Happy weekend, y'all --- hopefully a long weekend for most US readers! I don't always post on weekends, but wanted to get this preview out now bc... well, to be perfectly honest there are a LOT of pictures to share so might as well break it up lol!
look at this mare guys omg <3 i live for candid shots like this -- thanks Niamh!
Sweet Doozy went to her second off-farm clinic this weekend --- this time with jompies, and the unfailing guidance of local hero, Sally Cousins!!
compare: this photo is undated but probably from right around May 2023
Not gonna lie, I kinda thought this might be a.... er.... big ask of the mare. This indoor arena is legitimately gorgeous, but it is also a LOT to walk into. Charlie's first time in this ring, he straight up froze and shit himself. So ya know. It wasn't a huge surprise when Doozy experienced a minor existential crisis upon entering too.
srsly tho, these candid shots <3 <3 <3
Luckily, tho, the schedule worked in our favor. Three of us caravanned up together, to ride in three back to back lessons. Katie was first -- in a semi-private with another experienced (read: unflappable) horse/rider combo who were gracious when we had a few episodes during hand walkies / ring familiarization.
Amy was second in a private -- and was similarly unfazed by Doozy's shenanigans. Which, naturally, were already starting to abate.
how i expected the lesson to go
Finally, tho, it was our turn --- riding in a group lesson with two very lovely ladies -- one I'd just met (but who actually has connections to Doozy), and the other I've ridden with in lessons lots over the years!
And Niamh was there!! Longtime bloggers and readers will remember ;) And omg she captured so many pics and video clips -- seriously, thank you <3
how it actually went!! holy moly, mare jumped a gate lol
And as is often the way with Sally, the lesson ended up being a bit more than I bargained for, but in a very good way. I'm notorious for wanting to quit early, get a good moment and call it a day. And Sally was having none of that, ma'am.
credit to Katie and Niamh, who each caught so many awesome moments and angles!
She pushed us a bit, and was ruthlessly unapologetic about it too LOL. But Doozy really rose to the occasion! There's a lot to unpack from the ride itself --- including continuing to find opportunities to keep myself accountable even as we offer new challenges to the horse.
sweetest lady --- there's work ahead for us, but i'm excited for it!
And obvi we'll go there... probably at far greater length than the average reader really has appetite LOL. But for now I kinda just wanna bask in this good feeling of... doing things again.
traveled with a friend this time too!
Days like this are exactly why I went out on a limb with a new horse. I remain hopeful and convinced that Charlie will return to sport life. But ya know. He gets what he needs, no matter what. I'm #keepinghim.
But *I* have unfinished business. So here we are. Doozy challenges me in ways very very different from Charlie, she's such a different type, a different person. And I can learn so much from her.
Anyway. Long preview short, hope you all have a great weekend -- and stay tuned for more!
I had just about talked myself out of riding last night.... Eh, I was tired, it's been rainy gross weather, so many zoom calls already this week, so tired... ya know. Normal stuff.
Was just gonna brush the ponies, tell them they're pretty, change Charlie's wrap, and call it a day.
Buuuuuut.... Then Katie said she wanted to play around with some little jumps in the indoor lol.
me when my friends say they wanna set up little jompies
That obviously sounded a whole lot more exciting than yet another ride spent on endless walk-trot transitions and spiraling in and out, our homework from last week's dressage clinic.
doozy loves the mirrors lol
Don't get me wrong, I love homework. The day in, day out nitty gritty minutiae is all part of the journey and joy for me and all that... But, eh, sometimes it's nice to change it up haha!
power trotting around
Tho, naturally, we spent our warm up on the same work anyway. Bc ya know, Lauren maybe had a point about the importance of zillions of walk trot transitions, esp any time I feel like Doozy might be trotting a bit away with me.
traffic school graduate
And I'm enjoying practicing the spirals too, bc it turns out that our blobular attempts in the clinic weren't only bc of imprecise steering. It's actually..... not that easy to keep Doozy turning on those smaller radius circles right now. Which like, duh haha. That's kinda the whole point. Needs intentional practice, so we practice intentionally!
target acquired!
But ya know, the main event was playing with colorful poles, yay!!! We set up three jumps along the E-B line, a simple straight forward X on the quarter line, and then two verticals on the diagonals.
wheeeeeeee!
Plus we placed a few single ground poles strategically --- one in line with the center line at A, the end of the arena where Doozy tends to fall in on her right shoulder the most. Another in line with the center line right around X, for catching on a circle. And another on the quarter line at B.
landed on her correct lead!
I obviously love a lot of ground pole exercises --- they are so helpful in keeping me honest in my steering and balance and all that. Plus they're useful in helping Doozy tune in too.
my left hand has a mind of its own lol but look at her go!
After a long walk warm up, and some pleasant trotting plus some solid canter reps over the poles, we started aiming for the little cross rail. Obviously clobbered the whole thing the first time bc #boooring lol.
get 'em, dooz!
Dismounted to reset it, got back on, then went about jumping it back and forth a few times in each direction. And Doozy was basically just perfect. Kinda bored, tho got excited and cantered the last few steps to it once or twice.
clever already with her footwork
So I opted to do one last little circuit around, but this time adding in one of the little verticals! Doozy has jumped a slightly larger vertical before --- when we did that two stride in and out a few weeks ago. But ya know. It still feels new to me.
adorably boring
Not to Doozy, tho, apparently! This jump was equally boring to her, and she just trotted right on over and cantered away. Good girl! And obvi we videoed it bc I live for this stuff lol.
landed that lead correctly too, good girl!
Also notable about the ride --- we started in the ring with just the two mares, then Punky joined us as we were starting to jump. And then right as Doozy headed to her first jump in the video below, you can hear the sliding door as a fourth horse came in from the attached barn.
And none of that mattered to Doozy. She is officially traffic-safe in our home indoor, good girl!
And that's the stuff, right? Good clean simple fun with our ponies -- I'm so glad my friend convinced me to ride haha. And am excited to keep working on the jumping stuff with Doozy --- she definitely seems to enjoy it!
Happy Monday, y'all! So. Big Dooz Nooz this weekend ---- we went on our first off farm field trip!! A wildly inappropriate outing in terms of where we are in our actual training vs the cost / credentials of said clinician.....
But, eh, it was also a very right outing for a few other reasons too. So we went for it!
pretty giant storm blew through on saturday, including snow, sleet, and 1.5" of rain... see the white stuff? also, doozy got a no-pull hairdo courtesy of my friend. lmk if you wanna know details!
Basically, the short story is that Lauren Sprieser had an unexpected availability in her clinic schedule and offered to return to a lovely local facility, should there be sufficient demand. And ya know, among my friend set, demand was indeed HIGH.
dressed like a #hobo to ward off the weather + mud
I figured... It's a nearby farm (15min drive), legit gorgeous, plus indoors... with someone who will, beyond a doubt, be able to facilitate our walking and trotting of wonky oblong circles.
Plus, given that my excellent barn mate was quite literally trying to will this clinic into existence, she was also happy to act as "all hands on deck" for Doozy's big first outing. Perfect, sign us up!
ugly but effective!
I went into the experience with a really heavy focus on preparing Doozy for the "all of it" aspect of going somewhere new and surviving. Realistically, it wasn't really going to be about the riding --- tho I fully expected (and felt quite fulfilled) that we'd walk away with important nuggets of wisdom no matter what.
And to be perfectly honest, the day went just about as well as I could reasonably expect. Which might sound kinda like a "shrug" of a sentence --- except, it absolutely is not lol. I was thrilled. There are so many ways in which the day could have gone poorly. And probably, realistically, not too many ways where it would have gone better. Great!
your chariot awaits, ma'am!
Doozy loaded up fine (with snacks). Unloaded at the farm fine. Was mostly ok hand-walking around for 20-30min, bc obvi we were super early #justincase. Like, ok, she kinda wanted to drag me around at times, and reared and got wild once when there was a CAR OMG. But also was able to chill and graze intermittently too.
And obvi we were Pony Club Careful in getting her all tacked and bridled and whatnot, but she was honestly fine. Entered the new-to-her barn fine, walked into the gigantic indoor wide-eyed but... (wait for it) fine. Hand-walked around for a minute fine, and was similarly fine at the mounting block, tho Katie was there just in case.
practicing with snacks even tho the PIG IS RIGHT THERE OMG
Then ya know. Lesson time!! And, um, ahem. Welllllll. There are a few big takeaways from this lesson haha. Primary among them: ride the horse. But like, now. And mean it.
omg off farm and about to get tacked!
The short and the long of it is that, as far as Lauren was concerned, it's unacceptable for me to let the horse waffle around for 10min blowing me off. Mare has a job, tell her what it is. Like, don't be mean, don't beat her up. But be a whooooooole lottttt morrre black and white about it.
omg off farm and tacked!!! true story, all the pics are of her eating bc when she wasn't eating, Dooz was on the move
An example: don't hang and be dull on the contact. Go from 2 on the dial straight up to 9 if we need it. Don't just linger endlessly at 6. If I feel like Doozy is trotting away with me? Walk. Now. And don't wait to be told, either. Just do it.
Transitions forever.
dark blurry screen shot of of trotting left
So we probably spent like the first 20min of our ride in that walk-trot transition space. Which, go figure, had the desired training effect on Doozy. From there, we could move on to what seemed like Lauren's go-to exercise for first time clinic students: the spiral.
dark blurry screen shot of us trotting right
She wanted me to be lighter in my contact, and more precise in my steering. And, go figure, Doozy finally seemed to settle into the work -- at least, to the degree that is attainable for us at this moment in our combined training.
I'd encourage you to watch the video to get more specifics in Lauren's instruction, or to see in real time how we actually rode. But that was honestly the general gist. Be accountable for my own ride. Be more clear in my aids, not a dull steady roar, but an ON and OFF.
back on the bus to go home
While there were some slight differences in Lauren's instruction vs what we're doing with MP (particularly as it relates to contact), I actually see a lot of really positive overlap. And I think they're both kinda saying the same thing to me in their own ways.
They both want me to be more proactive, less wishy washy. Fair, but clear. And don't take so long to get there.
and released back to her ponies!
It honestly felt like a really timely lesson, in that regard. I'm so excited to have a 'regular' coach again, but it's been hard. Getting to know a new person and a new posture. I'm still not sure I'm fully understanding everything MP wants me to do... And some of the changes aren't as comfortable or as natural to me.
But this ride felt like I could channel what I think MP is saying, while focusing on Lauren's 'in the moment' demands, and maybe get a clearer understanding overall.
then back again with the next bus to help my friends who were so generous in helping me!
And ya know. Overall, the whole experience was super productive for Doozy. Hard, but good. Went through all the motions, and came out the other side without much fuss!
It's honestly just super exciting to break that seal, and prove to myself that, actually, the pieces are there to start going out and doing educational things. That, in fact, the responsibility is really on *me* to make the training really happen. Feels like a start!
Happy Friday, y'all! I gotta say... First week of 2024 felt pretty good, all things considered.
i can't even with these two
I honestly really love and am grateful for my annual habit of taking a #staycation in the week between Christmas and New Years. I started that habit during the Isabel days, and honestly I really enjoy it.
hope you're not tired of this yet
Conditions are generally pretty mild still in Maryland this time of year (tho, not always!). Plus with the solstice and everything, it's a real treat to bask in so much daylight during the shortest days of the year.
some days it just looks so damn good tho!
That's maybe the hardest adjustment in getting back to work this week LOL --- nighttime riding again.... Oh well. It was nice while it lasted!
some days are a little muddier....
Tho... The return to work also meant I finally had a day where getting to the barn wasn't possible -- after three straight weeks of daily bandage changes for Charlie...
legit accidentally whacked the wound with a direct hit trying to sweep away dirt, sorry bro!
He's healing so incredibly well, tho, that we figured it would be fine. Tho both vet and I thought it might be safest to keep him stalled for the day I couldn't make it. We figured, the boots always end up blowing out in the mud of his paddock, and we didn't want him standing in a wet muddy wrap for 24hrs.
look at those edges!!!
And ya know. Charlie was mad, but his foot looked great so.... Eh, compromises, right? He's back out again in the mud with his best buddy Royal now, tho, so all is well.
seriously tho
We feel SO CLOSE to the end of this whole saga. Just... Ya know.... A little bit longer to go. Chugging along, as my vet says.
then there are these two ladies, and art lol.... oh and stella (background) is back after a few weeks away!
Doozy is just chuggin right on along too! We've been taking lessons with MP every 4-5 days since the end of November, but suddenly have a little bit of a gap right now (almost two weeks!), just due to scheduling conflicts.
i swear she's sweet <3 <3
Sooooooo..... I may have made some irresponsible choices about how to fill that gap lol. Maybe.
It miiiiiiiiight involve signing up for a clinic we have zero business doing. An away clinic. So ya know. Lots of variables lol.
We'll see. You'll hear all about it one way or another after this weekend haha. Wish us luck??? Anybody else with slightly aspirational plans for the first weekend of 2024??
Happy new year, everybody!! And happy.... return to the post-holiday normalcy haha, and the coming months of long winter slowness ;)
dooz got a new (consignment) halter for christmas too. tho, uh, i guess she's not actually a cob? throatlatch is hella short, and had to replace the crown with the longest spare in my collection....
We only really whispered goodbye to 2023 around here -- no big "Fireworks" (unless, of course, you count Charlie's ridiculous antics haha!). But it was satisfying in a subtle sort of way to close the year feeling like there's so much ahead of us yet to come.
such a sweet face!
Doozy has made all the difference for me and my horsey habit, and I'm really looking forward to whatever may come -- especially if Charlie ever gets his act together too!
figured out how to be patient in the barnyard while we wait for riding buddies!
We finished the year with two more dressage lessons, in which we worked on the minutiae of lateral suppleness. Including finding a feeling of yielding from one side to the other, three steps this way, three steps that way, all while maintaining an uphill feeling.
zen about the various routes up to the jump ring!
This exercise really helps Doozy tune in to what I'm saying, asking for, etc, without locking up against me. Tho, in practice I've learned that it only really works if she's already on the aids.
basically ok with puddles too!
We also worked on practicing slowing way down to find balance, then pushing the contact forward. She tends to want to rush forward, but then loses balance and gets even more rush-y and spurt-y.
lol ignore the little spook (bc #birds) and check out what a pro she is about the stream!
My hope is that by being a bit more... assertive in slowing down to show her where the balance is, she'll start to recognize that as a more comfortable feeling.
back to the barnyard again!!
Finally, we did a nice little solo school in the indoor (with cross rails!), and also returned to the jump ring a couple times. She was a little excitable for the indoor school, tho. It's so important for me to canter this horse as often as possible bc otherwise that's kinda the result, turns out.
also got around to a little indoor school. the two poles on the right side are spaced at about 18', and compressed one-stride canter distance that she did nicely (tho somewhat wildly) off both leads
We don't canter every ride -- like when I'm pushing other boundaries like riding out in the fields or trying out the dressage ring again. And those boundaries are also equally important. But if it's been a couple rides since we've cantered, Doozy loses that lovely "jumpable" cadence in her canter that I want so desperately to keep fostering.
learning to love life alongside the trailer -- with snacks!!
Fortunately it always comes back quickly -- like when we were out in the jump ring with Amy and Punky, and she put down some truly lovely (and adjustable!) canter laps on both leads, including some very pleasant trips over a canter pole. We'll take it!
snacks inside the trailer too -- and standing on the correct side!
Last little item on the 'to-do' list for the year was another trailer practice session. This went just as smoothly as our first session, with the aid of much supplemental snacks.
all tucked in and ready for a little micro-trip!
I know that's maybe a controversial method, and maybe later down the line when we're in a higher stress situation where food is less interesting to the mare, we'll have trouble and you can tell me "I Told You So." And that's fine lol. For now, I want easy breezy low key practice.
then more snacks, this time practicing being tied too
She was able to go up and down the ramp, go into both sides of the trailer, with me leading her from both sides, and sending (sorta) from outside the trailer (tho it's easier when I lead her in). She also let me close up the ramps and doors, and take her for a little spin around the farm, after which she unloaded nicely to be tied next to the trailer for more #snacks.
"reading the news"
I'm honestly pretty nervous and uncertain about how things will go when we eventually start adventuring. But... one of my resolutions with this horse is to Say Yes to opportunity. To let myself get pushed a little bit again, to lean in to learning and education.
Not necessarily so that we can "advance quickly" or "get there" or whatever, but because big lessons and clinics and horse shows and adventures are all major elements of how I define joy in my horsey habit. Elements that were notably rare in recent years.
spending new years eve at #TheGame with friends was pretty excellent haha
To quote from a recent audiobook (Give & Take by Adam Grant, for those interested), "The purpose of this test is served by the preparation." In other words, outcomes are derived more from the day in / day out preparation, practice, and studying in anticipation of a test or trial, rather than from the test itself.
you're a good girl, dooz
So saying "Yes" to adding big scary/exciting lessons, clinics, or shows to the calendar is the perfect way to help me keep refining that preparation. Where are our strengths, and what are our opportunities for growth? What needs to happen in order to be ready for xyz...? And if I don't feel ready for some big exciting upcoming thing, why not? What has to change for me to say yes instead of no?
grateful for the mild afternoon sunshine!
I don't necessarily know exactly what I want from 2024 yet -- there aren't any big blockbuster goals. Except that I want to feel like we could do anything, be ready for whatever may come.
So we'll see what happens! Anyone else feeling similarly optimistic for the new year? Or maybe you DO have a really clear sense of where you want to go, or what you want to happen?
