Starting in a Dressage Competition After 2 Years
Attending dressage competitions used to be something I did 5-7 times a year for the first few years I had Money. Then a lot of things happened, mostly the fact that she grew to tall to be a considered a pony (I would have been too old just seven months later) and I advanced in school. Now, we only ever actually participate when our stables host competitions and it has been over two years since that happened but this past weekend, it was time for another. Boy, did that turn out to be a weekend. Between competing myself and helping out, I felt very tired after the two nearly seven hour days.
I should probably start off with explaining my stance on competitions currently. If we're speaking just plainly, then I like them. I like having something to train towards and a goal to help structure training a bit more. However, I do not like having to travel far and all the commotion that comes along with transporting a horse and riding in unfamiliar territory. Hence, why I'm a bit of a sucker for home-field advantage - it's so much easier when you can just walk from the stables without all that fuss.
First thing to mention is the fact that the weather gods were extremely kind to us. The weather forecast had promised grey clouds and rain up until the day. Thankfully, the skies mostly stayed parted and let a lot of lovely sunshine through. It is mid-May, so good weather shouldn't be this big of a deal but spring has had trouble breaking through properly and it's just not as fun to compete when it's windy and dreary - it's one of the reasons that I never did compete much outside of late spring, summer and early autumn, even when I participated in more regularly.
We have a wonderful competition committee that took care of getting sponsor gifts, going through all the admin involved (trust me, it's a lot) and basically just being awesome people who did all the little things that would eventually mean that these two days could come together. All the people at the stables help out on the day, whether to man the café, open and close the gate, write for the judge, work in the secretariat or announcing the riders. It's a whole lot of positions to fill and I'm still in awe that they managed to string it all together so wonderfully.
I was set to do one programme each day, LA1 on Saturday and LA2 on Sunday. If you're not a Danish horse rider then those letters and numbers probably means squash to you. It's fairly advanced dressage programmes, two steps before the Grand Prix that you might see at international dressage competitions. We've participated in them numerous times and technically Money and I do exercises from the higher LA in our daily training but with the council of my trainer, we decided to stick with the familiar because it's been such a long time since we competed.
I won't go into too much details but I'll do a general review of both programmes. We got 61,481% for the LA1 and 59,655% for the LA2, which isn't horrible percentages but they aren't exactly great either. They're pretty standard - you did okay in there kind of thing - with averagely around 6 in grades throughout, which means satisfactory. I have to admit I was a bit bummed about the results, especially the latter where I got a lower score but felt like we produced a better programme.
However, dressage is a very subjective thing and it was two different judges and one might have been nicer while the other was harsher. They left some quite nice comments like "beautiful horse" and "nice equipage" but generally the programmes were just rated kind of like "meh" in my opinion. My Dad was commandeered out to watch and he took a video of the Sunday programme and I have to admit we look worse than I felt when we were doing it. Money is tense in her neck and doesn't relax into the hold and move freely like she should.
I've always had a tendency to suddenly forget how to ride properly when I enter the judge's view. I become passive and just sit there and manoeuvre her around rather than actually riding. It's a subconscious thing because I become still and don't want to interfere too much, which is absolutely ridiculous because it's only with my help that Money can actually move like she should.
Something I used to struggle with was keeping control of Money, which has gotten a hundred times better. She's much more attentive to me now and less likely to lift her head and just bolt off like she did when she was a filly. She moved quite well in the hectic warm-up situation with loads of big horses not giving us any space at all.
I think the reason I was a bit down wasn't that I ended at the bottom of the ranking - it's kind of expected as Money is such a small horse competing against much larger and more experienced horses and riders. I never care about the ranking, even if I will acknowledge that it's nice to be on the podium. I care about my perception and I care about the scores and feedback from the judges. However, my perception has to be the main point of reference because I know my horse better than anyone. The judges get to see five minutes of us, which doesn't necessarily reflect how we truly work together.
So I'll get over feeling bummed out about the lower than desired scores and instead consider what I can do different next time. I heard whispers that we're doing another competition in September of this year, which would give me the perfect opportunity to have another go within a reasonable amount of time.
When it comes down to it, the whole experience was great. I love our stables so damn much and all the people there are so wonderful and spending time with them in a different way was a great treat. Don't get me wrong, my social battery felt completely drained and then some by the time the weekend was over but in the moment, I felt present. I enjoyed myself and I didn't have to sneak away for alone time. I was around somebody and talking pretty much non-stop for almost seven hours each day, which is a massive feat for me.
Obviously, it helped that I was surrounded by people I knew and horses, which have a calming effect on me. I guess it also just showed me that I can push through the social exhaustion when I have something stronger at the forefront of my mind and when it's something that I enjoy doing. It was such a wonderful weekend and I'm very happy with all the hours spent in the warm sunshine with lovely people and gorgeous horses.
It's easy to forget about dressage competitions because it's not part of my routine anymore but I do love them, especially when it's at our stables and I get to cheer on my friends and celebrate with all of them. It feels like we're all in it together, an odd family of sorts - both people and horses alike. I can't even put words on how much I love Money or how her presence always calms me if anything is bothering me. I just need to step into her stable and put my face against hers and stoke her soft but likely dirty (she loves to roll around in the dust) coat.
Riding and training dressage is different but the effect of it has some of the same effects. Obviously, it requires a lot more concentration and such but when it works, everything around us fade away and the only thing I can feel and care about it Money's rhythmic movements beneath me. We become an equipage rather than just a horse and a human sitting on top of it.
I don't think we adequately displayed just how well we work together as a team but we'll get the chance to do it again. We have a word of chances in front of us but even if we never manage to show the judges just how much we can do, then I'll still know. I'll know every time I swing my leg over her back in the every day life rather than the odd competition here and there.
This was a wonderful weekend.
I should probably start off with explaining my stance on competitions currently. If we're speaking just plainly, then I like them. I like having something to train towards and a goal to help structure training a bit more. However, I do not like having to travel far and all the commotion that comes along with transporting a horse and riding in unfamiliar territory. Hence, why I'm a bit of a sucker for home-field advantage - it's so much easier when you can just walk from the stables without all that fuss.
I was actually a horrible photographer over the weekend (I was too caught up in everything) but enjoy these few photos scattered throughout
First thing to mention is the fact that the weather gods were extremely kind to us. The weather forecast had promised grey clouds and rain up until the day. Thankfully, the skies mostly stayed parted and let a lot of lovely sunshine through. It is mid-May, so good weather shouldn't be this big of a deal but spring has had trouble breaking through properly and it's just not as fun to compete when it's windy and dreary - it's one of the reasons that I never did compete much outside of late spring, summer and early autumn, even when I participated in more regularly.
We have a wonderful competition committee that took care of getting sponsor gifts, going through all the admin involved (trust me, it's a lot) and basically just being awesome people who did all the little things that would eventually mean that these two days could come together. All the people at the stables help out on the day, whether to man the café, open and close the gate, write for the judge, work in the secretariat or announcing the riders. It's a whole lot of positions to fill and I'm still in awe that they managed to string it all together so wonderfully.
I was set to do one programme each day, LA1 on Saturday and LA2 on Sunday. If you're not a Danish horse rider then those letters and numbers probably means squash to you. It's fairly advanced dressage programmes, two steps before the Grand Prix that you might see at international dressage competitions. We've participated in them numerous times and technically Money and I do exercises from the higher LA in our daily training but with the council of my trainer, we decided to stick with the familiar because it's been such a long time since we competed.
The first time we competed on this field, I made a mistake and the jeep honked at me to let me know - it scared poor Money
I won't go into too much details but I'll do a general review of both programmes. We got 61,481% for the LA1 and 59,655% for the LA2, which isn't horrible percentages but they aren't exactly great either. They're pretty standard - you did okay in there kind of thing - with averagely around 6 in grades throughout, which means satisfactory. I have to admit I was a bit bummed about the results, especially the latter where I got a lower score but felt like we produced a better programme.
However, dressage is a very subjective thing and it was two different judges and one might have been nicer while the other was harsher. They left some quite nice comments like "beautiful horse" and "nice equipage" but generally the programmes were just rated kind of like "meh" in my opinion. My Dad was commandeered out to watch and he took a video of the Sunday programme and I have to admit we look worse than I felt when we were doing it. Money is tense in her neck and doesn't relax into the hold and move freely like she should.
I've always had a tendency to suddenly forget how to ride properly when I enter the judge's view. I become passive and just sit there and manoeuvre her around rather than actually riding. It's a subconscious thing because I become still and don't want to interfere too much, which is absolutely ridiculous because it's only with my help that Money can actually move like she should.
Not too great scores but hopeful and nice comments from the judges nonetheless
Something I used to struggle with was keeping control of Money, which has gotten a hundred times better. She's much more attentive to me now and less likely to lift her head and just bolt off like she did when she was a filly. She moved quite well in the hectic warm-up situation with loads of big horses not giving us any space at all.
I think the reason I was a bit down wasn't that I ended at the bottom of the ranking - it's kind of expected as Money is such a small horse competing against much larger and more experienced horses and riders. I never care about the ranking, even if I will acknowledge that it's nice to be on the podium. I care about my perception and I care about the scores and feedback from the judges. However, my perception has to be the main point of reference because I know my horse better than anyone. The judges get to see five minutes of us, which doesn't necessarily reflect how we truly work together.
So I'll get over feeling bummed out about the lower than desired scores and instead consider what I can do different next time. I heard whispers that we're doing another competition in September of this year, which would give me the perfect opportunity to have another go within a reasonable amount of time.
This year they had set up this wonderful lounge area, which was so great to chill in and watch beautiful horses perform
When it comes down to it, the whole experience was great. I love our stables so damn much and all the people there are so wonderful and spending time with them in a different way was a great treat. Don't get me wrong, my social battery felt completely drained and then some by the time the weekend was over but in the moment, I felt present. I enjoyed myself and I didn't have to sneak away for alone time. I was around somebody and talking pretty much non-stop for almost seven hours each day, which is a massive feat for me.
Obviously, it helped that I was surrounded by people I knew and horses, which have a calming effect on me. I guess it also just showed me that I can push through the social exhaustion when I have something stronger at the forefront of my mind and when it's something that I enjoy doing. It was such a wonderful weekend and I'm very happy with all the hours spent in the warm sunshine with lovely people and gorgeous horses.
It's easy to forget about dressage competitions because it's not part of my routine anymore but I do love them, especially when it's at our stables and I get to cheer on my friends and celebrate with all of them. It feels like we're all in it together, an odd family of sorts - both people and horses alike. I can't even put words on how much I love Money or how her presence always calms me if anything is bothering me. I just need to step into her stable and put my face against hers and stoke her soft but likely dirty (she loves to roll around in the dust) coat.
Riding and training dressage is different but the effect of it has some of the same effects. Obviously, it requires a lot more concentration and such but when it works, everything around us fade away and the only thing I can feel and care about it Money's rhythmic movements beneath me. We become an equipage rather than just a horse and a human sitting on top of it.
I don't think we adequately displayed just how well we work together as a team but we'll get the chance to do it again. We have a word of chances in front of us but even if we never manage to show the judges just how much we can do, then I'll still know. I'll know every time I swing my leg over her back in the every day life rather than the odd competition here and there.
This was a wonderful weekend.
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