PSG

SO today didn't end up going like I thought it would after the warmup lol. I had the most unbelievable warm up before going in. It was so good Tom was nervous. Nina and I were on fire. She had the mega fancy trot going and super canter. All the movements were executed relaxed, with really good jump. I have never had her so good before. It was such an incredible feeling. Anyways, we walk down the tunnel to the ring and we had to stop and wait for the red curtain to get pulled back for us. That was about where we got nervous. My mom says it was like a red flag being waved at a bull. Omg!!! She has never been so tense in the ring. I just couldn't get her. She was so scared of the little kids stomping around, waving their jackets, the horse topiaries leaping out at her, and the whole ambiance of the place. The trot work was stunning though. The walk tour today was okay until the walk pirouettes and she tuned me out for those in a big way because there was a really big puffy pink jacket being waved in front of her by a little girl. The extended walk was pretty good and then the whole canter tour she would not go in one corner, it was pretty funny. She almost had me convinced that the horse topiaries were going to come after us! Overall, it was a good reminder that you have to keep riding no matter what and things can change in a heartbeat so you better be on your toes. The warmup was so much fun though! I have never had her click in to that level of expression with relaxation in a ride. I got passage out of her, this unbelievable trot, and the canter and walk work was really really super. The half pirouettes in the warm up were all 4 or 5 strides to get around around sitting really well. The contact I had in the warm up was amazing. The test actually caught me off-guard lol! The caliber of horse I had and the partnership we had in the warmup was in itself awesome. Unfortunely today we had one of the worst tests we have ridden in a while. Sometimes you have to ride what you are given though. I honestly cannot describe the kind of ride I was getting out of her before the ring. I was so excited!!! Then, as I was walking down the tunnel to the ring, I started to feel her get nervous on me. When she gets tense and nervous, she gets behind my leg and REALLY REALLY hot - like a rocket going to the moon!

When Nina gets that nervous I have two options usually. The first option is to stay relaxed, try and calmly chip away at her, reassure her, pat her, talk to her, still get in there and ride but less aggressively. Sometimes when she is nervous, putting the leg on more to give her some courage and get her re-focused on me, works against me and makes her even more hot. Option two sometimes works because it causes her to be startled into paying attention to me and it helps her re-focus. It also gives her confidence to know I am up there, and yes I would like her to listen to me at some point TODAY. Sometimes we have days where she thinks she is smarter than me (which might be true) and I should do what she wants - it's pretty funny. Both options involve trying to push her through the tension so she settles, but they go about it differently. I went for option 1 based on the school I had this morning where she was more settled. Today, I don't know if I had ridden her differently before I went down the centerline, or during the test if it would have made a difference. Personally, I think I just need to keep giving her pats and keep giving her confidence until hopefully she's golden. It was just one of those rides today unfortunately. Based on the warm up, we would have been right up there. It was phenominal. So that at least is a positive to take away, as well as the fact that we got to ride in the most insanely beautiful arena we have ever been in with the top young riders from around the world!!!!

Tomorrow, I will take her out and stretch her for 15 or so minutes in the main ring at 6am again. I will make sure she goes into her corners so she knows the horse topiaries don't want to eat her, and will try and give her confidence for my ride time at 10:40am. At this point, I don't know what she is going to give me tomorrow. I thought I had her based on how crazy good my warm up was today. Horses can really surprise you sometimes lol. You wish they could just talk so you could reassure them and get on with it!

Anyways, that is all from Frankfurt tonight. It is snowing like crazy and beautiful here. I am making notes beside every movement of the test again picturing how I will set her up for each movement and keep her steady in it. I also make little reminders for each movement in how I have to ride her as an individual so that the right picture is shown. Tomorrow counts for all the marbles, so I will get in there and ride her tomorrow and see what she gives me again. The good news though is that she felt great in warm up today and she is all happy in the barn area with her huge bed of shavings that she rolls in constantly. I think she just likes the fact that every time she rolls, I give her another grooming, clean off her blankets, and put them back on. During this time, she also gets lots of mints usually. She really is pretty smart..she has me trained well lol. But hey, as long as she's happy, I'm happy....even if Nina has a wicked sense of humour ;)