Shhheeeeiiiiittttt

Our band of North Carolina yokels invaded Doswell around 1:00 last Friday. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take them (or us) to recover.

The drive up I-95 was relatively uneventful. Yes, there was road construction and associated delays–which rank right up there with the Foxhound (official state dog), the Dogwood (official state flower), and the Oyster (official state SHELL, no I do not make this up)–as an official state tourist attraction in the Old Dominion one should not (and indeed, can not) miss. I was really excited to travel to The Meadow Event Park. After all, the grounds of The Meadow were the birthplace of Secretariat. The Disney movie version (which Ruby and I had watched again this week as preparation for the trip) had me really excited about the beauty of the original farm (proximity to King’s Dominion notwithstanding), and to my knowledge Disney has NEVER misrepresented anything!

So imagine my surprise when we arrived at what looked like a barn and a couple of rings in the middle of a huge parking lot. Esthetically, the place leaves a lot to be desired is lacking in vision. It’s also lacking in shade of any sort (natural or man-made) and grass for grazing (ironic for a place called The Meadow, no?). The footing was heavy/dead, but not deep/unsafe. On the plus side, the barn was large and airy with a nice breeze, and everything was close together and easy to get to for schooling or watching or getting lunch or whatever. Janine Malone was ever-present whenever we turned around dealing with this and that, making sure everyone was having a good show.

To be on the safe side, I took Bravo out for a quick lunge before getting on Friday afternoon. He was pretty keen, but there was minimal joie de vivre on his part. There were 3 rings going, but since one of them was breed show only on Saturday it was not set up with a dressage court yet. I focused on rings 1 and 2, where I would have 3 out of 4 of my tests anyway. There was a LOT of traffic in the rings, which Bravo dealt with surprisingly well–he can sometimes get quite addled when there are lots of horses in the warm up, particularly if any of them are acting up or if he hears a rider using the stick. Both of these scenarios happened with no reponse other than a few looks and I was able to concentrate on riding rather than damage control.

After the riding was done, and all the ponies were tucked in, we went off in search of food. A universal truth for our group is that cheap Mexican food is an easy crowd pleaser (plus this means margaritas). Luckily, Mexican restaurants are about as ubiquitous as gas stations and Walmarts. A bonus was that the restaurant was not only just a couple of blocks from the hotel, but that it was also IMMEDIATELY adjacent to Starbucks. Yippee–no settling for crappy hotel coffee!

Saturday morning we all trundled over to The Meadow. I was lucky to not have an early first ride time Saturday, so I could take my time mentally (and physically) preparing–although this meant I would be riding in the hotter part of the day. My second test was after 5:00, which does not happen often, and makes for a long day. The facility set-up made it easy to walk out between braiding, cleaning, and polishing and watch some tests.

Because of the heat, I opted to go with a shorter warm up of 30 minutes for the first test (as a comparison, the first day at Pinehurst I needed a full hour before both tests the first day–and he was still edgy). Anne was there with a few salient pieces of advice.*

*Anne strives for all her students to be able to be independent functional riders. As such, she does not usually yell directives from the sidelines of the warm up ring. Mainly it’s “Come here when you get a chance.” and then she comments on what she sees–and sometimes how to fix it. If you get in trouble, she’s right there to give a “mini-lesson” (a la Pinehurst), but if things seem to be cooking along she gives you space to figure it out (after all, it’s not like she can coach us in the test). Hopefully, we already have the “big stuff” figured well before we hit the centerline, and she offers just those “tweaks” to perfect the picture. The upside of this is that we will never have to buy her one of those headset thingies.

The test went great. Bravo was rideable, in front of my leg, and I was even able to let out his neck a bit. We had no major mistakes. I was very happy with my 66.9% score–this was a “large” class by Second level standards (9 riders Open/AA/Jr)–which not only won the class but was my second qualifier for the USDF Region 1 finals this season. Better still was Anne telling me I rode the test better than I rode the warm up.

The second test did not go exactly according to plan (have I said this before???). I went with an even shorter 20 minute warm up, much of which was walking. I went into the ring feeling confident and relaxed.

Ding-a-ling-a-ling. This can be said of both the sound of the judge ringing  me mid-ride AND my apparent inability to follow directions. I messed up the test (and I knew it the first time) by halting unnecessarily before my walk work followed by starting my walk pirouette in the wrong place. After starting over I did it in the wrong place a second time. For the record another member of our crew had 2 off-course errors on one test, which we all giggled over, AND several members of my team offered to read my test, to whom I declined because I “knew” the test. Nervertheless, I scored a 67.9% (it would have been a 69.5%) for another win.

So what exactly is the protocol when one screws up? Why, more tequila, please!

Unfortunately, I did have an early ride Sunday, and I could tell that Bravo was spent. I secured a “guest” reader as a “CYA”. Despite only a brief warm up, I had very little gas in the tank this time. After turning onto my first diagonal and cueing for the medium trot I got…nada. So I went to the stick and got a canter. But, the rest of the test was more forward from the leg, although the gaits were pretty flat. I settled for a 63+% for third place. (This score would have hung the moon for me 3 years ago when I was struggling with Second level–ahh, perspective…) Anne and I talked and determined I should try NO warm up for the last test. I got on 15 minutes before, worked on suppling and moving him around at the walk only, and then headed to the ring. In the minute or so before my test started I schooled one trot medium and one simple change before the bell rang. While Bravo was not hot to the aids, this tactic did give me a bit more gas in the tank and the ride felt better than the previous attempt. The score reflected as much with a 66+% for another win.

My successful weekend made the 4 hour drive home a lot more bearable (and it was traffic free!!!).

I’ve had a day now to ponder the highlights and reflect on the “teachable moments”. While I did not score well on any of my medium trots, they are improving and solidifying. I am feeling a true medium with thrust and ground cover without an increase in tempo, and when it’s right it’s easy to sit. However, Bravo still lacks the strength to hold the balance for an entire diagonal, so that needs to be improved for better scores and I think that will come naturally with time. My up and down transitions into the medium canter were much improved (and reflected in my transition scores). I FINALLY got good free walks with both overtrack and good stretch in the neck (reflected in my scores). My walk pirouettes still stink but that’s a kn0wn issue that I have been addressing, although clearly with not enough effect–this may necessitate a move to the top of the list for a while. As always, I have plenty of homework to occupy me until the next show.

Finally, horse show weekends mean more for me than just my rides and scores. They’re about my extended family, with whom I celebrate our highs and commiserate our lows. Team Aloi was in full force working hard (together) and playing hard (together). In between riding, watching tests, and tending to the horses we had the opportunity to make new friends, drink some margaritas, dance to ghetto music, and roast marshmallows for s’mores. Tammy and Dancer moved up a level. Keni and Laci had clean changes. Karen and Buddy improved each test by 5%. Anne and Doc got their remaining Developing Horse score with tons of room to spare.

Sheeeiiittt. We took Virginia by storm–and it may never be the same.

A well-rounded clinic. Here we come, Doswell!

Another wild and wonderful weekend in Wilson working with Anne! The weather was pleasant (hot, but with a nice breeze) and the riding was really strong by everyone. There were a couple of new faces, and I really enjoyed meeting some “new blood”–particularly because one came with a really good bottle of tequila (does our reputation proceed us?).

I missed a few of the rides on Saturday, as I traveled to Wooten Stables after a morning at work. Lynn and Keni were gracious enough to trailer Bravo with Laci and tuck him into the barn so that I could come straight after seeing my last patient. The lessons were taking place in the covered, which did not go so well for me last attempt, and I was hoping that the heat would help convince B that normal work was easier than acrobatics so that I could have a lesson instead of just damage control.

It went quite well.

The focus this weekend was the neck. Specifically, lengthening it. There is, of course, back story. Not so long ago, I was struggling with the connection. I think that Bravo, like many horses, will always have some connection “issues”, but we are both more consistent with the concept now. While it is ideal to ride the horse OUT to the contact, Bravo seemed “lost” if he had too much freedom to seek the contact. Anne and I discussed back then that we might have to err on the side of riding his neck a bit short at first in an effort to establish some true push into the reins. Once that seemed relatively established, the goal would then be to push him out to a contact with a longer neck. Apparently that time was now.

I have been working on this on my own, and it was part of my warm-up with Anne at Pinehurst. When things were going well and he was well connected, I was to give the reins forward an inch and try to have him follow. Now in the environment of “training” vs. “showing”, we took it a step further. In addition to riding with a more giving, forward hand, we worked on shifting the balance backward using my seat alone. Manipulating him with my seat (to which he is pretty responsive naturally) allows me to not resort to the reins as much, which means I do not have the side effect of artificially shortening his neck. As we have in previous clinics, we also kept the tempo a bit under powered, so that the relaxation and elasticity could come through (it’s easy to add the power back in Bravo’s case–particularly at a show).

The short story is Sunday’s lesson was a carbon copy. Minimal evasiveness, nuthin’ fancy, just making the overall picture more correct and therefore more pretty. We can get through a test pretty well, so the goal for next weekend will be to get through the tests more correctly. If I can maintain riding stride to stride and not worrying so much about riding just the test movements, I think we’ll do just fine.

As always, there is some frivolity at the end of the day. We had a nice catered meal from Jac’s Grill in Wilson right on the farm in the gazebo, with yummy Margaritas expertly made by Paula (a little TOO expertly…I think she gets some practice) which may or may not have led to a couple of poor choices. It’s unclear to me why this happens, but somehow Anne decides she’a a yoga ninja warrior when her BAC starts to rise, and this weekend proved no different. I am not familiar with the Bikrim or “hot” yoga that she practices, preferring a more civilized temperature when I get my asanas on (although hot yoga might make the Margaritas more tasty afterwards). Regardless, there was some tree, eagle, bird of paradise, bound side angle, and this double somethingoranother Anne had us doing in the driveway. It had been a triple somethingoranother, but the usually graceful gazelle Keni Kerin fell down like a bag of bricks just before this photo was snapped.

How on Earth did we live before camera phones?

Next weekend will be here fast. It’s been a while since I’ve traveled more than 2 hours from home for a show, so I’d better start my list so I don’t forget anything! I am very much looking forward to another great weekend with great friends and great horses. And maybe some mediocre yoga.