Not Throwing Away My Shot: Second Level Debut

Last week Dino and I headed out to a mid-week schooling show at the horse park and completed our first Second Level test! Honestly, it feels great just to have gotten the first test at this level out of the way. I always thought finishing my first Second Level test would result in this big, emotional response, but to be frank I was just relieved we had survived! 

Going into the show, Dino was not feeling 100% his absolute best. I had overdone it schooling lateral work at the walk and fried his brain a bit, plus I had put him in new fly boots that I suspect might have made him a bit sore and fatigued in his hind end because he definitely steps way higher behind with the boots on, plus we are still not yet in a saddle that truly fits us and I had swapped back to riding in my jump saddle since the rear panels on my friend's saddle were just not working for him anymore. This decision caused me to sacrifice good dressage position and settle for fighting a saddle that wants me in half seat all the time, which is not ideal. All this added up to a pony who was feeling a little burned out and reluctant to engage at the walk, but I nursed him through our rides and gave him some easy days leading up to the show to help ensure he was ready to work that evening. 

I was more nervous for this test than I probably ever have been for a dressage test in my life. Second Level is, like, LEGIT dressage, and I was so afraid that the judge would tell me we just weren't ready for the level, that we needed to go back to basics, that my horse didn't have the engagement or the movement or the training to do this. Being told we were incompetent would be the absolute worst case scenario here. I felt like I was about to jump into the deep end without really knowing if I would be able to swim. 

And, of course, between my nerves and whatever's going on with Dino right now, we fell right back into our old habits. He was sticky and behind the leg in warm-up, I was tight and tense and clamping, and we definitely weren't working together as well as usual. He felt a little better after I took him out of the warm-up arena and sent him FORWARD in the little field next to the show ring, but still not on my aids and truly thinking forward. But I had what I had, I wasn't going to change much in a few minutes, so off down centerline we went! 

I was so nervous I was huffing and puffing down our first centerline, not relaxed enough to take a proper deep breath. We made a decent enough first impression, though, and scored a 7! The first medium trot was incredibly lackluster. I didn't get the big lift through the wither and powerful push-off I usually get at home, but we still managed a 6 for it somehow even though it felt like crap. This made the transition back to collected trot less than inspiring (5.5) and we were definitely not engaged or forward enough to make the shoulder-in acceptable, and scored a very mediocre 5.5 and 6 on each, redeeming ourselves with another 7 for the medium walk following the halt and rein-back, which scored a 6. 

I took the free walk to try and breathe and get my shit together, leaving Dino mostly to his own devices there and not asking for as much stretch and over-track as he's capable of. 

This was probably a mistake, as the canter depart and medium canter were both atrocious, sticky, and hollow (5.5's all around), and followed by a break to the trot in the 10m circle (4) which I couldn't recover from, resulting in a score of 2 (YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT, 2. ON A COEFFICIENT MOVEMENT. GOOD LORD.) on our first counter-canter line because once we were trotting, I COULD NOT GET MY SECOND LEVEL HORSE TO PICK UP THE CANTER AGAIN. 

Pretty much the worst thing that could have happened, happened, and somehow I managed to move on from that embarrassing mistake and get my act back together, completing the canter work to the left with decent enough scores (5.5 for the medium, which sucked, 6 for the 10m circle, and a 7 on the counter canter!) We got another 7 for the collected canter-collected trot-medium walk transitions, a 5 for the very last canter depart (I was so so tired and Dino was so so over it), 6.5 for the collected trot, a 6 for the last medium (thank you, judge), 5.5 for the transition back to collected (it sucked, a deserved score), and a 7 for the final centerline. 

At that point all I could feel was utter relief! 

The final score! Honestly I thought it would be worse. 

The judge was really, really gracious and kind despite our less-than-lovely test. She offered advice on a better strategy in the case of a naughty pony breaking in the middle of a canter circle again, saying that our score wouldn't have suffered as much if I had taken time to circle again to re-establish canter, taken the -2 points for an error, and then continued on to show a good counter-canter. Most of her comments indicated we needed more engagement, which I could absolutely feel throughout the test and was annoyed that I didn't have in the first place. She offered consolation that moving up to 2nd is really, really difficult, and her final remark included the phrase, "Capable pair with potential," which did so much to bring back my confidence after a disappointing test! 

After the test I went back to the field to school Dino a bit, since I did not want to get off after he had blatantly ignored me for an entire test. And, wouldn't you know, he was absolutely fabulous once the pressure was off. Lovely walk-canter-walk transitions, engaged, uphill mediums, a marching medium walk, I could ask for collection and actually get it, ALL OF IT. I think the lesson here is that my own nerves and tension are so, SO detrimental to our performance. In light of that, I think I want to hit at least one more schooling show before spending the money to show rated this year. 

But the other takeaway here is that if our WORST test at Second Level is going to score a 58%, and that the ride was severely lacking compared to the work we do at home, we're going to be just fine at this level. If I can manage to stop being such a basket case in the dressage court and ride like I do at home, we are capable of great scores! I learned that despite scoring my first 2 (OMG. Still can't even believe it was THAT BAD), there were lots of good things happening in this test, and I learned that we ARE capable, and competent, and able to do this. 

And now the work begins anew! My saddle should HOPEFULLY be here by the end of July, which will make an enormous difference for both of us. The deeper I get into dressage, the more I'm realizing all of the saddles I've been making do with for half the year are downright detrimental to our progress. I'm not in the right position, sitting the mediums is HARD in a jump saddle, Dino isn't totally comfortable, and I think at this point it's just wearing on both of us. 

I need to commit once again to relaxing in the show ring, and I think that the fact that I've gotten through the first dreaded attempt at 2-1, that will be easier the next time. 

I also need to execute my warm-up better. I didn't get to the park with enough time to take a long walk and then start warming up like usual. Instead I went right into the ring and got to work, and D was really not on board with that plan. I also should have just taken advantage of being at the horse park where I can warm up OUTSIDE the ring and done that, rather than assuming we would not fall back into old dysfunctional patterns of being incapable of forward movement while in an arena. 

And lastly I need to figure out why Dino seems resistant to really engaging his hind end at the walk; whether he just expects difficulty because of all the hard lateral work I've been doing at that gait, the fly boots are making him sore, or poor saddle fit is finally getting to him. 

But before I get bogged down in putting my nose to the grindstone and working for more-better everything, I want to take a moment and recognize that we just showed SECOND LEVEL, and that is an enormous accomplishment for us. I went down centerline at Second on Dino, the pony who once scored a 48 on Beginner Novice Test A. The pony who flunked out of the children's hunter ring. The pony who got kicked out of college because he refused to go forward, had too bad an attitude, who hated going to work. The pony who had failed at every single job he ever had just made his Second Level debut. With me, his hunter-ring-dropout, anxious, mistake-making amateur partner. 

I hope everyone who ever doubted us is watching, because we're doing things that should have been impossible.