Happy Independence day to my domestic readers — and congrats on living literally anywhere else to friends from beyond our borders ;)
How about a nice light hearted and fun frolic through potential flame wars on this fine Friday, yes?
Ahem haha, anyway. In my last post, we had some discussion about training “by the book,” vs by what makes sense to the horse. And Kat left a funny and very relatable comment about a former trainer who said, “ you can teach a flying change by touching their right ear with the dressage whip, but that's not the generally agreed upon aid.”
Which naturally brings us to the whole “Form Follows Function” debate. And, doubly naturally, I kinda already know which side I sit — as a rider with, uh, not classically correct posture etc, I’m happy to believe any source that tells me that “Sure, that’s fine — the form will come in time!”
For a balanced view of the positions, however, I turned to ChatGPT and asked for arguments both for and against this theory. The response is as follows:
this conversation is facilitated by the legend himself, charles <3 (there are many ironies in this *ancient* fauxtoshop, and i choose to enjoy ALL of it lol, including original source material lol)
Extending the “form follows function” debate to riding
In horse training—especially disciplines like dressage—there’s a long-standing tension between prioritizing form (posture, frame, position) and function (balance, engagement, relaxation, responsiveness, etc.).
Here's how we can map pro and con arguments in this context, while respecting the nuances of horse-and-rider biomechanics and training philosophies:
Arguments for "form follows function" in horse training
(Function leads, form emerges as a result)
Organic Development: If the horse moves correctly—relaxed, forward, and balanced—correct posture will emerge naturally over time, avoiding forced shapes.
Physical Welfare: Forcing posture can lead to strain, tension, or even injury. Function-led training respects the horse’s current physical and mental readiness.
True Engagement: Engagement of the hindquarters, lifting of the back, and flexion of the poll cannot be “shaped” from the front—they must be developed from correct movement.
Emotional Harmony: Function-first training tends to emphasize trust, responsiveness, and softness, avoiding conflict-based methods used to achieve a look.
Long-Term Soundness: A horse that moves with functional alignment stays healthier and sounder over time, even if the form develops more slowly.
dear sir charles, the **perfect* biomechanical form <3 <3 <3
Arguments against a strict “function first” stance
(Or, arguments for “form enables function”)
Correct Form teaches Function: Some postural shapes—like a lifted back, flexed poll, or engaged hind legs—can help the horse learn correct movement. Without some guidance toward those forms, function may not develop properly.
Neuromuscular Training: Like a ballet dancer using specific positions to build the right muscles and awareness, postural training can “educate” the horse’s body about how to move better.
Rider Position Affects Horse Function: For riders especially, correct posture is often a prerequisite for functional riding. Poor rider form can block or mislead the horse.
Discipline-Specific Requirements: In disciplines like dressage or equitation, specific frames and postures arefunctional within that context (e.g., collection, lateral movements).
Form Provides Consistency: Using consistent shape cues and expectations (when done sensitively) can create clearer communication and structure for both horse and rider.
Bridging the Two:
Many modern trainers adopt a "function informs form" or "form and function co-evolve" approach. They might use postural aids lightly to educate the horse's body, but always monitor function (relaxation, rhythm, thrust, etc.) to avoid forcing.
well ya know. at least that’s the idea!
SO. Dear Reader. As with just about everything with horses, there doesn’t seem to be one clear answer here. Many right ways, few wrong ways.
I’m curious — you already know where I standslouch, but what do you think?
We are definitely into the dog days of summer now, oof! Hot, humid, interminable days… punctuated as often as not by violent little thunderstorms…
Which, real talk, I won’t complain about the rain bc for once in recent memory we are STILL growing pasture grass into July. Doozy’s farm is apparently the opposite of our last place in that it seems to catch every passing storm — something I appreciate as a grass-loving TB owner!
baking in the early evening summer sun
Still, tho, we’re getting into that time of year — esp with the post-solstice coat change — when Doozy seems to start cultivating skin funk like it’s her job. No joke, I’ve never seen rain rot as bad as what Doozy gets — it grows on her like moss.
She already had a bad case by the time I first met and bought her, but I had hoped that by last summer (after a year in my care), the improvements in nutrition, general health, and regular grooming would naturally help prevent another severe case. And, uh, I was wrong.
jealous of the ponies in the shade lol, but grateful for the outdoor breeze!
Doozy’s skin funk last year was so bad, I would 100% have judged the F out of her owner if… uh, ya know, it wasn’t *me.* Life lessons, y’all. I continue to learn them with horses — sometimes things aren’t what they appear. You can really try, and still kinda fail. It is what it is lol.
Anyway, tho, we’ve so far kept the funk at bay this summer with constant post-work rinses of diluted apple cider vinegar. No emergent signs yet, at least. Ask me again in two weeks tho lol, and we’ll really know the truth!
walkway wanderin <3
As it is, we’ve had a quiet week or so after all the fun and festivities of back to back schooling shows at Loch Moy and then Tranquillity, plus shipping out for weekly lessons. We skipped last week’s lesson bc of the heat index, and then had to bump yesterday bc we scheduled for exactly the same time as yet another little expected thunderstorm.
waiting out yet another late day thunderstorm
Nbd, tho, Doozy continues to do quite nicely with our rides. Something about getting her out more often really suits her. Too much time spent at home (like over this past winter), and Doozy starts creating her own excitement among the everyday mundane routine lol. But now that she’s back in the swing of more frequent adventures, home life is pleasantly ho hum. Gotta love it lol.
celebrity horse sighting while jump judging with my mom @ fair hill! super socks bcf, 19 years young, having a blast around the starter course <3
An unfortunate downside to the frequent rain showers tho is that we’re often stuck inside for our schooling, in the dusty stuffy airless indoor, bleh. No joke, I’d rather negotiate with terrorists than ride indoors… But our outdoor ring footing simply doesn’t hold up to any moisture whatsoever and mgmt understandably prefers it stay closed in poor conditions.
These are the tradeoffs for being at a place that actually cares about the maintenance and upkeep of its facilities LOL. So we make do with what’s available in the conditions, nbd.
ooooh we played with little jompies too <3
The rides themselves have mostly continued exploring the concepts I wrote about two weeks ago — namely, the “riding the footsteps” exercise with a deep focus on utilizing lateral flexion (without totally sacrificing straightness) to improve speed and balance. It honestly feels like really productive work especially relating to preserving relaxation vs introducing tension.
A quote I read recently has really stuck with me — and I’ve been marinating on its applications and relevance toward horse training ever since:
A word is not a relationship between sound and object, it’s an agreement between people.
Which, according to ChatGPT, is a modern paraphrase of a core idea stemming from Saussure (circa 1906–1911), who emphasized that language is a social contract, not a mirror of reality.
more farm walkies
In other words, my riding aids are essentially meaningless to Doozy if we haven’t already established an agreed upon definition. Doozy hasn’t read the text book, she can’t inherently know about the whole “inside leg to outside hand” thing, if she doesn’t already understand and accept individually those leg or hand aids, ya know?
Like, sure, the prescribed and studied ‘best practice’ postures and methods are fairly universally accepted bc when done right, they set both horse and rider up for success. But I feel like sometimes it’s easy to miss that… for many horse and rider partnerships, we kinda have to start from a more fundamental place.
so good at selfies lol
Take, for example, this idea of getting Doozy to accept my leg aids. For the last few weeks, I’ve started every ride with establishing leg contact right away, regardless of how Doozy feels about it. (And lemme tell ya, Doozy feels about it.) With the idea that eventually she’ll just, ya know, get used to it. Accept it. Or something.
Meanwhile, since we’ve been practicing this more intentional steering exercise — being thoughtful and deliberate about staying constantly on a well defined line of travel, down to the very footfall — I realized in our ride yesterday that actually, Doozy had nothing to say whatsoever about my leg contact. She just… went along quietly responsive. No bouncing off the leg, jigging or swishing her tail at the touching omg!
And it occurred to me that… ya know. Maybe I’ve kinda misunderstood the directive about Doozy “accepting the leg aid,” lol. Maybe it doesn’t matter so much that it’s touching her — rather, it matters that the touching means something, communicating a specific and understood thing. She accepts bc she understands.
truly a hard life
Always good food for thought for me to remember to focus on what I’m trying to tell the mare, vs how the text book says my aids need to be applied. Eventually lol maybe the two things will be perfectly aligned… But, eh, not yet haha.
For now, it’s enough to sorta go through our paces and patterns and figures (and little jompies lol) with just this simple idea in mind. Lord knows I’m always on the hunt for easy ways to score quick wins when it feels too hot for “heavy work” lol…. Anyone else out there working on little micro tasks while trying to avoid melting in all this heat?
Spoiler alert, y’all — I’m having a LOT of fun getting out and about every other weekend for our little “bite-sized” adventures! Especially given that, as predicted, Doozy keeps getting better and more reliable with every outing. Whew!
steamy summer mornings!
This weekend’s ’little snack’ included just a couple classes at Tranquillity’s Mill Series schooling h/j show. Long timers will remember past entries at these shows, including my (and Isabel’s!) first time doing 3’ jumpers back in 2015, and one of Charlie’s 2022 jumper outings.
It’s basically just a fun, relaxed and locally popular schooling series that offers everything from lead line classes to 3’ jumpers, including hunter and equitation classes. With three rings running all day, there is plenty of atmosphere too, tho the vibes are generally pretty low key.
#civilized at the trailer, good girl <3
I was eager to bring Doozy here to test out a few sneaking suspicions. Namely, especially after our trouble at St Augustine — which is run all three phases entirely on grass, and warm ups in open fields — I started to wonder if maybe the ‘limbo’ of being on uneven terrain in a slightly undefined space contributed to some of Doozy’s problems settling in to our rides.
It might just be my imagination, but after thinking about it for a little while, I decided that our next few outings would be at venues where we could be on footing, especially for the jumping. Like at Loch Moy last week — where Doozy was definitely better than she had been at SAPC!
#civilized meandering around the various rings too!! we did our hack class in that crowded ring in the background
Technically the warm up for jumpers at Tranquillity is also on grass — a tricky little hilltop that pitches downhill in a hurry. So I tried to be clever and show up early enough to ride in one of the little hunter hack classes first as our warm up (having apparently forgotten that in Hunterlandia, you can actually come early and school in the rings, tho not the jumper ring).
I figured it would also be good practice to do our paces “on demand,” as it were, but without it being an actual dressage pattern. Sorta like a CT-Lite lol.
The hack class proved to be slightly chaotic with no fewer than TEN OMG ponies and kiddos all at once, but Doozy held it together and made it through the whole thing without breaking gait or creating a scene. Good girl!
finally getting back to that FUN feeling!
From there, we meandered over to the jumper ring wherein I did actually try the little warm up fences on the grass hilltop. And Doozy was actually fine! Like, not super duper quiet, but not so wild that we went skittering ass over tea kettle down the off-camber hillside LOL.
PLUS she actually jumped the jumps quite nicely and straight! Go figure, working on the details in a lesson pays off, who woulda thunk haha.
she jumped everything super well
Anyway. After that, there was nothing to do but wait for our turn at the gate. Doozy was again super patient and relaxed, and did her best to make new friends with whomever happened to be standing nearby.
It was actually pretty cute — at one point she SWORE to her new BFF that her ears were so itchy bc I neglect her and she’s abused, so this benevolent stranger went to town itching and rubbing all over on Doozy’s ears. Never mind that I apparently require special invitation to be allowed to do the same haha. #mares….
found long and short distances but nothing awkward
Eventually it was our turn, tho, so off we went! The course looked good, some tricky turns and bending lines, but nothing very related. Plus all the jumps were super built up with flowers and boxes and all manner of filler — something I appreciate for a horse like Doozy who can sometimes be a little casual.
minor pilot error trying to find this jump but it was nbd
Whatever it was, tho, Doozy was jumping GREAT! Trotted up to the first jump super, did a patient simple change to the second, then was a little skippy through her auto change around the short end to 3, tho you can actually see the moment I remembered to put my hands down and let the bend do the work for us instead of pulling.
a shame her face is blocked in this pic bc look how good she looks!
The little loop around from 3 to 4 to 5 went well too, tho I lost her outside shoulder in the turn to 5 and we landed wayyy off the line for 6. Nbd, tho, Doozy was on the aids enough to execute a weird little serpentine move and then stayed straight and true to 6 anyway.
She rolled back to the in-gate oxer at 7 like a friggin champion, made the funny 90* L turn to 8 like nbd, and rolled back the other way to the **liverpool** omg at 9 without fuss. And from there, it was an easy cruise down to 10, and then finished!
and happy too <3
What a good girl! I’m so glad I got video too bc it’s really easy to see the moments where I remembered to try to put my hands down, and see how nicely Doozy responds to that. It’s also nice to see that her pace generally looks pretty good all the way around, even tho it felt a little fast to me at times.
omg we got proper video for once!
credit to the mare for her first time in this ring over a course i didn’t walk <3
I also really like seeing how positive Doozy was to all the jumps. Even when the distance came up a little close, it looks like she’s using herself well and staying organized on a steady stride (vs kinda skittering over the top). AND!! Another clear round, yay mare!!
everybody got cute treats and a sample salt supplement from a sponsor
The optimum time for the class was something like 1:49, with a set speed of 260mpm. I was pretty sure we were a bit faster than that (which is fine for our purposes, that’s a pretty slow speed) but apparently with our patient simple changes and slightly scenic route to jump 6, we were close enough to snag 3rd place — woo hoo!
3rd place in the optimum time class on clear jumping, not bad!!
And I opted to call it a day with that. Sure, we could have done more rounds… but it was already 85*F by 9am and Doozy had basically been a perfect princess all day morning. And isn’t that the whole point of the “bite-sized” outings anyway? Get in, get it done, have fun, go home. Check, check and check!
So. Another one in the books — and another one where we did better than ‘just survive,’ we actually had fun and put in a respectable performance. Woot woot, about damn time lol….
It’s always interesting to me when a relatable or timely training concept somehow serendipitously keeps surfacing through various channels.
At last week’s schooling show, my new coach spent some time discussing how and why pulling back on the reins can be so counterproductive on the flat — by basically shortening the horse’s neck and therefore shifting longitudinal balance in exactly the opposite way we want.
stuck riding indoors bc of rain… spying jealously on the horses outside
Then, not two hours later, I got a stark reminder of this during our show jumping round between fences 1 & 2, when I felt like I needed a strong “whoa!” and ended up with a face full of Dooz Ears and a scrubby distance to the jump.
It was a perfect demonstration to sorta reinforce what Woodge had said, that taking advantage of the lateral bend could have maybe worked better for us there vs shortening Doozy’s neck.
grateful to have the option tho for sure!
Almost as if by some unseen universal synergistic force, later that same day, Gwyneth McPherson expounded on “Why We Don’t Pull in Dressage” in her Horse Nation column:
The more the rider pulls, or pulls and lets go and pulls again, the more the horse goes on the forehand, pushes the hindlegs out behind, and leans into the bridle in an attempt to maintain his balance.
unrelated pic for posterity: photo of my furious cat after i had to give him medicine LOL
So. Naturally, this concept would be our inspiration and homework for integrating into this week’s solo schooling rides. Which, sadly, were almost all indoors bc of all the recent rain (and outdoor footing that transforms into bottomless quicksand in the wet…).
I also reached waaayyyyy back into the archives to pull out an exercise to help sorta work on this idea: the “ride your footprints” precision / direction exercise I learned from a David O’Connor clinic back in 2017. Funny enough — that post actually features an action shot of our new coach, when she was still on her way to becoming a 5* rider (tho, I guess at that point it was still 4*??).
pictured: me enabling bad habits bc “haha cute!”
There’s something strangely meditative about being so deeply focused on exactly *where* each footfall lands, and it’s a shockingly great exercise for getting the horse completely on the aids in a calibrated and almost harmonious way.
Theoretically, I should always ride like that. But ya know. Realistically I can’t always walk and chew gum at the same time… and it’s hard to sustain that level of focus on literal footfalls.
consequences: you can juusssst barely see the top of my brand new sunscreen bottle that she absolutely crunched beyond repair. womp.
But then again… This is sorta the core underlying missing piece in helping Doozy travel straightly and find her longitudinal balance. Which, not coincidentally, has been almost the entire focus of all these lessons on remedial trotting, more or less.
And the practice paid off when we showed up for our lesson yesterday with a cool calm collected Doozy, who was happy to prove that — actually — she CAN trot nicely and in balance!
moving on! look who graduated back to tying at the trailer in a flat halter!!!
Tho ya know, it probably didn’t hurt that we’d also had our now-quarterly saddle fitter appt earlier that day, in which the fitter removed a fair amount of wool now that Doozy is a bit more, er, plush from the spring grass. Mare appreciates the extra breathing room!
more unrelated pics: a giant storm blew thru and doozy insisted on investigating all the wind-swept detritus
It’s interesting bc in our last lesson, prior to the schooling show, we spent a LOT of time on transitions, particularly with respect to not letting Doozy spool out in a racing unbalanced trot.
But when I worked on that as homework leading up to the schooling show, I’m not sure it really did us any favors. It seems like sometimes Doozy really just needs room and space to move out, and to not always be constricted into starting and stopping.
bc some of it was scary omg
In this week’s lesson, it felt like we were able to take the same “idea” of frequent transitions to help control speed and balance, and transform it into this sort of “riding the bend” approach instead of actual gait transitions. And not like, whipping Doozy around tight turns or whatever. But just that deep focus on line of travel and equal application of full-body aids vs constantly feeling like I need to hold the mare back.
“who put that branch there?? and WHY??” — suspicious biscuit
And honestly I think we got better results! Doozy was more relaxed, and even in the moments when she wanted to spurt off or whatever, it felt like I was able to apply all my aids in a calibrated way that didn’t make her go bouncing off the walls. Yay!
Plus, the transitions we DID do seemed a lot more fluid and uphill (ish). That’s kinda been a recent tricky spot for us — it’s hard to get a soft upward transition when the horse is tense and short in the neck, ya know?
lol it apparently passed the taste test!
It was funny tho… A few times — especially in canter — I’d feel like I’d set us on the right track or line, and then soften… And Doozy would **instantly** wobble and drift off it. Like her shoulders have their own gravity, I swear. And a few times I was definitely a bit too late in preparing for our turns etc.
But it was all good practice, AND — good enough that we got to do some actual real (sort of) jumping in this lesson, yay!! Nothing crazy, and still just working on the same exact fundamentals of line of travel and positional balance to little jumps, one at a time and halting after.
Still good, tho. Still exciting lol. Exactly the sort of patient detail-oriented practice that I’m not always disciplined enough to see through without supervision. While simultaneously exactly the sort of good clean correct + confidence building repetition that Doozy benefits so much from.
released back into the dramatic wilds
It’s also exciting that this new coach is quick to adapt and evolve her approach to Doozy every session based on what’s working and where the horse is on that particular day — vs adhering to some sort of rigid textbook version of “how it should be.”
Doozy isn’t necessarily a complicated horse, but it’s maybe easy to overlook her best qualities (being a brave biscuit who wants to color inside the lines) when she’s unspooling on a chaotic rampage lol. So it’ll take somebody with a flexible and open minded approach to really help us dial it in.
And in the meantime, now that oppressive summer is starting to breathe down our necks, we’re likely to stick with the “bite sized” scale outings + adventures for the foreseeable future. Perfect time to really settle in on the detail work!
So! Last we heard, Doozy and I would be embarking on more “bite-sized” adventures, with the simple goals of:
1) Get out and do the things I love doing! But,
2) In such a way as to help Doozy be a little more successful.
At the end of the day, whether you view it as drawing the ‘short stick’ or a ‘winning ticket,’ Doozy’s lot in life is with me. So. We persist lol.
the weird semi-feral barn cats stalked around wondering what i was doing at the barn so early lol
I opted to somewhat impulsively sign up for another one of those “Pick Your Test / Blue Ribbon Jumpers” days at Loch Moy. Recall we went to one of these last September in advance of our little Fall season, wherein Doozy scored a 42% in dressage and had two rails in the 18” class. Well. Two rails and also remember those weird kinda stuck moments she had mid course?
Anyway, tho, that had been a great day for us to just get out and go through the motions at a big venue but without the BIG atmosphere. And this weekend proved to be more of the same! Sure, there were probably somewhere between 60-80 horses onsite by the time we left, but with our early times (by design!) we were just the third trailer to arrive and shared the giant warm up with maybe 3-4 horses.
my unsuspecting victim, enjoying the good grass from all the rain this spring!
AND! I asked new local 5* trainer to meet us there for basically a glorified lesson in warm up for dressage. A couple benefits from this:
- Coaching might realistically prevent me from sliding into survival mode, while also keeping me more effective and timely in my approach and application.
- Also, it’d be a good opportunity for her to see what changes vs what stays the same for us in a show environment.
finally replaced the little pop-in fender lights on my trailer! it felt so naked before lol
Realistically, Doozy is a funny horse to coach, I’m convinced of it. She’s hot and WILD, sparks fly, she whistles and sizzles throughout any given ride when pressure is applied. But — of critical importance — beneath all that is a very good girl who is trying to listen, trying to color inside the lines, and who has never yet pulled a single dirty or disingenuous move.
For as much as I call her a crazy pants psycho… She is NOT mean, and NOT disinclined to… do the things, per se. She just… wants to do everything as fast as possible lol, nbd.
waiting for woodge in the drizzle (i feel like that sounds like some sort of weird slang phrase my 13yo nephew would say LOL)
She’s a very smart horse, with a very amateur trainer. And as such, she’s maybe kinda learning the rules in a more disjointed manner than is ideal. In dressage, she doesn’t try to leave the ring, she lets me steer her. Goes through the pattern etc. Just ya know. Seems to want to canter the whole thing lol. Almost as if she thinks she can win by getting through it fastest lol.
dressage video: hilariously (and accurately) complete with real time coaching commentary for all of our reviewing pleasure
(and no, i wasn’t wearing ear buds, it was just for future study purposes lol)
This test was far from our best, and not quite as good as our warm up. Tho, the warm up itself wasn’t our best either. But also far from our worst. It’s all about perspective, y’all. Media is super limited, tho, so I’m plopping the video up first bc we got bare bones from show jumping.
So go ahead and watch, and draw your own conclusions, and also maybe have a giggle or two at the video commentary — which basically is exactly how the lessons go.
pictured: a rare shot of us *NOT* cantering during our test
Right off the bat in our warm up, I was relieved that the new trainer’s approach was basically that — this is NOT training at home. We ARE at a show, and there IS a clock ticking. So we need to help the horse be ready for that moment, vs taking however long we’d need to achieve the best results in training.
I think there’s still room to optimize the approach to prioritize relaxation… But let’s be real, that’s the holy grail today, tomorrow, next week, next year, forever with this mare. She was not relaxed in the warm up, but we did have a few really solid moments, it got better as we went, and the coaching helped me figure out some better techniques for physically guiding Doozy into balance vs just spooling out.
ok at least we are cantering on purpose here
For me, the most exciting bit was that there was not a *single* little explosion or dance move — the entire day. No running and leaping, no fireworks, and also none of those weird “stuck” moments. Just run of the mill… tension. Still gonna call that progress!
Doozy definitely got a bit away from me in the test itself, and slipped into unintentional canter at least 2-3 times. Then, somewhat hilariously, almost missed our first proper canter depart, on her good lead at that LOL. We got it tho, just in time.
Down transitions were, uh, slow to develop — at one point we literally went nearly from canter to free walk, tho natch in free walk I always try to make it a big point to chuck the reins at the mare like, “Look I swear! I can let go, she can walk” lol.
the real-time coaching voice over in the video is priceless, not gonna lie
But anyway. It was a test. We got it done. Doozy wasn’t relaxed, but was maybe better than at St Augustine? Idk. We actually talked about whether I should be doing multiple tests in a row on a day like this, but she wasn’t sure… This is kinda just how Doozy goes right now, it’s not going to be better inside the boards than out. Doing a bunch of tests in a row could be likelier to mentally blitz the horse than anything else. Instead, she agreed with the frequent ‘bite-sized’ outings approach for now.
cantering on purpose again! hilarious in the video when she’s like, “oh that was an ok transition! don’t get too excited tho!” lololololol
So. Anyway. The test was done. And for once I gave it the proper attention, preparation and coaching it deserved. Not that it made a difference necessarily in the day itself, but perhaps will serve us better in the future.
Next up: show jumping! We had about an hour’s wait before our height class went, so we just chilled out at the trailer — plus got to meet up with frequent volunteer and local reader Meredith, who has made various appearances over the years and had an absolutely ADORABLE palomino in the same jumping block. Spoiler for them — they had a great round and it was fun to watch!
mare goes from 60-0 in 3.2sec. just don’t try for like, 60 to 45 — that’s impossible
Y’all might remember last year when I went to this event, I didn’t feel like waiting around for the 2’3 class so we just sidled over to the 18”, got our round done (with two rails and those weird stuck moments) and went home.
The way this event works is that they schedule time blocks for each height, with a fixed number of entries for each block. Riders are expected to arrive during their jump times, and obvi the whole thing is pretty casual and flexible (as evidenced by me just jumping in the earlier block last time). This time, tho, I was determined to be more patient and see the plan through.
So we arrived just in time for the last few rounds of the earlier class before they reset the height. This was a nice opportunity for Doozy to just chill in the environment, even as the atmosphere increased around her with more horses arriving and beginning their warm ups.
“not the worst halt”
Then, when I felt like it was time to start moving and the ring traffic level was favorable, we set off for our warm up. It also wasn’t perfect — but wasn’t far from our ‘normal good,’ tbh. Sure we were fast and rushing at times, but there was none of the inverted bolting to a deer leap like we had at St Augustine. Each warm up jump came up decently. So off we went for our full course!
I had walked the course upon first arriving and decided it was favorable for Doozy. Long bending lines, interesting short turns that weren’t hard but would keep us occupied, and plenty of room to just get out of Doozy’s face and let her find her balance.
helmet cam of our sj round. wasn’t perfect… but WAS completely devoid of the psycho crazy pants deer leaping we experienced at both SAPC + Thornridge. woot woot!
And that’s basically how it rode! I made a couple oopsies along the way — kinda needed too strong of a “whoa!” to jump 2 and got a scrubby distance as a result, tho she jumped it fine. An improvement would have been to use more bend instead of pulling to avoid shortening the neck so much.
I was also too ambitious in the long straight line from 3-4 after watching Martin Douzant take some giant gorgeous floaty WB thing down in eight strides… We ended up with a flat puke-y 8.5, whoops, I should have just asked her to wait more.
But, after that, it more or less kinda flowed together. And we had an interesting feeling — esp to jump 7 — where in the last few strides to each fence I actually did feel like I could soften a bit without Doozy accelerating past her distance. Good girl, that’s the feeling we’re after!
“did i win????” — Ms Mondeuse
And holy mother of god — we JUMPED CLEAR!! And not for lack of trying, LOL, we rattled at least half the poles on our way around omg haha. But these are ‘blue ribbon rounds,’ so clear rounds get a blue ribbon. Something we only seem to get in this type class or when we are the only entrant… Ha, haha… But we’ll take it!
just kidding, don’t get too excited y’all — that 4th place ribbon is for our dressage test, scored using the Danish method, if that helps, uh, contextualize. and the blue ribbon was because i’m pretty sure they super-glued the poles into the cups for our jumping round, there is no other explanation for how we got a clear round LOL!
So, overall, a good day with what were hopefully more positive and additive experiences. And all wrapped up and ready to go home by 11am — who doesn’t love that?
Not gonna lie. I’m much happier to write about opportunities for improving overall performance in our outings, vs writing about only barely managing to get through it at all — as in our last couple events. And obvi, much MUCH happier to be at events at all, compared to this past winter of NQRness.
Here’s hoping for more (and better) to keep coming lol.
Learning to pull a truck and trailer was honestly revolutionary for me. Like, kinda blew my mind that… I was *even allowed* to do this thing. Keep in mind, I grew up as (and remain) a city dweller with efficient little sedans etc. that were easy to parallel park.
recent representative photo of “Mare At Trailer”
My first horse trailer experiences involved big 6 horse goose necks at the local hunter barn where I rode in college. Complete with saintly lesson ponies and side ramps, natch.
Everything changed, however, when it dawned on me that — actually — *I* could have a rig of my very own. On the strength of a sentimentally important, but long delayed, inheritance of a whopping $6K, I embarked on procuring the means with which to tow my (leased — hai Isabel!) pony around town!
Which, naturally, was followed up with the realization that… I knew absolute fuck all about aiding and abetting said pony’s transition *into* said rig.
And thus, my first lesson in trailer loading, courtesy of a local horsemanship pro that I’ve brought in time and time again with every horse since. His methods are simple, elegant and horse friendly, and I’ll forever be proud of that video above demonstrating two confident horses.
the current chariot itself, at the last barn
Because that’s the ideal, right? A horse that can be sent effortlessly into the trailer by somebody on the ground, without requiring said somebody to actually go with the horse into that vulnerably confined space. Isabel achieved self-loading prowess, and actually eventually so did Charlie too.
Charlie was a little funny at first, tho bc… Well. He was straight up too big (in every dimension but particularly nose to tail length) for my first trailer, a step-up bumper pull stock trailer. I ended up buying him this current chariot, specifically to fit his dimensions. And even then, he’d still get halfway up the ramp and kinda sputter out.
doozy’s first time aboard, circa 2023
Fun fact: I sorta sheepishly admitted to my chiro / acupuncturist that I’d been using feed buckets to assist with the trailer loading training for Charlie — but that our progress had stalled since he could reach the bucket without getting all the way on.
I expected her to chastise me for relying on food vs pure responsiveness to the aids… but instead, she just sorta gave me this dumbfounded look and said, “Emma, just hang the bucket farther back.”
still fine tuning the details with Early Charles
In other words, basically, if the method is working, make the method work for you. Which… was yet another iteration (one of MILLIONS for the average horse person) of learning that… there are so so so SO many “right” way to get a thing done, and honestly not all that many “wrong” ways.
another early ride, this time on the correct side for single horse transport
Thus, over time, I’ve slowly become a little bit less of a “purist” while still trying to hold true to those horsemanship principles first instilled with Isabel.
Doozy is a fairly straight forward horse to load — especially with two people. With one person, she had become (and is hopefully returning toward) reliable at just walking with me into the trailer, with me staying at her shoulder and then ducking under the chest barn to pop out the side to fix the butt bar and close the ramp.
preparations on the day of “Doozy’s first time,” with bonus Goose The Pig cameo
It’s not my ideal method, but it seemed to work. Since Thornridge, however, when the mare was in full meltdown mode, it’s been a little bumpier.
Truthfully, I didn’t even TRY to load the mare by myself that day to go home. There was a large and capable looking gentleman at the trailer next door, and I put my ego aside and enlisted his help. Natch, with that gentle but strong presence behind her, Doozy did what she always did and walked right on.
many months actual years now later, still #snackin
Since then, tho, well. I’ve been mostly alone. And have had to really be disciplined in sticking to the horsemanship principles lest I end up in a Battle Of The Wills with a red mare.
Rule #1: No eye contact, for the love of god.
Rule The Second: Be Thee Disciplined in The Timing of Thouest Release. Aka. Ask or do not ask. Accept a positive response, and accept not a negative.
Most Next Importantest: If the horse wants to sniff / investigate / otherwise interact with the interior of her chariot prior to embarking — cool! allow it! Attention straying toward externalities is cause for reinforcing the initial ask.
Fourth: Don’t be afraid to back up, reset, reapproach.
the tuna can and doozy’s future are uniquely intertwined, it turns out!
And ya know. Super secret Rule #5 — take advantage of extra help when available. Sure, it’s cool to be able to git‘r done solo… But in the long run, it’s so much better for the horse to just have easy drama-free streamlined experiences.
So ya know. That’s my personal gospel of loading horses. Subject to change at any time, obviously. And also recognizing that… Just bc my slice of horsey experiences has been somewhat reliable and consistent, doesn’t rule out that I’ve also just kinda been lucky. I KNOW some horses can… Just be challenging. Especially if they’ve been through strongly negative experiences.
Curious, with that in mind, if there are any other rules or ‘best practices’ you’d add to the list. Or maybe there are particular quirks you’ve had to learn to work around?
