Monday 18 May 2015

Riding for the Disabled Association - East Region Dressage Qualifier

The day after the Eastern Region Disability Athletics Championships I travelled to St Albans with my mum to take part in the regional round of the RDA dressage championships. I was to do two tests - the Grades I-V Walk, Trot and Canter Championship Test and the Grades I-V Walk, Trot and Canter Freestyle Test. When I first entered we thought that it would be possible to qualify for the National Championships in both tests, but then it became clear that although there are Freestyle tests at nationals, only the Championship Test at regionals would be a qualifying one - the freestyle at regionals was ‘just for fun’. This meant that there was a lot more pressure on me to do well in the first test. In order to qualify for nationals, riders have to come first or second in their class AND they have to score at least 60%. It was by no means a given that I would come in the top two or that I would get over 60 so I was quite nervous!

Preparation for the day had been going OK, but not great. I knew the Championship test (which is a set programme) from memory but was having a caller just in case nerves got the better of me. I had practised the freestyle test with the music and was confident that it would fit OK. However, I did have a few reservations - I was to be the first rider of the entire day (which did at least mean that the number on my back for the day was ‘1’, which felt quite special!). This meant that I had to get there quite early and as early mornings are not my strong point I was worried about being tired after the drive (>1 hour) even though all I had to do in the car was sit and rest. I was also worried that Rolo might misbehave - he’s quite sparky and first thing in the morning I knew he’d be full of beans. He can be very strong and I sometimes have trouble holding him back. In our sessions before the regionals, he had generally been quite well-behaved but the last session we had together he’d been very spooky, had run away from several ‘scary’ things in the arena, and had generally been quite difficult to handle. I was worried about how energetic he might be and how any chances I might have of going to nationals would just trickle away.
We arrived at Oaklands College, where the competition was to be held, in good time. I got myself sorted out and was ready to ride well before most of the rest of the event had been set up! At that stage I really just wanted to get mounted and see how Rolo was feeling - and to see if I could calm him down a bit before the test. As soon as I saw him, I knew that he was in his version of competition mode - he was aware of how beautifully he had been groomed and how sparkly clean his tack was, but mostly he was aware of how exciting it was to be in a new place surrounded by lots of unfamiliar horses. His walk was so active that he was almost jogging (NOT good in dressage!) and as we made our way round to the warm-up area he was looking all around him and getting very excited: whinnying to horses in fields; batting people around the head as he looked from side to side; side-stepping away from invisible scary objects; all those fun little excited horse things.
So excited!
I have to admit I didn’t feel happy at all, which proved to be how I felt throughout my test. I didn’t feel safe and I didn’t feel that I could ride well. I was trying to keep myself calm so as to keep him calm, but I was failing completely in that. Warming up in the outdoor school, I tried to keep him focussed on me and not EVERYTHING else, but he was so strong and skittish that I didn’t feel any better. The judge was a bit late so we had more time to warm up, but I didn’t use this time to get more settled (even though I tried) and instead just worked myself into a worry looking at the other people in my class. Although there were only two, they both looked so much better than me and so much more in control of their beautiful horses that part of me felt like giving up there and then.
Quick pep talk before going in - me attempting to smile through the nerves!
Anyway, eventually the judge and scribe were in place and I was allowed to go into the indoor arena where the test would take place. I walked Rolo calmly around the arena and got him accustomed to the presence of a small audience (including my mum and a few from my RDA group) as well as the judges. He was still walking quickly but coming in from outside definitely helped him to concentrate a little bit better. However, I was still feeling a bit uneasy. I wished that I had much more time to calm him down (and to calm myself down!) but all too soon they had rung the bell and I had to start my test.
The test begins with trotting down the centre line, without stopping, before turning left at C. I was glad we didn’t have to stop and salute because I don’t think I could have stopped Rolo for the life of me. I was trying to get his head up and to get him listening to me better but I just couldn’t stop him from tanking off. We stormed around the arena and I somehow managed to get him to cut across from F to H. We then trotted up the long side M-F and at this point I managed to get my left arm into the bar rein and give it a bit of a yank (not good technique AT ALL!) to bring his head up and hold him back a bit - I just couldn’t cope with the poor strength in my ‘good’ arm and needed a little bit of extra support. This, added to a couple of mini spooks around the arena, had me feeling quite anxious. Using my left arm a bit helped to get him nicely on a 20m circle at the A end. Halfway round the circle we went into canter and part of me just thought ‘oh thank God I can try and wear him out a bit now’. In our practice sessions, the canter had been difficult to sustain (it went halfway round the circle then almost all the way round the school) but even with only a moderate bit of leg in the corners he managed to keep it going nicely - unsurprisingly! We just about managed to return to trot at the right time, but going to walk was a lot harder. There was then a turn across the school to change the rein and then we started a 20m circle at the C end, again picking up canter halfway round. This time the canter took us around the edge of the arena to B, at which point he objected violently to something in the side of the arena and spooked out into the middle of the school. I wasn't expecting this but managed to stay on (even had a moment to feel slightly amused at the collective ‘ooohhh!’ of everyone watching) and even managed to return to trot and then to walk at the right point. After that it was a long rein walk across the short diagonal H-B, then medium walk, trot, and finally a turn down the centre line to halt and salute at G. I was terrified that he wouldn’t stop properly so I brought him down to walk very early - at about X - rather than just going for a smooth transition from trot-halt. He stood still nicely at G though and waited for me to salute. I nudged him forwards and we left the arena on a nice long rein.
The spook was like this, except I wasn't on the ground...

This was without doubt the worst dressage test I have ever done (in my own subjective opinion). I felt out of control almost the entire time, and I was so busy worrying about being in the right pace that I didn’t have time to think about making circles a nice shape, or keeping him moving straight, or making sure I was sitting nicely. I was just desperately hanging on the whole way round, and didn’t feel at all comfortable at any point. I even considered retiring after the first few moves, because I knew how badly it was going and I knew it wouldn’t improve. As soon as I’d finished the test, therefore, I just wanted somebody to take hold of Rolo, then let me get off and go and sit in a hole somewhere and cry. I still didn’t feel safe even when someone was holding his head and leading me. I remember being given a rosette as I left the arena, and although I managed to mutter a ‘thank you’ I was just trying not to cry - partly because I felt I’d ridden badly, partly because I was still scared after the test as a whole and Rolo’s big spook in particular, partly because I had seen the next girl go in looking really good and confident, and partly because I was certain that I had blown any chances of going to nationals, which had been my main aim of the day. I felt frightened, disappointed, angry and frustrated. I wasn’t looking forward to my freestyle test at the end of the day because even though I knew it would be a much better ride (Rolo would have had time to calm down) I also knew it wouldn’t qualify me for anything. I felt that I had blown it.
Disappointed bunny.

As soon as I had dismounted and made my way back to the riders’ area my mum and others from my group found me and told me I’d done really well - which of course I ignored because I felt I’d been so useless. I wheeled off by myself for a bit until I felt more like being sociable and less like crying (/until I’d had a brief cry, texted John and then told myself that I had to pull myself together). Then I went back and found the others, and settled down to watch others compete while I waited for several hours to pass before doing my freestyle test. I watched Olivia ride her Grade III test on Jacko. She’d had a seizure that morning but rode fantastically, and it was really good to see how well Jacko was listening to her and working from her - textbook really! I also watched Anne in the ID test with Jola, which was similarly splendid, with Jola really working hard and moving beautifully. After that I watched Rebecca ride in the Countryside Challenge with Jacko. After arriving a tiny bit late, she’d been quite upset and worried, but she overcame that very quickly and rode a stonking round on Jacko - she concentrated really hard throughout, and under her guidance Jacko didn’t put a foot wrong.
Anne's salute to the judges at the end of a beautiful test on Jola.
Around this time I also found out that results were out from the first few classes. This gave me the same sick feeling that I had when I learned that my Finals results had been posted outside Senate House - you desperately want to know how you did, but at the same time your certainty that you did terribly makes you want to run in the opposite direction. Feeling very sick, I went to check the results and found that, SOMEHOW, I had qualified for nationals, and with a pretty good mark! I was in second place with a mark of 67.6 - which was actually the same mark as the girl who won, but she had higher collectives. The next girl (who went immediately after me, and had looked so confident) had been awarded 60. I couldn’t think what it was that had made the judges give me such a good mark, but after gaping in disbelief I finally felt a huge sense of relief and instantly felt so much lighter and so much better - as if I could really enjoy the day now. I was pleased but not surprised to see that Olivia had also qualified, and although her mark was lower than what I had given her it was still enough for a shiny first place rosette and an equally shiny ‘Dressage Qualifier’ rosette. We were going to nationals!
Mine and Olivia's scores
Feeling MUCH lighter, I went into the dressage arena again to watch Eleanor. She was also riding Rolo, and after a couple of Countryside Challenge runs for him I was interested to see if he had calmed down at all. To my eye, Eleanor looked as if she were in perfect control the whole way round, although she also said afterwards that he felt very strong. Rolo looked a bit calmer and was listening closely. He didn’t spook at B either, which was a relief! At the end of the test, Eleanor looked a bit disappointed with her performance, but I knew she’d done amazingly well. As it turned out, she won with a score of 71 (VERY high) so that was three dressage riders going through to nationals :)
Eleanor in her Grade II test with Rolo.
I spent a bit more time after that watching some more Countryside Challenge people and watching the Eastern Region Dressage Championships, which are run separately from those classes which are qualifying rounds for the nationals. Cambs College RDA group was very successful in both of these events, with Craig winning his dressage and CC, Rebecca winning her dressage and coming second in CC, Anne coming second in CC, and a number of other high places for Claire, Lucy, Jodie and Emma in both events. Because of their wins/second places in CC, Craig, Rebecca and Anne will all also be joining me, Olivia and Eleanor at nationals! I should also add that Olivia also scored an enormous 71.5% in the Grades I-V Walk and Trot test (despite having a seizure at the same time…) and came second, meaning that she actually qualified for nationals twice. Eleanor also took part in that test and came a highly respectable third.
Rebecca on her way to first place in the Regional Dressage Competition, riding Dan.
Around lunchtime, Jodie and I went to take part in the horse care quiz. This was quite tricky, but we came in the top ten and were both given a prizewinners rosette at the end of the day. This competition was free to enter and was open to all, as were some arts and crafts competitions. I didn’t take part in those (felt a bit old…) but it was really nice to see prizes going to the siblings of riders. It’s just one of the ways that the RDA makes everyone feel involved and provides many opportunities for people to take part.
The horse care quiz prizewinners' rosette!
My final challenge of the day was my freestyle dressage test. Having had Eleanor and the CC riders wear out Rolo for me a bit, he felt SO much better when I got back on board. He was much more responsive and had clearly got over the excitement of the morning. We had a more fruitful warm-up together and I felt that he was listening to me much better. I think that, going into the test, my mum was more nervous than me - she was in charge of getting the music playing and was scared of making a mistake! I felt glad that I already had my qualification ‘in the bag’ and that I could now just enjoy the test. It was a big class, with lots of riders doing a variety of different approaches to freestyle, but I would just show what we could do and enjoy it.
This is Rolo looking eager and me looking serious first thing in the morning - it was the only time I got him to stand still!
I walked Rolo into the arena and took him past all the points that had scared him in the morning (the mirrors, where he suddenly caught sight of himself, the mysterious scary bit at B, the judges, the audience, the speakers, and so on). I felt SO much more confident running into this test than I had for the previous one, and I was actually quite looking forward to it. Evidently I looked a lot more relaxed too, because someone asked my mum if Rolo was my own horse - we looked as if we got on well. Clearly they didn’t see us at 9am!
Rolo and I are like THIS - sometimes...
When the bell rang I walked Rolo round to K, halted, then signalled to my mum to start the music (having checked with her that it wasn’t going to be scarily loud!). It started perfectly and at a perfect volume. This was our cue to enter at A and then halt and salute when the music stopped. I had fiddled around with the music endlessly (using all my Serious Musician skills) so that the dynamic levels were more even, the beats matched seamlessly through bits that I had added or removed, and that as far as possible the changes in the music were matched by changes in our dressage. After the halt, the first thing was a leg yield in trot to the left hand side of the arena. This worked OK, and then we trotted around to M to begin a three-loop serpentine. Coming out of the serpentine, we rode some shallow loops, still in trot, which were the closest thing I had to going around the edge of the arena. Rolo did get his head down a bit in these, and I don’t think they were particularly interesting, so I might try and change them to something more exciting in future (perhaps some more lateral work). After that, we trotted down the centre line to X to perform a mini figure-of-eight with 10m circles in the middle of the school (width ways). Coming out of that, we trotted to M (which I wanted to do as a leg yield, but didn’t have anywhere near enough strength in my left leg) before squeezing into canter. The canter took us on a half 20m circle with a change of leg at X then another half 20m circle in canter to A. We trotted at A and walked between K and E, before turning across the school on a short diagonal E-M to show a nice long rein walk. I didn’t steer him very well in that because I was feeling quite shaky (not nerves now, just body fail) but he still stretched down nicely. We picked up at M and went forward to trot. I moved to trot a little bit late which meant that our extended strides (H-F) didn’t really fit the music as well as I would have liked, but never mind. After that, we had a 10m circle at F in trot to calm Rolo back down from the extended strides, then went into walk, going round to D, then another 10m circle (this time left and in walk) at D, before heading down the centre line in a nice controlled walk, waiting for the music to stop and for our halt and salute. Although the extension strides didn’t match very well, Rolo did halt beautifully with the music at the very end, and I felt really proud of what we’d achieved and how much better I felt after that test than the first. I know, of course, that had I come third and not qualified in the earlier test then I would still have felt rubbish after a good freestyle test. It was nice, therefore, to have what I saw as a misplaced vote of confidence which enabled me to enjoy the rest of the day. We came second again in the freestyle against a much larger and tougher field, and with a score of 71.5. I was happy!
BIG grin of relief afterwards!
I now have to sort out everything for going to the National Championships in Hartpury, Gloucestershire, in July. I’m very excited about it and am mainly looking to learn a lot, have a great experience, and just enjoy myself. I know that some of the horses and riders that go to this event take it VERY seriously - the horses are worth thousands and thousands of pounds, and the riders train to the exclusion of all else. World and Paralympic Champions go to this event. I’m not going there to win - I’m going there to see what I can do with Rolo, who is ‘just a cob’. I’d like to prove that Rolo can take on the finer horses and still move nicely and stylishly. Mostly, though, I just want to go and experience the biggest para-equestrian event anywhere in the world. It should be fantastic and I can’t wait!
The day's winnings - and even though some were just for taking part, after the experience of my first test I definitely feel that there is value in something congratulating you for finishing what you started!
I'm sure the Nationals will be fun and inspirational. The regionals certainly were. I saw a blind ten-year-old ride a perfect dressage test (then had a lovely chat with her and her family afterwards), and people with intellectual and physical disabilities negotiate the complex Countryside Challenge course. I overcame my own inhibitions to compete in the first place and to get that all important second-place, >60 result! I also saw a huge number of volunteers helping the riders to take part. There are too many to name and I'm sure I'll miss some, but certainly from the Cambs College group I should mention Gay, Gillian (who gave me LOADS of help with my dressage tests), Katherine, Mavis, Kirsty, Anoushka, Lynne and Heather (Olivia's mum). Also thanks to my mum, Elizabeth, Wendy, Olivia's dad and in fact all parents and family for support and photography. Although John wasn't able to come along on the day he is endlessly supportive and gets me to and from the training sessions, without which I could never be competitive. There are so many more who came on the day and who help out during the week and all of us riders are so grateful to them for their unwavering support - there are people who've been involved with the RDA for donkey's years (pun only slightly intended), helpers from CURC and teenagers working towards D of E awards. They all contribute so much. Finally, of course, I should thank four special quadrupeds - they may not be able to read this, but it'd be very hard to do any of this without Rolo, Jola, Dan and Jacko.
This is what it was all for - the chance to go to nationals!

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