I quickly got Thunder beautified. Then I squeezed myself into my brand spanking new long boots---I know, I know---and we headed to the warmup.

BarnRat used Thunder as a hot water bottle

Terrouges is a new-to-us venue but felt safe and homey because my bestie Erin stables her horses there. With BarnRat bringing Thunder along to keep everyone chill, Arwen and I headed into a beautiful mirrored indoor for warmup. Arwen hasn't been indoors much, but she didn't miss a beat.

What's up, sexy? she asked the pretty grey horse in the mirror, then went straight to work.

We had a chill, uneventful warmup with a ton of stretching. She felt like she does at home, totally unbothered, but I spent more time stretching her out than usual and thought it was a mistake when the ring marshall called me down before I'd done any collected trot work. We did have time for plenty of lateral walk and canter work, lots of stretchy trot, and a bunch of changes, though, so I wasn't too worried. Arwen's trot work is usually on the money from the word go.

Thunder dragged BarnRat around a bit as we headed down to the arena. DH assumed his position to take video. I walked past the judge and said a quick hello without the awkward introduction rigmarole and then the bell rang and we were off to ride Third 3 for the first time.

We marched down centreline and had a steady, straight, square halt, but as soon as her feet stopped moving, Arwen threw her head up to gape at guys watering the arena next door, so that garnered a 7.0: "straight halt and square, inattentive, more balance." To her credit, she set off boldly as soon as I asked and didn't look at the guy again, although she was a little unbalanced in the C-H corner throughout the test so I think she was still eyeing them a bit.

Our medium trot was a 6.5; it felt rhythmic, obedient, and steady, but maybe a bit conservative. We headed into the shoulder-in right for a 7.0 and got another 7.0 for the two half circles. Our half-pass left felt solid to me, but got a 6.5, "showing bend, more fluent." Fair, she can be a little hurried in the half-passes.

Her extended trot felt absolutely incredible. She was on the aid, balanced, and throwing those toes as high as they can go. Honestly, watching the video and seeing the pictures, I'm pretty surprised she didn't get a better mark for it. It was outstanding. We got a 7.0 for the extension and the transitions.

🔥

The halt at A was good, but we both botched the rein-back a little bit, losing rhythm. I felt one step was not fully diagonal so I asked for another. That was a 6.5, "square halt, willing rein-back, one step too many". I'll take it. The rest of the trot work dipped a little in the marks, with 6.5s for the shoulder-in and half circles with the comment "hurried" (it was a bit), and another 6.5 for the half-pass left, our more difficult way, comment "keep bend".

We proceeded into the turns on the haunches, which I ride every single day at home because I know I'm not great at them. They were solid at home. In the test, I completely ruined them. I get in my head about this one specific movement and reliably destroy them at shows. We got a 5.0, "stuck one step", and a 6.0, "more fluent", which was more than I expected. She jogged a little into the first one which earned us a 5.0 for the medium walk, "more rhythm". I felt that was pretty fair.

Our extended walk was conservative in the interests of maintaining the rhythm, so we got a 6.5, "more overtrack, correct rhythm". We found a small triumph in the canter transition at K, which was a 7.0, "obedient". I've historically destroyed those in tests, too, so I was pleased with that.

dragon magic

The canter half-pass felt a bit mediocre and clearly was; 6.0, "showing bend to [illegible], keep parallel". She kept it together nicely into our harder change, left to right, where she can sometimes jump or prop a bit. Her change felt close behind but very obedient and I was a little annoyed by the mark, 4.0, "late behind". It was close behind, not late.

Our half-pass right was another 6.0, "more suppleness", but her easier change was really good and got a 7.0. She charged gloriously through her extended canter for a pleasant 7.5: "bold, slightly hurried". We haven't had great marks on the extended canter, so I was chuffed with that. Somehow, our transitions were a 6.0, "show more".

She was a little abrupt into the collected trot for 6.5, but our final halt was super for 7.5, "almost straight."

I was over the moon with the test as we walked out. She was infinitely rideable, so obedient, so focused, and so energetic. I loved every second. Although I botched the TOH, I was also really content with how I'd ridden most of the test. I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable in the show ring and it shows in quiet, effective riding that's more like what I can do at home.

Our collectives were fairly solid: 7 for paces, 6.5 for impulsion with suppleness underlined, 7 for submission, 6.5 for rider position, and 7 for aids. The judge's comment was "Accurate and obedient test, slightly hurried in extensions. Keeping steady frame and fairly good bend."

Our final mark was 63.8% and fourth out of five. I think there were a few movements that she deserved a bit more and that we could have gotten less for our TOH, but overall, I was chuffed with the mark---a new personal best for Arwen.

4th... out of 5 lol

There was little time to reflect on the test. I bounced off Arwen, switched numnah and bridle number to Thunder, and bounced onto him. (We definitely need another white numnah and bridle number for future shows, which would have made this so much quicker and easier). BarnRat was greatly relieved to be rid of the Thunder menace, and I had to quell some nerves as we headed to the warmup. The last few times I rode Thunder off-property were abundantly crappy. We had spooky, naughty lessons at the Friesian stud, a generally tense and spooky experience at J's (my bad, nobody else's), and a really naughty and spooky last show at Easter Fest 2023.

He got a round of ulcer treatment before coming home from J's, though, and I think a lot of that spooking was linked to his tummy. A lot of it was also linked to the way I rode him back then. I haven't been good about being clear and consistent with him, leading him to do more or less whatever he wants, which includes spooking at everything when he senses inconsistency in the one who's supposed to know what she's doing (me).

He wanted to spin around as we approached the indoor when Arwen was out of sight, but there were plenty of other horses around, so I put my leg on and ordered him to get his butt in there and stop being ridiculous. He swiftly responded by putting his head down and going straight to work. Though BarnRat did stand by the warmup with Arwen, he didn't try to nap towards her the way he's done with friends at shows in the past. In fact, he almost completely ignored her, and we got to work with a minimum of looking around at things.

I was really proud of the fact that he was so chill and rideable, but our warmup was far from satisfactory. While he wasn't naughty or spooky, he felt like the pre-training Thunder---the one whose response to all of my aids tends to be half-arsed. Not outright rebellious, but not obedient and willing either. He was only sort of on my aids, and this manifested in downright lazy, late changes.

We went down to the arena having achieved the bare minimum, and then found that we had five more minutes. I dithered for a second. My show nerves wanted to hang by the arena to get him used to the area more, but I knew we could do better, so I turned him around and marched back to the warmup with the purpose of getting him on my aids. I tuned him up with some lateral work, being uncompromising about moving off my leg, and tapped him through a couple of cleaner changes, and we made it back to the show arena with him feeling a bit surprised that I'd brought my big girl pants.

He was really fabulous about entering the arena. It's not particularly spooky, but there are definitely things to look at, and Thunder just... didn't. He was all business. We headed down the long side with shoulder ins changing direction every few strides to get him off my leg. Then the bell rang, and we boldly headed down centreline.

He wiggled into his first halt and was a bit inattentive and cheeky, but we got a 6.5, "straight entry, quarters right in halt." Our medium trot was unbelievably bad, which it always is, and garnered a well-deserved 6.0, "go with horse's trot; against movement." Yeah, first I need to make the medium sittable, then I can sit on it.

His trot lateral work was absolutely phenomenal. Although he was trying to fall behind my leg and go above the bit where he could, he finds this work really easy, and I didn't have much difficulty keeping him flowing. A long string of sevens followed: the shoulder-in, the half circles, and the half-pass.

His extended trot is fairly horrible as well---it's barely a medium trot, to be honest---but somehow he had a 7.0 for that and a 7.0 for the transitions. I know I'm not a judge, but I seriously question those marks compared to Arwen's. She deserved so much better if Thunder got sevens for that movement. In fact, as we flopped through the second transition, I whispered to Thunder, "Wow, that was hateful" and he twitched an ear in agreement.

Anyway, we floated into a really nice half and rein-back at A. Again, I felt not all our steps were diagonal so I took an extra one: 7.0, "halt square, good rein-back, one extra step. Pity." His shoulder-in and half circles were sevens again, but he was starting to get behind my leg into the half-pass right and got a 6.5, "more position."

As we plodded into the walk, I knew I was going to have to ride the living daylights out of this test if we weren't going to bomb spectacularly. He felt as flat as a pancake. Not tired---he hadn't yet broken a sweat or gotten out of breath---but decidedly against my leg. I pulled myself together a bit in the TOH, managing a 6.5, "more active for one stride", and a 6.0, "slight swivel." I can do better, but it was an improvement.  His walk was a well deserved 7.0.

Our extended walk was another 7.0; I think he can do better, but I was struggling to keep him in front of my leg and relaxed, and the extended was not the place to make that correction. We still got the comment "fairly relaxed, more overtrack." Our canter transition was another little triumph. Despite being a bit against my leg, Thunder is nothing if not instantly obedient to the buttons, and I didn't override it, so we got another 7.0 for that.

Things fell to pieces a bit in our canter work but it was not for lack of trying. He can turn into a completely unmanuevrable boat in the canter and he did it at this show. I got after him about it as much as I could, but still ended up carrying him through most of the movements. We had a 7.0 for the half pass, "more position", and a 6.0 for the first change, "through but a little high behind." That was a kick at the whip, which I used to remind him not to be late. He wasn't late, so we achieved that objective. I really dragged him through the next half-pass for 5.5, "more bend and position", but boldly rode the next change for 7.0.

"OK, OK, I'm through, I'm through"

He got a 6.5 for the extended canter, which I kicked him all the way through; I thought that was a bit generous of the judge. It barely extended at all. We collapsed around the short side for 6.5, then had an excellent transition down for 7.0. Our final halt was absolutely super but not entirely square behind for 8.0.

The judge liked him better than me: he got 7 for all three collectives, and I got 6.5s for mine, with comment "more position in half-pass."

Still, our overall comment was "Well ridden test on willing horse," and our final mark was the best I've ever had beyond novice - 67%.

I patted him as we came out, exhausted from dragging him through the test, but unbelievably happy with how well-behaved he'd been. I'd expected him to be a bit tense, spooky, and separation anxious. While he did appreciate having Arwen around (who doesn't like a friend's support?), he didn't look around at her, call during his test, or nap toward her. He was a superstar in that department.

The fact that he ignores my aids and parks behind my leg is a training thing. We've addressed every possible physical cause, and he doesn't do it with J on his back---or with me, if I'm consistent about it. We seldom have behind-the-leg days at home anymore, but I used to be floppier and less effective than ever at shows, and I think he was expecting me to be ineffective. Who can blame him?

My show confidence, however, is at a real high point right now. Arwen's responsible for that, as well as just a ton of personal growth and God's work in me. When one has walked in the valley of the shadow, the dressage arena no longer holds anything all that scary.

DH and I headed back to the horsebox, unsaddled, and spent a pleasant afternoon helping Erin and Jamaica's kid with their tests. Arwen and Thunder spent the whole time tied to the box, eating, drinking, and not putting a foot wrong. The cherry on top was when they traveled perfectly all the way home even though we got a flat tyre (which hubby fixed in minutes, because he's Superman).

It was a truly perfect day with my two dancing horses, my BarnRat kiddo, my bestie, and the man who's always in my corner. Forever grateful for every moment with him.

God is good.

this husband of mine, you guys 💜