Horseshow Weekend
Last weekend was a 3-day show at Lake Oswego Hunt Club. The Hunt Club is an interesting place because it's a beautiful old facility that used to be a polo club years ago and is now a designated historic site. It has no money, and it's sadly neglected, but it's in a beautiful location in the middle of Lake Oswego (which is where all the rich and beautiful people live in Portland), which makes the real estate it sits on incredibly valuable. There are rumors that the Hunt Club is trying to get the City of Lake Oswego to buy it and put a bunch of money into renovations while keeping it a horse facility, but somehow I don't think that's going to happen.
Thursday we trailered over. The sun was out, and it was really hot. I saw this really nice parking spot under a tree. Wow! Why has no one snapped this spot up? I stupidly asked myself. I found out the answer a minute later when my cars wheels got stuck in the foot of mud that was lurking under the green grass. Stupid hidden creek. My all-wheel-drive and expensive tires were not able to defeat the mud, and I had to call a tow company to pull me out. It was a rather humiliating start to the weekend, although I'm sure it will be pretty funny later.... much later. The stress from dealing with it may have contributed to an eruption of rare (for me) menstral cramps that kept me from being able to ride Monaco very effectively, so one of my trainers was nice enough to hop on him for me. Cramps and a bouncy horse are a pretty lousy combination as it turns out.
I've been showing at the Prix St Georges level all summer, trying really hard to get two good scores that will qualify me for a USDF silver medal. It will be especially useful to get my silver by the end of next show season because it will grandfather me into some requirements to compete at upper levels that are being instituted in 2010. Once I get my silver, I'll be able to compete at ANY level of dressage, even when the requirements go in. My scores have been bouncing between 55-57%, which are decent scores, but not the magic 60% threshold that I need. I had high hopes for this show to get at least one of my 60% scores. The two scores for the silver need to be from two different judges, and I had the same judge all weekend, so I could only get one score that counted anyway.
Friday, we had a decent warmup, but as soon as Monaco stepped into the show arena, he tensed up. I lightly asked for a canter, and he did a leap/buck manuever in the air that probably felt bigger than it looked, but it felt plenty big. In the actual test, he didn't buck or misbehave terribly but he was tense, bracing his neck, distracted, and I felt like I was water skiing on the reins to hold him up. The judge was very generous and gave us a 59.75%, which was a score I probably didn't deserve, but I couldn't help but wish she had been 0.25% more generous to get me a 60%!
Saturday, we did our musical freestyle. This is the second show season I've been using it, and I think it might be getting a bit stale because my heart wasn't in it. It's certainly not as fun as it was last year. That probably contributed to a mediocre 64% score and a second place ribbon. Not bad, but nothing to be especially proud of since freestyle scores are always 4-6% higher than other types of tests, and it's a lower level than my PSG test. I usually aim for a 65% with this test.
Sunday started out well. The trot work was decent, the walk work was smooth, and the beginning canter work was fine. But then I asked for a tight left canter pirouette, and he was a bit tired, and the turn I asked for was a bit tight, so he flipped his lead during the movement. I was pretty sure he had flipped his lead, but not positive and by the time I confirmed that he had flipped it, it was time to do my flying change to the true lead... which I was already on. This means that I didn't execute the flying change movement, which usually means a big fat 0 score for one of the movements, on top of a bad score for the pirouette. At this point, I was totally flustered, but PSG is very unforgiving, and there's no time to breath before the next movement, so all of a sudden, it was time for the right pirouette, which I also totally screwed up. This time, I stopped him and fixed my lead (my trainer later told me that I shouldn't have done this... he had flipped it back for me, so I actually lost a point doing this). Next were the tempi changes every fourth stride. I was totally wigged, and the changes were clean with correct counts, but were rather rushed and downhill. Same for the 3s, which was the next line. Finally came the extended canter across the diagonal. I had mostly regained my composure at this point, but I soooo wanted the test to be over. Halt. Salute. Thank god it's over. I also thanked the judge and quickly left the arena.
I was tired from feeding the horses at 7:30am, exhausted from the show and my recent trips, and completely frustrated with myself for screwing up so badly on my test and missing my chance to get a good score. I was a total girl and broke down in tears in front of my trainer and Aaron and was completely ready to give up on all of this showing stuff. It was a pretty sucky moment. But I eventually calmed down and went to work at loading up the car, taking out Monaco's braids, and doing all the end-of-show stuff. Then Teri went with me to pick up my score. I was completely convinced it was going to be in the low 50s, and left to my own devices, I wouldn't have picked up the test at all, but, as it turns out, all the Sturm und Drang was for naught. The judge was extremely generous, and I managed to get a 63.5%, my best PSG score to date. She knocked me pretty hard on the pirouettes and the missing flying change, but not as hard as she could have, and she was incredibly generous in the rest of the test, giving me 7s for my tempi changes, a doubled-8 for my extended walk, and a 9 for my halt rein-back (four steps backwards), which I'm pretty sure is my first 9 ever. Without the three screwed up movements, it would have scored in the high 60s and might have won the class. Instead, I got a red ribbon to add to my ever growing collection of 2nds. This, of course, made me feel much better, if somewhat stupid for getting so upset earlier.
Dressage is such a frustrating sport sometimes... at my last show, I thought I had a decent test, but was crucified by the judge. And at this show, I was sure the test was awful, and I got a good score. Human judgment is just inherently subjective.
Thursday we trailered over. The sun was out, and it was really hot. I saw this really nice parking spot under a tree. Wow! Why has no one snapped this spot up? I stupidly asked myself. I found out the answer a minute later when my cars wheels got stuck in the foot of mud that was lurking under the green grass. Stupid hidden creek. My all-wheel-drive and expensive tires were not able to defeat the mud, and I had to call a tow company to pull me out. It was a rather humiliating start to the weekend, although I'm sure it will be pretty funny later.... much later. The stress from dealing with it may have contributed to an eruption of rare (for me) menstral cramps that kept me from being able to ride Monaco very effectively, so one of my trainers was nice enough to hop on him for me. Cramps and a bouncy horse are a pretty lousy combination as it turns out.
I've been showing at the Prix St Georges level all summer, trying really hard to get two good scores that will qualify me for a USDF silver medal. It will be especially useful to get my silver by the end of next show season because it will grandfather me into some requirements to compete at upper levels that are being instituted in 2010. Once I get my silver, I'll be able to compete at ANY level of dressage, even when the requirements go in. My scores have been bouncing between 55-57%, which are decent scores, but not the magic 60% threshold that I need. I had high hopes for this show to get at least one of my 60% scores. The two scores for the silver need to be from two different judges, and I had the same judge all weekend, so I could only get one score that counted anyway.
Friday, we had a decent warmup, but as soon as Monaco stepped into the show arena, he tensed up. I lightly asked for a canter, and he did a leap/buck manuever in the air that probably felt bigger than it looked, but it felt plenty big. In the actual test, he didn't buck or misbehave terribly but he was tense, bracing his neck, distracted, and I felt like I was water skiing on the reins to hold him up. The judge was very generous and gave us a 59.75%, which was a score I probably didn't deserve, but I couldn't help but wish she had been 0.25% more generous to get me a 60%!
Saturday, we did our musical freestyle. This is the second show season I've been using it, and I think it might be getting a bit stale because my heart wasn't in it. It's certainly not as fun as it was last year. That probably contributed to a mediocre 64% score and a second place ribbon. Not bad, but nothing to be especially proud of since freestyle scores are always 4-6% higher than other types of tests, and it's a lower level than my PSG test. I usually aim for a 65% with this test.
Sunday started out well. The trot work was decent, the walk work was smooth, and the beginning canter work was fine. But then I asked for a tight left canter pirouette, and he was a bit tired, and the turn I asked for was a bit tight, so he flipped his lead during the movement. I was pretty sure he had flipped his lead, but not positive and by the time I confirmed that he had flipped it, it was time to do my flying change to the true lead... which I was already on. This means that I didn't execute the flying change movement, which usually means a big fat 0 score for one of the movements, on top of a bad score for the pirouette. At this point, I was totally flustered, but PSG is very unforgiving, and there's no time to breath before the next movement, so all of a sudden, it was time for the right pirouette, which I also totally screwed up. This time, I stopped him and fixed my lead (my trainer later told me that I shouldn't have done this... he had flipped it back for me, so I actually lost a point doing this). Next were the tempi changes every fourth stride. I was totally wigged, and the changes were clean with correct counts, but were rather rushed and downhill. Same for the 3s, which was the next line. Finally came the extended canter across the diagonal. I had mostly regained my composure at this point, but I soooo wanted the test to be over. Halt. Salute. Thank god it's over. I also thanked the judge and quickly left the arena.
I was tired from feeding the horses at 7:30am, exhausted from the show and my recent trips, and completely frustrated with myself for screwing up so badly on my test and missing my chance to get a good score. I was a total girl and broke down in tears in front of my trainer and Aaron and was completely ready to give up on all of this showing stuff. It was a pretty sucky moment. But I eventually calmed down and went to work at loading up the car, taking out Monaco's braids, and doing all the end-of-show stuff. Then Teri went with me to pick up my score. I was completely convinced it was going to be in the low 50s, and left to my own devices, I wouldn't have picked up the test at all, but, as it turns out, all the Sturm und Drang was for naught. The judge was extremely generous, and I managed to get a 63.5%, my best PSG score to date. She knocked me pretty hard on the pirouettes and the missing flying change, but not as hard as she could have, and she was incredibly generous in the rest of the test, giving me 7s for my tempi changes, a doubled-8 for my extended walk, and a 9 for my halt rein-back (four steps backwards), which I'm pretty sure is my first 9 ever. Without the three screwed up movements, it would have scored in the high 60s and might have won the class. Instead, I got a red ribbon to add to my ever growing collection of 2nds. This, of course, made me feel much better, if somewhat stupid for getting so upset earlier.
Dressage is such a frustrating sport sometimes... at my last show, I thought I had a decent test, but was crucified by the judge. And at this show, I was sure the test was awful, and I got a good score. Human judgment is just inherently subjective.