The smile tells the story
The week leading up to my dressage competition was hectic! I managed to squeeze in a show jumping lesson with Sally Hudson on the Saturday and found Billy to be a little disagreeable during the lesson and he even threw in a buck, which is extremely unusual. Perhaps he was a little sore in the RH quarter and it was transferring out through his left side, as he only appeared to be naughty when we were on the left rein. When he was ridden at pony club on Sunday, Lisa (his owner) said he was misbehaving but she was able to work him through it and he came good.
As I work full time I had no chance of squeezing in a ride or lesson before the competition and as I was teaching all day on Saturday at Kangaroo Ground Pony Club it was close to 4pm before I even got to see Billy so I resigned myself to the fact I was going to have to ‘wing it’ and use the day as a training day.
I collected Billy at 9:30 the following morning with the two tests I was riding, Grade 4D and a training Grade 3D, scheduled for 1:58 and 3:04pm. It was a fantastic idea for the Monash ARC to allow riders to ride a test above their grade. I was interested to see where Billy and I were sitting in relation to Grade 3.
I have been working with Nicole Stewart from Sports Performance Coaching for around six months now and I’ve found the tools she’s teaching me have been extremely effective … I have started to place in my competitions! I also was lucky to be sponsored by Remote Coach this year and Fiona Dearing provides me with my tests as an MP3 and has also created a personalised warm up MP3 for Billy and I to use at competitions. I love this as it really helps me focus and get my head in to the right space before I go into the ring.
That said I felt so completely underprepared for this competition not being able to ride much in the lead up to it. When I picked Billy up I was told he’d been carrying on like a pork chop in the paddock – bucking and pigrooting! I thought, Great! I then forgot my headphones and wasn’t able to use my warm up – oh boy this was going to be a very interesting day! I decided if he was still not right when I got there and started working him I’d just pack up and come home.
Off we went and my very good friend Karen met me along the way with her Friesans, who were coming along for the outing. We arrived and parked and then I unloaded Billy who took one look around and began to eat his hay. I gave him a quick groom and then headed over to the Secretary’s office to check in and confirm my times and who the rider ahead of me was – I always find that useful. When I went back Karen was already sectioning Billy’s mane and plaiting! She’s a wonderful friend and help!
The salute
Billy was ready and looking gorgeous! I tacked him up and while I was getting ready, Karen took him for a walk. Billy is 19 this year and I find that he’s not very balanced on grass arenas. My coach Megan Jones had mentioned that she often puts studs in all four shoes when she’s competing on grass so that’s what I decided I was going to do for this competition. Karen and I went to gear check, passed and then walked to the grass warm up area. It was nice to have loads of space and it wasn’t crowded. Everything felt so good and relaxed. I popped the studs in and began to warm Billy up with lots of walking to start with. Then we proceeded to trot, focussing on rhythm and tempo and riding in a square pattern to encourage straightness. I kept the warm up relaxed with lots of transitions. Then I asked for canter and Billy responded immediately on both reins and I was really pleased. He felt great.
We try to keep straight
When it was our turn to present to the judge she told us we looked beautiful. I could have gone home right then! We headed off to the entrance of the arena and commenced our test when the horn was beeped.
During the test I focused on keeping relaxed and keeping Billy forward. His transitions were lovely and he was really listening and responding to everything I asked. At the completion of the test, I almost gained stretch marks from my huge smile. I gave Billy a big pat and cuddle. I was absolutely thrilled. Not because I thought I would place or that it was a great test, but because we’ve come such a long way and we truly are a partnership now. This horse tries his heart out for me and I love him to the moon and back.
I removed the studs and took him back to the float. I removed his bridle and loosened the girth but left the saddle on as my Grade 3 test was in around 40 minutes. Billy had a drink and a little munch on some hay and carrots.
I headed back over to the warm up ring and found it was really narrow and because of that the steward was only allowing four horses in at any one time. When I was allowed in I tried to warm up and get some lengthened stride in trot happening and when I got a result I headed out and just waited. It was a really tricky place to warm up in. The other option was to warm up on the grass again but I wanted to watch the test as well as I didn’t actually know it.
So far so good
I presented to the judge and off we went. Karen was wonderful calling my test for me and Billy was still relaxed. On our first attempt we didn’t actually achieve any lengthened trot but the second time was a bit better and we were able to show a few longer strides. I finished the test and was so proud! Billy had tried really hard and he was relaxed and forward. So I gave him a huge pat and left the arena with another big smile!
Thanks to Karen for reading my test
As I was untacking Billy and feeding him more carrots, Karen came over and said that the 4D presentations were being done shortly and that I ‘had’ to go over there. I was shocked and she kindly took over with Billy as I headed inside. The presentation had commenced and I stood at the back, not knowing what place I may have and when they picked up the red rosette and announced Billy and I in second place, I actually let out a huge “What!? That’s awesome!” and everyone laughed. I was also given a bucket filled with Carrots for Billy as a prize!
I raced back to Karen and she gave me a massive hug as did my friend Kellie who was taking some photos. Once Billy was taken care of I headed over to Karen who was riding her horse and then went back to the club to see if the Grade 3 tests were available for collection and I found mine. I looked at the marks and there were no surprises. It’s quite a big jump from Grade 4 to 3 I think, and my marks ranged from 4 to 7. So I was pretty happy, given that it was our first attempt. I went to collect my card so we could go home and asked if there were any scores up for the Grade 3. I gave them my name and was told that I’d placed equal 4th! Never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought I would place in my first grade 3 test! I received a lovely green rosette and took it back to show Karen who was also over the moon.
We took some photos of Billy with his rosettes on (photo above) and let him gorge himself on the carrots in the bucket. Finally it was time to go home.
I would like to thank the Burgess family, Karen, Kelly and Laura, Fiona Dearing and Nicole Stewart. Also a massive thank you to Megan for her continued support and encouragement.
I am so proud of the partnership that I have developed with Billy over the past two years. He truly is a very special horse.
Still smiling
Phboto: Thanks to Kellie Troy
