Onward, Noble Steed

 Ever since Thunder came back into work a few weeks ago, I have one thing on my mind with him: forward. It's been a struggle ever since I backed him, but I have the tools these days to deal with it so much better.

I was actually amazed by how much I progressed as a rider in the six weeks that Thunder was out of work. When I got back on him again, there was so much that I could actually fix - stuff that had been bothering me for years but that I just couldn't quite get sorted out. And now we're finally getting to a place where I'm much happier with him, and we're starting to touch on this amazing horse's true potential.

I did take my whip back, though. I generally don't need to do very much with it, except maybe a few touches at the start of the ride to reinforce my ever-useless right leg, but riding him only with the spurs was beginning to devolve into an argument. He will need to carry his own butt a lot more forward before we try that again. At any rate, I can pretty much abandon the whip somewhere near the middle of each ride, which is just fine; even at a championship show I'll be allowed to warm up with it.

As a rule, though, he has been SUPER forward for his past few rides and so we can finally move on. We've still been doing most of the EM/M movements (single flying changes, half-pass, shoulder-in, even started playing with canter to halt), but focusing more on the gait quality with each ride than the movements. He really learns the movements quickly, they're never a problem, but the quality of the gaits is something I really need to pay more attention to.

Last week I got him a lot more straight and forward than normal and let him grow up into the contact more as well (obviously I've been overbending him without knowing it - welcome to the struggle bus, y'all) and honestly he felt AMAZING. He felt like he grew two hands and started taking much bigger, more swinging strides as well. It was a pretty wonderful feeling. I don't think I've ever felt him trot like that before.

I also put his mane into plaits because the beloved could no longer stand my awful mane-trimming jobs and begged me to let him grow his mane out instead, and I can't say no to that man

He's also so much more cheerful in his work now that I've made it clear that I'm not going to let him slop along behind my leg. Instead of arguing with my leg all the time, he understands what's expected of him and happily does as asked. In fact, he's positively enthusiastic about many things these days in a way that super-chill Thunder has never really been before. He LOVES his flying changes, especially when we play with the four-tempis, and even gave me a row of two-tempis recently. OK, so I was asking him to just canter down the centreline, but I couldn't exactly be upset about it regardless.

A big piece of the puzzle, I think, is physical fitness. I burned him out in late 2019 by schooling him every single day; he was fit, but it frazzled him mentally, more than I realized. Then I overcompensated by schooling him only three days a week, and sometimes missing a day here and there, and that was no good either. He just isn't fit enough to do what he knows how to do. Hacking is an absolute disaster on this animal (and not remotely relaxing for either of us), so at this point I've incorporated jumping back into his schedule once a week. He's a heavy dude and I have no interest in pounding his precious joints over big fences, but he does like doing his little gymnastics, and honestly it doesn't do me any harm to sharpen up whatever jumping skills I do have.

Another thing I need to work on is strengthening his left hind. He had a locking stifle on that side when he was younger; it hasn't locked for about two years at this point, but it's always his weaker side. He tends to twist his neck and lose impulsion in the shoulder-in left as a result, and struggles with really stepping over with his left leg, which makes his half-pass right a bit stiffer and less active than it is to the left. I think that some gymnastics will only serve to strengthen his hind end as a whole, as well as all the usual things I've been doing for his stifle for years - lateral work and rein-backs.

His top line is starting to reappear (and his beer belly is shrinking, lol)

Now that things have opened up a bit, I'm also starting to think of his show calendar for the rest of the year. Gauteng Dressage Champs ended up being postponed to the end of November, but SA Champs is in September, and I will likely ride at least one of the Friesians there so I would like to take him as well. It all depends on how he feels. We have a lesson next week, so that will probably be the deciding factor.

In other news, working chronologically through the Bible continues to be fascinating and rewarding. I feel like I'm looking at these familiar words and stories from a whole new perspective now that it's all in historical context. I'm into the later chapters of 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings, and studying the prophet Isaiah at this point. Isaiah is an absolutely remarkable book, and it's astonishing how much Jesus actually refers to this book in the Gospels. One chapter that particularly struck me was Isaiah 5, in which God describes the unfaithful nation Israel as being His vineyard: He has tended it and protected it, yet it has yielded no good fruit (faithful people doing His will). Then, in the Gospel of John, Jesus calls Himself the true vine, and tells us that we are all branches abiding in Him. It absolutely gave me goosebumps to stumble upon that comparison in the Old Testament, showing us how the coming of Christ utterly transformed our relationship with God. In the words of C. S. Lewis, "The Son of God became a man so that men could become the sons of God."

He is just magnificent. God is good.

Lancelot's First Elementary

Two weekends ago, Lancey had his dressage debut with me.

It was quite the experience for the little guy, and I was pretty nervous going into it. Firstly - I'd entered him in Elementary 5 and 6, for better or worse, and I knew that it was a big ask. What's more, we were going to a venue where neither of us had ever shown before, and we were traveling with Vlinder so Lancey would have to ride in a box he didn't know with a horse he didn't know. He also spent the night before the show at the Friesian farm, and he's never had to overnight anywhere except his breeder's.

Still, he's a good lil dude. He traveled and overnighted absolutely great, enjoying his sleepover with all his big, black buddies. It was very strange to arrive at the Friesian farm on the morning of the show and see a little white head looking over the door at me. He'd even had a nice sleep in the straw, so that clears up any worries I'd had about how he'd be at overnight shows.

(Thunder and Arwen are both horrible at overnight shows, so thank you, Mr. Lancey).

He was a little sticky to load, but not too worried, and traveled like a little pro as always. When we arrived I hopped straight onto Vlinder and left her groom with Lancey, who ate his hay and ignored the rest of the world completely.

I was totally exhausted when I got off Vlinder - she was good, but gave it everything I had - and it was so pleasant to get to work plaiting my own horse and not get pulled all over the showgrounds. Don't get me wrong - I adore Arwen and we had a really, really wonderful time competing together - but it's so nice to have a sweet quiet little gelding who just nibbled on his hay while I sorted out his hair with his lead hanging over my arm.

We walked over to the warmup to find it fairly busy and full of relatively stressed people frantically practicing their simple changes. (I very quickly became one of them; Elementary is dang stressful, y'all).

I had changed my approach to the mental side of this competition. I knew going in that Vlinder was going to get her grading points pretty much regardless of what I was doing up there, and I wasn't worried about getting a certain score on Lancey - we were going for the experience. So it seemed like a good opportunity to tweak my approach a bit, even if it was taking a little risk. I have heard such great things about visualisation and for the last few shows on Thunder I was using it a LOT, especially the night before the show if I couldn't sleep and on the way to the show. For some reason, if I woke up in the night and rode my tests perfectly in my head, it would always go well, chill me out, and I'd go straight back to sleep. But if I tried to visualise on the way to the show, I always, without fail, forgot my tests and panicked. It ended up making me even more panicked once I was riding the actual tests.

I think I was overthinking my attempt not to overthink, which would just be typical.

my face though

So this time, when I woke up in the middle of the night before the show, I ran through all my tests in my head like I always do. But the morning of the show, I skipped it. I ride my tests at home foot perfectly without visualizing or doing anything different - I just ride them, and a dang sight better than I ride at shows, too. So that was my tactic: stop overthinking and just ride like I always ride.

The other new piece of kit I have in my anti-show-nerves toolbox is box breathing (inhale for a count of four, hold for four, exhale for four, wait for four, repeat). I synced my breathing with Lancey's strides as we walked around the warmup, and it didn't take long for that tingly nervous feeling to leave my hands, and my brain actually began to work. Amazing how oxygen will do that.

Lancey himself was super in the warmup. He couldn't care less about the other horses zooming around; he was a little looky at his surroundings, but went on with his job very nicely even though he'd never been to this venue before. To be fair, he's always a bit looky. It doesn't mean a thing.

We ran through our test movements and he was just fine. After a few minutes, I checked the time. It was nearly my ride time, but we were number 18 and number 17 was still in the warmup. I assumed that number 17 would be riding before me, but actually, they had only entered test 6 - I'd entered both. Something I definitely could have like... looked up on the ride times, but apparently my organization skills - which keep 10 kids together through 20+ classes on a SANESA day - had completely failed me. So I sat around happily waiting for number 17 to go, and when my ride time came and went, decided to head over to the arena anyway.

We were standing on the outside of the arena and I was shrugging on my jacket when suddenly the bell went. I looked up, and there was no one near the show arena except me. Normally I think riders have to be allowed to go around the outside of the arena at least once before the bell goes, but I was late anyway, so I decided to just roll with it and off we went down the centreline.

why yes that is a dirty patch on his bum

He did a nice little halt and then saw the judge's box at C and hesitated. I could have spurred him through it, but knowing Lancey, that would have resulted in tension through the rest of the test, so I let him stop and petted his neck and talked to him until I felt him take a deep breath. Then we carried on, and he didn't look at it once. I think if we'd gone around the outside before the test, he wouldn't have cared about it at all.

Of course, because I was busy sorting out his spook when K read the next part of the test, I then got promptly lost. The judge must have thought I was certifiably insane. No big deal, though; we went back around and started again, with an exasperated K yelling everything extra loudly (sorry K).

Overall, I felt like the first test went pretty well. I asked him for too much angle in one of the shoulder-ins, and he got a little stuck behind in the turns on the haunches, but that's something we have yet to iron out at home so I wasn't too bothered about that. His canter work was extremely obedient - I think he took a trot step or two going down into one of the simple changes, but they felt pretty good, and the counter-canter felt balanced and together.

I was really happy with him when we came out of the test. Despite the mistakes in the beginning, he had been identical to the way he always is at home, and best of all, I had ridden the way I ride at home. I didn't once get that wobbly, disembodied feeling that always means I've stopped breathing in the middle of the test. In fact, I felt normal and natural in the saddle and I breathed like a human being throughout. I don't think I've ever felt so good coming out of a dressage test. He really is the best boy 💜

The second test was in the next arena, which had a little shed/judge's box thingy near P which was full of jump uprights and things. It didn't seem particularly spooky just looking at it, but a lot of horses had been very nervous about it - Vlinder even had a little look at it and she's not even remotely spooky. Lancey is the BEST boy but Arabs gonna Arab so I had some concerns.

He looked at the judge's box at C, but again, I just stroked his neck and talked to him and he went right on past. The judge rang the bell before I could get to P but I decided to use my 45 seconds for good and spent some time letting him look at the spooky box. Still, he didn't take a deep breath, but my time was running out so I just walked him past and headed down the centreline.

He didn't look at the judge's box even once, and we started our test very happily and obediently. He was behaving pretty much exactly as he does at home - until we reached the last part of the test. It involves a half-circle E-B in counter canter, a simple change over P, a canter-to-walk at K, and then the walk tour: turn right at V, turn on the haunches right between L and P, turn on the haunches left between L and V, trot at L, centerline at A, halt at X.

It's a lot of movements packed into one small part of the arena, which would be no problem except that that happened to be the spooky part of the arena. Lancey was OK going past the spooky box, but when we did the counter-canter half circle, a bunch of ducks came running across the field right behind the box. His canter gave a big stutter, and he trotted sideways down into the simple change. We picked up the canter again but he was quite discombobulated and I didn't get him put together quickly enough for the walk transition. Of course, when we turned across the arena towards P, we were heading directly towards the box. He kept it together, but the turns on the haunches were a joggy, wobbly mess (and they're honestly kind of a mess in general).

When we finished that test, I had already mentally discarded the score. He hadn't been naughty or difficult, but tense enough to mess up all those movements in the end, and I chalked it up to experience. The little guy just needs to get out and about and see more things for that to go away; he stayed rideable, he stayed listening, it was just a bit of greenness.

I was unsurprised by my score of 51% for the second test; that whole last section was a slew of 3s and 4s for breaking and hurrying and doing all those fun things. But I was honestly pretty shocked when my score came in for test 5. It was 55%. I wasn't expecting miracles - I was hoping for a 60% - but it was a lot lower than I'd been expecting. We did have those two mistakes in the beginning, but overall we did just get a whole lot of 5s.

I was honestly a bit disappointed by that score, but I think it all comes down to the fact that he doesn't always let my aids go through him, and when I'm being a little conservative then I'm not consistent enough about really asking for those aids to go through. He doesn't quite carry himself right yet, but because he's such an obedient and willing little horse - and has three lovely gaits - he can do the movements of the level cleanly, just not well enough to get a better mark. Comparing the photos from the show to the photos from our last lesson, I think I let the gait quality slip in favour of the movements over the last week or two.

Still, scores or no, I was really, really happy with my first dressage show on Lancey just because of how relaxed I was feeling even though he was spooky. I don't know if I've ever trusted a horse like I trust him, barring old Skye when I was just a kid. It was genuinely fun and relaxing even though we weren't doing it perfectly. He gave me a feeling I've never had in the dressage arena before - a really, really good feeling.

I'll chat with my coach about what we do with him competitively going forward. I think I might show him at Novice for a few shows, mostly because shows are expensive and it'll be easier to get our grading points at Novice, which is mostly an obedience test (Lancey's got that covered). I can always skip Elementary entirely and ride him at EM once he goes up a grade, which is honestly a very attractive option (down with the simple changes!).

Either way, I was really happy with how this show went, and with this wonderful little horse. I'm going to have a lot of fun showing Lancey in the years to come, God willing - and I'm grateful for every minute I get to spend on his back.

God is good!

Show Photos: Vlinder

 So, before I dive into writing about Lancey's first dressage show (to summarize: felt amazing, scores less amazing, didn't care), I just have to share these gorgeous photos of one of the Friesians.

Vlinder is the cutest Friesian ever. Despite having huge parents and a great upbringing, she only grew to about 14.3hh, but that pint-sized body holds all of my favourite things about the Friesian. She's schooling Elementary/EM, but we don't have points to show those levels yet, so we were just trotting around at Novice and picking up some grading points.

The photos are by SashaRey Photography, and Sasha Chelin Physiotherapy very kindly sponsored free photos for every single competitor at the show. What a wonderful gift! I can never choose just one or two.

These photos are from Novice 6, her second test. She had a lot of nice moments in this one, but her first test, Novice 5, was the better of the two - she won it with 67.8%. This is the start of a 10m circle on the centreline. 

Finishing the circle. I could have kept that outside hind a little more under her, but I love how nicely she stayed up in the bridle through the circles.

It's a real pity this photo is a little unfocused, but it does show that despite her small stature, she definitely doesn't lack expression in her lengthening.

More lengthening.

This is my favourite of the bunch, I think. After another centreline and 10m circle, the start of a leg-yield. I can hardly believe that I'm actually sitting straight here - this is my harder side, too, and I struggle to keep my torso straight especially in rising trot. But it seems to be working.

Left hip coming up a little here. Dressage is hard, y'all. Vlinder is a good sport, though.

Starting the walk tour. Dressage is hard, but also fun.

This was walking straight towards the spooky corner where Lancey and I lost a bunch of points. Vlinder was a little wary of it too, but she was soooooo good and rideable. Good girl.

Prepping for the canter transition.

Her canter is frankly amazing, and a 12m circle is really not hard at all when you're 14.3hh, LOL.

She is SO shiny!

Gathering power for the canter lengthening coming out of the corner... 

... and we're off! Who says Friesians can't do a little tail flip too?

Going past the scary corner like a very good girl.

K was reading for me, which made a really big difference. I usually ride from memory, and honestly I almost never forget my tests, but I always worry about forgetting them. Having a reader just gave me one less thing to be quietly freaking out about, especially because I was riding four tests, none of which I've ridden in the last year or more.

I definitely felt pretty good riding these two tests with Vlinder. Vlinny is one of the few horses that I trust 100% and have just never, ever felt nervous on, so that definitely helped, and so did the lower level - but I think that having a reader also made a big difference. I also tweaked my mental show prep a bit (more on that later).

Riding in the Friesians' proper dressage saddles - a new Wintec Hart which I love, and a Bates Isabell Werth - has done a LOT for my position. Still imperfect, but that stupid chair seat I've been wrestling with for like 10 years finally seems to be better.

Levitating Friesian!

Friesians are so fun 💜

Trotting down for the last centreline.

She is just too gorgeous. I think she needs to go to a really ambitious kid - she's quiet enough for a beginner, but there is just so much talent here. She'd absolutely own the higher pony rider levels.

All done, time for big stretchies!

I have to pinch myself every day to be sure that riding these incredible creatures is even real. God is so gracious!

Riding the Mielie Fields with Erin

After the last of three really good dressage rides on Lancey last week, I took a kiddo out for a little walk ride with her new thoroughbred. The mare is absolutely lovely but hasn't seen our trails before, so I decided to walk with Lancey in tow, just in case I needed to make a grab for a bridle. Lancey, of course, would be excellent moral support.

I led him part of the way, but when it became obvious that I wouldn't need to be wrangling any thoroughbreds on this day, I realized that I really needn't walk the whole way home. I was still in my helmet after our ride so I popped on in a halter and we walked home. The thoroughbred did end up giving one spook right up Lancey's bum, but obviously, he didn't care at all.

It's so incredible how this horse has just transformed my riding confidence when it comes to going out. A year ago I was still celebrating the ability to go on a 10-minute walk ride alone, and there I was riding him bareback in a halter with a horse who didn't know our trails at all. He's just amazing 💜

Thunder, too, is amazing, even though the poor guy is currently still in get-off-my-leg boot camp, but he outrides are definitely not his forte. He was really nice on trails as a young horse, and then I made the mistake of using him in the riding school and he bolted once with a teenager who was not even remotely helpful and since then he has never been the same. Every two or three months I'll feel sorry for him being stuck in the arena and try to take him on a long ride, and I always regret it. We spent Friday afternoon skittering sideways through the soya bean fields while I hung on for dear life, not helped by the fact that the dogs found a porcupine and brought it to bay. For the record, African porcupines are not at all the tree-climbing creatures of the Northern Hemisphere; in fact, their quills are significantly longer and larger, and they're pretty vicious. This one was rattling its quills furiously, much to poor Thunder's consternation.

please mom take me back to my sandbox

We'll go back to tiny little hacks and slowly build him up again, if he starts to enjoy them at some point. I already have a lovely trail horse and it's not like I'll ever sell him, so if he never gets to like riding out, he doesn't have to do it. He's already a unicorn in the sandbox; he doesn't have to be a unicorn everywhere.

Lancey, it would appear, is a unicorn no matter where you take him at this point. This was evidenced on Sunday, when my bestbestbestbestbest friend, Erin, came over. After overeating ourselves hopelessly (this man of mine can cook, y'all) we rode Ladybug (more on that later) and then headed off for the best kind of conversation you can have: one punctuated by the steady thump of hoofbeats, and filled with fresh air and warm African sunshine.

I smelled trouble from the second my butt hit the saddle. Thunder had pushed me a little bit on Friday's ride, never shoving my nerves beyond about a 3 out of 5, but they did go up to a 3 and stayed there for about half an hour - much longer than I'd normally maintain that level of nervous just because we were outside instead of in an arena. Clearly, it had its effects. I was mostly OK, but jumpy about silly things and dreading the thought of having a nice canter rather than looking forward to it.

Thankfully, Lancey really doesn't care how nervous I am. He'd had a good week of work and seemed delighted to be on the trails; he instantly flowed into his Arabian power-walk, and he was eating up the ground effortlessly on a loose rein, not looking at a thing. Erin was riding one of my trusted school ponies, the handsome Flash, who was being angelic - barring having to jog every few minutes to keep up with Lancey.

We took the direct route to the gate to our kindly neighbor's farm. In the spirit of anonymity, I've renamed it Magic Oak Tree Farm in blogland, and Lancey seemed to know he was on familiar territory. We rode right along the first
winter grazing field and then found ourselves faced with a choice: north, towards the game camp and the magic oak tree; continuing west, towards the tar road; or south, deeper into the mielie fields.

I could already see that the game were up in the northern part of their camp by the road, so we wouldn't be able to see them if we took the north route to the bottom of the poplar woods. There are horses in the western field and at least one stallion - while Lancey doesn't care, I'm a little concerned about the stallion climbing over the fence. So we swung south instead into unchartered territory and continued on through the mielie fields.

This proved to be a perfect choice. There was nothing for the horses to spook at and no distractions at all from a much-needed catch-up between best friends. I quickly forgot I'd ever felt nervous at all, and Lancey swung along on a loopy rein with Flash right beside him. The sunshine was wonderful. It's hard to think of anything more relaxing, and I think I'm finally starting to get the whole "relaxing outride" idea at last.

At one point a little winter whirlwind grabbed a whole bunch of the dry, fallen mielie leaves and swirled them around Lancey's legs as we crossed one of the fields. My scary, spooky Arab didn't seem to notice. When the whirlwind had passed, I finally had gotten my nerve back, and we had a long trot all the way to the fallow fields on the southern side of the farm.

After turning for home, I realized that actually, I really, really wanted to have a canter. It would be good for my nerves, and it would just simply be fun! But especially with a school pony in tow, I didn't really want to canter heading towards home, so we took a detour to the east and through a tall gate.

This was where Lancey had his compulsory Arab Moment. The fence corner was completely covered in some kind of huge, green bush, which was obviously alive with birds. Lancey didn't actually jump, but he did put up his tail and give some wonderful snorts. Flash - who is definitely the more sheep-like type of school pony - had to grumpily go first, and even then Lancey barely deigned to tiptoe by. He was a bit bug-eyed for a few moments even after passing the bush, but after a little bit of lateral work back and forth on the trail, he realized that he was OK and relaxed completely. I think this is why I trust this horse so much: it's not that he's never spooky, it's just that he never, ever spins, jumps, or bolts when spooked. He just snorts and stares, and I can deal with that.

So even after all that, once we'd walked a little way and both taken a deep breath, I squeezed him into a little canter and we were off. He didn't put a foot wrong, as usual; he was a little forward, and clearly having fun, but I could half-halt him from my seat and if I dropped the rein a little then he just stretched down. As we reached the top of the hill I had to squeeze him a couple of times to keep him going, and when I asked him to walk, he plodded down into it like a good little boy.

With my nerve officially restored, we walked the rest of the way home almost on the buckle, the two little geldings just swinging along as happy as could be. We were out for about two hours and I'd guess we covered around 10km, but I really should get an app to track our rides sometime.

Lancey had broken a tiny bit of sweat when we got home, but he was super cheerful and happy, and I didn't even feel any stiffness or tiredness in our dressage ride the next day.

He also, obviously, turned himself into a mud monster the moment I'd hosed him off a bit.

It was an absolutely perfect ride on the best little white Arabian ever, and in the company of one of the best, smartest, kindest people I've ever known.

God is just so good 💜

Going Big

 I just signed Lancey up for his first dressage show with me since... 2016?

he's as incredulous as you are

When I was still bringing him on for his previous owner as a jumping pony, I used to take Lancey along to the SANESA shows when they still allowed "supporters" to enter. We did one where we added on a dressage test just for funsies, and honestly, he did pretty well. We scored in the high 60s at Prelim with a strict judge, which isn't too bad considering that he was a five-year-old piloted by a girl who had exactly one actual dressage lesson under her belt. His attention span and physical strength at the time were also so poor that I didn't actually warm him up at all. There was a howling wind and the arena was right on the edge of a poplar grove, and the trees were whipping around like crazy. I got on him in the warmup, walked across it to the show arena, walked around the arena, and that was it. We went straight in and he was super. I even still have the test - the judge's comment was "quite good [ineligible squiggle] shown, at times pony could have more bend and cover more ground".

(Lancey would like to interject that, at a mighty 15 hands, he is not actually a pony).

Whatever quite good ineligible squiggle he had, I'm hoping it stands us in good stead last time. That test was more than five years ago now and it was also the only dressage show he's ever done. The last time I actually showed him was at Horse of the Year in February 2020... and so obviously the thing to do, for his second ever dressage show, was to enter him in Elementary 5 and 6.

Titan has concerns about this, too

I know I have a few American readers (thank you for being here!), and the South African dressage level names make exactly 0% sense, so Elementary is along the same lines as 2nd level. Tests 5 and 6 are also the hardest in the level. They include a bunch of shoulder-in, turns on the haunches, rein-backs (which are coefficients), and also counter-canter half circles and simple changes on the long side out of counter-canter. 

So, like... not the usual tests you'd pick for a horse's second dressage show, and the only reason I can show him at Elementary at all is that you're allowed to show one grade higher than your horse is registered. He's registered as Novice (1st) now, so we're going to give this a shot.

A few months ago, I would never have dreamed of riding him at Elementary and was having doubts about whether I should even ride him at Novice. But it seems like Coach's speech is getting through to me. What would be the point of messing around at Novice on a horse who actually does have all the Elementary movements and many of the Elementary-Medium movements, too?

what would be the point of being a goose in a dog basket? honestly I don't know that either

Am I going to regret this? If I make a real hash of it, maybe, but it's still worth the try. Is it going to hurt my Lanceypie? Not in any way. He can do the work; it's me that might fizzle a bit in the show ring. As long as there's no risk to my dear horses, I'm trying to think more like a bold competitor, like someone who's ready to go big or go home. I don't just want to survive through shows anymore: I want to ride. This is my first attempt at developing a big match temperament, and I'm excited to see how it goes.

The pony has been riding his tests pretty nicely, honestly. One or two small mistakes, but nothing I can't iron out in a ride. There is always the chance that he might pop up his head and throw away some marks, but I can get it sorted out within a couple of strides, so we'd lose one movement - that's all. My goal for this show is to get a couple of grading points, and, more importantly, to really give it my best shot. Not just manage my nerves and avoid falling off!

Danny says he's only four so he doesn't have to do anything except being adorable, at which he scores 10000000%

Weirdly enough I'm feeling less nervous for this show than usual. Maybe that will change closer to the time, or maybe there's something to be said for this whole "go for it" mentality. Only time will tell! 

PrancingPony is being clipped tomorrow and he has hearts clipped on his butt and, since I'm on a rebel roll, I'm leaving them right where they are! 

Thunder also has some big plans on the horizon. I'm really, really hoping to ride him at our big provincial show. It all depends whether or not I can sell this random Bombers bit that I found at the bottom of my bit box while I was looking for a snaffle for a kid (people have donated a ton of weird and awesome stuff to me over the years). The chances of me ever using a non-dressage legal Uber Expensive Bit are very low, so hopefully I can make some of the entry fees back.

He's been going super well, too. Part of that has absolutely been the fact that I'm way, way more consistent about what I'm asking him, but on my last post, Teresa commented some of the best advice I've ever gotten. I've been trying it, and it's awesome! It stops things from devolving into a fight and keeps my heart up. Her words were something along the lines of "throw your heart out in front and chase it". Teresa rocks, y'all. To put a Riding on Water spin on it, it's about heels down, leg on, eyes on Jesus. I love it. 

Unfortunately, since we didn't get grading points in 2020, Thunder is also competing at EM but registered at Elementary. Rules say we have to ride Elementary at the big show, which is kind of a bummer considering we were actually about to ride Medium, but hey - lower level, bigger scores (maybe).

We'll see how things pan out, but God willing, I'd absolutely love to ride in it.

Bonus pic: wintry landscape and baby Lizzy being backed

In Scripture reading, I've finished the reign of Solomon and now heading into the sad descent of Israel and Judah into sin, ultimately leading to the captivity. It's so easy to judge someone like Jeroboam. His reign was prophesied, he saw God's power, and he even had his own hand shriveled and then miraculously healed at the word of a prophet. Still, for political power, he set up idols in Israel and led the people astray. How can you see God work like that and still serve a golden calf? Just like the Israelites did, walking through the Red Sea, then turning aside to worship a deaf and dumb idol.

Yet I have done the very same. Surrounded by His creation, walking in His grace, still my heart sets up idols for itself, running after money and success and popularity when I'm offered grace, love and eternity. We all have a little Jeroboam in us, and that's why Christ came to the cross.

Perhaps the trouble I've had with dressage is not that I care too little about riding well, but that I care too much about not riding badly. I need to throw it all to the winds and just ride my heart out in worship to the Lord. To ride boldly and wholeheartedly, not to worship idols like ribbons or judges or prestige, but to worship the God Who made us all. 

He is so so good 💜