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GentlewoodFarms
January 3, 2021

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I have shown Java at the local open shows for several years, but in the fall of 2019, my coach suggested that we step up our game and show more competitively.

She and I started a Western Dressage team through her barn, and Java and I started training seriously. It was a new concept for both of us - being in the arena alone and riding a pattern from memory, and it was hard work. It is definitely NOT Java's favorite thing. She gets a little irritable if I ask her for "perfection" when she thinks what she did was good enough. There was plenty of frustration on both our parts, but my coach was encouraging. She says that Java is complicated and that she doesn't make ME look good, but she is also very supportive of my efforts to make JAVA look good.

January of 2020, we had our first outing at an official show and placed first in our class. I was so proud of Java for sticking with it, trusting me to give her the "release" that she was looking for when she gave to the bit and flexed her neck properly so she could move out of her hindquarters. If you look closely at my fingers in the photo on the left, you will see they are open a bit, which means that I'm giving her a release reward for proper flexion - giving her mouth, head, and neck to me without argument. She is so soft in my hands right here, I could be holding a marshmallow.

Our test wasn't perfect. We had a bobble here and there, but I am so proud of her for sticking with me, trusting me, and being willing to do this for me.

We are never going to the Olympics, but we are continuing to work and this year we are going to be moving up a level, which means the patterns will get harder and the tests will be longer. And Java has finally figured out that there is always a trail ride after a dressage day, so she's kind of gotten agreeable about the whole thing, which makes it a lot more fun.



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