jumping with matt

We had another clinic lesson with 5* eventer Matt Brown this weekend, our third such lesson with him. It’s honestly kinda hilarious bc it feels like these three lessons fully encapsulate my three years with Doozy so far…

ready for action!

The first clinic was back in August, when Doozy was still only very recently coming back into “regular” work, and we’d cantered maybe once so far in the rehab. And she was more or less unhinged in that lesson — we were either walking or exploding into porpoise mode. And Matt not-so-subtly suggested we might need a little more ground work in our lives.

doozy was very mature about the trot poles — even tho they were cow print!

Then in mid-July we were starting to get back on track, and were able to have a fairly productive flat lesson focusing on lateral yielding and transitions, with only a couple little (and not-so-little) explosions along the way. 

jumping her itsy bitsy grids like a pro

Finally, tho, this go-round we showed up ready to jump! And with full confidence that we’d be able to present to him a more or less representative picture of our fullest level of training. Which is honestly a really good feeling at this point. 

got better on the landing balance as we went

You know how it is with horses and horse people tho… How people describe themselves — what they know, their experience level, etc… is, er, occasionally NOT entirely tethered to reality. Especially in a clinic setting, any good pro has to take whatever somebody says with a BIG grain of salt, and let context clues (like how the horse looks and goes) fill in the gaps. 

I always felt really good about letting Charlie kinda ‘represent’ me in that regard. Like, “Here is my horse: he is relaxed, nicely muscled, obedient, and nonchalant. We are ready for this lesson!” Doozy, on the other hand… Well. To be perfectly honest I just assume that most people get a pretty fundamentally questionable first impression of us. 

and another little X!

And ya know, c’est la vie LOL! But finally, for whatever reason, Doozy is fully present in Princess Land now. She’s calm and confident again in the work, and game for whatever! And kudos to Matt for more or less treating us accordingly — matching the flat work expectations to the horse in front of him.

slightly more enthusiastic about landing going this direction lol

Which, for our purposes in this ride, meant continuing to work on that lateral flexion and suppleness — especially in transitions. 

It’s so funny bc I swear I don’t show up and run down the full list of every single little thing we’ve been working on, but each lesson it’s like he magically kinda picks up right where we are. Last time it was introducing the transitions, and this time it was pushing the expectations on lateral suppleness and frame control. 

easy peasy over the swedish oxer of planks

He encouraged me to ask for more, even to exaggerate if needed to help the horse understand. Starting with long reins at the walk to get the mare stretching down, and then gathering in the contact while retaining the lateral suppling as she’s ready. Then picking up into trot but continuing the same feeling — helping the mare find her balance in a comfortable rhythm by releasing through her back and top line. 

finishing with another bebe grid

Same story with the transitions — slowly, gently, clearly but firmly: maintain the same degree of bend in up and down transitions, where Doozy is most likely to stiffen and tighten. 

And basically, this was our flatwork throughout the entire lesson — even as we started introducing ground poles and little jumps, the focus stayed on exactly this detail: clear soft inside bend, especially in transitions, before and after every jump or exercise.

doozy says it’s #tooeasy lol

And go figure, Doozy caught on quickly. She’s naturally a very balanced horse, and naturally wants to be balanced and comfortable. I think in the past when I’ve tried to do some of this flexion and frame work, I’ve been a little too restrictive and tight — which is what probably creates and intensifies Doozy’s tension and resistance. 

Perhaps the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction and I’m being a little too lax at times right now. But that’s kinda the way the training and practice goes, right? Regardless, Doozy understood the posture and was legit perfect almost every time thru the trot poles, good girl!

apparently unclear on how to buck under saddle LOL

Then we sorta just started piecing little jumps together. One at a time, then with each repetition adding on another jump to the little mini course. All kinda long sweeping turns to singles, nothing related (other than the grid), and circling in between to establish rhythm as needed. 

“just kidding, i’m fancy little snake” — doozy

And Doozy was super! Consistently establishing the soft bend at the outset helped her right away create a nice balance to take off for each jump. Tho for my own notes, I need to definitely remember to keep the forward feeling in this work too, always with the forward!

Our landings from the jumps were often a fair bit less organized lol, but even there Matt encouraged me to raise my expectations a bit — ask a little more clearly, a little sooner, and a little more firmly. He noted that she wasn’t arguing or fussing at all, wasn’t getting inverted or anything like that, so I didn’t need to be so worried about being delicate with her.

quick video from our last run thru

And, somewhat unusually for us, the more we repeated, the better it got. One of the host-barn’s boarders captured video from our last little trip around the course and it honestly looks decently well balanced all the way around. All the jumps came up super nicely — compared to some of the more skittery efforts we had at Thornridge for example. 

And the landings got mostly organized reasonably quickly. Tho, for whatever reason we kept landing the wrong lead and I was opting for simple changes to continue reinforcing the balance, and Doozy was wanting to get a little stuck and annoyed by that. Just something for me to be mindful of, and maybe practice staying forward even in those transitions.

the goodest girl, being #nosy about the parking lot

Overall, it felt like a super productive session and exactly what Doozy and I needed right now to reinforce the right feelings to practice. 

Sure, the jumps were all pretty small… which can be tricky for me bc I *know* that some of my bad habits only really crop up when the jumps are bigger… But Doozy doesn’t seem to care one way or another, and it’s honestly probably good for her to feel like it’s ho hum and easy — it doesn’t always need to be exciting LOL.

Regardless, Doozy’s first jump lesson since April is in the books! Feels good to be back at it!

enshittification

The idea that some aspects of the consumer experience are, erm, getting worse, is not new. The term “enshittification” was popularized back in 2022, but people have been talking about topics like “planned obsolescence” even longer. 

It’s been increasingly on my mind, though, and what happened to Dover Saddlery seems like a perfect encapsulation of a broader trend that’s only getting bleaker.

trying to find the path to good choices like…..

Dover was founded in 1975 and steadily grew into a dominant equestrian retailer, going public in 2005. I pored over their catalogs as a horseless kid growing up in Baltimore City — spending hours circling my favorite items, fancifully outfitting my imaginary ponies. That catalog was as engaging to me as all the other equestrian magazines like Equus or Practical Horseman. And eventually, much later in life, the actual bricks and mortar store in our area became a reliable staple. Our “big box” outfitter along with all the other local tack shops.

Unbeknownst to me, and probably many other members of the equestrian community (who may or may not be up to date with the pages of Forbes or Wall Street Journal), three private-equity firms took Dover private in 2015, and its ownership control changed hands at least once after that — with reports of debt, cost-cutting, store closures, and unpaid vendors. And, as many are aware by now, it was taken over again in 2026, and subsequently liquidated by a restructuring firm. 

grateful for the opportunity to unplug from the wider world and just enjoy the moment with our ponies!

This story is apparently being retold again and again across all industries and sectors: a trusted, recognizable niche brand becomes a leveraged financial asset, while employees, suppliers, consumers, and the broader market ecosystem absorb the loss.

The problem, to me, however, is that… the more aware I become of examples of this story, the more I realize just how enormous the private equity / conglomerate ownership model has become, and how deeply intertwined it already is with nearly every facet of my day to day life as a consumer and citizen.

The Guardian ran a story a couple weeks ago about how It’s not your imagination that consumer goods are getting worse. That article linked to a new favorite online publication, Worse on Purpose — authored by Keyana Sapp, who writes deeply researched investigative essays on brands, conglomerations, and the hollowing out of entire sectors.

doozy loves being able to follow along with the group!

For those interested, it’s worth browsing around the Worse on Purpose website… Tho this article about Whole Foods is a neat and tidy representative example of how private equity infiltrates familiar brands and disrupts entire supply chains (and the underlying ethos) quietly enough to avoid much scrutiny or attention, while still exploiting customer loyalty.

More topically for our purposes, however, is this article on pet care and the industry surrounding small animal veterinary care. Sapp promises at the end that a follow up specific to pet food will be forthcoming soon too. I’m personally looking forward to that, since suspecting that my cats’ increasing pickiness over the years may be driven by declining food product quality is part of why I started noticing generalized product degradation in the first place.

That article on vet care is interesting for other topical reasons as well — particularly as it is not especially flattering toward the Mars company. Which, for those unaware, is a massive privately owned multinational conglomerate with roughly $65B in annual sales. And, somewhat coincidentally, is owned and run in part by renowned equestrian enthusiast Jacqueline Mars, or “Mrs. Mars,” as she’s known to her riders. 

not a bad way to spend a day!

You may be familiar with that equestrian tie-in bc the Mars company has been an enormous supporter of major events in recent years, including both the North America 5* competitions. And Mrs. Mars herself breeds and owns a number of FEI horses campaigned by riders of all stripes — from up-and-coming professionals to US Team riders.

In other words, she’s been a major supporter of the sport in a number of critical, existential ways. Which… kinda runs counter to the company’s track record in owning and operating vet clinics and other consumer-facing brands, as outlined in the Worse on Purpose article. And… kinda makes you wonder exactly how reliable that support will be after Mrs. Mars is gone.

Not to be doom-y gloom-y, but isn’t that kinda the whole point? That the accountability for business decisions is increasingly flowing up the ownership chains, that success is metricized into the barest financial terms, at the expense of literally anything and everything else that doesn’t fit neatly into an expense report? 

Take away the individual passion, drive, commitment to community, the will to support…. and, what’s left? Board rooms filled with folks who are only interested in reviewing quarterly reports prepared by lawyers and accountants? 

“oh lawd, are you off ranting on the internet again about things you can’t change??” — doozy, probably

So… yea. You may be wondering what this all has to do with me and my horsey habits and lifestyle LOL, which. Ya know. Fair. And to be honest, I’m not sure I have a point or specific objective here today. Other than, this topic or issue or whatever you want to call it, has been on my mind lately. And I like to write about the things I care about, so here we are. 

I promise that I’m NOT going to try to assign any sort of responsibility or guilt or accountability of any kind onto our role as consumers in this whole situation, either. Bc let’s be real, we’ve been conditioned as a society since basically the 1970’s industry-backed anti-litter and recycling campaigns to view these problems as a failure of individual behavior, placing the burden on consumers while largely leaving the systems responsible in place.

But idk about you, but I don’t really believe that individual consumer behavior can have the same impact or influence as regulatory systems or legal structures. 

Even so, however, I’m still trying to be more thoughtful about my own consumer behavior — divesting where possible from private-equity or major conglomerate ownership structures. Whether that’s through being more selective of the specific brands I buy, or the platforms I use, or whatever.

“ugh i’m outta here, off to go enjoy my purina* snacks” — doozy, not interested lol
(*a Mars company, just so we’re clear on my own “purity” levels here!)

Tho, as ChatGPT informed me (no doubt through its own controversial network of resource and intellectual property consumption / subversion…), it’s better to think about my consumer behavior in this regard as more of a spectrum rather than a purity test. Not every system and supply chain is equally avoidable, ya know? 

But where possible, I’ve made a few small changes. Like my cat food purchases — bc again my precious pets and their increasingly picky tastes were what prompted some of this research in the first place. 

ChatGPT has been useful in researching independently owned and operated pet food manufacturers (tho definitely let me know if you have recommendations too!) and actually, retailers too. I moved my auto ship orders from Amazon to Chewy a couple years ago from a desire to divest from Amazon… But lately am looking to do better than Chewy too. Luckily in my area we have locally owned options like The Mill. 

One downside is in pricing, tho — as major retailers like Amazon or Chewy can often offer the “best” prices. Which, obvi this whole enshittified system shows that the lower prices come at their own costs too… But given that prices of literally everything seem to be climbing at the moment, ya know. Yea we all have to make the right choices for our own situations. No purity tests. 

“sometimes life is better with less thinking tho!” — doozy, philosophical

It’s worth thinking about, tho. Or at least, it’s been on my mind lately. Maybe not exactly a “solve-able problem” per se, but something I’d rather be open-eyed about when making my choices. 

Anybody else thinking about the state of these things lately? Or maybe you have your own private equity horror stories (lord knows I’ve heard all manner of nightmares about everything from fridges and washing machines that only last 2-3 years, to predatory mortgages, lost pensions, senior care disasters… etc, just to name a few!)? 

Or maybe you’ve always prioritized being a more conscientious consumer — and have horse- or pet-friendly recommendations in that regard? Or, lol, and no judgement here, but maybe ignorance is bliss for you when it comes to the darker machinations of the corporate world?

playing in the grass ring

It’s been just rainy enough, often enough, to keep our outdoor arena closed while the footing dries (or, doesn’t, as the case may be).

setting my pivo up on the fenceline, willfully ignoring the storm clouds behind me lol

Obvi with two indoor rings there’s still plenty of options for riding … But idk, I kinda hate riding inside if we don’t have to, ya know? 

walking with doggo lol

Like… We’re basically confined entirely to the indoors during the winter since the outdoor ring doesn’t have lights (and again, the footing is bad in wet weather and slow to dry). So for the rest of the year, unless there’s a specific reason to do so (like when I wanted to jump before Thornridge last week), I’d really rather not go inside.

just trit-trottin around the field!

Especially on the weekends — this time of year the horses are inside during the day, meaning the paddocks are all empty. And there’s a very nice and decently flat paddock right next to one of the indoors. This paddock has the extra advantage of being essentially the closest thing the farm has to a dry lot — the grass is extremely short and picked pretty bare by the sweet pudgy ponies that use it for turn out.

something so refreshing about the grass!

Obvi I do my best not to leave marks or tracks or ride out there when it’s muddy anyway, but since it’s the one paddock that never gets ‘rested’ to grow grass, I really don’t worry too much about that.

jussssssst enough terrain to keep it interesting

And there’s something so nice about riding out on the grass! It’s up on top of a hill so there’s a nice breeze, and there’s options for working on slight variations of slopes and undulations in various corners of the paddock.

lateral suppleness remains an area of opportunity lol

I feel like it’s an entirely different type of workout for the horse to school on uneven ground too, compared to well groomed flat surfaces and footing. Like Doozy has to work harder to contain herself, keep her feet underneath herself.

feels like canter is coming along tho!

A friend I boarded with years ago moved to a farm that didn’t have any ring at all, and I remember seeing them at shows and her horse looked amazing. Like, obvi she was a lovely rider and he was a very nice horse anyway, but something about working full time on the grass had really done wonders for him.

obvi not perfect, never perfect, but it’s feeling a lot more pleasant to ride!

Plus, we have a lot of events around here that run dressage or show jumping, or sometimes both, on grass — in addition to cross country. That can be a slightly different experience if you’re not used to it, too.

Ms Thing felt very balanced on the grass!

Like I’ve honestly kinda avoided some events historically bc of the grass rings or especially the warm up situation. Which… ya know, is fine. But it’s also something we can practice, right?

wouldn’t mind having this down transition at a show!

It’s also “just different enough” that it can kinda influence how I ride in the same way being at a show can — in the sense that maybe I get more tentative or passive, or lower my expectations etc, bc we’re doing something “different” and “hard.” 

we squeezed in some quasi-test-practice before the rain got too heavy

So with all that in mind, it was nice taking advantage this weekend of the nice weather but unrideable outdoor to get out into the paddock.

**singing free-walkin in the rain!**

Doozy is still going strong on her Princess Streak too. Idk what’s in her Wheaties these days but she’s been literally the most pleasant creature for actual weeks at this point. The last time we had what I felt was a ‘bad’ or ‘frustrating’ ride was back in July, actually.

actually kinda nice to school in the rain — a rarity for us these days

And that was its own interesting experience too bc it was when I first got the pivo, and upon watching the video from the ‘bad’ ride… I actually felt better about it, like maybe it wasn’t that bad after all. And in fact, that was the ride / video situation which kinda helped me figure out that I was trying to solve rideability issues by getting too backwards. 

our “test practice” was more like just trot a circle, canter a circle, change directions, rinse repeat

Since that ride, I’ve been a lot more intentional about keeping my leg *on* and riding forward. And gooooooo figure, lol, Doozy looks like an entirely different animal now to how she felt then.

doozy loves her halts now

Actually, if anything, I probably need to add even more leg now bc she’s suddenly so ho-hum about life. It’s honestly been so pleasant!

fairly quick ride bc of the weather…

It’s like I almost don’t know what to do with ourselves when she’s this pleasant haha. Like, we walk, trot, canter, she’s a perfect princess, and it’s like…. okie dokey so…. now what?? LOL…

collecting the expensive electronics before they get too too damp!

Obvi it’s easy enough to see from these pictures and the video that perhaps I could push for a little more, be a bit more exacting about frame and posture and all that… And sure, we’ll keep working on that. But I’m not gonna lie, it’s nice to just enjoy Doozy’s relaxation for a bit too haha.

lol @ her face…

My hope is to keep sorta reaffirming this relaxation in new and slightly different ways — like riding out in the grass! or riding in the rain! — while also continuing to nibble around the edges of improving our flatwork, so that ideally the relaxation will remain accessible to us when we get back to events. 

A girl can dream, right?

friday foto finish: more dressage

Happy Friday, folks! Things are quieting down a little bit around here after what felt like a sudden onslaught of activities all at once haha. Funny how the calendar works sometimes…

first trot of the lesson!

I actually wasn’t even originally planning on going to the Thornridge show, and certainly didn’t initially think jumping a round would be in the cards… But other plans moved around, and then Doozy was immediately such a princess about jumping again that, ya know, why not, let’s do it!

little ms sensible <3

But we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming now, which, in this case, means another dressage lesson with trainer C! Natch, accompanied by my new favorite toy, the pivo! 

Which I set up in the corner this time since it occasionally lost us in the corners when it was set at C in our last lesson. Unfortunately I chose the corner by the in-gate, so we missed a chunk of work at the end when the next horse joined the ring. Nbd but next time I’ll try the opposite corner.

warming up with leg yields!

Anyway, obvi I love using these lessons to prepare for events and all that, but it’s also equally nice to show up and be able to tell trainer C to “have your way with us!”

change directions, rinse, repeat!

Which, in this case, meant trainer C wanted us to play around with first level stuff, eventually putting together the pieces of 1-2. Exciting!! 

In her view, when Doozy is relaxed and engaged in the work, she basically already has all the requirements for the level, and is maybe similar to how Isabel was in that the harder and more demanding the tests get, the more interested Doozy becomes.

learning to find power in balance

Tho, realistically, that’s also probably a function of that Brett Parbery quote I shared last week, about how “exercises are for people, aids are for horses.” Meaning, perhaps, that as the tests get more demanding **for me,** then subsequently **I** do a better job of being clear crisp and correct in my aids to Doozy, who then naturally goes better and better.

started playing with lengthening the trot, v exciting for dooz!

Obvi it’s useful to understand the mechanics of why a good ride is good lol, bc understanding that makes it reproducible, right? But… more fundamentally, it’s also just plain fun to have good rides where everything feels connected and flowing. 

leg yielding from center line

And Doozy seems like a total junkie for that feeling too — she loves being a good girl, loves getting the answers right. And it seems like the more good rides we stack on top of each other, the happier and more relaxed and more confident she gets in the work. 

lots of canter this lesson!

So anyway the whole video is included below with all the main exercises we did and obvi all trainer C’s coaching through each movement. Probably mostly just interesting to me, but there’s some generally universal stuff in there for anybody looking for nuggets of wisdom. 

my 15m canter circle geometry was shockingly pitiful lol

We warmed up right away with leg yields from the quarter line, and trainer C wanted me to be clear and consistent from the word ‘go’ about correct inside bend. Which, at times for Doozy, can almost look a little like shoulder fore, with her nose a bit to the inside of her chest center. 

princess was so good i kept being wayyy too early for our canter-trot transitions over X

Lots of alternating between circles and leg yields, always looking to solidify and confirm the correct bend through the movements (ie, using the pattern to get Emma to deliver more consistent aids to the horse). And, this was **finally** the day when trainer C had us start pushing the trot out more on our diagonal changes of direction!! 

we repeated both directions of the canter work but alas, pivo got distracted when a handsome gray pony joined the ring

We hadn’t really gone there yet with Doozy bc it’s been such a journey to get her to balance and contain herself in a working trot, vs sorta unspooling out the front end… But something tells me Doozy’s gonna eventually love her lengthening and extensions LOL.

actual visual representation of pivo being truly torn

Anyway, the canter pattern in the 1-2 test was pretty good for us too. It’s a fair amount of canter, with long sides and 15m circles, and cantering across the diagonal to trot at X, then immediately pick the canter back up again in the next corner on the new lead. 

in the end, tho, it stuck with us <3

All of that wanted me to be a LOT more clear and prepared in my seat and aids. The 15m circles, for example, went best when I really concentrated on pushing into my seat bones, while also feeling both legs long, pushing the balls of my feet in each stirrup. 

The canter transitions… Honestly that was maybe the most interesting feeling. For so long, Doozy’s aid to canter was almost the *absence* of an aid. Like, you just stopped holding her and off she went! Now that she’s actually like, steady and on the aids and relaxing in the work, I actually have to be a little more proactive in preparing her for the transition.

basically the full lesson, trimmed of walk (and pivo) breaks

We never quite nailed the feeling in this lesson, my up transitions were always late and a bit shuffle-y. But now that I understand the pattern better, I think it’ll be a good one for us to practice to help me refine my own positioning. So long as I keep riding forward into it, tho, Doozy seems happy to go — compared to that little phase we went thru last year when I got too backwards and she was kicking out into her transitions. 

sweet doozy, best of biscuits

So yea, a good lesson for a lot of reasons. Super gratifying and honestly legitimately exciting to have trainer C tell us she thought we should be doing more first level stuff too. 

I’d like to find more opportunities to get out to just do dressage tests at shows, mostly bc the repetition seems to helpful for Doozy, and not having impending jumping phases helps me focus and be more intentional… But we’ll see what the calendar holds. 

Fall is my favorite season for riding and activities, and I’m so relieved and grateful to have Doozy coming back into action for it!