On ode to stressage......

I got a logo made up - very exciting!!!

There's a reason that Dressage gets the nickname Stressage from people, and that's cos it ain't easy. Also, there are misconceptions about it and it's difficulty. It is hard, but it is sooo worth it and it's difficulty is relative to each level, whether it be in Riding Club or Dressage Ireland or even Eventing.

Stress works in different ways for different people, some people can't remember their tests and need them called. For others, they allow their nervousness to affect their physical body and are very stiff & in their tests. Everyone has their own quirks and have their way of dealing with them ( or not as the case may be).

I for one, am not a stressy person. But in order to not be stressed, I need to arrive nice and early to a show so that I have time to tell them I'm there, suss out the place - where the warm up is, canteen, toilets etc. I usually need a toilet stop too before I get on the horse. I also like to have plenty of time to warm up so that I have the time to work on things that aren't going right ( always the case on show day) and time to be finished my warm up and have a little walk around, so that the horse relaxes and I draw my test out in the air with my finger.
Now, if these things don't happen for me, which unfortunately has been the case of late ( my fault) things get a little stressy, because I start to feel rushed and then I pass on my stress to the horse. Not ideal. But something I'm working on. It helps when I know the venue and know how long it will take to get there.

I used to get nervous as hell as soon as I entered the arena. I'd practically hold my breath for the whole bloody test, so you can imagine how nice and relaxed they looked! One day I was at the RC dressage nationals and I just felt a wave of relaxation come over me and I felt that myself and Fred had put the work in and we had this. From then on I was never nervous in the arena. Fear not, I'm not some sort of superstar, I still shit-a-brick when I'm jumping!

Dressage has had a huge upsurge in popularity in the last few years. I've really noticed it in the Riding Club with bigger numbers in all sections. The Leinster dressage show I was at last weekend had a whooping 180 entries!! That is incredible and a welcome change. I know of a few people I have welcomed to the dark side of dressage and their riding has improved ten-fold. One little lady in particular has now qualified for Summer championships with her pony.

Regardless of whether or not you want to compete in dressage, and I know it's not for everyone, flatwork is an absolute must for every rider. It is my pet hate to see people going around a course of jumps with terrible balance, pulling on their horses mouths and then wondering why they refuse a jump? 😡😡 If you're only at the lower levels, it might not seem important, but it is, for both you and the horse. If you put a bit extra time into your flatwork, then your balance and your confidence improves.

Ok, dressage rant over........... ( except to now update you on how our dressage went!)

It's always a tug-of-war between siblings....

Mouse patrol taking a time out

Well hey there

It's too hot to eat!!

Saturday was a very hot and sunny 24 degrees. So I got very little of what I'd wanted to do done. I had to wait till almost 7 to ride, because it was too hot and I didn't want to tire him out the day before the competition. We went out to the field and practiced the movements we needed to do and a serpentine in canter (which also works on counter canter) , he is flying at that one now. Then I practiced a test - could I for the life of me rememeber ANY of the 3 tests I was to do the next day?! Worryingly no! But I made one up. I just wanted to practice doing movements together, as I felt that this was my downfall lately. That went well and he got pats and carrots.
Pablo went home for a few days, as he was going off to see the chiropractor. So that meant I could just have Fred and CC in for the night.
I packed the jeep and horsebox and had myself all ready to go for the morning. Our first test wasn't until 12.30, so that meant I didn't have to get up too early.  We had hugs and kisses and then I said goodnight. I wasn't long after them going to bed, wrecked after the week and the heat. I learned 2 of my tests ( decided there was plenty of time tomorrow for the 3rd one).

It's too early......

Ready to rock!

Sunday morning I aimed to be up & gone by 9am, which actually proved easy enough. I got up, made my breakfast, gave the boys some breakfast (with electrolytes for Fred), pretended I wasn't going anywhere to Rusty (otherwise he'd want to come) and hit the road. We had Dave Fanning on to accompany us to Dublin and got up in no time. I went through my tests a few times on route. I had enough time for a toilet run, review my test and get tacked up. I thought. I went down on Fred to warm up and had the shock of being told there was only 1 person in front of me. I'd forgotten about withdrawls and they were ahead of time. As Miley would say, 'well holy god'. Slight panic. Small bit of sweat on the brow appearing. As it turned out we had enough time for an ok warm up. I remembered my schooling whip this time. But I brought it in to the test with me and I never usually do. Fred got a tad upset about it and was tense, so our first test did not go as well as we had planned. But we got over that. He went back in the box for a little while. We both had a load of water - it was 22 degrees, not sunny but very warm and the indoor was like an oven! Our next test was in a 20x60 arena, which I used to hate and worry about - so much to remember! But actually I love now because it gives myself and Fred more time. He's a big horse and he flies through tests in the small arena and I have less time to fix things there. I get more relaxed in a larger arena and feel like I've more time. This test went beautifully up until the part where I went crap, I know I have to canter here, but I know I should be at the other end of the arena?! Where have I gone wrong?? So I just plodded along until the judge pulled me up and told me where I'd gone wrong. I had just gotten a complete blank - see, it still happens! Bar that error, he did beautifully and I was delighted with him. It was going to be a few hours till our final test, so I untacked him again, brought him down for some more water, gave him lots of pats and carrots and let him have a rest. I ate and had a rest myself, while learning my last test. Thankfully it was the prelim one, so it wasn't as difficult as the others. I dragged him out of the box one last time and went for the warm up. Someone else had pulled out so we were in sooner than I'd expected again. But that actually worked in our favour because Fred was in no humour to warm up. He was done. So we went up and did our test. It wasn't perfect, but he did everything I asked when I wanted and I couldn't have asked for me. I was thrilled with him overall. We got our result of the nice novice test which was 66% and a qualifying score! Whoop whoop. The other was not as good 😒 He got good scores for all of his counter canter though - always take the positives! Our prelim category was going on till after 7pm and I was not sticking around for that. We hit the road and got home just before 7.
It was a long day, but I wasn't overly tired. Thankfully I'd had a good sleep and had enjoyed the day. Even though the tests were spread out, the day passed fairly quickly and I think only having one horse made it less rushed. I found out later that night that we got 66% in the other prelim class too, so another qualifying score and our second one for prelim! Yippee! Fred is getting a well deserved few days off and Cu Chulainn will be getting all of my focus this week.

On Monday evening we went for a short hack up the road, just in walk, but with the draw reins in. He was fine with them in and enjoyed the walk - and attention!!

Tuesday evening we went over the road for a jump lesson as I'm hoping to jump him next Sunday at the RC comp. I did a good flat work warm up with the draw reins. As soon as I put them on he starts rounding his back and working from behind, it feels great and every transition to walk he wants to stretch his head right down.  I took off the draw reins and we started the course. They were only small so I decided to do a few. But I stopped after number 5 because I thought he was rushing them too much. So we walked for a minute, had a little bit of relaxation, and off we went again. This time I took a different approach. I jumped two jumps at a time, then walked and then off we went again. Although once we jumped 5 we just continued on. Much nicer this time. We watched some of the others jump and walked around on a long rein. Then the instructor put them up and we went off again. We had a little incident at number 2, in that he knocked it but got caught up in it and nearly fell. But we survived, he didn't panic and we just kept going. He jumped so big that he jumped me out of the saddle- twice!! Even my instructor said he's well able to jump and that I'd done a good job with him - which was the biggest compliment EVER!! On cloud 9 after all that.

Just you know, being a rockstar

Wednesday I got home after work, wrecked. I hadn't had much sleep the night before and I had a lesson organised with hardcore instructor. I was very tempted to cancel. Very tempted. But I soldiered on. And boy was I glad I did!! I did a short warm up and we put on the draw reins. Ever since I tired him out with the hack and flatwork session his attitude to work has improved so much. Not that he had a bad attitude before, but you had to waste so much time getting him to relax before you could ask him to do anything. Now he starts off relaxed. We had kittens running around, climbing the fence and he didn't have an issue. There was a horse being worked in the field and he got a fright at first, but was fine after. We the draw reins on, he immediately starts working from behind. His canter was fabulous, so nice and round, not rushed and not choppy.......and on both reins! We did some lateral work too. Then we tried extended trot for the first time. On the first rein he did well, cantered once or twice but was good. Then we went on the other rein and he completely understood what I was asking!! Finally!! Finally it feels like I'm not banging my head against a wall!! I left on an absolute high, for the second night running. Cu Chulainn is a real star bar, like I always thought he was.

Yes, yes, I was a rockstar, AGAIN

This weekend we return to Claremorris, where Cu Chulainn did his first ever ridden competition last August. This time last year, I wasn't even riding him!! So I think we have come a long way. I'll be so interested to see how he does on Sunday. I'm not expecting a massive turn around, but I would love if even his trot got higher marks.


P.S. Groom-in-training (GIT) fecked off to Jo'burg for two weeks, so less pics of us! 😔