return of the queen

The snow is melted, temperatures mild, and Ms Mondeuse is back in regular work — things are looking up! (Let’s just pretend the forecast for more snow storms this week is a lie. Yes? Yes.)

mare loves her some snacks <3

And true to form, after a couple wild ‘n woolly sessions wherein Doozy just like couldn’t cope… She’s right back on her A Game again, yay!!

the kids call her “the troll” bc you have to pay the toll to walk past haha

I did start giving her daily sucralfate again and honestly it’s hard to know to what degree it impacts the mare… Except she always seems to just go so well and relaxed when she’s had it recently, even if I’m imagining things it still feels worth it to keep using it for gut maintenance.

my trailer is basically a storage closet / feed room on wheels at this point

I also got all inspired by Carly’s recent post about Opie’s day to day management, and decided to pick up the Triple Crown Stress Free fortified forage she mentioned. The product markets itself as basically a gut support supplement that is particularly useful for keeping horses eating and happy in higher stress situations like while trailering and competing. For the cost of about 3 hay bales, seems like a reasonable experiment!

d’aww mare has the sweetest face!

All things being equal, I’d much rather still have Charlie and be paying board on two horses… But life is what it is, and those dollars are now earmarked for getting Doozy whatever she needs to thrive as leading lady. Hopefully at some point soon that’ll include more lessons. But for now, fancy snacks will do!

making up for lost time by playing randomly with whatever is set up in the ring

Our rides this week have been, without exception, lovely. Nothing crazy or extravagant, not really pushing too many buttons yet. Just reestablishing steady consistent working sessions at trot and canter, utilizing basic figures and ground poles. And playing with mixing up when we canter in the ride to relieve some anticipation and reaffirm that we can trot as nicely *after* a canter as before. 

short little 2 stride grid was a breeze!

I’ve also finished every ride this week with little bonus jompies over whatever was set up in the ring. Stuff is always set up, and often moving around. Usually the heights are quite low (like in the above grid), but this week there were a few days where stuff was closer to 2’ish, including that low wide oxer above.

more snacks. always with the snacks!

My confidence benefits so much from routine consistent practice. And Doozy benefits from exercises feeling boring and easy. It’s not like two or three trips over a 2’ fence is gonna run her down or anything either, right? So it’s been fun to just kinda bop around a little bit. 

had to check the empty buckets too obvi

In an ideal world, we’d do intentional jumping exercises 2x weekly… But that’s almost never really played out in real life for me. So maybe if we bop around when little opportunities arise, and then have at least one proper school with fences set intentionally etc at least every 1-1.5wks, that’d be a nice balance? Idk haha, we’ll see. It all seems to depend on ring availability anyway.

left a few forage crumbs but i’m sure they’ll be gone by morning

It’ll probably be at least a few weeks still before the outdoor is usable — it just really doesn’t hold up to any wetness whatsoever, and with more snow on the forecast… Idk. We’ll see.

fingers crossed the snow forecast is wrong bc i’m so ready for consistent bare ground!!

But spring is coming, I can definitely feel it! Last season definitely ended on a high for us, with what felt like a lot of momentum. I’m looking forward to carrying that forward into this coming year, tho am trying to be a bit more thoughtful and patient about prioritizing good confidence building experiences.

Some of this jumping stuff comes so easily to Doozy, it’s easy to feel like she ‘needs to be challenged.’ Except. Ya know. Who cares haha. She’s my horse so I get to call the shots and what I’m most excited about is having FUN eventing again. Whatever it takes, right?