tan pants vibe @ loch moy

Happy Monday, y’all!! Who is ready for this month’s episode of “Emma and Doozy Go Eventing!!”?? I know it ain’t exactly Burghley around these parts (lol) but we’re having fun so it’s all good!

got to hitch a ride to the show for once, given my truck’s current power steering predicament!! so doozy got a friend <3 <3

Tho we had a slight switch up in plans at kinda the last minute. My truck has been doing …ok with keeping the fluids topped up while we awaited our appointment (it’s finally in the shop now tho, whew) but idk. The leak is definitely getting worse and I had visions of a full blown power steering failure. 

So ya know. It just so happened that a barn mate and I were going to the same show on the same day, and she had an unexpected open trailer spot. What a luxury!

they were very good traveling partners but also didn’t get overly attached. love it!

And idk what it was about this show, but there was a definite sorta vibe going on. We called it the “tan pants” vibe. Maybe it’s bc the weather turned cool and damp (at least in the morning, the afternoon was lovely breezy sunshine!), and horses were frisky, but by my unofficial count at least half the competitors were in tan (vs white) breeches — including both me and my barn mate, without any prior discussion lol.

slightly dicey start to the day when an early rider had a very scary accident in trailer parking — possibly while putting studs in her horse’s shoe? she was wearing a helmet tho, which by some accounts maybe saved her life — and EMS decided to airlift her out. obviously hoping the rider is doing ok, and also grateful to the level of professionalism at loch moy that made it possible for her to get such immediate attention without delay while also somehow not really impacting the show schedule at all

It is an unrecognized schooling event, after all — you can wear basically whatever you want. But also, it seemed like everybody on the grounds was determined to enjoy themselves while not taking it too seriously. 

Which was maybe the right call given there was a little bit of drama and carnage throughout the day — with a very scary early morning accident and then periodic rider falls / loose horses throughout the day. If ever there was a day to keep things in perspective, this was it.

anyway. nicer pics. no media from dressage but here is a representative photo of the princess herself from our lovely school the night before

Anyway, as it was, my barn mate and I had pretty great times. Not too early of a morning, not too late of a day. Times close enough to see almost all of each other’s rides, but not a long drawn out affair. Perfect! 

And, my barn mate went first so Doozy got plenty of time for hand walkies and familiarization. Tho no hand grazing sadly, as there have been a few reported bugs going around and bio security is one of those things you usually don’t regret minding. 

focusing on relaxation seems to be paying off!

We also got to walk over together when it was our dressage turn / their sj turn, as we were in adjacent rings. I think Doozy appreciated the friendly company! She was honestly very good in warm up. I stuck to my guns about prioritizing relaxation, and not fussing with the mare. 

We walked for a long time. Then when I went to trot, she immediately wanted to canter. NBD, we just went straight into canter and did some work there. Then Doozy was able to come back to trot and find a nice balance. Rinse repeat — walk break, canter, nice trot work again — then it was our turn.

click for full size

The test itself was a little less good. Doozy was still clearly very tense, plus there were like 4 back to back porta potty doors that slammed behind us right as we were circling the ring. That’s obvi just an excuse, but it didn’t help Doozy find her zen. We cantered a couple circles before trotting in at A, and the test proceeded in some ways similarly to past tests. 

We still had significant loss of rhythm in various movements that at a rated show would be called “canter” lol. But in between all that, I tried really really hard to look for opportunities to let go and ask Doozy to lengthen her neck. And Doozy did, omg! 

next up: show jumping!

Like. Not perfect, far from it. And from the outside looking in, it’s maybe still the same bad test. Tho I will say, this judge seemed willing and able to look past the tension and see the good moments. Compared to tests where we’re kinda fighting the whole way around with a tight constricting rider and short-necked inverted horse, there’s really no silver lining there for even the most generous judge, ya know? 

So I’m feeling like, for at least our own personal purposes, this slight change in tactics might be our best path forward for now.

it wasn’t our best ever course, but i’m actually really happy with how doozy went

Anyway! We watched our barn mate jump sj and xc after our test, then had about an hour before our own turn — having already walked the courses earlier upon first arriving. Doozy was super relaxed in the break, eating hay and drinking water and basically just being chill with her barn buddy. #LovedIt

she was honestly super chill — to the point where i probably needed to actually participate slightly more LOL

Then we were fairly chill for the sj warm up, given that SJ was about 20min behind schedule. Probably we were too chill in my tactics, but I had my reasons and kinda was in more ‘science experiment’ mode vs ‘competitor’ mode.

we got around no muss, no fuss, tho two silly rails

There were literally a ZILLION horses ahead of us when we arrived, so I stood around for a LONG time at the in gate just chillin and watching the course. Then when we were about 10 out, I started walking around, then eventually picked up to start work, and then jumped some fences. 

All of that went reasonably well, and I was satisfied with our jumping efforts. So considering the ring kept filling and filling with more horses and riders, I opted to call it good and spent the last 5-7min waiting at the gate. When Doozy better understands the game and the pattern, I probably will prefer to not spend quite so long standing, but on a day when I wanted to maximize relaxation? Eh, fiiiiiiine.

who cares, tho, look at me actually letting the mare travel forward! and look at the mare doing so in an almost relaxed manner lol

As it was, it did not prove to be our best round. But for VERY different reasons than Waredaca, where she was a frantic frazzled runaway. Instead, Doozy was almost a little blasé about the first couple jumps — reached the first in a nice balance and stride, but rolled the pole anyway. Was a little casual about the sweeping turns too, including preferring to hold her counter canter vs pop an auto change.

took forever to get around the course, tho, lots of weird long turns

Tho she did sorta wake up as we went along, and did have a few moments of running. But all in all, it was the kind of ride with a slight lack of rhythm that you’d typically attribute to the rider not enforcing a good balance in front of the leg. Which like. HELL YES, normal technique problems!! Kinda a vastly different question than just getting dragged careening around the course, amirite?

eventually tho we made it all the way around!

Obvi it would have been cooler to ride better and not have the two rails, but like, hey, that’s the type of problem I WANT to have. So honestly even tho it was kinda an uneven effort with a few “bleh” jumps… Eh, I’ll take it! It was a MUCH better feeling for both of us than Waredaca.

finally a proper sj video, not just helmet cam!

Anyway. We took that feeling on over to cross country. My goals for the day were basically to try to make it as smooth and flow-y as possible. We’ve had time penalties at both our rated events this year, for what I believe were good and intentional reasons — trotting and cantering specific areas etc — but ya know. We’ve certainly been doing this level long enough, maybe let’s try to make a smooth go of it. 

doozy was excited to leave the xc start box lol — those nostrils OMG

It was a nice course too — the first three jumps were a little funny, wrapping around the warm up space in a down hill loop that we opted to sorta take with patience. In fact, Doozy came back for a little jiggity jog over both of them, which felt like a useful and timely reminder for her to be patient. 

started to get into a nice rhythm around jump 4

After which we settled into a quite pleasant rhythm for the rest of the (very short, ~850m) course. We had a nice little sweep through the midfield with fun semi close together jumps, and I worked very hard to focus on not snatching back or throttling down the mare, and instead let her carry a forward balance.

then just cruised around the short course!

Next was the water — a quite nice little option, too! There was a dry route riders could take that had an extra jump, which imo it would have been cooler if you could manage to get the extra jump AND get the water, but alas it looked a little awkward so I just went for the water.

imho this is quite a nice water option for the level!!

Doozy’s clearly been ready to proceed at speed thru the water for some time now, but I’ve just been a little hesitant. This would be our day, tho, and Doozy boldly cantered thru — straight ahead to her little cutout roll top! Good mare!

and doozy cantered through like a pro <3

Next was a ditch option, which obvi we chose the ditch. It’s a super friendly obstacle — properly dug out, but slightly filled in the middle, with a very easy to read approach for the horses. 

**finally** got to jump this sweet little ditch!

Doozy was obviously aces, obviously. Then nothing left to do but gallop up the hillside toward the finish line!

very short course but very fun!

Again, I did my best to allow her to carry on for a bit before carefully and gently reorganizing. And she jumped the last great! 

what we’ve all been waiting for:: XC!!

So pleased with this mare. Nothing can ever be quite easy with her, it seems, but the moments that are good are great. And on this day, imo we had some exciting moments in all three phases.

chowing down at the trailer before packing up for home

What I really want at this moment in time are smooth reliable experiences where I can focus on riding proactively and Doozy can work on recognizing the “game” itself (especially re: dressage). I want it to feel easy enough that we can just nitpick the details, ya know? 

Or, uh, perhaps finally move up a level without worrying about blasting a hole in the bottom of our fragile little DoozCanoe if she has a frantic moment and things are a little harder. 

lol she apparently resented that i didn’t want to wait around for our own pretty pink 5th place ribbon too <3 but hey — after a season of shaky scores, we’re finally into the points for year end awards!

All in good time, tho. On this day, we enjoyed our fun carefree outing (and first actual points scored for the year with our 5th place finish, yay!) — and Future Emma can appreciate the relatively easy laundry load lol.