Cricket's Run

Cricket and CG started the day off with 2 dressage tests: Intro A and Intro B.  This was CG’s first time competing in dressage.  Cricket had never seen the inside of a real dressage arena.  This spooky mare trotted right in like she owned the place and never blinked at the chain around the arena, the judge’s table, the crowd, or anything!  CG earned 1^st and 2^nd places for her rides!
She really did earn them, too!  Instead of sitting passively on her horse as they went through the motions, she sought a specific trot quality.  She encouraged a marching free walk.  She asked for balanced and released into her halts!
…and I think she is beginning to really like the idea of dressage!

The girls have been initiated!

My Starter dressage test on Cricket was Intro B.  I focused on trying to keep her relaxed and reaching for the bit.  Other than that, all I worried about was geometry.  We came away with a score of 40!  I was perfectly pleased with that!

Warming up for stadium, I was concerned about moving her enough to get loose and stretchy, but I didn’t want to make her tired.  I needed her to have lots left over for cross-country!
We hopped over a cross-rail…  We hopped over a vertical…  We made the vertical an oxer, and she took it all in stride!
Waiting for our turn to jump, we stood around a bit, so we went back and popped over the oxer, just to make sure we remembered how to jump, then came back and headed into our stadium round! (How’s that for a never-ending run-on sentence?)
Our first line, she stayed pretty straight and focused on our task.  We came around the corner, and (as expected) she drifted to the outside of the turn, but when she finally found the fence in front of her, she directed herself straight to it!  We bent around to our next vertical, and I tried to keep her together for a right-hand turn.  She lost momentum coming around for the downhill line, but she brought it back to get over the first vertical, but she just couldn’t seem to give me the impulsion we needed for the oxer.
OMG! IT’S A PINK OXER! I’VE NEVER SEEN A PINK OXER BEFORE! IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE GREEN LIKE THE ON IN WARM-UP! WHAT ARE YOU ASKING OF ME?? I DON’T THINK I CAN DO THIS!
Yes, Cricket, you are totally capable of taking this tiny pink oxer.
OH. OK.  I GUESS I CAN! LOOK AT ME! I DID IT!!

Swing around again for our uphill approach to the big red rail… She really pushed for it, and I think it was one of our best stadium jumps ever!  Then, we swung around to finish over the white oxer, which looked so inviting to me…
OMG! WHAT’S AN OXER? HOW AM I GOING TO GET OVER THAT THING?
Cricket, I really need you to stretch out again.  This compressed frame might feel better because you are going downhill, but it will not help you get over that oxer.  Now, GO!
I’M GIVING IT EVERYTHING I’VE GOT! I MUST. GO. TO. THE. BASE!
Oh, dear God, please don’t let her kill us…
I DID IT! LOOK AT ME! I JUMPED ALL THOSE JUMPS! DID YOU SEE ME?  AREN’T I FABULOUS??
Yes, Cricket, you are the bravest pony that ever was!
***ARABIAN SWAGGER ENSUES***

Just LOOK at her commitment!

 

So, before she got cold, we headed over to the start box so we could go cross-country!  I wasn’t sure what to expect, so we headed of at a quiet trot.  Once we cleared the trees and I could see our first jump, I pushed her to a canter.
You see, we discovered the day before that she is much braver from the canter…
To the log stack we go!  She popped on over and we headed to the coop.  This coop is in the trees.  The approach is downhill.  She just kept sucking back until she broke to the trot.  A tap of the whip got some last moment balancing before she finally threw her heart over and decided to follow it.  The pseudo-table roll-top was quite inviting and really helped settle her into a rhythm.  We took another log stack before the S-curve to the logs-hiding-in-the-grass (which we didn’t practice the day before because they weren’t mowed – we figured they must not be on the course).  In spite of never even seeing the jump, she put her head and neck down, snorted with wide eyes, and jumped it anyway!  On to the red half-roll (which we had practiced extensively the day before), also buried in the grass.  Coach’s words from the day before echoed in my head, “Training level canter!”  Oh, the brave pony never batted an eyelash!  We raced on to jump out tiny up-bank!
We had a rhythm, and Cricket was grooving!  We had to finish climbing the hill before turning right onto a long approach to the baby-bench.  We lost momentum.  I put my leg on, but she didn’t give me quite enough additional go.  I balanced her and sent her forward again, but it was too little, too late.  She suddenly saw the bench, dropped everything on the forehand, and slid to a stop.  Just a baby horse mistake.  No big deal.  We circled back and re-approached.  Wide hands and a pulsing leg set her up for success on our second approach, and she sailed on over and headed for our double logs!

From the ether, I heard Coach’s voice, “Good luck!”
I saw her to my left negotiating the s-curve!
“Thank you!”
Cricket cantered on in her best impersonation of a gallop and committed to the logs from miles away!
Bloop!  Bloop!
Round the corner to the house, and those shingles are so cute!
Bloop!
Welcome, Cricket, to ATTACK MODE!

I could feel her tiring as we cantered the last stretch to the last jump.  The solid-looking stack of logs looked bigger as we got closer.  I closed my legs and told her, "Attack it!"

At the last second, she saw the photographer on the far side, so took an extra moment.  When Cricket takes an extra moment, she rocks herself back onto her hocks and springs up and over the jump.  She hopped over the last fence, and I sent to the finish at a her best hand-gallop, which really is nothing more than a leisurely canter at this point...

But, she finished!

And she took home 3rd place!!

 

Cricket surpassed EVERYBODY's expectations!  We couldn't be more proud!