Show goals

I've been reading some riding-related sports psychology books in hopes of upping my game. One thing I took away is to focus on one or two things in your ride - really focus on those, and make those happen.

For this show, I want to focus on keeping a steady rhythm (i.e. not rushing, especially in the trot),  REALLY prepping for and riding the transitions, and not getting grabby with my left hand. The first one is easy - if I feel like Taran is trotting too slow, we're perfect (apparently I'm used to a quick Haffie trot, who knew?). The third one is easy too - I just need to remember to push my left hand forward every so often and give, because if Taran is hollow, it's because I'm holding to much with that rein. The second one, though, is much more of a challenge.

In the downward transitions, Taran sometimes does a sliding reining stop thing. It would be awesome if we were doing reining, but we're not, so I need to keep my leg ON (especially the inside leg, hello!) and look UP. It's OK if our downward transitions take a few steps, as long as it doesn't look like I'm about to catapult off over his ears because his shoulders just dropped two feet. For the upward transitions, well, we know the trot-canter transitions aren't going to be brilliant. They're a work in progress, but I need to ride them FORWARD and then recover as quickly as possible.

This would be nice.

But by far our hardest movement is in 1-1. We start with a free walk across the diagonal, then have to pick up the reins to a medium walk. Medium walk for 8 meters, then trot for about 12 meters, then canter. Did I mention this all happens right in front of the judge, AND that the free walk and trot/canter transitions both have a coefficient of 2? So I can really blow it here if I'm not careful. See, I have a tendency to pick up the reins and THEN put my leg on, which results in an inverted mess that I cannot fix in the short time I have before the canter. Instead, I need to shove him forward with my leg and seat the moment before picking up the reins from free walk to medium walk, and just keep asking for the forward through all three transitions. I had a really good set of transitions when I did the run-through in my Wednesday lesson, and if I put together a ride like that one, I'll be super happy.

Like this, please.

Really, I just want to put in a set of good, steady tests that are reflective of where we are right now in our partnership. Ribbons and scores are not so important as long as I feel like I've done a good job. BUT, in the event that we DO score well, here's what I'm hoping for:

• 2 scores on our T-3 tests that qualify us for the regional championships (or heck GAIC championships too, why not)
• 60%+ on 1-1 for the first score toward a bronze medal

Any satin will just be the icing on the cake... although, I've checked the number of entries in each class, and as long as we don't come in last place (or spook at a random flower pot and leap out of the arena - which, with Taran, is entirely possible), I should have some satin for the weekend.

I'm so excited to get out and show again! 

Paddy is even more excited that he gets to stay home and eat while I show.