Upon arrival I noticed the not-so-great braids I asked my friend, Karen, to do for me were 1/2 undone. I started to panic a little since I had only anticipated a few braids to come out - not 1/2 of them! Then I panicked a little more when I struggled to get them into any form of passable braid quality. Smash's mane is thick - thicker than normal because she won't tolerate a traditional mane pulling comb and I have to use the one with a razor in it. On top of that, I must've been mane pulling happy and I pulled it too short. Short and thick hair is not conducive to braiding! Oddly enough I managed to make them passable (still VERY poor though!) and got ready for dressage on time.
My warm-up was going well until I found out the dressage rings were about 20min behind schedule. UGH! So I took a break from schooling Smash until 10min before they were actually ready for me and schooled the crap out of her. I struggled at first for her attention/focus but I finally got it upon entering the ring. I rode hard and it paid off! I only had 1 mishap - an incorrect lead in my right canter circle which got me a very ugly score of 4 - but generally speaking I did well! So well, in fact, that I redeemed my score from Full Moon's show of 38 to a respectable 34.5! Booya! The only things I would've done differently is 1. Not braid (I saw tons of people not braided and I know Smash would've looked much better not braided than braided) 2. Get a better right bend (duh!)and 3. Get a better belt that won't come undone while riding and make me look even more hillbilly than necessary. Here is the video of my dressage test and below are a few pictures my Mom took:
Next phase was Stadium! I had walked the course a few times and thought it had a few good challenging elements. There was a 2 strided line I needed to ride forward to and a bunch of boxes decorating the fences that had been causing other riders some issues. I made sure in my warm up to trot over my fences before cantering a few and to make sure I was riding assertively and being proactive vs. reactive. I thought all in all I did a great job! Jump number 3 was not our best because Smash started to stare at it but I got us over it and going into the 2 strided line I made sure to give a tap of the crop behind my leg since I could feel a hair of hesitation from Smash and I was having NONE of it in a short line like that! We only knocked 1 rail though on jump 9 (drat!) with no time faults so I was happy! :) Here's the Helmet Cam video and the Camcorder view with a few pics from my Mom below.
I was half elated and half nervous I was qualified to continue on to XC! There were a couple of elements in the xc course I was nervous about. Jump 4 was on top of a hill and while it was an easy fence I knew it was a total mind game since I could not see the other side of the fence upon the approach. I had to believe in my ability and continue to ride confidently since in reality there was plenty of flat landing area on the other side. Jump 5 was a little nerving because it had intimidated me in the past but I knew I could get over it. Jump 7 was a jump I've done before but going the opposite direction and it was located between bushes and a fence surrounding a house (a real one not some weird fake house in the middle of the field) so I knew it had potential to be spooky. Jump 8 was my arch nemesis the Produce Stand. I have never been confident to them and I knew if I wanted to get over it I had to believe it was just funny shaped and no harder than any of the other fences out there. The rest of the course I knew I could do!
Off I went! I was over jump 1 and 2 with no problem. Had to collect Smash up for jump 3 since she was on a roll and actually moving too fast. Jump 4 I pretended didn't exist and we were clear! Jump 5 wasn't very graceful but we got over it! Clear! Jump 6 was water and Smash almost leaped in! Jump 7 she looked at but got over! Jump 8 I rode up to feeling good and I actually thought 'OMG! I'm doing it!' until eeerrrrrrppppp (sound of screeching tires) I had a last minute "huh?" when Smash hesitated and I ended up looking down to see what was going on and that's all Smash needed to stop and I rolled off. *sigh* I was eliminated. Had I at least stayed on I could've attempted to get over it! But no, I was one with physics and gravity at that moment and kept going (what is in motion, stays in motion, right?). I was really frustrated and bummed out but there was nothing I could do. Here's the Helmet Cam video and the beginning of my xc from camcorder view with a few really nice pics from my Mom:
It's SO frustrating getting over old habits. They take over sometimes without me even realizing it and take even more mental effort to make sure I'm doing my *new* habits. I literally have to tell myself a mantra and BELIEVE it to every fence ("Hips open, Leg on, Eyes up, through to the next fence"). I literally say it to myself to every fence. But obviously when I get nervous about something and the mantra fades out or I don't believe in myself 100% I get into trouble. I know it will just take time and mileage. I know I will eventually get there. I just wish I had been able to take it through that Produce stand on Saturday because I KNOW deep down I could've done it the first time. Slowly but surely Smash and I will get there... one produce stand at a time...
P.S. I was in 5th place after dressage... oh what pretty pink ribbon that would've been...
4 comments:
Don't beat yourself up! It sounds like you guys did great. And the photos are fantastic!
Thanks, Lisa!
Those photos are amazing! I think you did an amazing job. If you were perfect, this wouldn't be a fun challenge, now would it?! Keep up the great work!!
Thanks so much, Ayanna! :)
Post a Comment