Keeping Score

So you complete a competition, you get your dressage sheet back, you get a placing of some sort, what do you do?  Throw it all in the bin?  File it all in a special folder titled "My journey to the Olympics: Part 1"?  Add a new dot point on a graph that forever marks the rise and rise of your horse?

Which one do you think I do?

Ok ok, stop laughing.  Yes I do put it in a folder, but not with the title above.  Each horse has it's own folder, and all Dressage tests, cross country course maps, and associated paperwork go in there.  I review the Dressage tests briefly, see what's worst (which means I need to work on it), see what's best (which means I need to keep working on it), and then it just gets filed away ... forever.

Well recently, the West Gippsland Equestrian Expo offered two places to be won in a Masterclass with Heath Ryan.  Of course, I jumped at the chance and applied.

I'll wait for you to stop laughing again.

One of the things the application form asked for was your Dressage results, placings, percentages, size of the competition, accomplishments, with a very strong implication that they expected to see some improvement in your results over time.

Well I was stumped, because I suddenly realised that I don't keep such detailed records of my horses' progress.  I get a general feel of how they are going, and whether they are ready to progress, if they have any particular weak points, or what they are good at.  I can feel when my training is slipping backwards.  I compare placings, more or less, but I don't track percentages from one Dressage test to the next!

I decided to enter Lil in the Masterclass competition, and so I dug out her results.  I am afraid that it became a rather sobering experience, as her scores map out a very clear roller coaster.  Somewhere between 56% and 60%.  Pretty much irrespective of the level.

As an Eventer, Dressage is only one of three disciplines that we practice.  So to see little improvement in a year is probably acceptable if you happen to be focusing on the other disciplines.  However, Dressage is the foundation, it is the key to better jumping, so it is very important.

I must say, that this has all inspired me to keep a better track of my competition results and I have designed a little spreadsheet to help me track it.  It includes a little graph to keep track of my Dressage scores.

The other thing the application asked for was a photo of you on your horse - fair enough - and a 30 second video, no more than 2M in size, of you and your horse doing walk, trot and canter.

I'm still laughing about that one myself.

Dingo back in work

Dingo has been enjoying a well earned rest for the last 6 weeks - I think it was supposed to be 4 weeks, but, well, it appears that time flies.  He came back into work with a reasonably easy going dressage session.

I have learnt so much in the last six weeks.  I have been trying it all out on Lil, of course, but I was just dying to try it out on Dingo.  To feel what the difference was.  To feel how he would respond.

He responded really well, and some of the learnings certainly apply much more to Dingo than to Lil.  I have also realised - he is much much harder to ride than Lil.  Or rather, he is much harder to ride well; to ride in a way that will score you high marks in a competition.  Timing, balance and precision is everything with this little pony.  All while staying totally calm and relaxed of course!

Managing the competition calendar

There are many events on the horse riding competition calendar. Primarily I am interested in the HRCAV events. However, shows can be really handy to give the rider preparation experience, and the horse a nice outing. Then there are Equestrian Australia (EA) events, which sometimes have training grades at my level. Pony clubs sometimes have "open" sections where anyone can compete. In addition to that there are clinics, lessons, adult riding club, and pony club to juggle. And that's on top of the usual family commitments - lunch at grandma's, ballet practice, parties, etc.

Ah, I forgot to mention that I prefer events within a 2 hour drive.

All in all, trying to create a manageable calendar of events for you and your horse, where you get a good mixture of training and competing, is quite a challenge!

So, what I do, is I sit down with my diary every few months, and write down every single event within a respectable distance that I can find. I ensure that I include Pony Club, and any other events my daughter may wish to go to. Then I go through the diary and put a red box around the "must do" events. That is: Pony Club and Horse Trials at my level. And, of course, those pesky family thingies.

Once I have a Horse Trials event in sight, I work backwards and try to find a cross country clinic. I try to squeeze in a dressage lesson or two or three, and one other outing. The aim of the outing is to give your horse a taste of being away from home at an event, but without much pressure, or nerves, or stress from me.

For this purpose, shows are my favourite. Because I just don't care! Of course I still wash my horse, plait them, put white stuff on my horse's socks, and black stuff on my horse's hooves. I still try and ride them to perfection. But, I don't care about the result. What I care about most is that my horse behaves well, and that they have the opportunity to relax.

Another very useful option though, is to take your horse to an event that you're not actually competing at. That way you get the whole feel of the commotion, but you just do your normal home workout. Your horse has to stand at the float and take in the atmosphere.

Achieving the perfect preparation is always difficult. But being able to see all the events in my calendar gives me a really good view what my options are. That way I can adjust my plans, depending on how my horse is travelling. I can also see why I am not attending certain events - especially when I hear friends are.

The News

I'm not going to beat around the bush. The long and short of it is, the news is bad. I've got cancer. Breast cancer. The diagnosis was confirmed yesterday. But to be honest, I already knew during the mammogram last Thursday, when they were taking photo after photo after photo, and wanted second and third opinions during the ultrasound. Then the doctor rang me on Friday afternoon - could I come in for an appointment immediately. Doctors don't ring you like that to tell you good news. So I went off to the TTT Horse Trials on the weekend feeling very flat. But I went! And I had a ball!

If you want to see how I am progressing with the breast cancer, then read my other blog (http://www.prideranch.blogspot.com/). In the meantime, the horse riding and horse training goes on. Sure, there might be breaks, but I'll be back in the saddle as soon as I can physically lift the saddle onto my horse. And I might even have the opportunity to do the most riding I have ever done!

Sick day

I already had a sore throat last night. I got to bed early, but even so I wake up feeling really sick this morning. It's not often that I take a sick day from riding, but today is going to be one. It's a windy, miserable day, and I can barely breathe and swallow. Forget it.

I don't even venture outside.

My husband puts out the hay for the horses, and checks on that horse with a new white rug. He returns saying that they are all waiting for a feed. Apart from that they all look happy.

Crownie's August Training Schedule

This is Crownie's proposed schedule for August.

This is Crownie's actual training schedule. Looks like a month of disasters.

Crownie's July Training Schedule

This is Crownie's proposed training schedule for July.
This is Crownie's actual training schedule. The dressage and jumping sessions didn't eventuate due to the paddock being too wet.

Crownie's June Training Schedule

This is Crownie's actual training schedule for June.


In future months, I will post the proposed training schedule at the start of each month. At the end of the month, I will update the original (start of the month) entry, with the actual training that we did. So you will be able to see both the proposed and actual training.

Keep in mind that this training schedule is tailored to the horse. It takes into account her prior experience, her natural fitness, ability, trainability and problems. So for a different horse, the schedule may look totally different.