The two weeks since my last posting have gone past in a blur to say the least. My mom, sister, and aunt arrived
for a holiday on the 19th and left on the 29th. What a great treat to have them here, and now things
seem a little empty after they've left.
On Friday, May 22nd I had my second show in Germany, with
Ike and Parmenides, a 5 year old Trakehner eventing horse of Ingrid's. Both horses were entered in "Dressurpferde A",
which is the same class I rode Ike in Havixbeck at the beginning of the month. This young horse dressage class is maybe a
little ambitious for Parmi, given that his talents lay in running and jumping, but he also needs lots of experience in the
dressage tests, in the hope that one day he will walk...
All week leading up to the show Ike was brilliant. I
was able to ask for more energy and bigger gaits from him, all the while he remained soft in his back and contact. I was looking
forward to the test. However, Thursday's schooling session at home with Parmi was nothing short of disastrous. He was so nice
outside when I warmed up, but when I went to the indoor to run through my test it was like he just gave me the middle finger,
said the appropriate cuss-words, and did everything in his power to remind me that he is an Eventing horse, and dressage sucks
but would be a lot more fun if we brought back the airs above the ground.
Parmi was the first horse in the class,
so my plan was to get there a good hour early on Friday and walk him forever. However, poor communication with the
girl who's car I borrowed, then Parmi's absolute refusal to get into the trailer cut the time short. Once I finally arrived
at the show grounds I had 20 minutes from the time I parked until the class started. We dashed off to the warmup and, while
I was thinking positive, in the back of my head I was fully prepared to excuse myself from the test if he started to be so
stinky.
We were able to warm up in the competition ring: a 20 x 40 meter ring with about 10 other young horses
under saddle and two girls hand-walking their mounts. Horses were bucking, spooking, kicking out, and it was just general
mayhem. However, my trusty eventing horse couldn't care less. He was a saint in the ring, even when someone nearly leapt on
us.
In our test Parmi was also a star. We were the first pair, while another combination rode behind us. I was
really pleased with his mark of 6.3, given that the last show he did with Ingrid's husband they were happy with a 6.0. And
with this good score we even had two mistakes. The first was a jig over "X" where Parmi thought he might be walking
over hot coals and had to bounce a few steps before continuing in a lovely walk. The second mistake was rather than cantering
through the corner and then across the diagonal before trotting at "X", Parmi cantered through the corner, came
to the diagonal and bucked, then displayed his talent for the flying changes, before making a nice transition back to trot
on the mark at "X".
Ike was in the last group in the class, and he was yet again a super good boy.
He needs enough time to warm up thoroughly before I have access to a swinging back and his best gaits, but I need to balance
this with leaving enough in the tank for the test. I think he was a little tired when I went into the test, but he tried his
hardest. He didn't have the benefit of seeing the ring before the class started, but he had absolutely no problems with the
environment. I carried the whip this time in the class and used it occasionally to remind him to giddy-up a little in the
trot, and he did. It wasn't his best trot, but it was much more interesting than my previous test.
Ike scored
a 6.9 and was second reserve, 12th out of 27. Parmi finished 15th and I was super pleased with both
of them. I'm happier with how I presented the horses vs. my first show. There is still room for improvement (there always
is), but it was a step in the right direction.
I do have to say that I was absolutely horrible to my poor mother
at the show. I don't generally have bad show nerves, but the late start rattled me and I took it all out on Mom. I apologized
profusely to her, but I'll do it again. Mom, sorry you flew all the way to Germany to be treated like
poop by your wretched child. I like to think I made it up by being mostly charming and delightful for the remainder of
her holiday, but I still feel like an ass for my behaviour. I'm pretty sure she was wishing I wasn't too old (and too big)
for a serious spanking and grounding.
My great experience at the show goes along with all the great things in
my life. I absolutely love my new job at Hermann Gösmeier's. (If you've missed the new job thing, read the previous posting)
The horses are so incredible, and HG's help has been super. He's made some changes to my riding, encouraging me to have a
higher standard for the work. Where I (like most of us) am happy to toot around for most of my ride and then be satisfied
with a few steps of really great work, he wants me to ride the best gaits more, so that the horses learn to carry this level
of activity through the work. This makes sense because if you only ask for the good stuff once in a while, it's not really
confirmed in them and then you don't always have access to it when you want or need it.
Last week HG's
suggestion to change the way I used my hands into the contact was met with what I'm sure was a look of total stupidity, bewilderment,
and disbelief. He told me I needed to do more with my hands. Huh? Here I've spent the past 15 months trying to have quiet,
invisible hands and he's telling me I need to do more? Oh my god, I couldn't have been more confused if he'd said we're going
to do all of our lessons in Chinese.
He explained (very patiently) that what I'm doing with my hands is all great
and fine when the horse is really through and soft. But sometimes I'm blocking them by doing nothing and giving them something
to lean on so they get heavier and heavier, and I have to start working harder to keep the energy flowing from back to front
(because I'm not giving it anywhere to go up front). He suggested I have the feeling that I'm knitting with my hands, keeping
them rolling a little more so the horses don't feel the bit as a dead thing in their mouths, but instead something moving
and alive.
Makes total sense, but I was terrified. I swear the first 15 or 16 years of my dressage education
has always included the often-repeated phrase "put your hands down" by various coaches. It's only been in Germany
under Ingrid and Herr Stecken's watchful eyes that these words are heard less and less. So now I'm afraid that I'm going to
revert back to busy, high hands. Contact is so freaking hard, and I thought I was getting better at it, but now I have to
change it. Shit!
Like learning anything new, it takes some time for it to feel natural. The first days trying
to "knit", I felt like my hands were everywhere and it was ugly. But then I started to notice that when the horses
got heavier in the contact, it was when my hands were perhaps looking very nice but dead. Gradually my big, clumsy knitting
movements are getting more subtle, at least in my feeling. I'm learning to ask the horses for more self carriage by asking
for more collection, riding the power of the hind legs into my knitting contact, asking for suppleness and softness. Once
they release into the softness then my hands soften quietly forward, making the neck longer and higher, keeping the uphill
balance and collection for a few strides, then do it again. These totally effective half-halts have given me access to gaits
and swing in the horses that I didn't know I could get. Total power, totally soft. It's amazing.
I still bugger
it up for sure, but I'm learning. That's why I'm here.
Things are getting better with Michael's horse. It's a
slow road, but we are making progress. The standards at these barns are so high, it's probably still going to take me a while
before I have that same standard myself. I want that standard, I want to be that good, but sometimes I'm too nice, and to
quote the clever Scott Hassler, I suffer from "too much love" for my horses.
After a particularly wonderful
ride on Michael's horse I was feeling rather satisfied and pleased with how things were going. The next day Michael said to
me, "yes, the end of your ride was nice but the rest of the time he went around looking like a pony." Oh. Well.
Hmmn. Shit again.
I think on normal to nice horses I am quicker to ask for more, to show them how to use their
bodies to get the best gaits and a good feeling. However, with these horses that are so super-talented, I don't think I understand
sometimes how much depth there is to their ability. It's like what feels like a 9 on a normal horse is only a 6 or 7 on these
horses. My standard has to be higher with quality like this.
I am so lucky to have these lessons to learn. Wow.
Cheers,
Eiren
