June 26, 2006: We're Out of Our Box

Tequila and I took on First Level Test 4 for the first time this past weekend; it was only the third time we’d even ventured past Test 1 (and the other two were, quite honestly, disasters).

Our rides were not perfect--far from it--but they were not disasters, either--and I can safely say we’ll not be returning to Test 1 again, EVER. On Saturday, Quila’s listening skills were, shall we say, a bit lacking? When my first set of aids did not come through, I repeated myself, but the second didn’t either. By the third, it would finally dawn on me that she was a bit “deef”, and I’d speak-up. Of course, that meant our movements were a bit late, and appeared to lack preparation and the judge was astute enough to notice. Quila and I share equally in the blame, I think. Since working with Fabian, I’ve been riding her differently, and I was so focussed on not reverting to old habits that I wasn’t paying the attention I should have been to the response I was getting to my aids. I should have been more aware and by the second (or certainly the third) time she “slept” through them turned up the “gain” so to speak. Our warm-up was fine, and so was trotting around the outside of the ring, but she gave me a clue when we headed up centerline and I felt her “motor” into high gear. She wasn’t being naughty--just eager--saying, “Oh, boy, Mom. A test. We can do this, I know we can. Let me show you what I can do!” Unfortunately, her idea of a “great test” differs greatly from mine and that of the judges...

Yesterday, after having reviewed the video of Saturday’s ride, I resolved that I would be the boss no matter what. I achieved that goal, and I did it without pulling (Yay!) although it wasn’t as pretty as I would have liked. I was quite pleased with our trot work (except for 5’s on the lengthenings, which thank goodness are NOT double coefficients on this test), it was all 6’s and 7’s--I could have asked for more on the trot lengthenings and wish that I had, but at least she didn’t fall on her forehand and run. Our walk was good, too...

But then the canter. Suddenly, her neck felt like it was encased in a cement cervical collar, and she refused to give me her back. It felt like nothing I did would solve the problem. At home, I would have done canter/walk and canter/trot transitions, and ridden the canter 2 strides counter-flexed then 2 strides normal-flexed, alternating, until she gave through her neck and poll. Lots of transitions, lots of changes in bend (and a little prayer thrown in), because when she locks up like this, it’s usually a combination of tight muscles (and brain spasm :wink:), and it’s heck to get her loose and through... In the test, however, none of those tools are available. Bend was pretty much impossible in our circle, so it felt labored, she was flat for the lengthening and couldn’t come under herself to push, wouldn’t collect for the corner--but we still rode that single loop (good thing, since we got a few points back on the double coefficient). We managed 6’s and 7’s except for the lengthening and the walk-trot-canter sequence (but we got an 8 for the final trot-canter transition to make up), and nothing below a 5... so it could have been worse. Far worse. The truly sad part is that we ended up with a 61.944%. I needed a 62% for a qualifying score for the Championships. One more point ANYWHERE on the test would have done it for me. Damn, damn, damn.

But at least we’re done with Test 1, and we’ve shown we can do Test 4. We do it much better at home (of course), but this was just our first outing. Our next show is July 15 - 16, and we’ll knock their socks off then! (I’ll also have Jürgen ride her a few times in the meantime--usually he rides her once a week to keep her loose and supple, but with all the travelling he’s been doing coaching Jennifer Schrader for Gladstone, and getting Susan qualified for the Juniors, it didn’t happen for the last 3 weeks or more. She was fine for a long time, but the stiffness started to creep back in this past week, and by the weekend: YUK!)