It's been a whirlwind few weeks. Ella and Fender went to their second show, this time closer to home at our local Morven Park, where for the first time in anyone's recollection the show wasn't rainy, blustery and awful. Amazing!
Fender was a VERY good boy. He is still finding his balance and throughness and all that dressage stuff, but was obedient and attentive. We had an underwhelming first test, and some very creative interpretations of the halt in our second, but he scored almost 70% in that second test, and got consistent 8s on gaits, so hoorah.
Ella was my star. I rode the Brentina Cup (Grand Prix level) test twice over the weekend, on Saturday as a warmup and on Sunday for qualification, because I wanted to see what warm up plan worked best for two consecutive competition days. My plan was good - a light warm up for Saturday's ride meant I made a few little mistakes I wouldn't ordinarily make (like a flighty trot half-pass zig zag, and a questionable left canter pirouette), but had lots of horse for the piaffe and passage, which was the best it's been in the show ring.
On Sunday she was definitely tired, and our last centre line was not quite right, but she stayed with me, made no mistakes, and had super swing in the back and self carriage. Atta girl! Mostly, she stayed cool and comfortable and let me RIDE her instead of dragging me about. This is a HUGE deal for her. She might become a reliable show horse yet! Better not say that too much, or it'll jinx it.
I'm still swooning from our clinic this past weekend with Conrad Schumacher. Mr Schumacher has known me since I was 17, when he was coach of the US Young Rider programme, and he even saw Ella go once as a five year old. He was pretty impressed by the progress - she was a SUPERSTAR! He made big adjustments to my riding of the passage, making it slower and smaller and more adjustable. Ditto the canter pirouettes and canter lateral work - more fluidity, less vrrrooooom!
I rode Fender for Mr Schumacher too, and he encouraged me to keep a little more contact. Not stronger, just more, to help Fender find the balance and clarity of his topline. I'd been hesitant to go there, not wanting to constrain him, but in three walk-halt transitions I had a new horse. Amazing!
I'm on a break from showing my own horses for about a month, which is fantastic - time to work on fitness and make some training progress. And with everything in bloom, it's honestly hard to get any work done anyway - I want to spend all my time out hacking!