On arrival at Moulton College, Alison was there to great us with a goody bag full of items from Equissimo, Equilibrium, Laura Mary Art, Dressage Perspectives and Alison herself. A really nice touch that put a smile on my face before we even started. Thank you all! Needless to say I was first on, so while my camp buddies Karen and Kaz put their horses in their stables (thank you both for getting Sardra’s water ready) I tacked up and hopped on. Now the real work started.
Sardra hadn’t been in full work for a couple of weeks, just lightly worked, and Alison was mindful of this and took it easy - yet pushed us. A really great balance. I find that when I’m on my horse I’m in my happy place and I do tend to revert to nursery behaviour and become a little inattentive. Alison recognised this and really helped me focus our training session, so we had some of the best canter work we’ve had in a long time. We focussed on quality of turns and flow in all paces, and I think I’m actually starting to get it. Alison broke things down into small chunks and as I understood each part, she pushed me to the next. At all points in the lesson I felt included in what was needed in the training, how I wanted my horse to go and what the end result should be. I think Sardra was impressed too as after 30 minutes, we walked her off as it was a really positive place to stop.
Next up was Kaz and Harvey, I’ve known Kaz and Harvey a few years and they are always extremely consistent in their dressage scores and have success at unaffiliated. What I didn’t know was that Kaz was nervous and found Harvey’s canter a bit excitable. Well, she cantered brilliantly and had the biggest smile on her face. It was fantastic to see. Well done Kaz!
Karen next entered the arena with Seamus. Now, I’ve ridden Seamus and he is a character and can be either a little behind the leg or excitable! Karen has also lost a bit of confidence in the last couple of years and is starting to rebuild the ridden relationship she has with Seamus. Alison absolutely helped Karen nail the empathy needed for Seamus and the trot work was fantastic, they almost accidentally cantered too. Karen was beaming from ear to ear!
Next up was our first unmounted mind-set session, where we were joined by Tam and Christine. In this we were given a test to read through and visualise how we would ride it. I find myself looking through the horses ears and riding in real time (perhaps a little faster, like fast forward). At various discussions between us, we all identified a section that we could visualise and count in real time and then feedback our thoughts. Alison then coached us as if we were riding and helped us visualise again. I found this really helpful, and the sharing our thoughts and ‘visions’ with other riders was quite refreshing. It made me feel included and part of a team. I loved it.
Before lunch, we had a group ridden session where we were to put into practice the mindset session and the first ridden session learnings. This didn’t really happen as it was about 30 degrees and none of us wanted to push the horses too much. So brain of Britain here decided that it would be great to do 1/4 pirouettes in walk to start to put into practice the shoulder control I was starting to get more. So well had to do shoulder fore, shoulder in and then our pirouettes. Well I felt a bit like a spider on an ice rink wearing hob nailed boots at first and Sardra objected to the confusing messages I was giving her. Alison once again helped break it down and I think we did ok, we certainly turned with the haunches.
During lunch, we found a place that was cool and all reflected on what we had learned in the first three sessions and got our minds ready for the next mindset session. I think it’s fair to see, our lunch was accompanied by gallons of water. The horses were all snoozing in their cool day stables and really quite happy.
The afternoon session was all about applying our pre-lunch learnings to our next competition and what tools we needed to use that we had learned. Again it was visualisation and also writing down what could go wrong and how we can improve that. For me I realised that I can overthink it and that is where I lose ‘flow’. So quite simply I had three things to do for the Prelim music competition the next day. Know my music, counter flexion before turns and shorten my reins! There were some really good discussions had about how we all feel and what our focus should be. I think that we all finished the day feeling really positive and knowing that we could achieve at least one thing well and the rest would follow. A really positive and inclusive experience.
The next day was competition day and Tam was able to join us with Beau. We’d already agreed with Alison that we would only need 15 min warm up in the mid day heat at Moulton College before our test. Upon arrival we handed our music in and went to find Alison to discuss our warm up action plan. I can honestly say, I was not nervous for the first time I can remember. I was excited, and really looking forward to us having our dancing shoes on. I kept thinking about all the things we had done on the Saturday and how I was going to apply this in our freestyle. Sardra seemed to have a bit of energy too, so we were ready to dance.
The warm up was so simple for us as I didn’t want to push her in the heat. We mainly walked on a long rein to loosen up. Then established a contact (shorten reins), asked for some bend and flexion in walk and the. Trotted a couple of circuits and asked for canter. I asked for a forwards canter in a light seat and Sardra was a little behind in the transition, so I gave her a tap with the stick to sharpen her up. Well, cheeky mare did a handstand! I found my bottom made contact with the saddle faster than I had intended. That told me. :) needless to say, I left her alone with the whip and just made sure we had gear changes in the right order and walked while Tam went to do her test. Alison gave me instructions of just walk and then ‘make some shapes’ just before coming in. Fortunately I knew that meant get her listening and bending round your inside leg.
Then came my turn. I made my usual entrance at walk. If I was on a different horse I would probably trot, but Sardra is so nosey, it’s good to let her get her noseyness out of the way and have a good look around. I did have a little wobble with the thoughts ‘oh **** what if I can’t remember my floor plan or music’. So I put my kind back to the day before and thought, counterflexion, shorten your reins and enjoy the music. Not quite what I formulated, but fun and enjoying the whole experience is so important to me. As someone I know always says ‘imagine something good is going to happen. Everyday can be like Christmas day’.
Ting! And we are off. I think the girl starting the music was more nervous than me as I had to give her clear verbal instructions on where and when I would start. Turns out the PA had screeched when Tam went in and Beau objected. Up goes my hand and the music starts... the next 5 minutes were a joy to ride. I had the biggest smile on my face and I loved every moment of it. I remembered to shorten my reins, I counterflexed the tighter turns, I imagined the next bars of the music. It was great!
I would like to share a bit about my thought patterns during the test. To summarise, it was a flow of instructions from my thoughts translated into requests to Sardra and feedback again. Now this may seem normal to some people, but I normally think about what’s for dinner, did I put Versailles on to record...so a huge step forward to being in the moment in my dressage tests. So the mindset training really worked.
It worked so well, we achieved our highest score to date 72.5% and a red rosette at affiliated nonetheless! In fact I was so happy, with my reflection session with Alison after the test, I forgot which parts I needed to work on for next time. Some habits die hard!
To summarise, I found the whole weekend enlightening, inclusive and a positive experience. I started the competition day with the right mindset and the objective of just focusing on a few things. It made the process more enjoyable and I was able to lose some of the pressure I put on myself. I think this showed in the way my horse went. She appreciated the support and gave me what I asked for. Would I recommend a camp like this to others. Absolutely, go in with an open mind and absorb the learnings like a sponge. You will love it.
Tory and Sardra
(photo credit www.VanityPix.co.uk)
Your article is very helpful for me.
ReplyDeleteGood to know - thank you :)
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