FADS Schooling Show

It's showtime!!

Saturday we had a small schooling show on the property. For $25 you can ride a test and get decent feedback, which is so worth it for a young horse. I wanted to try riding Training 3, the test I plan to get the most mileage on this year.

My initial plan was to braid and do the whole shebang to practice, but honestly ran out of time and care. These shows on the property lack the urgency for me that I have at away shows. I did pull out some of my show clothes to try a new shirt and make sure I could still find my white breeches. I did realize my stock tie is missing, and that is a great reason to start shopping for one that I actually like.

Once on, I quickly had to come to terms with my recent riding choices. In the week leading up to this show, I only rode in the ring once. Instead I went galloping in the fields with the dogs several times, and even gave Bast a day off (because I slept in 30 minutes too late, ugh). All of this led to a horse who was not quite sharp and prepared for our performance.

"Duck behind the contact and lean into your leg? Don't mind if I do..." -- Bast

Bast doesn't actually take a lot of time to warm up, or a lot of regular hard schooling to be ready to come out and ride. He is not like Pig, who was a completely different horse for every ride and took a lot of careful management leading up to show to be in the best mental place. Instead, Bast only requires a few short but tough schooling sessions leading up to a show. He doesn't need to be tired out, but does need to be challenged a little bit so he is ready to be on my aids and listening. We did none of that.

Needless to say, I came to the ring lacking a half halt and missing a good canter transition. The atmosphere at the farm had Bast on edge somewhat, and his nerves in the ring threw me. Bast needed me to support him with hugging legs and strong leadership. But instead of reacting the way he needed me to, I reverted to my tactics on Pig-- completely backing off and merely suggesting what he should do. Understandably, my poor young horse reacted poorly to this. When I watch the video I can almost see him screaming "OMG MOM WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"MOM?! MOM!!"

The test itself was okay. We had a lot of wiggly moments, which can be much improved by my simply riding actively and keeping Bast up into the bit. He was very behind my leg the entire test, and also bouncing on and off the contact. These things make it incredibly difficult to maintain straightness. We can do better, so I'm disappointed with myself.

There was one major error. The first canter depart was not something I was initially worried about. Bast loves picking up the right lead, typically. Unfortunately his tension led him to leap into a squirrely left lead, and then we struggled to pick up the correct lead three times. This needs to get back to schooling. Our better canter departs are one of the most recent training improvements, so it's not terribly surprising to me that these are what broke in the ring.

Broken departs...

Our transitions are terrible. I know that our downwards need work, but have honestly been kind of avoiding the issue while focusing on the canter quality. The canter is there now, so it's time to be more insistent on the transition quality. I will not have another horse who gets nailed for his crappy transitions until we get to 3rd again. (Love you, Piggy.)

Now that I've warned you about all the big issues with the test, here's the video.

We ended up scoring a 65%, which was very generous. Still, I'm overjoyed at the 7.5 Bast earned in the stretchy trot. The judge did comment later that this movement lost some balance, and I felt Bast begin to rush in his stretch. Again, I think this is tension and my riding related. These things are completely fixable, and I'm glad we had the opportunity to find these issues out before I start spending real money on showing.

Up next? The L Program this weekend and some much needed lessons!