Loch Moy helmet cam!!

Y'all already know I'm a glutton for riding media, esp from horse shows! So in addition to everything I posted on Monday, there are also helmet cam videos from our jumping phases at Loch Moy :)

not a bad POV in my opinion lol!

Maybe it's just me, but I kinda like seeing the ride from both perspectives -- from the traditional ringside view, but also from the first person perspective. 

While the helmet cam can smooth over little mistakes like funky distances and obvi doesn't show any rider position flaws etc, it does give more insight into some of the grittier ride details. Like line of travel, straightness, the relative forward momentum and flow from jump to jump... 

Sometimes I can see things in these videos that I didn't notice in real time, but that maybe are kinda important or indicating underlying problems etc. Like that time with Charlie at Full Moon where he wasn't actually reading the string-line fencing around the sj ring that I treated as if it were an actual wall... So without even realizing it, I had to yank him around every corner at the last minute, completely disrupting our rhythm. And then, whoops!, I fell off. It wasn't until I watched that video that it was more clear what had happened, ya know?

So anyway. Yea I like studying the videos LOL! Tho again, Doozy was so perfect this last weekend, not much to pick apart here <3

link to video

And ya know. Sometimes helmet cam videos are just more fun. Cross country is always better to relive from the first person perspective IMO! 

link to video

I'm literally still kicking myself for forgetting the camera at home when we went to Jenny Camp earlier this summer haha.... But it's all good, this trip more than makes up for it! 

It wasn't a long course -- only 9 fences over probably only like 700m if I had to guess... But it was perfect <3 

Anyway. Happy hump day everybody! We're shifting gears around here to dive into all things Maryland 5*, starting with the Young Event Horse Championships tomorrow. Stay tuned for more soon!

a job for charles

So. Charlie. This horse. I just love him so much. But he has been a colossal pest lately. Like, he has a big personality. He's a huge ham. He's very interactive with his environment and all the people within it, and entirely confident in his position as the gravitational center of the universe. 

decorations are still up from our halloween party and i love them lol

In Charlie's view, it's his world and we're all just living in it, supporting cast members explicitly here for his own benefit and entertainment. 

charles, trying to not look like the massive pest he's become

He is also just oh-so-sensitive, he feels everything at an eleven. And his feelings are, understandably, BIG. If he's sad, he'll be sure to tell you. 

"did someone say pest??"

And ya know. Having a horse like Doozy really reinforces just how, hm, neurotic Charlie actually is. Like, sure Doozy is chaotic... But she's honestly a pretty normal animal. Charlie, tho? Lol... No. Not normal. Lovable, special, keeping him forever. But... not normal. 

it's not a great look, friend

Still, tho, Charlie's been a bit much lately. I suspect gastric distress, tbh. He had all that stall rest from the heel bulb injury last winter (remember that?), plus the stress of moving barns this summer... Then we ended up giving him a lot of bute for about a week during his mega abscess recently, which probably exacerbated any existing inflammation or ulcers. 

mmm now that's a much nicer expression!

The behaviors most concerning me relate to his general restlessness and worry lately. Suddenly he's whinnying at the gate in a paddock full of beautiful grass AND a round bale. Like that gorgeous northern lights photo -- legit my immediate reaction when seeing the photo was... why are you at the gate, tho, Charlie??? When he's in his stall, he wants to go out. When he's out, he wants to come in. Just not settled and very much a handful about it, and I don't like it. 

So I'm working through a plan with his vet for how best to address. We're going to start with a month of sucralfate and see where that gets us. 

confronting the curiosity of.... a mattress in the indoor lol

The other part of my grand plan, however, involves... giving Charlie a job. Giving him tasks, asking him questions, holding him to some degree of accountability for his behavior in relation to handling. In other (simpler) words, I'm starting to do intentional ground work with Charlie again. 

chasin a flag!

Really really basic stuff, bc let's be real I'm not really an expert in this work in the first place. But Charlie and I learned some simple exercises back in our earliest days together, posts here and here. 

My aim is to have fun, ask Charlie questions he knows the answer to, remind him how much he loves being a Good Boy for a job well done, while, incidentally, sharpening expectations around boundaries and appropriate behavior for a 1,400lb brontosaurus.

lol charlie... when in doubt, put yer teef on it!

Charlie has always been a boundary pusher, and I've certainly been accused of being, well, easily pushed over. I enable the shit out of this horse bc I love him and he makes me happy and it really really sucks that he's not sound. 

When he was a riding horse, spoiling him rotten wasn't such a big deal bc I'd already learned (the hard way, natch) that I had to be black and white in my expectations for him under saddle. It's been close to 2 years tho since he's been in regular work, and it's time to find another way to pick up that slack. 

So. Ground work it is! And hey, maybe we'll finally get around to doing all the trick training I've always imagined he might like LOL. Wish us luck.... 

Queen of Jompies @ Loch Moy

Happy Monday, friends! And welcome to another epic rundown of Doozy's introduction to the sport of eventing -- a year in the making! It's been a slow process, not gonna lie, but this weekend brought some big rewards!

serenely grazing at the exact intersection of active show jumping, dressage rings, and the xc finish line

Obvi not everything was "perfect," and we only barely snagged our first (possibly only?) point toward year end awards bc another horse withdrew... But Doozy was legitimately incredible, and somehow pulled a literally flawless show jumping round out of thin air. 

most of the test didn't look like this, but we're getting more 'better' moments, more often

You may have noticed we've been doing a lot of prep ahead of this event --- nibbling around the edges of all the various components that go into a successful day at a horse trial. Including pre-exposure to the venue, lessons, schooling, all the things. And it really paid off! 

high headed and stiff. but doing the thing, good girl.

Doozy was very calm right off the trailer -- despite some big differences from our visit 3wks ago. We parked in a different zone next to the xc course, and the dressage and show jump rings were swapped to accommodate the previous week's Area Championships. Plus, obvi, a LOT more horses and activity. It was all good tho! 

I had enough time for a pre-ride, but opted to hand walk / graze instead. Doozy was cool as a cucumber, so we got to just relax, hang out and watch my friend Katie jump around!

finishing the test on that weird little broken center line move. 

Obvi Doozy got a little more amped for our dressage warm up. I budgeted about 40min and spent most of that time walking / stretching. But she was good, and it felt like I actually rode the way I would have at home and was better about asking Doozy to step up and try for me. 

emma: "hm, i feel like i should be doing something with my hand right now... how about petting the pony??"

The test itself was less good than warm up, and at first I was actually frustrated to do basically the same bad test despite getting better at home. Still so much tension, ya know? Except, I stopped myself bc this was legit the first time I had any reason whatsoever to even hope for better. 

judge: "actually, you were supposed to salute....."

Doozy actually was completely different for this test. Sure, not observably by scores (yet), but in very very important ways. She was completely self contained. No explosions (tho still distracted by horses passing ringside). Not so fragile that I couldn't touch her. And again, the warm up was actually... Almost like a normal real ride for us. 

link to full video should you be so inclined

So these are all good and important things. Like, we'll probably continue to score in the 40s until I can get Doozy to consistently soften her topline through the test. And ya know. That is gonna be hard for me too LOL, let's be real. But for now, I'll appreciate the improvements in consistency, reliability, and rideability.

moving on to our best phase of the day, show jompies!!!

Bc it ain't a dressage show, guys! And Doozy showed up ready to jump. I did a light jump school the day before the show, which included a "big" (for us) fence that made me feel squicky but was probably about 2'5 (.75m). And Doozy was literally perfect for the school. Idk how many more times I can say "literally" in this post, so you're just gonna have to believe me LOL.

i watched like 3 horses in a row get a half stride to this fence. not Dooz tho!

We spent a long time walking in the show jump warm up bc basically the whole division arrived at the same time while the judge was still resetting the course. No rush, right? Once we got going tho, Doozy was... say it with me now: literally perfect, omg. 

you can pick me apart if you want, but to me, this course was perfect

We sailed over a couple warm up fences (cantering now, bc that's what Doozy wants!), and then got in line at the gate. Doozy was calm and patient and not at all spooky, tho we also had the luck of going after a horse who had a couple rails -- so we got a few extra moments in the ring before they rang the bell. I mostly just took a slightly meandering walk toward our starting position, passing by the faces of the few oxers on course. Doozy didn't care tho.

need to change the standards to say "Queen" please!

And once the bell rang? It was Go Time! It was a short course -- only 7 jumps and no truly related distances. But the whole thing was like sweeping twisty serpentines traveling up the ring. Long bending lines from one fence to the next, with some tricky rollback landings.  

looking ready to absolutely nail the tricky roll back landing

And Doozy just ate it up. We figured out in a recent lesson that she really wants me to stay connected and strong for her, not just sorta leaving her to figure it out herself. So I kept strong leg / thigh pressure and rein contact all the way around. 

And Doozy rewarded me with a lovely canter rhythm -- every jump out of stride, every lead landed (or auto-changed), landing in the same canter she jumped from, and omg -- no rails!

this round is instantly in my Top 3 Favorites Ever

link to video here

Honestly, there isn't a single thing I would change about this ride. Not one thing. I am just so proud of this little mare! It's like it just clicked for her, like, "Yep I know how to do this!"

woot woot -- doozy's 3rd time out the start box!

Legit such a great feeling!! Esp going into cross country, which, for some reason, has historically produced a lot of angst for me personally. For reasons unknown and likely irrational... but that's just how it's been. Not on this day, tho -- I was excited!

loch moy has the best jumps -- generally stout enough (for the level) to feel like you're doing something, but with inviting profiles. doozy jumped this fence back in february

The course looked great -- lots of simple well presented fences that looked solidly within our comfort zone, but enough environmental activity to keep us honest. Like the roll top above -- a great fence, but what you don't see is the gaping chasm of the intermediate coffin complex immediately to the left. I've seen that ditch distract and spook countless lower level horses before, so it was a good reminder to not take ANY jumps for granted!

tho, uh, there are a couple weird ones too! we did *not* jump this one in february haha

Doozy left the start box feeling so confident tho -- kept that same great rhythm and cantered boldly to everything! After the first line of 3 jumps, the course turned downhill to a really nice little faux combination situation. Like, obvi I hate jumping downhill and made Doozy trot the approach, but jump 4 was a simple log, which Doozy aced, then uphill to this weird rail fence. 

doozy didn't seem to care either way tho!

This fence was actually positioned on the left side of lower level fence -- whereas the previous fences had the opposite arrangement. Given that Doozy's runout typically lives to the left, I figured that if any fence was gonna catch us, it might be this one. But no! Doozy was great! We actually had probably our least perfect distance of them all to this fence (and it honestly wasn't even that bad, just a little close), and Doozy made all the right choices, good girl!

all the same, when you're doing the littles classes you can expect a lot of logs no matter what!

We continued the loop up the hill, catching another eminently pleasant roll top before arriving at the water option. I really hemmed and hawed about whether to try for the water... And ultimately decided to just do the log. I just wanted the good experience, ya know? Doozy will figure the water out eventually, but it's going to take more practice. 

cruisin over the finish line!!

Anyway, from there we had another steeply downhill line to some coops, which I intended to trot but accidentally achieved walk instead lol. Well. Maybe it wasn't an accident for Doozy -- she doesn't want to trot these courses apparently -- walk or canter, those are the options in her mind lol! She picked the trot back up, tho, and then cantered the last few steps to the coop, and then had a lovely little run up the final hill toward home!

link to video of the course, there's helmet cam too but i'll post that later

I'm just so proud of this mare -- what a good girl! It wasn't really that long ago that I couldn't even imagine cantering her out in an open field. Well, real talk, it was only just last spring when we were struggling to ride in the unfenced dressage ring at the last place. 

the little star herself <3 <3 <3

The horse is really figuring things out, tho, really starting to understand the game. And the jumping phases just seem to come so naturally to her! It's a great feeling <3

fff: northern lights

Apparently the northern lights were visible in unusual places this week! I didn't see it personally, but a friend sent a pic <3 <3 

a star among stars <3 <3

Have a great weekend, folks!

tranquillity the other way

Our local eventing club, MCTA, had their final starter trial of the year last weekend at Tranquillity, and obvi I had to be there to volunteer! Honestly I'd been tempted to ride, esp bc MCTA events earn double points for year end awards... But, eh, y'all know me. We don't really, uh, earn points anyway. Double of zero is still.... zero LOL.

majestic mare, patiently snacking at the trailer <3 <3

They're always desperate for volunteers anyway, so it all worked out. And while I was there, I ran into a former barn mate from the last place (she's since moved on too), who mentioned wanting to come back this week to school the course. Obvi that sounded like a great idea to me, so we made a date!

our riding buddy for the day -- super mare Bella omg! long time readers will remember! she has a new owner these days, but is just as awesome as ever. we were still boarding together at the last place (tho they have since relocated as well), so she and doozy know each other and vibe very nicely

My goals for the ride were pretty modest. I wanted to jump solid things, experiment with letting Doozy canter on, and avoid/correct any of those sticky stuck moments that have cropped up in other recent jumping outings.  

cantering a warm up jompy, yay!

I also wanted to keep the jumps themselves relatively few and simple: select jumps with nice clean robust profiles situated on pleasant terrain with easy approaches. Sorta trying to find the best approximations of what we might expect to see at a Loch Moy event.

wheeee jumping into the downhill chute thru the treeline!

We warmed up briefly around one of the jump rings first, tho, since riding buddy R wanted to establish her ride with a couple show jumps first. It was nice practice to take Doozy into yet another new-to-her arena and flat around a little bit. Also a nice reminder to me to... ride the horse the **same** as if we are at home. Pilot not passenger, right?

bench we saw at Shawan for jenny camp! most of the littles spend the rest of their year at Tranquillity and just go to Shawan temporarily
anyway we had a little oopsie here bc it was a fussy approach right up against some shrubby nature, and i let doozy canter the full approach, which proved to be faster than she's currently capable of reading all that

Then we pretty quickly moved out into the fields and I started Doozy over the same two jumps we warmed up over last time. Including carrying the canter away from the first and all the way around to the second. You'll have to watch the video for proof but omg, Doozy was perfect. Just loped around and kept even pleasant strides all the way to the jump! Good girl!!

weird rail thing right into the sun, good girl dooz!

Then we played a little with terrain going down the little rollercoaster chute, and I made myself let Doozy gallop out a little bit. Just to keep getting that experience together, right? Like not just starting and stopping, but traveling around some. 

barbie dream house goin up the hill!

Next we went over to the "water," which is more of a fetid mud puddle at this point. I had zero intentions of even bothering to fuss with Doozy about stepping into the muck, bc.... honestly not worth picking a fight, right? 

There was a cool little line around the perimeter tho that I wanted to try. Unfortunately we had a little bit of an oopsie at the first jump. I wanted to intentionally canter the full approach, which made Doozy happy. But it was all just slightly too complicated -- a bending approach right up against the woods without an obvious landing path -- and Doozy squirted out the side. 

step up the bank!

Nbd, tho. Probably I should have trotted the approach instead... But honestly it just felt like a normal green horse mistake. Her feet moved faster than her brain, and she ended up not having an answer. We reapproached at trot and she was very honest to it, and then very honest around the bend to the backlit weird rail thing. Good girl, nice learning experience!

little coop! jumps were still decorated and flagged from MCTA's starter trial last weekend

From there we moved on to the Barbie Dream House (also from Shawan), which is basically exactly the profile I wanted for this type of ride. She trotted in just fine (having perhaps learned the value of patience lol), and then cantered on up the hill -- at which point the bank complex appeared before us so we went right on ahead and stepped up that too! 

link to helmet cam video here

Last little jump of the day was a perfect coop. To which Doozy was, obviously, perfect. Including her little canter away -- yay mare! 

peaceful stroll around the property back to the trailers

Maybe I could / should have jumped more... But. Eh. I had clear goals for the ride: jump some solid things calmly and pleasantly, and let the mare travel across the ground. I liked that we were able to continue the trend of kinda stringing "questions" together -- whether that was the log down into the 'rollercoaster,' the bending line around the water, or the jump uphill to the steps. 

so pleased with this critter <3 <3 <3

I also liked that this ride managed to be a "new" schooling experience vs a repeat of our visit here last month. We went the opposite direction around the property this time (counterclockwise around the loop), and jumped almost entirely different fences aside from the first two. 

That's part of Tranquillity's charm, honestly. There is just so much there, you can kinda create whatever style ride you want and still not get to everything. Or you can be like me, visiting often and nibbling off tiny little bite-sized rides each time. 

So. Another great experience in which Doozy continues to ride the wave of her new chilled + relaxed vibes breakthrough. I like it! 

just kidding!

Okie dokie guys! Last we heard of our intrepid hero Charlie, he was down and out with another seemingly mega abscess that was certainly going to be the death of him! 

He told his new barn manager in No Uncertain Terms that He was Dying, and that she needed to Start Digging The Hole now, bc it was going to take a Long Time, bc it had to be a Big Hole. 

charles, my precious unicorn <3 <3 <3

So naturally she called me advising to get a farrier out asap, to which I replied that mine would be out in a couple days, and she said, No, Get One Today. Which I did, and you all heard the sad song about how Charlie couldn't even get out of his stall to have the shoe pulled, and was Very Miserable.

I then spent the next few hours driving around town trying to secure protective booting for the tragic critter, and we left off hoping for the best but fearing yet another long slog of recovery. 

charlie's barn had an early halloween party! we had a ratatouille mouse / chef combo, a psychadelic hippy, some airwomen and their trusty plane, a scary jester, a cowgirl, little red riding hood, Woody, and a sparkly princess (who had to go back to his stall early, so represented just by his bridle LOL).
charlie only participated briefly bc he's kinda too much of a pill for parade and game type activities lol (tho he stuck around long enough to give a pony ride <3 <3). twas very fun tho. i esp appreciate my expression of cackling my face off (in the jeans) bc those two innocent looking chestnuts managed to stop mauling me for treats me just long enough for this photo

WELL. Charlie would like to set the record straight, haha. He would like to say, "Just Kidding, Guys! I'm Totally Fine! Please put me back out with my friends again!"

Bc... Literally the day after he had the shoe pulled, he was walking like a completely normal animal in his cloud boot. Whew! And by Day 3, he was back out in his paddock for normal turnout -- still in said boot.

reason #847 i'm grateful for charlie's move: this barn setup suits his physical limitations much better
(both pics are to the same scale)

This is another big win from moving barns too -- he could have never made it back to full turnout so quickly at the last place (red lines above), it was just so big and spread out. And the barnyard paddocks (yellow lines) were so heavily trafficked that they had a lot of deep mud -- making turnout, even in a boot, problematic. 

The new barn (right side in the pic above) is organized so much more centrally (and so meticulously managed that the mud is kept to a minimum even after a week straight of rain!) that it's much easier for Charlie to stick to his normal turnout routine (blue lines) even when he's a bit compromised. 

animalintex poultice pad strips, sponge cotton guaze (for packing out the heel bulbs), vet wrap, duck tape, iodine.... the works!

This is, as you might imagine, a huge relief for me. And for Charlie. He likes his routines, as all horses do. I've still been out daily to check the wrap -- since I'm not keen on the idea of putting a bare hoof in the cloud boot in case it rubs -- esp the heel bulbs. Tho Jessica had a great idea of also using a tube sock for protection -- something I'll keep in mind!

the defect is pretty much all along the inside wall of the hoof

I've mostly used vet wrap or brown cling gauze with strategically placed strips of duck tape to reduce friction in sliding the boot on and off. Plus a lot of cotton padding around the heel bulbs. We used animalintex poultice pads the first couple days to promote drainage, but there really wasn't much so we quickly transitioned to a 'dry' wrap.

wrapped + booted! spy the sponge cotton pillow?

It still obvi gets kinda damp out in the field, which also isn't totally ideal... But the horse is so comfortable in the boot! He wore it for about a week straight with minimal issues, and has been observed trotting cantering and even galloping around (on the halloween party night bc... #pill). 

i was a little tentative about tightening up the velcro at first, but have since gone a bit farther now that he's wearing this boot in turnout

Tho he's since transitioned to getting a day or two turned out with a bare hoof, just to let everything dry out. Farrier is coming this week for our originally scheduled appt anyway, so I figured we'll just hold on for that and see if the abscess hoof is ready for a shoe too. And if we have to go back to wearing the cloud boot after being barefoot for a couple days, nbd.  

lol my boots look like this so charlie's can look like that, i guess!

It's still not totally clear what caused the abscess, tho I'm starting to think more and more that it might have been the Hanton shoes. Not that anything was wrong with them, or the way they were set on him -- to be clear. But we had all that rain and his feet are growing like crazy and I wonder if maybe there was just a funny pressure point created somewhere. 

literally the first day after farrier pulled the shoe and opened the abscess. yes that's him standing almost full weight on the stricken hoof (in cloud boot). yay!

Bc the abscess seemed to have centered right where the tab was, but really wasn't nearly as expansive and deep as I thought it would be based on the size of the defect. There was also barely any drainage at all after two days of soaking and poultice pads. 

legit sent this clip to my vet bc this horse is such a rollercoaster lol....
we released him back to turnout a day later

Obvi I could be wrong, and don't want to scare anybody away from that style of shoe bc I've definitely seen them be successful for a few different horses. And obvi Charlie's other hoof seems totally fine. So maybe I'm way off base or it was just a fluke or whatever. 

as much as i love this view, he's wayyyy happier grazing his own self out in the field lol

Regardless, we already expected the glue-ons to be a temporary stop-gap solution to give Charlie time to regrow some hoof before swapping back to traditional shoes next cycle anyway. So unless his farrier has any other thoughts, that's what we'll do later this week.

unrelated: charlie has the fuzziest most giantest donkey ears <3 <3

So after all that frantic panic when Charlie went full blown DEFCON 1 last week... Well. Everything is more or less back to normal and I get to spare you months of angsty updates on recovery. You're welcome lol.