Dear Rita,

I’ve been home from the Falsterbo CDI5* (Sweden) for almost six days now. I hit the ground running after driving home from the show late on Friday night, and I finally found a minute to sit down and write.

Winyamaro just keeps getting better. He is getting a float and a bounce to his step that hints of fabulous self-carriage in the months to come. My half-halts are softer and less often. The Horse of 1000 Half-Halts is slowly becoming the Horse of Confident Self-Carriage. I had some great warm-ups at the show and was really prepared to put in a good test in that rockin ‘n rollin Falsterbo arena.

W had other plans. He was WAY too cool for school last weekend, Rita. Somewhere along the way he picked up his own fan club, and it went to his head! There were too many people taking pictures of his hair, feeding him apples and kissing him on the nose. Some even made t-shirts with “Win Win for President.” He luvvvs the attention.

The loud music from the jumping and dressage stadiums and the enthusiasm of the Swedish fans convinced W that he should show off some extra moves, which unfortunately did not get us extra points! This added bit of brilliance distracted him just enough from the task at hand that he was taken fully by surprise when the big screen behind the judge’s boxes flipped pictures during our Grand Prix entrance. What should have been a 9 turned into a 2.

I forgave him, Rita. The scoreboard at Falsterbo is the Mother of All Scoreboards. It not only shows the scores, but can also display digital pictures and shapes—switching from one full screen to the next like a Tokyo billboard.

Now W—being W—reacts with the quickness of a cat when startled. He then holds true to the feline analogy by pretending that nothing happened just afterward. Ever seen a cat fall off a fence? One split second after landing (upright on all four legs) your average barn cat is strolling along pretending you made it all up. Long story short, we had a major disruption on our first centerline, which we both recovered from in good form but not before a whole lot of points were lost.

I know that some people will criticize me for putting this test on the Internet. It is far from perfect, and yours truly made some stupid errors. Lots of riders think you shouldn’t “advertise” a ride like this. But I promised to give you a chronicle of the development of a young Grand Prix horse and frankly, these kinds of surprises and mistakes are going to happen in the development of any horse. So look and learn.

I have seen some of the world’s greatest horses do much worse things (including Parzival at Falsterbo in 2007! Yeee hah!) and rise to the top of their careers shortly afterward. Most great horses still do extra acrobatics from time to time. How you respond to them defines your future as a rider and your horse as a future contender. Going to lots of shows teaches a rider how best to prepare for the unexpected. My horses get to experience everything.

Our GP ride ended up with 65.8 percent, which looks a bit disappointing in black and white. But when I start adding up the points that disappeared with the entrance, my crappy riding in the left pirouette and a few transitions, I get over the score quickly. W pulled himself together after that initial startled reflex when other horses might not have, and in the end he enjoyed his dance at Falsterbo and gained confidence in that pulsing stadium.

The second test in the Grand Prix Special was much better. I was happy in the end to have shown my fluffy horse in his first truly exciting horse show. In fact, I can only think of a few World Cup qualifiers that might top Falsterbo for electricity in the air!

I always learn more from my worst tests than my best tests, and W and I are growing together.  My love and respect for this horse doubles every day.

I’m taking a quiet weekend at home now to do some thinking, unpacking, organizing, number crunching and planning. I had a fabulous ride on Cadillac this morning, which, believe me Rita, is far better than sex with your favourite movie star. I’m trying to give W some down time after that intense eight-week tour, but he is head butting his stable door every time I walk past, so I might have to make him sweat tomorrow. Gizmo has tested his new travel kennel and deemed it despicable as only a Corgi can express this feeling. Blood tests are done, travel papers are ordered…

I might show up in Gladstone next week, Rita! I just don’t know who will be on the plane with me. I have a partial travel grant from the USEF for Cadillac, some gracious friends have offered to help out with a small portion of W’s transport. I’ve called the bank about the rest. D Day (Decision Day) is Monday the 19^th. To fly or not to fly, that is the question. Our travel is booked for the 21^st.

I’m Catherine Haddad, and I’m sayin it like it is from Vechta, Germany.

Training Tip of the Day: Plan how you will respond if your horse becomes explosive during your warm-up at a show. Do you halt and settle him or ride forward to get the tension out? It helps to practice this stuff at home.

Internationaldressage.com