Woody napping after the day’s exertions.
Well today’s weather proved to play a part in a few horses tests including Woody’s. Yesterday it was almost too hot to function and today it was cold and windy.
I rode Woody early in the morning (he is better with two rides) and he was spooking at the palm trees blowing in the wind as well as the sponsors signs around the edges of the rings. After a short school he warmed up and focused.
Thank goodness for Omega Alpha’s Gastra FX and Chill for breakfast or things could have gotten well out of hand! For my warm up before the test I was able to ride in the proper warm up ring (which was closed yesterday by the time I was able to get on, as were ALL the rings). A big thanks to Jacquie Brooks for letting me ride at her beautiful farm, which was a five-minute hack away last night. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to ride at all!
Over this and DOWN the hill I am struggling up…then over this wedge at the bottom.
I had my trusty Anne Marie today so things got done in a timely fashion and with style as always.
So back to my story…Woody was spooky and tense in his back in the warm up ring. Luckily, Jacquie helped me get him working softer over his top line before we went in. I could have done with five more minutes of warm up to engage the canter a bit more. It’s always a fine balance between too much warm up and not enough. For instance, at Longwood last week I think we did 10 minutes too long so I shortened my warm up by five minutes this time. But at Longwood it was hot and quiet whereas today it was cold, windy and electric. I’ll figure out the ideal warm up for all situations eventually.
I was very pleased with his trot work and lateral work today. He was a little tense in the medium walk but recovered nicely in the extended walk. As for his canter I couldn’t get him in front of my leg. I knew my canter didn’t have enough quality in the step and sure enough he fluffed his easy change. The reason he was flamboyant in the next change was because he knew we had messed up. I’m really proud of the improvements we’ve made even since the last test. The scores continue to get better, which is good, but I learned a long time ago not to only consider the scores. You have to know YOU improved YOUR horse from the last time and console yourself with that thought or you’ll go insane!
Then you go THROUGH the VIP tent full of people and drop off the bank into the ring. You can see the bank behind me.
I truly believe that had we nailed the walk and changes the way I KNOW we can we would be in the top three. That’s pretty darn exciting considering the quality of horses and riders here and it’s just the beginning…
