Virtual Brush Box

For me, the weirdest part of a saddleseat show is the yelling from the sidelines. In dressage and eventing, you get eliminated for Unauthorized Assistance (usually, see below). In Hunters, a little mild correction might occur as the riders pass the ingate. At the show last weekend, particularly at the Beginner levels, every coach and assistant coach in the place was helping as loud as she could. I was told to change diagonals, sit back, hands up, pass wide, look forward on the straightaways, and so on. Multiply that by every rider in the class. The next time I do a dressage test or a hunter class, I will suffer abandonment issues. Some commentary is acceptable in jumpers, but I probably wouldn’t hear you.

Un/Authorized Assistance Story
Years back, I was flailing my way around a cross-country course. I was miles out of the ribbons and in danger of elimination. As I came at a log jump for the second? third? time, my friend & coach yelled “KICK!”. Over we went and on to the next. The fence judge just smiled.

Today’s Question
For those of you who have done saddleseat, like the sideline coaching? Dislike? Found it odd to cross over to or away from?

Results
2nd & 1st. As with last time, I was overly huntseat in the first class, which I corrected in the second.

First Class
The Good: I wasn’t “busy” and I didn’t downshift until the corners.

The Bad: Still leaning forward. When I do sit back, there is an near-palpable snap when I hit the correct spot. Sam certainly appreciates it when I ride right.

The Ugly: I developed a mental vapor lock about diagonals. I was suddenly convinced that I was supposed to post in time with the inner shoulder. A faint echo suggested I might be wrong about that. I spent the first part of the first lap randomly bouncing from one diagonal to the other. This wasn’t me getting the wrong diagonal, which I have done. This was me deliberately posting incorrectly.

Rise and fall with the leg on the wall

Second Class
The best part – aside from winning, which never gets old – was that I was not completely consumed by procedure. I was able to clear a little space in my head to think about stylin’.

Of course, showing off can bite one in the butt. When they called my second class, I was lined up at the gate with no one else around. So I went zipping in alone, banners waving, with the intention of making a good first impression on the judge. Since saddleseat starts at the trot and stays there, this move committed me to trotting until the class filled. As lesson horse par excellent, Sam did most of the Beginner classes. Short rounds, fit horse, no problem. No danger of running out of horse. However, we came darn close to running out of rider.