Diary of A Young Dressage Horse
Saturday 17th April 2010
First Disasters of the Season...
This week we went out for the first time this season. I had anticipated it would be quiet, low key and fairly spook free venue. How naive I was! It was quite an eventful venue to say the least and low key it certainly was, but perhaps not for the right reasons. Quiet? oh yes, there were only a handful in each class, but spook free? Oh no! Having recognised very early on, we seemed to be the only visiting lorry in the car park, it did become evident that all the other competitors either hacked to or were on livery at the yard. How strange we thought, for a BD competition...was I missing something perhaps?
For starters the competition arena is right (and I mean right) next to a very busy main road and to make matters worse there was the biggest car boot / market sale I have ever seen in my life happening in the 10 acre field across the road. It started to dawn on me why we were the only ones brave (or silly) enough to travel here with horses that were unaccustomed to the scenario. So typical of me to get this so wrong and take a baby on his first outing of the season here...
In our first test, two articulated lorry's had a horn beeping strop with each other and another one let rip with the air brakes. This, combined with the constant fast flowing traffic in one direction and a huge, very impatient queue for the ever popular car boot in the other, did not bode well for a quiet stress free test! We spent the majority of the test on two legs, careering one direction or the other, but never the right one. We actually seemed to perform the entire test on a 6 x 10m arena to avoid getting anywhere close to the cars.
In the second test, having got somewhat accustomed to the riot going on over the road, Rooney thankfully decided after all that the loud screeches from the market callers and the stroppy lorry drivers were not really that scary. He did however this time decide to take a distinct dislike to the judges hut. I tried to explain to him that it was there in the first test and it was not going to grow legs and chase him, but my feeble attempt fell on deaf ears. Each time we attempted to go head on towards, or even past the judge we threw huge paddy. I had thought we had left behind thinking that judges boxes were sent by the devil late last year, but oh no, not today!
Needless to say our scores were not that great and we put the entire day down to experience...intent on finding a much quieter, car boot free venue next time out.
One fateful centre line entry one day last year...'what the heck is thaaaaaat????'
So, we popped out the middle of the week to a different venue very local to me which I cherish dearly and visit frequently. Field house is a super venue and Rooney, having been there a few times before over the winter, I thought would have appreciated the familiarity & settled well.
Perhaps he settled a little too well and became a little over familiar. In the warm up he was so excited to be there, he felt very hot and excitable. He waited until I went to alter my stirrups (take them up a couple of pegs actually just in-case he did not calm down) and when I was stirrup free on one side, bending down to pull the buckle back into place, he decided to do a full on high ho silver out of sheer excitement...I knew the new sticky bum breeches would come in useful for something! I managed to hang on and stay on board, although I had a feeling worse was still to come.
We entered at A in working trot, proceeded down the centre line and at C performed a working spook right. At S circled left 20 metre in a strange hexagon. At E we turned left, at X stopped and refused to move. Finally we made it to B and performed a freestyle half pirouette on two back legs, with an unexplained change of direction and bolt. Back on course we made it to A, where we ran into canter....need I say more? It was a disaster! We retired and left the ring at A on a very short rein, still clinging on for dear life.
Saturday 24th April 2010
Our first Win...
Wow what a good week, well it doesn't get much worse than last week.
We went to Hargate for the first time on the Sunday, what a super venue for the young horses. It is calm, open and has first class surfaces. The judges box is also set back very slightly and is very large, so they tend not to see it as a 'scary little hut with people trapped inside' but more of a 'giant hut' or a 'temporary building ' which is clearly acceptable to Rooney.
In the first prelim, admittedly Roo acted like a bit of a wally and was just very excitable and tense, but still did an OK test and came 4th with 63.9%.
In the second prelim, he calmed down, listened and took it all in his stride and we won our first class ever with 65.4%. I was so delighted and could have cried (well OK I admit I did...just a little). It was such an amazing feeling that we had come so far. From the crazy, naughty, sometimes insane, rising 3 year old I had bought in 2008 to actually starting to win some ribbons and make some progress.
Our first win at Hargate...yes it does look like I have nodded off...dressage is sooooo exciting! (Wake me up when we've finished the test!)
We also went for a lesson with my trainer, Maria Eilberg this week which was super as always. It was the first time we had worked indoors there, so the mirrors proved comical to begin with as you can probably imagine, but after a few minutes Maria had us working in harmony focusing on getting more lateral bend and working forwards. We worked alot on our canter work and then some leg yield. It was a great session and I never leave there without being shattered as she makes us work so hard!
This was also the first time I ever rode in my fabulous new saddle. James from Barnsby's was keen for me to try it out in my lesson, so after a final fitting in the morning, he legged it back to base and made a few minor adjustments and then we rendezvoused at a junction off the M42 on my way to Marias! How amazing of James that was... Quick stop in a lay-by, pick up the saddle and then onwards to our training session.
The saddle was outstanding. I have not had a brand new saddle in my life and have usually had to make do with second hand ones. I have got to say it was worth the wait. It felt so brilliant to be riding in something which was completely fitted, designed and hand made for my horse and me as a team. I felt supported and deep in my seat , but not at all restricted. It was comfortable and put my legs into a good position. Roo was very comfortable too and he rode very forward and into a good natural contact (something we have had issues with recently). His paces were very free through his shoulder and he relaxed and stretched down nicely when encouraged to (relaxing is not always his strong point). We were both delighted with it and it just arrived in time for our first big show the end of next week...perfect!
Tuesday 4th May 2010
After a very quiet week last week, spending plenty of time working at home, hacking and getting used to our fantastic new saddle, we were pleased to get out to Sheepgate for the Premier League. I was quite apprehensive as it was the first time Roo had travelled and stayed away from home in a temporary stable, in addition to the fact it was the first time either of us had been to such a high profile show!
It was a good 3 hour journey, so we travelled down the night before, Myself, Rooney and Katie (my wonderful friend who agreed to groom for me for the weekend). We arrived as it was just getting dark and upon arriving and attempting to guide Roo into an obviously very scary looking temporary stable, we quickly realised it had flooded in the bad weather and was 3 inches deep in water! A quick phone call to the super efficient staff at Sheepgate had us sorted and moved to a dry block, where Roo was surrounded by very calm, laid back new friends, which even made it easier to encourage him to step inside, without having a panic attack.
At bedtime I did not want to leave him, it was like leaving a child, I was pathetic and worried so unnecessarily. I was worried he would stress away from home and would not sleep.
Katie and I checked into a local pub offering B&B (my lorry does not have the luxury of beds!) It was a comical place, which reminded us of fault towers, but very homely and welcoming all the same. We did however feel like people out of a scene from the film American Werewolf in London, the bit where they walk into the local pub and everyone goes silent and stares...it was just like that. We did not however stray from the path and after a few glasses of nerve calming vino and a good nights sleep we were back at the venue in a flash.
Roo was fine...shavings in his tail, poo squashed into his white sock, the works, generally meaning he probably got a better night's sleep than me. The weather was dreadful and was streaming with rain most of the morning.
We got lucky in the prelim and even won the class, which was unexpected, but great...another Red rosette! We were only really using this as a warm up too, to get him accustomed to the arena, the flags and those dreaded judges boxes. This also meant we got our qualifier for the Hickstead Maters Semi finals in June... very exciting, what a grown up dressage boy he is!
That feeling dissipated very quickly when we went in for the Badminton Young Horse qualifier in the afternoon. We did get unlucky with the weather and was one of only three tests in the entire class to take place in a mini hurricane. During my freestyle test, the wind picked up and the rain absolutely poured. Half way through a large picnic table made haste across the bottom end of the arena, closely followed by a couple of plastic chairs. 5 out of 12 arena markers blew over and the one next to the judges box, as if the box is not scary enough already, went flying just was we rode past. It was pretty dire and was alot to ask a baby to deal with, so we were not too upset when we finished third from the bottom of the class, the other two who got hit with the hurricane incidentally came last and second to last, so it was not just me who cursed the weather that afternoon!
Our last class was the Shearwater Potential International Dressage horse class. By this time, late in the afternoon, Roo was tired, exhausted actually. He worked in nicely, but the class before over ran, so we were almost a hour late going in and he quite honestly had nothing left to give. He tried hard, did not even spook and behaved himself so very well, but he was falling onto his shoulders, his self carriage was compromised , as were his paces and he did not go freely forward. We came 10th and came home with another rosette, but he could have done so much better if he had been fresh.
Sunday 9th May
Midweek we went to our favourite venue, Hargate again and spooked at the judges box. After he ignored it so well last time we were there, this time it had a reflection on it from the sun ...and my we made a really big deal of it! Will this issue with judges boxes ever end? We did still get placed 4th in the P15 (64.3%) and 3rd in the P19 (65.9%) but so frustrated as he could have done so much better.
We also popped to another Badminton Young Horse Qualifier over the weekend and after having an initial bout of complete over excitement in the warm up and me now recognising the pattern that becoming vertically mobile seems to be something to do with being indoors, he finally settled and did quite a nice freestyle test outdoors and remained on four feet throughout.
We came 6th with 70% and won our first 'Young Horse' rosette. Well ,we won it, but did not get to take it home as when I went to collect my sheet, someone had removed the stapled rosette from it and stolen it! The lady in the office said she even remembered putting it there herself! We did have a giggle though about the weird and wonderful things people will actually steal. Surely they are only conning themselves if they want rosettes they have not even won! I was a bit miffed as they are such lovely rosettes too...shame. (If anyone from Badminton is reading this and you have a spare 6th place rosette, please do send it along!)
Sunday 23rd May 2010
Unlucky Number 13...
Oh my good gosh, I am so mortified by what happened!
We went to another Premier League for the young horse classes and every day was a disaster from start to finish. It started from the moment we checked in and Rooney was allocated stable number 13.
The rest of it went something like this:
Day 1:
Enter arena for our first young horse class which actually involved a test and not just a show, so Katie and I agreed it would be a good idea if she commanded for me. I had two tests that day and had never ridden either of them. This, combined with dealing with a very unpredictable young horse, in a very big new environment, seemed like a good idea to relieve some of the pressure of remembering both tests.
How wrong we were! I entered at A, preceded down the centre line and then the background music cranked up a fair few notches and the pleasant vibe of the ambient music changed to a rock song! I turned right at C and then thought Katie said half circle at B, she actually said P...I could not hear a word she was saying! I asked her to shout louder, which she did, I could still not hear her above the music. Not being 100% clear on the test and being reliant on being able to actually hear Katie, proved disastrous in this eventuality. Quickly realising my nat-nav had failed, we had no alternative but to retire. Rather angry that this had happened.
After politely and professionally raising this issue with the organiser and being shouted down and called an idiot three times, screeched at not to walk away, when he lost his temper and then being told I would not be welcome any longer at the venue if I made any suggestion of having my entry fee refunded....all so very charming!!! We decided to call it a day. We put Rooney back in his unfortunately numbered stable and went in search of a bottle of wine!
Katie thought it would be a great idea if we do ever return to this venue, to take a megaphone or even better wheel a full PA system with microphone into the arena. "A enter working trot, C turn right...P ...I repeat...P...circle right...at P for Papa take a right..."
On the phone that night I was asked by a friend what we had achieved that day...."erm...a nice straight centre line and half a 20 metre circle!"
Day 2:
Rooney went beautifully in the warm up before the Badminton qualifier. No spooking, antics or strops . He was listening, engaged, balanced and kept a lovely rhythm. That was all until we stepped hoof in the arena.
In the first two minutes before we started the test, he spooked at the judges table (we have just got accustomed to judges being housed in boxes after all) and then fell sideways into the arena through the white marker boards. Thankfully the judges laughed and spent a couple more minutes with me trying to coax Roo out of the arena through the gaping hole he made at C.
After that he was petrified, spooked at everything and made a bit of a fool of himself and me. I think he was getting his own back for my lack of directional guidance the day before. He clammed up, refused to go off my leg, would not go freely forward and the entire test reminded me of pony club on my little grey 12h mare twenty five years ago. It was kick, kick, kick...and nothing!...I just have a scary paranoia of him one day bending down to eat some foliage in an arena or a few plants and me not being able to pull his head up like at Pony Club too.
Day 3:
Absolute disaster! Firstly, we had to go in on our own for our round of the Potential International Young Horse Class. This is usually run in groups of three, but the other two in my group had withdrawn, as should have I in hind sight. It is much better in groups as they take a bit of console from not being on their own and follow the other horses, which would have been greatly welcomed given Roo's reaction to the arena and the judges table the previous day.
We went in, totally exposed on our own, all eyes on us and Roo decided he was going to throw a massive strop, the biggest in his history. Firstly having to be lead into the arena after planting 10 feet away from the entrance and refusing move, only up or back were his chosen options, not forwards.
Finally in the ring, he was OK in walk, just about managed a terrible trot, but when asked for canter he cow kicked at the boards & kicked one out of place, then stumbled, fell over his own feet and made a rather precarious recovery, before throwing in a huge buck followed by a rather loud trump and still no canter strike off. I tried to ask him again, he was still having a paddy and refusing to get into canter. After a fairly sharp smack, which resulted in a further large bronc as a response, and still no canter strike off...We retired!
This was a Premier League event, in the huge indoor arena, with heaps of professional riders and generally very important dressage types watching from the adjacent cafe. David Hunt, of FEI dressage committee fame, was judging the class...how mortified I was we saved this elaborate performance especially for him. The look of sheer horror and confusion on his face whilst all this took place, will haunt me eternally for life.
Why oh why did this have to happen at such a big show. Why could this not happen at a local regional qualifier?
It goes to show that the degree of your horse's misbehaviour will be in direct proportion to the number of people watching. I suppose Rooney feels the same about his rider after the first days attempt!
Thankfully I had my super new saddle on this weekend, which gives me a very secure seat, which I clearly needed.