In which Kim finally learns how to do the free walk

First of all, my parade got a little rained on because Christan told me not to get too disappointed at the next show if I scored higher than this last one. I sort of expected that, and told myself that I would be happy with a score in the low 30s (like 30-33), but I didn't expect her to allude to the idea that the judge was a wee bit more than generous at MacNair's. Sigh. I guess sometimes you get really lucky and the judge just loves you and your horse, and sometimes you get a judge that you cannot please on any given day, and most of the time you fall in-between. Guess this was my lucky day. I've got to look at the bright side of things and remember that it just gives me something more to work on (not like I was going to sit on my laurels and take it easy), but still! So, I'm feeling a tad grumpy right now.

These were the phrases of the day: "Don't pull with your hands - use your leg and push him into the contact." "Up and out". "Keep that outside rein." "Elbows over hips." "If he wiggles into the halt, immediately trot on." "Shoulders back through the turn." "Hands up". "Throw your reins away like you're finished with your ride." "He's so used to you using your rein to correct him that he over-reacts to your leg." "Correct him with your leg, not the rein."

So, we did flatwork during my lesson today. Oliver felt a bit sticky, but then, I wasn't wearing spurs. Christan had me lengthen my stirrups one hole to really get me to wrap my legs around him. We started off by trotting and keeping my leg on, hands up with thumbs up, and not giving away my right rein going left, and keeping the bend going right. Oliver was dropping his inside shoulder coming off the rail on the right rein, and also popping his shoulder to the outside on the open side of the arena. I think I was letting him fall off the rail because I was trying too soon to catch that shoulder and keep it from popping on the open side. Again, I need to ride every single stride. I flexed him to the inside, used my inside leg, and then when we finished the turn, I thought "counter-bend" to catch that shoulder. Apparently, he was also dropping behind my leg because Christan told me "Leg!", so when I added some leg coming out of the turn, he straightened up pretty much on his own. To the left, it wasn't nearly the problem, except that I very badly want to open my outside (right) rein and push it forward. I could really see it on the video that Joe did for me last week, and boy, is it ugly when I do that. Christan said, "elbows over hips", so I concentrated on pressing my upper arm to my side and keeping that elbow over my right hip, and that seemed to straighten him.

During the canter, Oliver felt pretty heavy in the bridle, especially to the right, so maybe next time I will wear my spurs to boot him up. However, to the left, we had some very nice canter work. He is still wiggly in the transition, so the draw reins might need to go back on. Christan looked over my test and decided to work on free walk and halt. We started the halt work by doing it on a circle - trot a 20 meter circle, then halt. The first few times, he was pretty darn good, so Christan had me turn up the center line and then halt. The minute he turned up the center line, he threw his hips to the left and wobbled into the halt, leaning on my hands, so Christan had me immediately trot off. Of course, I had to tap him with my whip to get him to hop off my leg, so he trotted off, and we took a few strides in trot, then halted again, concentrating on shoulders back, hands steady, and leg on. It only took one more try and he was halting square consistently. I love the fact that you can correct him and he doesn't get emotional about it. So, we worked on free walk next. Christan had me trot down the long side, get a good, uphill walk transition, and then free walk across the diagonal. As we turned down the diagonal, Christan had me basically throw away the reins "like you're finished riding". This was totally against everything I was taught in the free walk (let them take the reins out of your hands), but I did it, and he marched on but I had to really check him with my left leg as he wanted to wander to the left. We did this a few more times and Christan said, "There's your free walk". I always thought that the free walk was more about them putting their head down and stretching across their backs, but Christan said that when I keep a contact, he curls and his stride doesn't get as long as it could. She said that if I free walked like that, I could get an 8 on it instead of the 7s I've been getting.

We ended by turning down the centerline one last time, and halting. Bam - he was perfectly square and straight, so we called it quits on that.

We break the 30 mark!

So, my news is that Oliver and I got a 27.9 on our dressage test at BN this Sunday. He had never been to MacNair’s before, and their lakeside arena can be a bit scary, so I didn’t know what to expect. The warmup arena was CRAZY – people weren’t steering or looking where they were going at all, so it was quite frustrating and I didn’t get the warmup I had planned on. Christan had three horses going that day, so she wasn’t able to help me much. I was also riding in my jumping saddle since I didn’t think there was much time between dressage and when they opened up stadium – my ride was at 9:15 and they started BN stadium at 9:30. He warmed up nicely, given the commotion – I started off my stretching him long and low, and then brought him up and really focused on keeping my upper body back and my hands higher. My friend, who’s not a horse person (in fact, she’s scared of them, but for some reason loves Oliver and I think the feeling is mutual), was there watching, and I think the little booger was showing off for her. We went in and put in a rather nice test – there were some moments where he sort of dragged me forward in the canter and I could feel him tipping onto his forehand, so I had to sit up tall and really keep my leg on and just drive him up into my hands – but all around I thought it was a decent test. I figured we would have scored in the md 30s, like around 35 or so, and I would have been happy with that since we scored a 39 last time, both times, and had fits of bucking in the departs. No bucking this time, and he stayed fairly steady in the bridle. Milanne told me he looked very steady – of course, she’s not a horse person so I didn’t give that much credit, but it did feel pretty darn good to me. There were still definitely areas for improvement, and I think that if I had been in my dressage saddle, he wouldn’t have been able to pull me forward like that.

We went into stadium, which was a bit twisty, and fence 1 was a brand new brick wall, and two was a yellow and purple V plank. I watched horse after horse prop or stop at those two jumps, especially the V plank. I couldn’t see anything especially terrifying about the plank . In fact, it was pained pale yellow and lilac, so it wasn’t even much of a contrast, and there were no fillers at the plank. Still, it told me to ride very strongly towards it, and sure enough, Oliver peeked at the stone wall and propped in front of the plank, but then we landed and had a nice, flowing round over the rest. He rolled a rail with his hind feet over jump 6, which was off a bending line and I still don’t know why he rolled it, but we were clear. He obviously needs to see more colorful stadium fences, since he was rather impressed with what was out there. He doesn’t look at flowers or anything, so I still don’t know what was scary about the planks, but the other horses were scared, too.

When I went to check the scores, I couldn’t believe my eyes. 27.9. I thought it was a mistake and that it was maybe a 37.9, but they put the “pure” dressage score by the penalty points and sure enough, it was a 72.1%. First place had a 26.8, and Christan told me later that it was a Grand Prix dressage rider on her 4th level horse. So, here’s my score sheet:

Enter – down centerline 7 little tilt in head
Short diagonal, change rein 7 same
A circle left 7 slightly short in neck
Canter left lead 7 balanced
Circle left canter 8
Transition to trot 8
Half diagonal 7
Circle right trot 8
Canter right lead 8 uphill
Circle right canter 7 Mouth open; against hand slightly (this is where he was pulling me a little)
Trot transition 8 uphill
Walk transition 6 unclear; almost early (I forgot where the transition was supposed to happen)
Free walk/medium walk 7 could stretch more but you have the right idea
Trot; turn up centerline 7 little crooked
X halt salute 6 haunches right

Gaits 7 for an 8, need uphill scope ?
Impulsion 7 nicely forward
Submission 7 behind vertical and mouth open at times, but uphill
Rider 8 Nice job. Skillful riding. Some loss of balance at times.

Can you believe it?!?!? An “8” on rider position? I’ve never, ever had an 8 on rider position. The halt obviously needs work, which I know, and the 7s could have been 8s if he hadn’t pulled me forward a titch, which I also knew. I hate it when they give you 8s, then switch to 7s, and then back to 8s, but don’t tell you what you did to lower it a point, or raise it a point. Of course, I’m thrilled with all the 8s, so I’m not complaining.

Finally. All the hard work is paying off. I’ve been so incredibly frustrated with my riding in general because I feel like I’ve been starting over from scratch. I’ve also seen very few results at the shows, and then we’ve had that weird problem with Oliver and him stepping short behind early last spring. I think those hypnosis CDS are working a treat, since this time I was able to realize when I was doing something, like tipping forward, and do something about it. It has also made me realize that just because you buy a Warmblood, doesn’t mean that you can RIDE one :^P. I think that it’s harder in many ways to ride a horse like Oliver than Sam, or even Bella.