Taking the bad with the good.

By Terri Rocovich

Taking the Bad with the Good

As many of you know, competing with my horse Uiver has taken center stage in my life since I purchased him in June of 2011. Like any horse and rider partnership we have had our ups and downs. At some competitions everything seems to work like clockwork, our timing is on, we are in tune with each other and our dressage tests flow in perfect, or almost perfect, harmony. Other competitions seem to be doomed at every level, bad stalls, things running late, undesirable weather conditions, and Uiver and I clearly not on the same page.

Since the beginning of our competition season last November, Uiver and I have experienced both extremes. As many of you might remember, we culminated our 2012 competition season with a respectable fourth place finish in Prix St. George Open at the USDF Region 7 Dressage Championships which was very sweet icing on the cake of a very fun 2012.

With this success, the trainer I work with, David Blake, decided that Uiver and I should move up a level from Prix St. George to Intermediare 1 (Int.1). So we had our first show at Int.1 in November with only the goal of accomplishing mistake free tests; which is not always easy at this level especially considering tempi changes every 2nd stride, a medium trot to walk transition and full canter pirouettes followed by a flying change. There is a lot to accomplish with movements coming up very fast. Uiver was fabulous at the show and we did better than I could have even dream with scores in the mid to high 60s and winning our classes all three days of the show.

Our next show was in January at the same show facility, a place that Uiver clearly likes, and inspite of cold and windy weather, he was an absolute trooper. The classes were bigger with tougher competition but we still earned a 4th , a 2nd and a 1st in our classes over the 3 day show. David had decided that we needed to start preparations to compete at the CDI level which means you do the first day at Prix St. George (PSG), the second at Intermediare 1 and the third (at the championships) an Intermediare freestyle. This combination of 2 different tests can be tricky if you have a horse that likes to memorize tests, like Uiver does, because the horse can become confused if they anticipate a movement from one test and you are performing the other.

So at the January show, Uiver and I did PSG the first day with one mistake in the tempi changes, but with still a solid score of 66.9. The next day we did Int.1 and had a relatively mistake free test with another score of 66.9. Needless to say I was elated and so was David but the best was yet to come. The judge for my class on the last day was Axel Steiner, a well known and respected “O” judge who has judged at numerous international level competitions. The weather over that weekend had been freakishly cold, especially for southern California, with temps in the high 20s and low 30s. My class on the last day went fairly early with a 9:10 ride time and it was only 32 when we were warming up. Uiver took it all in stride, was as settled as I have ever seen him, and simply went through the practice of our movements like a true professional. The test itself could not have gone better and when we were through David looked at me and said “Wow that was a really nice ride; you better get your FEI Passport in order and time to file a Declaration of Intent.”

“Declaration of Intent?” I asked, not knowing what he was talking about. “Yea, he said, Intent to qualify for the National Championships.” I looked at him dumbfounded and this was all before we even saw what the score was which was even more astonishing! Uiver and I had scored a 71.8, winning the class. The next week in our lesson I asked David if he was serious about us doing a CDI and filing the Declaration of Intent; did he really think that was an even remotely attainable goal, did he think we were ready.

David looked at me and said “You scored a 71 from an Olympic judge at your second show ever at Int. 1.”, “What do you think?”

So I filed all the paperwork, got Uiver’s FEI passport recorded in preparation for entering our first CDI in February at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. A CDI is like PSG and Int.1 on steroids. Test levels of PSG up to Grand Prix fall under the umbrella of the FEI (Federation Equestrian International) but a CDI (Concours Dressage International) is a competition recognized and run under the FEI construct. CDI’s are rated from 1 to 5* and level 1 to 5, depending on the numbers of championships they are qualifiers for and the level of judges used. You have 5 judges of the “I’ or “O” caliber that evaluate your ride with the highest of scrutiny from every possible angle.

Uiver and I jumped into the deep end from the start with our first CDI being a 3*. Being in Southern California, land of the dressage Olympian, I did not have much choice. Most the CDIs in this area are at least 3* and level 5 qualifiers. So with all that comes the big guns of competition like Steffen Peters, Gunther Seidel, Jan Ebeling, Christine Traurig, Kathleen Raine, Sue Blinks and my personal favorite, David Blake – the trainer I work with. I could name many more intimidating names, most of which have competed for years at the national and international level. And then there is little old me, the new kid on the block just trying to not make a fool out of myself or my horse.



Uiver and I waiting for our first formal CDI jog/inspection.



Well I would like to say that our CDI debut was a spectacular, fairy tale showing but alas, it was not. Uiver was spooky and distracted in windy conditions and since he has gotten so fit and strong in the last year, he can be hard to control let alone engage for movements when he is in that frame of mind. To make matters worse, in the middle of our PSG test, a spectator walking with the aid of a walker, walked past the arena, moving slowly as would be expected, but it freaked Uiver out and our extended trot became more of an extended bolt across the diagonal to get as far away from the old man with the walker as he possibly could. And the rest of the test proceeded with Uiver being tense and looking for the killer walker. The poor result was a score of 60. Our Int. 1 test the next day was a little bit better, but with a score of 64, nothing of the caliber we had achieved the previous month.

So Uiver and I licked our wounds of defeat and regrouped for the next CDI in Del Mar this past weekend. A better result?? Not so much. The weather gods have not been with us and after a week of gorgeous weather, a storm moved in and stayed for nearly the entire duration of the show. As a result, all of the FEI classes plus the warm-up had to be crammed into the one indoor ring. Uiver is fine with indoor rings but not great in cramped quarters coupled with tons of scary distractions and cold, wet weather. It was all pretty much a recipe for disaster. So the result was a 63 for PSG and a 60 for Int. 1. Again, not quite the performance I was hoping for. All of my fellow competitors and especially David were very encouraging and consoling but I am disappointed none the less. Before our Int.1 test, Steffen was walking next to me on Legolas and he said “I am feeling a 74 for today.” I replied, “For you?” (Which would be a step down since he had gotten a 78 the day before.) “He said, no for you!” and looked at me with a smile. I replied, “Well that sounds good to me, from your mouth to God’s ears.” And we both proceeded with our riding.

Now, let me say that I was not competing against Steffen on Legolas, but he rides Legolas twice on competition days so he was working him in advance of his Grand Prix test later in the day. I do, unfortunately, have to compete against Steffen on another horse named Vaya Con Dios, which is an up and coming star, especially with Steffen on him.

So, with encouragement from the master, I started my warm-up on Uiver and it quickly devolved into him spooking, bolting, spinning and bucking to get away from the many evil goblins that he was sure resided in the warm-up arena. At one point he spun around, spooking at a spectator and nearly ran into Legolas of all horses. Really, Uiver, run over a multi-million dollar world class Grand Prix horse! Steffen just laughed unaffected and said “yehaw” when Uiver bucked after my attempt to correct him. David said I was riding him for everything it was worth, but by the time Uiver was finished with all of his antics in the warm-up had had little left for the show ring so our test lacked engagement and he was a ton of bricks in the contact.



Uiver and I with my neice.



So we ended the weekend licking our wounds of defeat yet again. When I got back to the barn I looked at Uiver and said “I love you but I don’t like you much right now.” Uiver looked at me with a disgusted unapologetic expression probably because he thinks his behavior was fully justified.

 So what is the plan for the future?? Well it is two fold. Number one, I am going to start working out with a personal trainer, because clearly I need to be stronger to deal with my very fit horse and number two; Uiver and I are going to Arroyo for a 4 day boot camp with David before our next CDI the end of this month. Beyond that it is all about mileage and exposure and a healthy dose of patience for both of us.

 

How about you all? I am sure that many of you have experienced similar scenarios. Any pearls of wisdoms and words of advice??