saturday spillage

Ok ok I really try to avoid posting on Saturdays these days bc most folks are out and about doing fun things on the weekends --- not parked in front of a computer or glued to a phone or whatever. Especially this time of year, feels like the weekends are booking up like crazy!

impromptu "feed cart" for when you have to tack your touchy red mare in an empty barn while unseen horses elsewhere won't stop screaming lol

But, eh, I got pictures that need posting and updates that need updating, lest they be forgotten, overwritten, or rendered obsolete before Monday.... So here we go.

 

"will behave in exchange for food!"

Last we heard, Doozy had another lesson with MP over the weekend, and we really got into the work of firming up some of these key positional changes in my riding style.  

tried charlie's sheepskin half pad with the ol' dressage saddle and think it's an improvement

We had another solo schooling session the night after that, in which we shared the ring with a tense and snorty rehabbing horse --- making for a similarly tense and snorty Mondeuse. It was really really hard to stick to my positional guns, and not get baited into reverting to my habits... But we worked through it and it was a good enough ride. 

also enjoyed the elusive weekday daytime jaunt with charles <3

We then had another lesson midweek, after Doozy got a day off, and she was still carrying that same sort of charged tense vibe. To the point where our trot work was downright.... terrible haha, whoops. She was just super tense and racing off -- not dissimilar from some of our earliest rides tho it was the first time MP had seen her like this. 

he remained remarkably sound up to his farrier appointment, and farrier felt optimistic after trimming him!!

But, eh, that's what lessons are for. It's equal odds that the tension could be stemming from just about anything --- protests against the dressage saddle, confusion from a sloppy imperfect rider, generalized soreness from the process of working and building new muscles, or ya know. Maybe mercury was in retrograde LOL.... Who knows. 

 

soundness is still TBD as of this writing, tho, so cross your fingers for both of us

I think with this mare, we're just going to have to meet her where she is for the foreseeable future, and keep the high expectations focused on me and my riding, vs on her. 

i'm pretty sure charlie's eager to do more exciting things too

So rather than just whipping around endless choppy trot circles, we switched gears to work on other things: like building our half halt!! Yay!

tho the walkies are always nice <3

We started with walk-halt-walk transitions, with a deep concentration on Doozy's hind legs walking forward into the halt -- and trying to feel out from my seat whether she was square. Not gonna lie -- I'm prettttttty bad that that haha. But, eh, no time like the present to start developing that feel. 

perfect charles

Then we moved into walk-trot-walk-trot transitions. Not spending too much time in either gait, not really dallying, but not being frantic or rushed either. Aiming for extended moments of sitting trot in both the up and down transitions. And not cheating by standing in my stirrups when I'm supposed to be sitting.... 

holiday berries bc tis the season

The idea is that... When we were racing around in an unbalanced rushing trot earlier in the ride, there were still moments of balance and softness -- usually right before the moment we'd step into walk. THAT is the moment I need to ride for --- not the rushing, but that trot we only got when I was thinking about walking.

ooooh look who has changed shape so much in four months that my actual nice saddle is starting to look not totally unrealistic!!!

So all the repeated transitions helped to sorta reinforce that feeling, and start to develop the tools (the half halt!) of getting almost to the transition --- but then not actually finishing it. Finding that balance, that "whoa" of stepping into more engagement, but not actually changing gaits. 

sad that it's not quite the right shape for my favorite fancy new Eskadron saddle pad tho, womp

It was a good exercise, and one I've been repeating regularly with Charlie ever since. Especially bc the biggest finding is that I need a lot more core strength and stabilization to hold my own balance in those "in between" moments. And Charlie has been perfect for practice during his legging up period!!

And hopefully.... will come out of his recent shoeing appointment still sound enough to keep going --- cross your fingers guys!! We will know soon!

looks reasonably normal with a rider tho! also, dear lord the ring was SO CROWDED on this night -- like 7 horses at one point, and good girl Dooz was very grown up about it all

Tho, for Doozy's next ride, I opted to switch gears again. Similar to last week, I sometimes get the feeling with her that if we go too long without just sorta cantering around and letting off some steam, she kinda starts boiling over again. 

So our next ride was in jump tack (Charlie's jump saddle omg and it seemed to kinda work!!) and we just bopped around through all our paces without any pressure or fussing. Not every ride has to be a hard ride!! 

charlie, being patient waiting his turn <3

Next on the agenda is some more tinkering around with tack --- MP has a few saddles she wants to try on Doozy, and maybe some bits to try? We both like loose ring snaffles, but MP is wondering if Doozy would appreciate the added protection of one of those 'winged' snaffles? (side note: lmk if you have one you wanna sell LOL). 

Then we'll have another lesson this weekend too, hopefully. Lots and lots and lots of lessons, but it feels good. Feels even better when I can stack the rides up with sessions on Charlie too. It's been so long since I felt particularly strong or fit as a rider.... but maybe that time is coming again? 

Anyway, send good thoughts for Charlie that he continues to feel better. And hope you all have a great weekend too!

it's all fun 'n games

Every horse owner knows that "special" feeling when you hike out to the pasture only to find that your horse isn't where you thought they'd be..... 

Candee Kisses, what have you done with Doozy, where is she??

And why are you standing here, all the way in the corner of the giant pasture, all by yourself??

OH!!! You're just.... Standing behind the tree.... for.... reasons?

"minding my own business, thanks" -- Mondeuse, apparently

apparently finding it distasteful to be discovered, too! lol..... 

TGIF, y'all!

stayin' in school, kids

Doozy and I had another dressage lesson over the weekend (the day after her awesome jumping session!!) and it is exciting to feel like we're 'settling into the work,' so to speak.

It feels like we're both getting the hang of this new posture. Honestly maybe I shouldn't even call it "new" lol. It's not like I haven't had these lessons before, or like I've never managed to sit up straight on a horse before haha. Rather... I've just kinda receded into the safety and comfort of the familiar with Charlie in recent years (remember our whole "gave up on dressage" thing?).

But eh, Doozy is a whole new chapter, and a whole new opportunity. And at least for now, I'm embracing it! 

we've had pretty damp weather lately, tho not too cold at least!

The nice part about having so many lessons so frequently is that Doozy is definitely figuring out the expectations. At first it was really hard to try to change her posture bc she straight up didn't understand what we were trying to do. 

Now, tho, she is recognizing the pattern, understanding the process, and we can get from the point of "over flex to release the base of the neck" to "steady on the bit and through" more quickly. Or at least, we can when I have real time instruction LOL. It's still a bit hit or miss in our solo rides, but that'll be true for probably a while.

tried to get a photo of the dressage saddle, foiled again by the dust womp. thankfully, charlie toted me around later in the day to wipe all the mirrors down haha

For me, I'm continuing to work on shifting key elements of my posture. MP wants me to think of "standing on my seat," as in, being tall and upright from my position in the saddle -- not from my legs, which are draping down separately. 

This is much easier to do in Isabel's old dressage saddle. But, alas, I suspect Doozy doesn't love the fit. She's not porpoising in it like she did with the Pessoa we borrowed for our first few weeks of riding life.... But there are signs, ya know? So we'll see.

trainer MP snagged a quick shot too, mostly bc we were practicing halts and doozy stopped so nicely square haha. 

The other key positional change I'm thinking about right now has to do with my contact. Always and forever. We've already talked about stabilizing my elbows -- which basically means activating my triceps -- the back of my upper arm. And we've talked about adjusting my hands on the reins so that my thumb is doing the work of holding the rein, not my ring finger. 

What I'm figuring out -- in lessons, schooling alone, and from reviewing photos -- is that essentially my habit is to use the whole bottom muscle of my forearm from elbow to wrist to ring and pinky fingers for contact. That I'm basically way overdeveloped in that area, and that all of it has to release and soften. 

Instead, that muscle tone needs to move to the back of my upper arm, the place between my shoulder blades, and to my core. And everything else needs to stay softer (fingers still closed tho!). The trick to softening as I go is to occasionally rotate my forearm from the elbow like I'm turning a key in the door.

back in with charles!! we don't normally ride in the indoor but some of our riding friends wanted to do in-hand work within the safety of 4 walls

Anyway. Our lesson focused mostly on the walk, with a little trot. MP didn't feel like it was our best work bc.... Well, she WANTS our best work. She doesn't want me to be satisfied with close enough / good enough. Which is kinda refreshing bc y'all know that's how I tend to be. 

All the same, tho, I was really happy with the ride bc it felt like we've kinda moved on from 'pouring the foundation' and started getting into 'framing,' if you're into analogies about building a house haha. 

back again with charles <3
this time with festively lit friends for the long dark walk to the dressage ring

We also managed, almost out of nowhere, to bang out an awesome leg yield at walk. We were just in the zone, Doozy was on the aids, everything was clicking, and MP just sorta suddenly coached us into it --- without any warning, and I think without even really planning it haha. 

And Doozy did it very nicely. Good girl. 

barn panther Icee again. he's not as popular as Mikey bc... well, he's bitten a lot of people lol...

Sadly we didn't have a chance to try a second time bc a group of kiddos on lesson ponies came into the indoor soon after... And since it wasn't MP's normal teaching day, we had to end the lesson -- she's not technically allowed to teach on other instructors' days. 

Which, if you're curious about why getting lessons at home has been a struggle, lol, here's a prime example. The person who teaches on Sunday doesn't really want to teach boarders - she prefers kids. But she doesn't want other people teaching on her days either bc she wants first choice of the rings. So.... It ends up being that boarders can't really get lessons on certain days of the week. Doesn't make sense, isn't logical. Life's like that sometimes. 

speaking of animals that might bite LOL

Anyway, tho, I was still really happy with the lesson. I care more about the 'feeling' I get from a ride than the duration. So getting such good work was more than enough to satisfy me. 

And I've been able to keep working on practicing some of the feelings and postures in my rides since then --- esp with trying to leg Charlie up in advance of his next farrier appointment. Ideally, if he's going to get sore from being ridden, I want to know that before the appt so I can talk to his farrier about it. If, alternatively, he stays sound after a ~week of regular work, then maybe that bodes well for staying sound through the trim / shoeing?? I dunno. We'll see. 

charlie demands love tho, and won't take no for an answer!

Regardless, it's been so nice to ride both -- bc Charlie is so good and so easy, I can really just focus on myself. Which, naturally, he appreciates significantly too LOL. 

Doozy is not so easy, so there's more opportunities for me to get distracted and revert to my habits when she gets tense or does something unexpected... But eh, progress is progress. 

one day my prince will come

Charlie is the sort of horse who wears his heart on his sleeve. You never really need to wonder how he feels, bc he will tell you all about it haha. He's a communicative kind of creature, ya know?

Which is part of why it's been so hard to see him deal with all these hoof issues this year. I just hate seeing him so uncomfortable!!

The flip side, tho, is that he's quite happy to tell you when the reverse is true too --- when he feels GOOD and FEISTY lol -- which he has been in a BIG WAY lately lol. And guys, feisty Charles is legitimately my absolute favorite <3 <3 

scruffy boy is already growing out his clip

So I'm starting to get hopeful again. I know there are a lot of folks who follow, or maybe just check in every now and again, who disagree with Charlie's management or care or whatever. 

Plenty of folks on the internet want to diagnose and offer unsolicited veterinary advice. And it's easy to sit on the other side of the computer screen and believe you know exactly what the problems are, if only I'd just listen to you. 

But. Eh. None of that is really my concern. Charlie is my concern, and I'm seriously hopeful that we might be close to the other side of this whole ordeal. 

flying around in the mud with friends!

After observing his increasingly energetic and lively behaviors in the field (and occasionally in hand, ahem, Charles), I decided to finally get him back under saddle for more of a 'real' ride. Like, nothing serious, obvi. The old man has been out of work forever at this point, let's be real. 

But wanted to feel him out, try all the gears, see how he is, ya know?

link to quick video clip!

And guys -- he felt good <3 <3 <3

Like, low key running away with me, but so happy to be out doing things with his friends. Not like 100% perfect.... Again bc he's been out of work for a while and his hocks are way past due. There's a little jankiness behind, if ya know what I mean.

But that's a whole separate issue from his foot soreness, and one we can definitely deal with. 

 

d'aww charles, low-key running away with me, with four off the floor!

But I'd really really love to ride him more regularly again. If this sounds familiar, it's because I wrote a really similar post in August. After which, unfortunately, the farrier had a new (and not bad!) idea about changing strategies with Charlie's shoeing, and it definitely did not work. 

Charlie is due for his next shoeing appointment this Friday, and you better believe I'll be reassuring the farrier that we're on the right track -- don't change anything!!  

here for the charlie struts <3

Because, basically, I'm not interested in putting him back into work until he can come out of a shoeing appointment more or less comfortably and soundly. So maybe --- pretty pretty please --- this Friday will be that day?

So cross all your crossables for us, lol, bc doesn't everybody want more Charlie content??? 

mornings with Mondeuse

Guys, the green baby horse journey is just... so interesting sometimes haha. The wild vacillating between "Wow this young horse is so exciting!" and... "Dear god, what happened to our canter?!"

It's a process, y'all!

misty balmy december morning!

Well. Ok, let me back up a step. I wrote last week about how exciting and ground breaking our dressage lessons with MP have been (and more on that later!). 

But... I also mentioned that I've kinda been lulled into sorta cruising between lessons until the changes MP wants in my position and way of riding are more sticky 

i think doozy likes her pony friends!

Lately, tho, that's felt like not actually the right approach at all. For two main reasons: 

1) Doozy needs to get ridden regularly and often, full stop.

2) Actually, I do know how to ride the horse and have gotten her this far, so don't stop now!

back in the jomp ring!!

So I gave myself a little kick in the pants to keep up with my regular schooling rides even if I felt like I wasn't necessarily riding to the standard of our lessons. Just get on with it, ya know? The horse needs the mileage anyway!

lol ok so these trot poles were set at a slightly longer distance than what we've normally practiced...

This gut feeling was reinforced in Friday's evening solo school, in which I realized our canter had suddenly reverted, and lost that wonderful 'jumping' feeling I love so much. Bc duh, things get rusty if you don't practice! And we haven't touched the canter yet in lessons. 

god bless that effort tho!

So for Saturday's ride, I opted to switch gears entirely and pick up where we left off after the Frost clinic --- getting back outside again!! And maybe playing with little jompies!!

first jompy of the day omg <3

And ya know. Just trusting myself haha. Trusting that, yea ok I'm not perfect, but that's ok. Ride the horse, have fun, jump little jumps and don't think too deeply about any of it! 

guys i really think she likes this game

Plus we had an excellent chaperone, one of our farm's talented juniors and her trusty little lord of mischief, Loki. Doozy was pretty much instantly comfortable in this ring --- honestly I think it's just a good ring with good vibes. 

riding the way i know how to ride bc we're both comfortable that way

The geldings turned out in the adjoining field acted like ding dongs for a bit when Loki started cantering, which set Doozy off slightly... But she recovered and then was basically foot perfect. 

wheeeeeee cross rails!

We mostly trotted lots of figures at first, and only cantered small circles. I briefly wondered if all the little X's I'd set up earlier would prove to be too aspirational when Doozy was a tad wild through the trot poles -- which were set too long and she kept wanting to break to canter.

first time cantering a jump <3

But eventually she settled enough (or I rode properly) to trot the poles in a civilized manner, at which point I started aiming at the little crosses. 

her canter is supremely jumpable

And guys, you legit couldn't ask for anything better from her first little efforts. Just... *muah* chef's kiss! So after waiting patiently while Loki took his turns, we went out for another little go of stringing a couple little jumps together. 

little video clip of us dinking around having fun

We were probably going too fast at times, and I was probably riding too tight at times. And maybe there's more that I could have done our first time down the line to prepare her better --- tho honestly when we finished the course on the same little line and she *aced it*... Ya know, it felt like she understood and was on board with this whole little game.

very happy with this critter

If Frost was watching, he'd have said to ride straighter on the backside vs letting her fall into her turns. And he may have advised coming back to walk more often. I know for a fact if I'd been riding with Sally, she would NOT have approved of the little 'victory gallop' at the end LOL. 

and she is very cute

But ya know what? This was the best freakin ride and I'm so excited to be out doing fun horse things again -- and so excited for this silly red mare <3

Happy Monday, y'all and hope you had a nice weekend too!

friday foto finish

Happy Friday, y'all!! It's been a bit of a whirlwind around these parts. Obvi the recent Thanksgiving holidays are always a big to-do -- complete with visiting family and all that entails... And unfortunately after all that excitement, a very dear and important member of my family took ill and need(ed/s) some significant TLC from all of us.  

Then for just a little extra fraying around the edges, my kitty experienced a fairly sudden (and very unfortunate) malady requiring urgent care and the e-cone of shame... and my 100yr old apartment building's internal plumbing (and I do mean all of it) legit exploded when a pressure regulator from the city main failed, whoops. So the whole 'running water' situation is a little dicey.

silly big boys being silly and big. and then there's spirit too lol....

It's kinda been all I could do to get out to the barn for blanket changes and grooming sessions, let alone my actual barn shifts, regular schooling rides, and lessons... 

charlie, pictured here listening enthusiastically to the devil on his shoulder

Luckily, tho, Charlie took some pity on me and twisted off another hind shoe (natch, the day after his farrier was on farm...). He probably thought it was doing me some sort of weird twisted (puns) favor by helping me not feel guilty for not riding him. 

flynn the devil: "you should totally throw a shoe, hehehe"
charlie: "great idea!"

Or something. Maybe, I dunno actually. Coming in for dinner the other night, after the shoe was replaced, he quite literally danced circles around me for the full walk up to the barn. Like, not pulling or trying to get away. Just, ya know, a size x-large 1,400lb Hulk Murray shaped kite, showing me just how big and impressive and hyper he can be lol.

He looked for all the world like a horse who wants to get ridden :D And maybe go for a run lol.... Which, if things work my way this weekend, I might just indulge his inclination lol. Get out with my best friend and blow some steam off, ya know? 

speaking of animal calamities... poor OG had a sad week, guys. and kinda gross too

I'm so excited with how things are going with Doozy right now, but I also feel a little tentative -- like I'm sorta getting a bit far out on the limb with some of the work, and don't want to get shaky. 

Esp with evening rides in the indoor, I'm kinda just trying to keep a status quo going in between lessons -- light and easy. 

fortunately he's on the mend!!

Hopefully we can take advantage of some daylight this weekend to get a bit more variation for all of us. Charles just... gettin' ridden, sir!! Perhaps at speed out in the fields :D 

And Doozy... maybe just gettin outside? Maybe try to get back to the jomp ring before our next dressage lesson on Sunday??

And me? Well. The doctor ordered some equine therapy and I'm jonesin' for a fix lol.

 

here's to peaceful critters making good peaceful choices!

Everything always seems to get crazy and busy and a little gaga this time of year... But here in Maryland, conditions in December are still pretty freakin beautiful and decently mild. So we'll try to enjoy it this weekend. 

Hope you all do the same, TGIF :)