Dressage Day by Day

Although this was a last minute trip, only booked a week ago, I have nonetheless been counting down the days, hours, and minutes. Finally, I woke up on Monday and thought, "this is it!" With cold, rainy weather in the forecast for Amsterdam, I struggled not to over pack. Adding tall boots and a helmet is my excuse for having a carry-on in addition to the normal suitcase -- and I wanted to leave room for purchases! Lin and I had a great time chit-chatting on the fight from Pittsburgh to Chicago. Then we met Ryan, and it started to feel real. The flight to Dublin was light, so we were able to spread out and have some room. Unfortunately, a delay in departing caused us to miss our connection to Amsterdam. Despite running full tilt from one end of the Dublin airport to the other, we had a 3 hour layover. It was actually nice to sit and talk to Lin and Ryan about their experiences buying horses and particularly what Ryan looks for in a young prospect. Admittedly, when I see...

The first clinic with Ryan finally came, and Gadget and I have not been as focused lately. After getting our last score needed for the USDF silver medal, I had admittedly ridden less. The rides that I've had have been more about the basics and lots of cavaletti work. My rides have felt good, so I was hopeful going into this clinic that Gadget would be feeling fresh and renewed. I think it worked. DAY1 The first day we worked on really collecting the canter while keeping his shoulders up. In the past, when we asked for more collection, he lost the rhythm or really buried his head. On Saturday, he took the half halts and really sat. It was the best feeling. We did some changes -3s and 2s. Although the 2s are still quite green, they are there. I need to make sure not to over ride them. I just need to get Gadget sharper off of the leg, so that I am not tempted to "help" him by jumping up in my seat. We worked on some canter halfpasses, with a focus in the left halfpass...

So in March, Gadget and I ventured to Lake Erie Winter show to try to get our final score for our silver medal. It was fairly cold weather hovering around 40 degrees, but Gadget was such a good boy. We warmed up Friday evening with Kristin Stein schooling us, and he felt like a PSG horse. Truly, with Kristin's coaching, everything flowed! It was awesome! The left pirouette wasn't great, but everything else felt good. I felt hopeful that evening. Hani and I stayed with good friend Lauren and her husband Frank at their beautiful home, and we had a blast. Hani will never have accommodations or meals as good as he had at this show. (This is a constant complaint of Hani's -- that I don't feed him at shows and I make him stay at crappy hotels). On Saturday, Gadget was very stiff during his warm-up. Nearly every left change was late, so I was really struggling. I finally had to goose him a couple times to get the bucks out and loosen up. Lake Erie has a very small warm up...