Three Is My Lucky Number

That means that Third Level Test 3 should be right up my alley. It might not be our strongest test yet, but it will be. I can feel it. 

Our first test of the show went really well. We had a bunch of 7.0s and only one small blooper, a late change behind in the flying lead change. I was feeling pretty good about test 3.

He just tries so hard to do that extended trot!

Unfortunately, the show manger had scheduled a pretty long break between our two tests, just over an hour and a half. On a normal summer day, that probably wouldn't have affected us, but on that particular day, California's Central Valley experienced its hottest day of the summer. It was officially 110* in Bakersfield and in the low 90s in the Tehachapi Mountains (which feels hotter than it is). Our first test was at 12:16 and the second one was at 1:51.

Being small makes 10-meter half circles a little easier.

I kept Speedy tacked up, but pulled his bridle and covered him with a fly sheet to shade him from the worst of the sun. For this show, I tie to the side of the trailer where there is usually a little shade. Speedy was cool to the touch and not sweating at all. in fact, he stood there dozing with his lip hanging, certain that we'd be going home at any moment.

Not too bad considering he was half asleep.

I kept my second warm up super short, focusing on just perking him up. When we entered at A, I felt like things were going to be okay. In fact the first half of the test rode pretty decently. We earned a long list of 6.0s and 6.5s. Our trouble started with the first trot half pass (5.0). From that point on, the test gets a lot harder, and it showed in our scores.

The start of a medium canter?

At home, we can do a very balanced walk to canter transition. This season though, that movement is completely broken when we show. I know it's me because we have trouble with both the right and left lead. For test 3, we blew the left lead walk to canter at K needing several tries to get the correct lead - 4.0. This really stinks because it leads directly into the canter half pass left - 4.0. 

First flying lead change - 7.0!

While our canter half passes definitely need a ton of work, the flying changes are getting better. We earned a 7.0 for the first one but a 5.0 for the second one when it was very late. So late, in fact, that it took me until the rail to get Speedy to change behind. Booger. From there, we pulled in a couple of 6.0s for our medium and collected canter and a solid 6.5 for our collected trot at H.

Final halt at G (no hiding when you're that close to the judge) - 7.0

Our final score for this Third Level Test 3 was a frustrating 59.250%, just 3 points shy of a 60%. With so many of this test's scores counting as double coefficients, it's easy to both lower or raise your score. If we can just get a slightly better canter half pass and ride both flying changes cleanly, we'll "easily" earn a 60+% for this test.

I can't swear being hot and tired was the cause, but I think it was. Even my husband thought the test looked labored. Speedy just wasn't really feeling it, and for us to earn a score in the 60s, he has to really want to. He didn't really want to. I can't blame him too much. This horse does an awful lot for me.

Here's the video.

Much to my complete surprise, our show season is not over! We have one more chance this weekend to earn those Bronze Medal scores. I'll share that story on Friday.