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| Slingshot at the Big Fall Show |
Last Sunday marked the official end to SFD’s show season
with OVCTA’s Big Fall Show. As I took my whites and show coats out of the
trailer, I was thinking about the year. This
year I have had several horses accomplish some wonderful things in the show
ring, and all of my mounts seem to be making steady, consistent progress, even
the ones that haven’t headed down the centerline. Which got me to thinking
about trickle-down theory. But because I am
a horse trainer and not an economist, my thoughts centered around centerlines,
not dollars and cents.
Secret and my road to Sport Horse Nationals began last
January, when I started focusing on every detail. I was fresh back from auditing the FEI
Symposium in Florida, with Steffen Peter’s admonition to “ride every movement for a
9, every day,” fresh in my mind. If I asked for a canter from the walk, and she
tightened her neck even a bit, we’d do it again. Every halt needed to be square. I kept telling Linda, “it’s a competition year,
not a training year.”
But in retrospect, I think I was a bit incorrect.
So I spent the spring and summer perfecting Secret’s
reactions, and, as is her nature, she became a more and more obedient girl. We
clearly defined the beginning and end of each movement, every time, until it
became habit. If she did something less
than a 9, the thought in my head was “Secret, we can do better.” Before long, I knew I could count on the
canter-walk-canters, the straightness of the centerlines, and the steadiness of
the left shoulder in.
Since habits are habitual, I found that mindset trickling
over to the other horses. I insisted that my all of mounts be calmly obedient, even
the ones who were not heavily campaigning. Venus became more obedient in her canter-walk
transitions. Flash started to wait for my seat, which made the little pinto-power
bounce even more. Sling became steadier in the connection. Ember and ET, the 4-year-olds, became more consistent
in their reactions to the leg aid. Star, the fun little sales horse who moved
on to her new home in August, became more focused on me and less on her
environment.
So the summer training continued, and my habits evolved. If I wanted to ride every movement for a 9, I
needed to make sure my mounts were right with my aids, every moment, not just
when I needed to ask for the 9. I
started to utilize more range in my half-halts–in addition to a preparation
half-halt and a re-balancing half-halt, I began to use a smaller, more subtle “are
you with me?” half-halt when I was focusing on the
quality of the gaits and the harmony. Not
surprisingly, my mounts improved not only in more prompt responses when I used a stronger, preparatory half-halt, they began to show better quality of gaits and harmony. My increased focus on my
half-halts was trickling down to increased focus from my horses.
Focus, like habits, develop over time. One horse, in particular, showed amazing
growth in his ability to focus. Sling,
who we refer to as “ADD boy,” started his season doing well in the numbers, but
I wasn’t completely happy with his rideablilty in the show ring. So once he earned
his regional qualifying scores, I decided to keep him home.
The only catch with staying home is at home it is easy to
miss how much things are improving, especially things that develop slowly. So totally
I missed just how well he was beginning to lock into my seat.
Then I took “ADD Boy” to the Big Fall Show, in the gusting,
cold wind, and rode First 2. He was with
me every step of the way. His back was so connected to the movements of my hips
that it felt like he was following my thoughts.
Lisa Schmidt, the judge, noticed, and rewarded the ride with a 71.89%, a
7 on submission, and an 8 on harmony. And it wasn’t a fluke—he was super in both
clinics he attended this fall. Both
Catherine Haddad and Lendon Grey both commented on his obedience and work
ethic. He needs a new nick name, “ADD
Boy” no longer fits.
My springtime comment to Linda proved to be inaccurate. The increased focus on the details required to excel in the competitive arena had directly improved the training overall. Secret’s big year had trickled down to create a flood of improvement in all of my horses.
