Training, Grooming, and Showing

This past week has been rather busy for me. With lessoning, grooming, and showing all in one week, I'm happy to be able to sleep soundly tonight. However, this won't last long before I'll eagerly be up and running at 5 a.m. for the next show. 

My mom and I left Paducah on Wednesday to embark on our journey to Lexington to yet another exciting week of lessons and showing. I lessoned with Kristin that night, after I watched her ride him and she showed me the improvement from just two weeks ago. I must say that Cody's stamina has improved from being ridden twice a day in preparation for the show. Thursday and Friday, I lessoned with Susan. We worked on our First Two requirements and how to ride them efficiently. Cody, as usual, gave me every ounce of him to work with. 

Saturday was a big day, it kicked off the start of the Meadowlake Dressage Summer Classic. It was a wonderful learning experience to be a groom for Kristin as she debuted Cody's first First Level Two and Three. Cody handled the tests very nicely and scored a 64% on First Two and 67% on First Three. I am totally and completely proud of Cody's accomplishments and can't thank Kristin enough for showing him. Though I wasn't in the saddle Saturday, I still loved seeing the groom's side of braiding and prepping before each ride. 

Sunday was another great day! I went in with several goals, one of which was to make it a good experience and to really prepare for each movement. I achieved both goals with a 70.816% in First One and a 65% in First Two- not to mention the Junior Highpoint award that we recived today. Once again, I was blown away at my little, 25 year old, Quarter Horse. He makes everything such a great experience, whether it is learning, improving, or just applying corrections. 

Everything that happened this week just added to the journey. I learned and improved so much in these short, few weeks. I set my goals and achieved them while applying the corrections given by both the judges, Susan and Kristin. It's such a journey and I can't wait to see what's in store. 

The Real Purpose of Competing

With today's modern dressage, it is hard to not get caught up in the ribbons and winning mindset. It is sad that I see so many riders just competing for the ribbons. I'm not going to lie, getting a Highscore Champion does feel good after a hard day's showing, but the real purpose of showing is tracking your progress and improvement. We are training horses in dressage. The overall concept of dressage is to teach the horse to develope a natural athleticism,   not to be machines and win ribbons.

I see so many riders competing back-to-back, weekend after weekend. What I don't understand is how someone can improve their horse in just a week's worth of rides between shows. For example, if I score a 5.5 on my lengthenings, I would want some time between shows to improve them so I can have a fair chance at scoring higher next time. The outcome, however, of showing back-to-back is that the scores will remain the same because there has been little to no training to improve them. Especially at the lower levels, improvement is key to a successful horse. 

I compete once a month, and the shows are 2-4 days. Everyday, my trainer and I set a goal before each ride and I work to achieve it. This allows me to improve a little bit each day, so that at the end of the show, I can look back and see a huge improvement from my first ride. Then, inbetween competitions, I can take the next step towards perfecting those goals. I can take the 6 on the downward transition and make it a 7 by incorporating extra transitions in my next rides when I'm training. 

When you start looking at showing in the right mindset, you start to see the improvement that can be done to train your horse the correct way. For example, I have a large poster in my room that tracks every show I have gone to since last summer. The graph tracks my scores at Training Level (I'll have to make a new chart for First Level soon). From last summer I can see a difference from getting mid-sixties to, now, high-sixties. I have a similar poster for Training Three, specifically, and the movement scores. This makes it easier for me to break down the test and see what needs to improve the most. 

I'm going to admit, I can find myself being pretty competitive sometimes, but I have to remember why I do this. It all comes back to the fact that I love my sport and I love training horses in the art of Dressage. Once I remember that, I feel more successful as a rider because I'm looking at training and not just winning. This is a very competitive sport, and 100% agree with wanting to do well, but you have to go about it the right way. 

            Before Meadowlake

                    After KDA

Weeks between these shows have given us room and time for improvement to alter his weight, topline muscles, and rideability as well as my mental and physical strength. 

Killing Birds

Today started the beginning of my Lexington training trip. I'll be here until Thursday so I'll be able to work with Cody before our shows so we both can improve and keep in check with each other.

As I started warming up, Susan was telling me about her weekend were she got to ride with the incredible Caroline Roffman. She started off by saying that she "Killed birds" this past weekend. Fortunately, she and Caroline did not actually kill birds, but used it as a metaphor to help remember that holding the reins are like holding birds, careful to not squeeze them too hard without allowing them to get loose. However, when your horse gets strong or heavy in the bridle, it is necessary to kill those birds by firmly squeezing the reins until your horse softens in the jaw and gives. 

So, Susan passed this training tool onto me to use with Cody. Might I say that "Killing Birds" is a fantastic thought to use when training any horse! It really helped me visualize and rethink how I am holding and using the reins.

Aside from "Killing Birds", I also worked on feeling the weight from the reins in my elbow. I have a habit of letting my wrists absorb the shock from the reins when, really, it should be traveling up my forearm and into my elbow. This is where I should back it up by having heavy elbows. I think I have almost conquered my arm problems, now onto my Tourette's leg. 

I am super pleased with both Cody and I's progress from not only the past couple months, but from the years I've been riding him. I never thought I would be at the point where I am now with Cody still strong by my side.