Medium Canter?

I thought we had our issues figured out, and I was right for walk and trot.

We'd have consistently scored between 68 and 75% if we could have stopped our tests at the end of the free walk. Maybe we can get a special allowance from USEF??? We even had trot EXTENSIONS at this show! (We've been working on them, and while they aren't beautiful--never will be--at least you can tell we're doing one now, and we're getting 6's and 7's on them instead of 4's and 5's!)

Our problems were in the canter work. Tequila had it in her head that she was going to do it all in medium canter, and on the first and third days, she was successful at taking over. On the first day, she pulled me out of position from the very beginning, and I wasn't able to regain the upper hand, ever. In fact, I was so discombobulated that I went off course. Had I had my wits about me, when I stopped for the judge to give me instructions, I could have used that as an opportunity to regain control--but no, I think I had mentally given up. It was ugly. The 4's and 5's in the canter dropped what had been a lovely test down to a 59%. We still placed 2nd (the other poor AA's had days that were even worse, spooking and bolting through the arena at flowers and decorations that were blowing around).

The second day, there were moments when she DID listen (we had a tug of war of control in the canter) so our score wasn't quite so bad (plus we had seven scores of '8' in our TROT work!) to finish with a 63. Unfortunately, the rest of the class of 12 pulled it together, too, so no ribbon for us (and no qualifying score, since the judge was the ONLY one I'd received a qualifying score from already--just my luck!).

The third day, Quila was determined to take back control. I held on through the first two canter movements, but then she launched a surprise attack and jerked me forward. She won. It was ugly. Back to a despicable 59% and a major case of the doldrums for me. I was truly ready to give up on showing... We did so well with the trot and walk, but the canter thing was really bugging me. And canter is our strong suit at home. Our warm-up went well--I'd schooled simple changes and canter-halt, and she'd been soft: the half halts worked then. Of course, at home, if she misbehaves like this, I can halt her on her behind and have a little talk with her. That's hard to do in the show ring, and she's smart enough to know it, to know that once we go down centerline, she's in the clear. But maybe not... After discussing it with Birthe, Cynthia Collins and a few friends (and I should have discussed it with Jürgen, but he was coaching Leslie Morse, and she's so much more important than I am that I didn't want to distract him and get in his way. I know that he would have cared, but I was the one that made that choice. Leslie is important--to me, too--and I wanted him to keep his focus on her. What Quila and I did at this show was inconsequential compared to getting Leslie and TipTop performing at their best and headed towards World Cup), I resolved that I would stop her if she pulled it again, and if it meant that I was DQ'd, so be it. I'd absolutely had it.

As it turned out, Jennifer coached me on the final day. She arrived after Leslie's ride, so for the last 20 minutes or so of my warm-up. I had already determined that our trot was fine, and was riding canter-trot and canter-walk transitions. She had me up the ante and ride canter lengthening to halt transitions, and to do immediate reinbacks if Quila wasn't paying attention. Well, that made Quila sit up and take notice. Quila didn't like it much--not much at all. Especially the reinback part. By the time we rode our test, she had a whole lot more respect for my seat and leg in the half halts, and while she wasn't an angel, she was much much better. There were still a few areas where she tried to do it her way (including one entire (double coefficient--damn her!) movement, but for the most part, it was my test, and a huge improvement from the three previous days. The trot work wasn't as brilliant as it had been--she was starting to tire a bit there--but overal she was much better, and she was listening.

I plan to continue this work over the next two weeks leading up to the LA CDI*** because I have absolutely had it. It's a great feeling to have confidence in the walk and trot now--but I want to feel that way about the canter, too. AND, if we're going to have any hope at all of showing Second Level, she needs to collect.