KDA Spring Show summary

Our loot. The 12 year old in me is thrilled with the color variety!

We are back from FIVE DAYS at a horse show! I am still exhausted and brain fried, so good luck getting through this blog, my dear readers.

We arrived at the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park on Wednesday afternoon. I took Hamps schooling and he was electric, but behaved. Even so, I got up at 5 am on Thursday to lunge him because I was not about to have the explosive Hampton I had a couple of weeks ago.

I let him rest for a bit after out early morning lunge and our first Thursday test was around 9:15 am. He warmed up pretty well and I felt much better about going into the ring. (cue ominous music).

So we trot down the centerline and he ... just ... shut down. I am talking the complete opposite problem I had at the schooling show. He was sluggish. Behind my leg. Rooting the reins and nearly yanking me out of the tack. He was rude, crooked, breaking from the trot and canter, picking up the wrong lead, late flying changes.

It was ugly. It sucked.

I walked out of the ring really defeated and at that moment I just wanted to quit. I thought maybe we should go back to First Level and work out these problems. That clearly we just were not ready for Third. I didn't belong here. I was "THAT PERSON" that you watch and pity as they struggle around the ring. It was a total bomb.

After I threw my little hissy fit, then something interesting happened.

I got PISSED OFF.

This horse is very capable of this level, and while still green and developing, I knew we could do better. Our next test (Third 3, the most difficult of the tests) was in another 40 minutes. So I stayed in the warm up and I gave Hampton a piece of my mind. I slammed him a couple of times with my spurs (unprofessional? maybe, but he needed it) and basically told him that he is to DO WHAT I SAY and DO IT NOW.

We marched into that ring and out came the best test of the entire weekend! He was right there for me. Nice half passes, solid mediums, clean flying changes on the centerline! We NAILED it and I was much happier coming out of that test.

Our first test we scored a 54% and that was probably generous. The second test? A 63% !! That is a nine percentage point difference! I was beaming. I knew we are capable of scores like that, we just need experience. That gave me one score toward my Bronze medal, AND a qualifying score for regionals! Sweet!

You can see here that I sit to the left too much.
 I should be either straight, or slightly seated to the right. Hampton still looks
nice in spite of me.

Next up was another try for Third 1 Friday morning. Hamps warmed up super and once again I was pretty demanding of him. This test was again really solid. It was consistent and I was accurate with my geometry and transitions. I was pretty darn happy. We earned a 60+% on that - good enough for my USDF BRONZE MEDAL!!!! I really did not think I would achieve this in one show (and my first recognized at Third Level at that), but there it is!

Saturday morning's first test was Third 1 again and we pulled off another solid test. Smooth and mistake free. However, Saturday afternoon all of a sudden HellBent Hampton was back! He was snarky in the warm up and even though I tried to be firm with him, he just blew me off and threatened to rear and buck. Not wanting to be "that person" on the rank horse, I backed off and went into the ring anyway. Bet you can't guess what happened next. ha. ha. ha.

The trot work was actually ok. But I knew I was in trouble when we hit the canter half pass and he scooted over with a big hump in his back. I didn't even ask for a flying change. He took that upon himself to leap into the air. Great. The rest of the canter work quickly fell apart and I nearly forgot where I was going at the end of the test. Christ. BACK into the schooling area I went and kicked his snarky little ass once again until he was obedient and quit bucking. I felt better after that since we at least ended on a better note.

Amazingly, we still pulled off a 58% in that test in spite of the messy canter work.

And finally we had one more Third 1 test on Sunday morning. I rode in the snaffle at the suggestion of my instructor (at that point I had nothing to lose so wanted to expirement a bit). He was a little sluggish again, and much more downhill (someone must have been tired finally) but overall I was not upset with this test. He listened to me and it was very workmanlike. The judge however hated us and we got dinged for being really downhill and a little uneven in the half pass (my fault). A wonderful 53% there. I did notice that this judge was pretty harsh on everyone. A lady in my class who had been scoring 70%+ all weekend got a 63% from this judge so I shook it off as a harsh judge. Not that he was wrong in any of his comments (downhill, needs more energy, etc.).

Overall: A super fun weekend and I do consider it a success! Obviously we still need much more experience, and have a lot of homework to do. The fact of the matter is that the bar has really been raised at Third Level. Hampton is still very young (he doesn't even turn 7 for another month). And this level is new to me as well. So to earn my Bronze so quickly, on a young horse I broke and trained myself ... I am very proud of that! But we have much more work to do. I guess it never ends though, right? :)

For the horse: Hampton needs to learn to be comfortable in an uphill balance. We can get there, but have a hard time staying there, especially in the canter. He is not naturally uphill so this is a difficult obstacle to overcome. I think he can get there though. No, he will never be a 70% horse but I think we can score in the low to mid 60s with some more work. :)  He needs more engagement and energy and that, too, will come. It feels like we are trucking along, but upon seeing a video I see that Hampton has a "hot dog" trot. That means when he trots, everyone gets up to get a hot dog. We look boring. And mediocre. Just needs work! I think he can still improve and has more to give.

This rider ( won't name any names) is way too nice with her elbows.
Horse has figured out he can con her into letting him continue to be downhill. Must work on this!

For me: I need to spend some time working on my own position. I sit to the left and even tilt my head to the left. I am sure this is not helping the poor horse especially in lateral movements. My right toe also still points out to the side. I have got to fix these things! I also need to get out of the mindset that the show ring needs to be perfect. If he shuts down on me again, it is OK to give him a boot and get on with it. The judge is not going to ring me out or yell at me. I should have done this in our first test, but I didn't. I let things keep going badly.

Misc: ... Hamps is now on a mini vacation after a super intense April and May. He handled the atmosphere like a CHAMP this weekend. It was chaotic as not only the dressage show pretty big, there was also a large 3 day event and a western show going on at the park. We encountered loose horses, tents, bikes, scooters, trucks, trailers, loose children, dogs, loud music, tractors, lawn mowers, you name it! Never a spook from Hampton. He has turned into quite the veteran! There was also quite a few big names at this show. I spotted Debbie McDonald standing by the warm up one morning. Yikes! Not intimidating at all! Geez!

Debbie McDonald

What's next: We may go back out again in the fall, but for now we are taking the intensity down and going back to basics. Maybe even throw in some jumping. :) I also need to recover financially. lol

Ok, this novel is done!

Peace out.

Evening hand grazing at the horse park.