The last six weeks have been a blur! We did tackle the previously terrifying Third Level Test 3 and while it wasn’t as polished of a performance as I was hoping for, we still scored fairly well and proudly carried home our “auto blues.” It was a nice reminder of the progress Beau has made–even when he’s not as his best, we can still execute the movements accurately. I had a breakthrough mid-test, where time seemed to slow down.
I could hear the lessons of so many trainers in my head as I rode, I felt like I had the time and the ability to execute tiny little things I’ve learned. After a sluggish centerline, I heard my dear friend Robin’s voice in my head, urging me to PREPARE for the next medium trot! So I did. Coming into the shoulder-in, I heard Pia Helsted whisper to me, don’t show the judge how hard you’re working. So I willed myself to relax my furrowed brow and quiet my leg aids. During the difficult 10 meter circle change of bend to half pass movement, I recalled my lessons with Ken Borden earlier in the summer where we DRILLED this exercise. I remembered to lift my outside rein when changing the bend to the right and not let him just bear down on my hands. For the first time in maybe forever I had the experience of having things (ok, let’s be honest, pretty much everything) go wrong in my test and being able to fix it. It was a liberating experience and a powerful reminder of why I love dressage. Dressage trains the horse but it also trains YOU as the rider.
By the time we reached the final few movements, I was still recalling lessons in my head, but now the focus was on making the movements brilliant, and not just merely surviving them. Like Lisa Hall taught us just the week before, I moved the shoulders towards the outside before asking Beau for a flying change, and I was rewarded with a powerful, clean, straight change and an 8 from the judge. On the last centerline, I was positively beaming. We survived! We got both of our changes, we made no major mistakes, the mediums were good enough and the half passes were…. passable. It was not our best, but hearkening back to the mantra of my show hunter days, you either win, or you learn. At that show, we were lucky enough to do both–but maybe because we were the only ones at Third Level that day.
Until next time, happy schooling!