are we showing? who knows!

Spring weather is making me anxious! Still don't know if the show on Saturday is on or not so I can't decide whether or not to be nervous about it! Had a really good lesson yesterday after a bad one on Friday. One of the many visualizations Mia has given me recently is the concept that I'm aiming for my contact to be a 2 out of 5, strong enough to be there but light enough to not impede Radar's momentum. Regulating our rhythm is also a big idea, since I am able to get Radar moving forward pretty decently sometimes but definitely can't keep the pace steady for the whole test. I have to think about foregoing some of the power to get an even pace. So I'm totally prepared for the judge to be not at all enamored with the idea of attempting dressage on a Fjord, lol. As Mia said, with a learner judge you have no idea what you're going to get. Oh well, it's really for fun anyway. My goal is over 60%, seriously. Anything in that range or above is perfectly decent... I mean, I'm an ammy riding a 13 hh Fjord! Should know tomorrow whether this is happening or not so I can properly freak out or not...

a good lesson, once I figured it all out...

Radar was a tad backed off in my warm-up, I was pulling him back into the contact instead of pushing him into it like I worked on last lesson. Once I worked that out the ride was really good. I'm getting a lot better about not trying to learn into the circle and remembering where he wants to slow down and fall inward. Good free walk work, too, as long as I remember that the long diagonal doesn't end at B! Radar is pretty easy to push in the free walk without worrying too much about him getting too fast and breaking so I'm less worried about that than the other stuff.

Sending in my entry for the test clinic this week!

We have a date!

Well, a show date that is. Our first show together -- my first dressage show ever, not to mention the pony's first dressage show -- should be the first week of March. I did a lot of walk work yesterday, basically running Intro A & B at the walk. Made me very thankful that the circles are trot circles at this level, as walk circles take forever on a 13hh pony! I'm getting a good sense of what I need to do to get from the medium to free walk (although I have to figure out just how much I want to let him move out, I don't want to get on the forehand or get too racy and unbalanced), and working on the transition back to the medium walk Mia had me tighten my right rein first, to counter his natural tendency to drift right, and that helped my transition greatly. Ran Intro B for the first time, a little more interesting than Intro A even though that free walk diagonal change is a tad bit challenging. So excited!Oh, and the totally adorable cellphone picture was what I found in his stall when I went to tack him up. Had to get some peppermints for bribery to get him up, he definitely thought 3:00 pm was nap time!

Running the test!

So we're officially preparing for some dressage schooling shows (Rancho de los Amigos, and maybe Hossmoor) this spring and summer! I've been running Intro A in my lessons lately, really working on centerlines and straightness and getting Radar uphill in the walk and trot. The walk work will seriously be the longest minute of my life there, I mean his free walk is actually pretty nice but it takes forever on a 13hh pony! Mia was going to see if RDLA wanted to run the tests in the short court, that would definitely save a lot of time! Our circles are coming along fine, as long as I remember to face right! Mia worked with me on a concept she got from Mary Wanless, that I needed to view my left shoulder and hip as a connected triangle that needs to always feel "in front" of my right side (which is in fact straight). Once I really concentrated on that, my circles fell in much less than before).

In other news, Mia found a hunt coat in black that someone had left in her house that fits me perfectly! Even the arms are short enough, amazingly. Since I think my cheap one from college is too big, that was a nice surprise. So I'm all set gear-wise, even though I'll have to end up covering my Tipperary helmet with a helmet cover... kind of tacky but whatever, I don't feel like it's necessary to buy a new helmet when I don't necessarily need it. And I made it into the New Year's Resolution column of Practical Horseman! Kind of a boring resolution, actually (ride more and write about it!) but I'm kind of excited.