Team Sprieser went to its first show of the 2011 season this weekend, a little recognized show at Morven Park run by CDCTA, the Commonwealth Dressage & Combined Training Association. I love the CDCTA shows; something about their management versus the dressage-only GMOs keeps things much more low-key and real.
I took Tres to show myself, as well as one of my dearest clients on her hot little Thoroughbred-cross. The fates must not have known I was showing because it didn’t rain—a true miracle.
Tres was a superstar, a totally different ride from a year ago. Of course, Tres is always safe and sensible, but in schooling on Friday he had all this GO. It was amazing—power, expression, hot to the touch. I didn’t work him much, worried that if I used it up it would be gone for the weekend, but all the work we’ve been doing on his fitness has really paid off. When I turned down centerline for his first I1 on Saturday, he took the bit, pricked his ears, and GALLOPED down that centerline! Of course, when it came time for the halt, the 37 half-halts I applied proved ineffective, and half-halt 38 made him trot. Whoops.
The rest of the test was equally spirited, and also equally go-ey, and so in all the ratio of giddy-up to whoa-dammit wasn’t quite right. (I blame all our talk about That Horserace In Kentucky.) But it was certainly high energy, and with no mistakes it got a 63.6 percent for second place. Good boy!
Sunday he was the BEST he’s ever been in the ring, though I could feel fatigue sneaking up on us, so I was perhaps more conservative in the first half of the test than I would have been ordinarily. I have to be careful with Tres more than the others not to overdo GO GO GO, because he can look choppy. But other than a sticky walk pirouette (my fault) and a sticky canter pirouette (only about 3/4 my fault), it was a smooth, balanced test. And he was SO rideable—I could make him bigger or smaller, higher or lower, lefter or righter. It felt great. It only scored a 62.9 percent, but it was really a lovely performance. I’m very proud of my little guy!
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My student had an educational weekend with some tough lessons learned, but her attitude about it all was amazing. She was long-listed for the Olympic kayak team a few Olympics ago, and she’s an unbelievable competitor. So yay for learning, and I know this weekend will really inspire her training to kick some butt at the next show.
I was all keyed up for this weekend not for the dressage, but for the racing. Every year at this show someone brings a television to the barns, and we all bring food and drinks and watch the Derby from the barns. Fun! But this year it was not to be—the transition to digital cable left us unable to find NBC, so we tuned in via text message from friends who were watching at home, and—never being a group of people to let food and drink go to waste—ate and drank our way through enough to feed and inebriate a small musk ox, so we really didn’t care who won at the end. Whee!
Our next show isn’t until the end of June, the PVDA Ride for Life. So this show’s fun will have to carry me over for a while!
