Pipestave Hill 3 phase

I feel a hell of a lot better about riding tests before a judge now. It’s been almost 3 years since my last outing at a horse trials. Clover, of course, went out with Emma to the Senator Bell schooling horse trial back in June.

I panicked all last week, and my hysteria level peaked when I actually tried to school Novice A test movements the Saturday before Pipestave. I was blowing the canter transitions, as well as a host of basics that were lost to nerves. Seeing that, my trainer left me alone to start her next lesson, and I foolishly continued on, drilling the canter transition over and over, even though I know better than to do that. Finally my trainer called down to me and told me to knock it off and find a good ending point before quitting. Meaning, do something basic that Clover and I do well together, and quit on a good note. We did some walk work and ended with a decent halt.

I was packed and (sort of) prepared, Clover was clean, clipped and braided with a minimum of fussing. I ate a good dinner and unwound while watching Galaxy Quest with Tony. Still, I didn’t sleep well, too much adrenaline–my hands twitched as I started to drift off, and would wake me up. My little hands have a life of their own when I sleep at night.

The day started out better than last night, though I was a little tired and headachy, but less panicky. We did chores, fixed up the horses’ braids and packed them and ourselves off to Pipestave. A quick aside here–for the last couple of trailer rides, I’ve gotten Clover to load on by herself, which tickles me pink, as I’ve always had horses that were difficult loaders at best. I love this little mare! After unloading and getting the competitor’s packets and gear organized, I greeted my father- and stepmother-in-law, whom I was happy to see show up to watch Clover’s first competition ever.

I tacked up and headed to the warm up area. I made myself stay as cool and relaxed as I possibly could, and made acceptance of the bit and staying in the ring my main goals for the ride. We warmed up quietly, I didn’t demand as much as I could have in the way of bending and straightness, but the transitions were good and Clover was going nicely forward. My trainer came down to help me out–she knew I was nervous and went easy on me–and told me to keep a steadier contact and not let Clover come up against my hand, and to stop nagging at her with my leg. And to relax!

Before I knew it, I was on deck, then going around the arena and dropping my whip. Lucky for me the ring steward was a kind soul and reminded me not to go in the arena with bell boots on Clover–my trainer quickly whipped them off, we made one final swing around the arena before the bell rung and I headed down the centerline. I aimed for C, panicked about my diagonal, changed it, decided I was on the correct diagonal in the first place and changed it back, and got myself sorted out in time to make the left turn down the long side of the arena.

Now that I was riding the test, I was able to relax into it a bit. I tried riding consciously and relaxing my body at the same time, instead of the usual grab and grip autopilot mode I usually went into. Still, I blew both canter transitions, Clover was inattentive to my leg after all the nagging, and we were late going into both transitions. It wasn’t a horrble, embarrassing test, but I could have been more forward and accurate. I’m not too disappointed, it was my first time in the arena with Clover, in her first walk/trot/canter test.

Our score was mediocre, but better than I’d gotten on more experienced horses in the past. The collective marks held a few pleasant surprises: 7 for gaits, 7 for rider (aids and position)! 6’s for impulsion and submission. A 7! For my riding! I used to get 6’s and even 5’s. When I watched the video of the test, I saw that it wasn’t as horrible as it felt. I was doing the death grip with my knees, and nagged uselessly with my lower legs, but the rest looked better than I imagined it would, even during the crappy canter transitions. Man, do I feel a lot better about my riding.

I have a long way to go as far as dressage is concerned, but I have come a long way in the past 2 years. Things are starting to click, which is encouraging, after years of riding on the same old plateau. My trainer is tough, very demanding, but damn if it doesn’t pay off!

Cross country* was a blast. Clover is a little x-c machine! She sees the fences and pulls to them, even completely new obstacles. Of course, that doesn’t explain why we were later eliminated in stadium! She did waver a little before the strange fences, but all I had to do was widen my hands and keep the leg on, and she’d go right over. I tried not to jump ahead too much, and I did use my stopwatch for practice (since the courses weren’t timed), but then I forgot to turn it off after crossing through the finish flags. Tony and his folks met me at the finish, and we headed back to the trailer to give Clover some water and rest before stadium. Man! Did I feel great! I was very happy with Clover’s first go over x-c. It was perfect for a green horse’s first time out, a real confidence builder (for me, too).

Stadium was another story, entirely. I got back into my black coat, briefly warmed up a now-tired Clover, and entered the ring for my round. I had quite a bit of trouble getting Clover over the brightly painted and decorated jumps. We got over the first two, and jumped #3 from a standstill (very small fences), dribbled to a looky stop at an oxer, which I wasn’t about to take from a standstill, circled back around, and got over it. Got barely over the fifth fence, and had a run out at the sixth–my fault, I took a bad line to it and then jumped ahead. Circled around, represented her to it and got over fine before being whistled off by the stadium judge, who crankily stated that that had been my courtesy fence and I was excused from the ring.

The hell? As far as I could tell, I had the stop at the oxer and a run-out. You have 3 disobediences before being eliminated in stadium. Besides, usually you got the whistle after the elimination and THEN a courtesy fence. I shrugged and did the walk of shame out of the ring with Clover. I was relieved to be done after the rough round, but puzzled at the judge’s loose interpretation of stadium rules (at that time, the “stop and pop” as a refusal hadn’t gone into effect yet). Not only that, but I and several other riders noticed that she was being inconsistent about what she’d consider a stop in other rounds. And I guess that meant she wasn’t cutting any green horses any slack at this schooling show.

Oh, well, things overall went much better than I anticipated. I have a good idea of where the holes are in my training, and what I need to work on more in my riding. And I was thrilled with Clover’s performance over cross country!

*The course:
1. Natural log
2. Coop, left turn to:
3. Stacked logs, heading up a small hill to:
4. Haybales with poles (other riders had a lot of stops there)
5. Coop
6. Faux Trakener (no ditch)
left at top of hill, trot down steep hill to: 7 & 8. Vertical rails
9. Small table
10. Gray picket fence, with mulch ground line–it was looky, but we made it over
11. Log, going into woods, up hill, lost attention at row of trailers
12. Another log, & through finish flags