friday foto finish

Happy Friday, folks! Anybody else feel like schedules are starting to get a little chaotic with the close of summer and impending fall? At least around here, esp with all our recent events and whatnot, we’ve kinda been running from one thing to the next, without much downtime.

the softest schnozz <3 <3

I like being busy, don’t get me wrong — but I also like being able to sit down and reflect on the totality of what all is up in the Land of Dooz erry now and again. So let’s take a quick trip thru all the various random photos that have accumulated on my phone in recent weeks without landing in any dedicated post.

such a pro at the trailer these days

For starters, a couple recent lessons have slipped a bit thru the cracks — but maybe deserve some attention. In the weeks leading up to Waredaca we rode with both longtime dressage trainer C, and new eventing trainer Woodge, and both lessons were excellent. And then we had yet another lesson with trainer C yesterday. So let’s get caught up, yes?

young bucks were racing around the cornfields outside of trainer C’s ring like they were running the daytona deertona 500 lol

I’m continuing to really enjoy intermingling these two trainers, and feel like Doozy benefits so much from the slightly different approaches. Idk if it’s just a dressage thing, or maybe just a trainer C thing, but we seem to be able to let Doozy travel along a bit more in these lessons while helping her find her balance in the forward — vs feeling constricted or held back.

we had a good lesson anyway <3 not that it made much difference for waredaca tho, womp

The focus has stayed on continuing to establish and sustain a fluid inside bend thru Doozy’s whole body — utilizing circles, serpentines, spirals, and leg yields to help achieve the right positioning and posture in the horse. 

In one lesson, Doozy was really getting it in one direction, and really locked up going the other way, so we used one-loop serpentines to slowly introduce the difficult bend in more ‘bite-sized’ steps when she was already traveling well in her stronger direction. 

and yet another pre-waredaca lesson, this time with new eventing trainer, and we jumped jomps!

For my purposes, I’m working on thinking more about ‘lifting my chest’ vs ‘shoulders back’ as that seems to be a more effective mental trigger to help me sit taller. Also thinking about ‘knee down’ vs ‘leg long’ as again this slight variation on the terms helps me arrive in an overall better posture. 

Other current inner mantras include reminding myself to feel the balls of both feet pushing equally into each stirrup footbed — to help me stay sitting centered and down on the horse. And trying to unlock my arms in canter while keeping my torso more still. Feels like rubbing my tummy while tapping my head, but y’all know how it is lol.

we changed farriers at the end of last summer and our experience this year has been so much better. note that little white squidge of some sort of epoxy-esque substance he’s started using under the clips to reduce chipping and damage 

Our recent lesson with Woodge was a good one too — and she moved us fairly briskly thru our warm up and into some jumping exercises — including multiple jumps in a row, and approaching jumps in canter omg. The whole focus seemed to be on utilizing shorter turns on landing to try to show Doozy the importance of not blasting away from every jump. 

another day, another ride. we practiced circles in this session lol, can you tell?

Doozy, for her part, has been an absolute princess for all of these lessons. Which again, can be hard to believe considering how we performed at Waredaca. But I swear, the mare is really getting it. 

And when the pieces come together and she finds her balance, it suddenly becomes so easy — for both of us! Suddenly I feel like I’m sitting up tall like the queen and all my body parts are where they belong. And Doozy feels like she’s floating along, continuing to unlock stride length and suspension. 

slicked with mtg… #pray4us

The trick, I think, will honestly come down to management. Doozy is so sensitive, she has such big reactions, I suspect even the littlest issue or discomfort or complaint can morph into a giant problem in the added pressure and atmosphere of a big show. 

clever biscuit knows how to customize her hay nets for a perfect fit

Her saddle fit situation, for example, has kinda been a nagging low grade issue for a couple months now. I don’t think anything is wrong with the saddle itself — it looks like it was made for the horse. But we think it sat unused for probably a couple years, and the flocking keeps doing weird things. 

My local rep has been super helpful with frequent visits for ‘micro adjustments,’ but we haven’t quite resolved a somewhat specific issue. So we’re gonna squeeze in to an appt at trainer C’s next week with a very established longtime fitting professional who travels the region, and see what he has to say. 

ta da!

Another management area I want to shore up revolves around gastric health. Doozy doesn’t have any indications you’d associate with a classically ulcery horse — except the extreme tension and reactivity (at times). And, obvi, her lifestyle of frequent travel and training. It’s not hard to believe she may have low grade inflammation at the very least, and probably maybe more than that — even if it’s not a raging case.

post-lesson, feeling like a princess <3

So we started another month long treatment of omeprazole, and will continue to supplement with the sucralfate — which I rely on heavily for routine management. Ooh and that Triple Crown Stress Free fortified forage — that’s just so so so useful to have on hand for keeping bellies full of forage even in stressful situations (like at a horse show or while trailering).

Personally, I *do* expect to see a positive difference from the treatment. And hopefully from there, a positive difference in her ability to cope with stress or tension, fingers crossed lol.

and so it goes, on and on!

Presumably a better rider than me would have more tools or abilities for getting Doozy unlocked when she’s as tight and explosive as she was for dressage warm up. IMO, tho, it’s a helluva a lot easier to not let her get that dialed up in the first place. 

And if that can be accomplished through management practices? All the better lol. We’re all happier when Doozy is happy!! Plus, there’s still so much more fun stuff ahead of us in the coming months, and maybe even this weekend! So we’ll do what it takes. Hope y’all have a good one too!

ww: not again

Two big* concerns this week, guys. Ugh. 

First up: surprise surprise, it’s mid August and the mare has early signs of rainrot, again, ughhhh

 

i really thought we were past the worst of the season, but am determined to not be caught flat footed — so we did another chlorhex scrub-a-dub

 

lol, only did half the mare tho bc natch the *day* after our big show, the weather turned mild and cool. cross your fingers for us that we started treatment quickly enough!

 

ooh and Item #2, perhaps, in the grand scheme, a *slightly bigger deal, ymmv, my (un)trusty craigslist #redneckmobile started making HORRENDOUS noises on the way to Waredaca this weekend…. The drive home was, uh, stressful to say the least. 

 

mechanic literally heard me pull into his lot and met me at the door with a quart of power steering fluid. all things considered, not as bad as I feared. hopefully we can keep the voracious beast quenched with topping off the fluids until we can get in for our scheduled repair appt! 

That’s my drama for the week…. anybody else got any carnage going on?

horse trials @ Waredaca!

Doozy and I made it to our second full 3-phase event of the season this weekend, woo hoo!! And another recognized show bc #yolo I guess haha. 

why is it that show days are always the hottest days??

No real rhyme or reason at this point between choosing rated v schooling shows, just kinda doing what I want bc I can. Sure sure, some might argue that, just bc you can doesn’t mean you should… Especially when you consider our dressage results haha. But. Eh. 

semi-related — new gear! added the ThinLine Perfect Fit half pad to try to resolve some nagging fit issues… more on that in another post!

We had a good lead up to the show, including another lesson with our new 5* trainer that finally included actual jumps, multiple in a row approached in canter omg. And our ride times were pretty pleasant, all things considered, tho it would be a long day with jumping scheduled right for the hottest part of an already-very-hot day.

snapped a quick braid pic in between spinning / rearing / sniffing while on walkies before dressage

Doozy was better on the grounds walking around than she had been at Loch Moy last month… Tho, she was worse in the warm up. Which was disappointing given how notably relaxed she’d been at this venue last fall. 

This tension issue remains immensely challenging for me, and clearly for Doozy too. It’s like this impenetrable iron wall between me and whatever actual training I’ve managed to impart upon the animal. When she’s that worked up, legit none of that training is accessible. 

post-dressage expression lol…. me too, mare. me too.

Some how, some way, we need to work on the ‘wall’ itself, developing some sort of key or method for backing her off the edge instead of ricocheting off every sound / touch / sensory input in a chaotic doom loop. Ahem. 

Anyway, tho, as it was, we were in the chaotic doom loop in dressage warm up. And given that I don’t currently have particularly useful exit strategies, I accepted our fate and entered trotting cantering at A determined to at least stay present and active for the full test. 

slowly getting ready for the jompies

‘Twas not a good test, with a few 3s earned presumably for cantering through all the trot work… Still got 6s on our walk tho, go figure lol. The actual canter circles flew by in a frantic flash, geometry was iffy, and the mare was just basically #NotHavingIt. Womp. 

jompies!! they were… not our best LOL

And that feeling stayed with us through to the show jumping warm up too. Tho, notably, the mare was stellar for all the intermediary time, including going back on the trailer for a spell to escape the intense midday sun. It’s just the ridden part, she’s consumed by explosive anticipation. 

the course did not suit us — this crazy line bumped you into two different jumps before even being able to present the intended fence (and this was after they’d removed more jumps from higher levels), but honestly that was the least of our problems lol

Tho in my defense, the warm up ring at Waredaca is a little tricky and she had trouble with it last year too. It’s lined on one long side by food trucks and vendors (all of whom always seem to have loud buzzing generators), and on the other side the actual show ring (divided by string). 

They only permit 5 horses into the warm up at a time since the space is so narrow, and this tricks riders into rushing thru their jumping bc nobody ever seems to realize how long 10min actually is for jump warm up. So then horses end up clustered and congregating at one end, rendering the already-small space even smaller still.

jumping straight into the string divider for warm up, yay

That’s legit all excuses tho LOL. Bc I’m pretty sure with the horse I was sitting on, none of it really made a difference anyway. Doozy was explosive and bolt-y, and I opted to be satisfied with a couple decent enough efforts and just wait our turn with the rest. 

good shot over the last tho <3

And our turn was… Well. More of the same. Less like Thornridge last week or Tranquillity last month, and more like St Augustine earlier this spring. It was a weird course with unintuitive turns that tempted the horse into locking onto the wrong jumps, then only seeing the *right* jumps at the last moment, lots of weird turns, oooh and one super long straight related distance.

i’m never sure how well the ‘frantic feeling’ comes thru on helmet cam

We went ahead and got it done, tho. Clobbered the first rail for no real reason as far as I can tell, tho took the 2nd too when we rushed up underneath of it. Didn’t touch anything else after that, but were sorta all over the place.

onto the ‘easy’ part — xc!

Not gonna lie, I was tempted to call it there… Except history tells me that cross country is Doozy’s strongest phase — lots of opportunity to settle into a rhythm and work together. Plus, she was honestly jumping reasonably well in her body (rushed distances aside, obvi) — no crazy deer leaps like at St Augustine. 

i really liked this course! really flowy from one jump to the next — you can sorta see our next fence to the right on the ridge

And guys — this cross country course looked fantastic omg. It looked like **exactly** what I had hoped for from this well established multi generational eventing family farm. They have tons of terrain, but not so aggressive that lower levels end up squeezed onto unfortunate lines (which was sorta the case at Loch Moy last month) — so every track gets its own space and character. 

trotted the little road crossing mostly to prove that i could

They also rotate the direction of the xc courses, so this event’s track started at the opposite end of the farm out by where they hold the steeplechase for the 3 Day Classic, then looped back around the pond in the opposite direction from what we did last fall. And like last time, they seemed to ‘pair up’ the starter fences to keep you focused and riding in between jumps.

cute little bending line from bebe ditch to coop! 
also for some reason all the screen grabs are super low-res compared to the video, sorry

All that to say — this was what we came for. So off we went to go do it! Doozy left the box a tad, uh, explosively, but settled decently to the log at 1. But then rushed a bit underneath 2 and I got more serious about enforcing a pace and rhythm. 

Which naturally meant the lovely little midfield cruise they built for us went swimmingly, even tho 4 was at the top of a ridge and 5 was after a sweeping downhill turn. We trotted the road crossing anyway, tho, mostly just to get a nice 90* turn to the ditch option— animated above.

properly stout for starter!!

Then came another nice sequence of fences turning us back toward the pond, including a chunky table that definitely wasn’t on last fall’s unrecognized course. We got a great shot, tho Doozy landed in basically a dead run downhill toward the pond and our little up bank (straight ahead in the pic above, same bank we came down toward the camera last year). 

trotting the dam… probably overkill but also probably the most trotting we did all day LOL

Idk what triggered that little episode, but I definitely over corrected for it by making the mare trot across the dam. In retrospect, I wasted a fair amount of time with the trotting and Doozy maybe would have gained more from being allowed to continue cantering, but c’est la vie. 

look how friendly this water was flagged!! can pass thru the flags on dry ground, then school as you like without penalty (aside from time)!

As it was, up next was a lovely little water option that let us walk through the flags clearly on dry land, then ease into the water no muss, no fuss, no risk of 20 penalties. Again, I probably took more time here than was entirely necessary — tho, again, schooling these features is literally why we came, and imo Doozy definitely benefits every time she passes pleasantly through a water feature without stress or drama. 

actual pillows on the bench lol

And with that, we were just about to the finish line!! First with an adorable and nicely sized bench — with actual real pillows on it omg. I worried they’d be spooky but obvi Doozy couldn’t have cared less — she was up and over and already on her way up the hill haha. 

barns at the finish line!

Then came back to a properly pleasant canter balance to finish the course in good style, good mare! A few little blips in there, but basically all decent jumping efforts and A+ navigation of our bebe ditch, bank and water! A few time penalties too but, eh, that’s on me and my choices right?

the day’s highlight <3

All in all, another lived experience lol. We certainly did it. Didn’t, uh, do it particularly well, let’s be honest. But I’m still glad for it. 

There’s plenty to unpack in terms of takeaways, homework, planning next steps etc. For example, it’s increasingly clear that a lot of what we work on in lessons seems entirely unreachable when Doozy gets so worked up. Whoever put “rhythm” as the foundational step before “relaxation” on the training pyramid has clearly never met Doozy lol. 

We also have some routinely scheduled wellness appointments coming up too, so I’ll have a chance to pick more holistic brains about anything that might be triggering poor sensitive Dooz.

looking serene among her ponies the next day <3

In the meantime, tho, I’m allowing myself to continue feeling proud and grateful for this tricky little mare. Bc at the end of the day, there was literally never any doubt whatsoever that we could get around and probably enjoy ourselves while we’re at it. Which, we did!

And at this point in my riding life, being able to 1) do the thing and 2) keep learning while doing basically sums up my entire horsey pursuit <3 <3

the 2 year ultimatum

This week marks two years since first meeting Doozy and bringing her home. She was three months out from her final race and still hadn’t begun the restarting process, after tangling in a fence at the adoption facility… But there was something about her that I liked. 

Her inquisitive and interactive disposition, her desire to connect with the people (and animals lol) around her. A general sense of willingness. Plus I thought she was cute lol. 

she had me at bonjour

We got off to a bumpy start, tho, when Doozy almost immediately developed a giant systemic infection, cellulitis, and subsequent hoof abscess in one of her injured legs. The mare was slow to recover, and my very pragmatic vet noted it could possibly be a recurring / chronic situation given the nature of the fence injuries. 

So we spent those first few weeks working on relationship building and developing a shared vocabulary. Tho, readers from the time will remember I also put the mare on a 90 day probationary period — with the explicit intent to return her to the adoption facility if her lamenesses didn’t meaningfully resolve by then. 

Fortunately, the lamenesses did resolve, and slowly but surely Doozy and I settled into the exciting challenging and rewarding rhythms of a growing partnership. 

go everywhere, do everything, smell every flower

Our first season together was not without its difficulties — both in and out of the saddle, as evidenced by a midyear barn move. But Doozy successfully got me back into the swing of eventing for the first time in years, and blossomed throughout the year into the “go everywhere, do everything” type of horse I love.

This past spring brought more bumps, however, with a series of successive mystery on-again, off-again lamenesses. The nature of the NQR-ness was tricky to pin down, and multiple vet work-ups and exams were frustratingly inconclusive. I wrote about our approach and course of action back in April, when we decided on somewhat conservative (YMMV) adjustments to the mare’s wellness profile — including adding hind shoes and putting her on equioxx. 

What I didn’t write about at the time, however, was that I gave the mare another ultimatum: a long enough runway for us to try one thing at a time to see what worked and what didn’t, enough time to turn over every stone (example: add hind shoes, reassess, consider adding wedges as a next step). But that if August rolled around and we were still on again, off again, signing up for stuff only to scratch in the warm up ring bc of lameness… Well. That would be that.

that moment when you ‘look the part’ but are rethinking… everything 

Everyone on Doozy’s care team was looped into the plan. Not to put pressure on any specific individual, but rather to say, “Hey, if you have an idea, let’s game it out and give it a proper chance — one incremental step at a time, starting now.” 

My vet also gave us the green light to go forth and keep the mare in work unless she was actively lame. Giving her a chance to stay the same, improve, or worsen (which itself could inform diagnostics).

In the meantime, I started researching options for the dreaded “Plan B.” Realistically, there are few ‘good’ options for an unsound red thoroughbred mare. She could go back to the adoption facility for a reasonable fee — but then what? What happens to this silly mare in the bottomless vortex of the OTTB resale pipeline? No no, that wouldn’t do. Instead I found a lovely little retirement farm (no riding facilities but plenty of grass) at a cost that would still let me get another horse and do occasional adventures. 

i just want more of this,* pls
(*except for the whole crazy pants meltdown that came later, obvi)

So. With a care plan and acceptable contingencies in place, August would be our moment of truth. And here we are: two years in, facing Doozy’s second big reckoning in as many years.

And our verdict? Well. Lol. Given that I’m posting already halfway into the month bc we were too busy with lessons and xc schooling and our favorite local show series… Well. That kiiiiiiinda says it all, amirite? 

We might not have seen the last of the mystery ailment, but it doesn’t seem to point to a breakdown (given she’s been consistently better in her body this summer). There are no guarantees with horses, but for me, this is enough — especially considering the alternatives.

finding the joy <3 <3

And realistically, I love the shit out of this mare. She’s got me, hook, line, and sinker. Not that that’s hard — I’m pretty much a bleeding heart, after all. Keeping her would always be my first choice.

But it’s serious stuff, too. I know I’m not the only one sacrificing a LOT to have this type of animal in my life. We all know the adage about “keeping the main thing the main thing,” but feelings of guilt, disappointment, failure — or just plain stubbornness — are hard to get around when a horse isn’t working out. IMO, it’s important to normalize contingency planning, especially as an adult ammy with limited resources.

Getting back on this trajectory with Doozy — this experience of learning and growing my skills, getting out and challenging myself, pursuing the dream — has meant so much. She’s a special and exciting horse, for all her quirks and charms haha. Here’s to a happy 2 years and hopefully many more to come!

points for consistency

Happy Monday, y’all! Hope you had a nice weekend! Doozy and I have been busy gathering the ingredients and starting prep work for a nice little fall season (touch wood for us) — you saw last week’s xc schooling already, and there’s been another lesson with longtime dressage trainer C. 

Sadly I haven’t gotten around to writing about it, and without compelling media may not ever… But it was a good one, with Doozy really starting to understand the work. At least, ya know, when I’m under direct supervision of a coach who instructs as if by puppet mastery lol.

idyllic morning with almost a light chill in the air!

Regardless, it was a good lead up for our favorite combined test series at Thornridge! I really love this venue, the vibes, the schedule, all of it, and also was somewhat eager to prove that our less-than-stellar experience here last May truly was a rusty fluke. 

Verdict? Mare was absolutely back on her best behavior this time, good girl!

less idyllic: pic taken from within pasture, taken of pony without pasture, oops
fortunately he was recaptured without too much fuss or delay! 

I opted to stick with Starter level (2’3) for the CT bc, to be completely honest, that height feels so comfortable and easy for us, and I really appreciate not stressing about it. We still haven’t accomplished much in the way of jumping in lessons, and I’m reluctant to push too many boundaries on my own at this point. That’ll likely come up in conversation at a lesson in the near future, wish me luck lol.

safely arrived!!
also: when #hoarding pays off: she’s wearing an old stained trailer saddle pad bc somehow i legit forgot to pack a nicer one, oops.

Regardless, tho, I also opted to add a second dressage test to our dance card — with a request to ride the tests back to back, or close to it. Idk about you all, but sometimes I get halfway thru a test before realizing that.. Hm, but what if I considered being a more *active* participant in this exercise??

Plus, so much of Doozy’s tension seems to come from anticipation. She’s so smart, she knows what’s coming, and she just gets so fizzy when she thinks she’s being held back from the inevitable. 

rode through the test twice in a row, back to back, trying to help her understand that it’s just a game

So I figured, we’d go through the first test and do our best, but realistically just do whatever Doozy was gonna do. Then, take a deep breath, reorganize, and go right back in and do it all over again. Like maybe if Doozy better understands the pattern, she’ll better understand why I make her wait to canter?

she’s got the ‘free walk’ trick figured out, tho!

Who really knows, honestly, except that I felt a lot better about our second test. Sure sure, it’s virtually indistinguishable from the first in allllmost every measure LOL, we are (for better or worse) extremely consistent. 

But there were a few key moments in the second test that made me feel it’d been a positive experience to do two in a row. 

trotting the other way, i swear i’m trying so hard to bring my shoulders back, sigh

For example, Doozy slipped into our right lead canter in the first test a fair bit early, tho it was close enough that I let her roll with it instead of fighting her back down then pushing back up again. In the second test she was more patient and waited until I asked (at which point, I naturally biffed the cue and we picked up the wrong lead, oops!). 

trying to be better at cantering too

A few other times, it felt like I was able to soften and push my hands forward into the bend, and in the second test she was likelier to soften with me vs spurt off or fall out onto her outside shoulder as she had in the first. Down transitions seemed to come a little more easily as well.

remembering to salute, yay me

Overall, tho, the scores were very similar — with comments mostly revolving around tension, too quick a tempo, and the overall balance being against the hand. 

video of first test, 40.7%

video of second test, 39.3%

we are remarkably consistent LOL

You can decide for yourself, tho, since both tests are on video, yay! IMO, I’m happy with both tests and believe both are an improvement on earlier tests this season, even if they’re still sorta objectively bad. 

I swear Doozy is learning to soften her top line and come into a lovely contact in lessons, but as with all things with this mare and me, it’ll take the time it takes. And that’s all good!

click for full size. 1st test on left, 2nd on right

And anyway, it’s hard to argue when that same tricky tense beasty transforms into an easy, straight forward and fun horse to jump around! 

anyway, onto the fun part!

Like sure, she’s still tense and all that for the jumping — but I honestly believe she just better understands it. Like it makes more sense for her. 

And something about just letting her canter on in a rhythm is so much easier than the starting and stopping of frequent transitions or the “one jump at a time” type exercise we’ve done in lessons. Bc once she’s in a rhythm, all the bolting and chaos seems to melt away.

this course always features some slightly funny turns and angles, but doozy was aces despite some pilot steering errors

Anyway. I felt decidedly positive about the course after walking it in the morning. Nothing terribly technical, but a quite proper 3 stride uphill line, and naturally all the same eccentrically off-kilter terrain and turns we’ve come to expect in this charming little grass ring.

we had a funny little uphill 3 stride line so it was worth getting our shit together before approaching

And Doozy warmed up like a super star! Like, was hot and touchy and tense, but also just proceeded with trotting the X, cantering the small vertical, cantering the large vertical, like she absolutely understood the assignment. Good ‘nuff, let’s go do the course!

she’s got such a great stride length, esp when i can trust her to travel forward

And she just… did, lol. Literally every jump was perfect. No notes, good mare. 

Well. Ahem, maybe a note or two for the pilot, uh, *me.* Namely: I was super careful to get deep into the corner past the in-gate for that weird off camber turn to the black and white vertical at 3 — the tricky ground often makes this an awkward jump. We got a good shot at it, tho, except that even with all that space I’d given myself, I hadn’t planned a good line to the next jump and ended up needing kinda a big readjustment to get straight to 4. 

locked ‘n loaded!

Doozy made it over 4 just fine, but all that disruption meant that we landed too disorganized to make the turn to 5 (the far end jump). Like we allllllmost got there, I think if I’d asked Doozy to jump she would have, except that the combination was coming up next so… 

Eh, I just accepted that we’d missed the turn — technically you’d call it a refusal but I don’t think Doozy ever really had a chance, let alone realized she was meant to get there — circled around, caught it on a lovely balanced stride, then proceeded in the perfect rhythm to walk up the 3 stride line easy as pie.

nailing the final jump, easy as pie

Final little arc to another left lead end jump, and voila — a beautifully jumped course! As far as I’m concerned, the only mistakes we made were my own, which is my favorite type of mistake. There are other nitpicky details beyond steering that I’d love to fix in my style of ride too… But ya know. That’ll be part of the future conversation re: lessons.

video of show jump round

And in the meantime, I remain so pleased with this critter, in the face of what could be understandable temptation to be frustrated by the flat work. But ya know. The sport is hard anyway. And we have extensively documented history that dressage is not exactly my personal strength… Plus, Doozy has proved to be a bit uniquely challenging for me overall.

But!! We are doing things!! And things are my favorite thing to do!! So, we persist lol.