After Millbrook we spent a lot of time training and trying to get focused for the rest of the season. It was tough after Bromont...nothing seemed that excited because there was so much anticipation leading up to it. We had some really great lessons with David learning how important the half halt is. He taught us that to properly half halt you contract your back muscles like you are trying to tip a chair forward and then squeeze with your upper thighs. I got Legacy and Hobbs both responding to that and now Legacy actually walks instead of jigs!! We had a great XC school with Danny working more on our gallop. I need to set my hands to get him rounder and stretch and strengthen my chest before the jump. That's all I need to rebalance him so he jumps better and lifts his shoulders. I also spent some time with Martha Redman who taught me that I need to sit back into the saddle and ride quicker after the fences instead of going to my hand. That helps the fussiness during stadium.
We went to MD HT in September and showed some improvement. We had planned to get their early and do the double warmup, but the ring steward failed to mention they were 35 minutes behind, so my 10 minute warmup ended up being 45 minutes. He was calm and stood by the ring, but then during the test he got tense and we ended up not scoring very well. I was pretty disappointed because we had done so well at Millbrook and I thought we had cracked the code. Stadium was better and flowed more, so there was some improvement. The warmup ring wasn't run very well and I ended up being rushed...no excuses!! The XC course was straightforward, I overcorrected the gallop and the first 4 or 5 fences were just backward and I got really tight spots. I got it together and the rest of the course had a really nice rhythm.
Then we were on to the Prelim Championships at Morven. I had some bad rides leading up to the show and Hobbs took a funny step and I thought he tweaked something and wouldn't be able to go, so I had a bad vibe about the weekend. Seth being Mr. Positive ignored me and on we went. We tried the double warmup method again for dressage. Warmup #1 was not so good...he was tense and fussy, so I had low expectations for dressage, but I had convinced myself I was there to have a perfect XC run so I could feel comfortable moving up. Well warmup #2 was better and the test went much better than expected...a 33.0, putting us in 9th place out of 22 (way more competitive than last year's championships!). The XC course was pretty tough...I thought #2 of the year behind Bromont. He warmed up great...I couldn't turn to the right w/o him freaking out but he was jumping amazing ;). For the first time I got him in the start box by myself....it was huge!! It cost me a few seconds because I had to trot in and I didn't time it right, but I'll take it. The course rode great and so smooth...I was really, really happy. The weather wasn't great, but the rain somewhat held off so it wasn't sloppy at all. All of the combos rode exactly how I walked it. The only bobble was I let him trot off the huge drop and then I got a really long spot on the chevron out. I need to be more confident riding forward into the combinations and not get sucked into riding backwards because of him getting strung out. If I have him in the proper balance the striding will be there. I got 5.2 time faults, 13 seconds over...but I know where I missed it. I had a large turn from #3 to #4 and I just let him wander instead of riding him forward through the turn. I easily could've made the time and just slightly lost focus.
Stadium was a little tough on the grass...the footing was a bit deep. Again, he warmed up great. Fence #1 and #2 were a little backward, but then I woke up and the rest of the course rode really well. We got a little disconnected in the first triple combo...I lost my reins and had to just use my body to hold him together. He got pretty flat but tried his heart out and got through it clean. With the clean round, we moved up to 6th and finished as the top placing amateur!! It was a great weekend and again I was so lucky to have the support of Seth, Mom, Dave and John...I'm a lucky gal ;)
We went to MD HT in September and showed some improvement. We had planned to get their early and do the double warmup, but the ring steward failed to mention they were 35 minutes behind, so my 10 minute warmup ended up being 45 minutes. He was calm and stood by the ring, but then during the test he got tense and we ended up not scoring very well. I was pretty disappointed because we had done so well at Millbrook and I thought we had cracked the code. Stadium was better and flowed more, so there was some improvement. The warmup ring wasn't run very well and I ended up being rushed...no excuses!! The XC course was straightforward, I overcorrected the gallop and the first 4 or 5 fences were just backward and I got really tight spots. I got it together and the rest of the course had a really nice rhythm. 
Then we were on to the Prelim Championships at Morven. I had some bad rides leading up to the show and Hobbs took a funny step and I thought he tweaked something and wouldn't be able to go, so I had a bad vibe about the weekend. Seth being Mr. Positive ignored me and on we went. We tried the double warmup method again for dressage. Warmup #1 was not so good...he was tense and fussy, so I had low expectations for dressage, but I had convinced myself I was there to have a perfect XC run so I could feel comfortable moving up. Well warmup #2 was better and the test went much better than expected...a 33.0, putting us in 9th place out of 22 (way more competitive than last year's championships!). The XC course was pretty tough...I thought #2 of the year behind Bromont. He warmed up great...I couldn't turn to the right w/o him freaking out but he was jumping amazing ;). For the first time I got him in the start box by myself....it was huge!! It cost me a few seconds because I had to trot in and I didn't time it right, but I'll take it. The course rode great and so smooth...I was really, really happy. The weather wasn't great, but the rain somewhat held off so it wasn't sloppy at all. All of the combos rode exactly how I walked it. The only bobble was I let him trot off the huge drop and then I got a really long spot on the chevron out. I need to be more confident riding forward into the combinations and not get sucked into riding backwards because of him getting strung out. If I have him in the proper balance the striding will be there. I got 5.2 time faults, 13 seconds over...but I know where I missed it. I had a large turn from #3 to #4 and I just let him wander instead of riding him forward through the turn. I easily could've made the time and just slightly lost focus. 
Stadium was a little tough on the grass...the footing was a bit deep. Again, he warmed up great. Fence #1 and #2 were a little backward, but then I woke up and the rest of the course rode really well. We got a little disconnected in the first triple combo...I lost my reins and had to just use my body to hold him together. He got pretty flat but tried his heart out and got through it clean. With the clean round, we moved up to 6th and finished as the top placing amateur!! It was a great weekend and again I was so lucky to have the support of Seth, Mom, Dave and John...I'm a lucky gal ;) 
