reunited just in time!

I don’t think winter is fully done with us yet… but hot damn, it’s been LOVELY this week!

casually watching me search fruitlessly for her lost shoe. no doubt she knows exactly where it is, too…
also omg her nostrils… she is so extra lol 

Like, all my windows at home wide open type lovely. Warm, sunny, mild, all the nice things! And the horses are definitely appreciating it too! 

casually considering a little light dog-icide

And even better — my farrier was able to swing by and set a new shoe on Doozy’s stricken limb, hallelujah! I still have so much PTSD from Charlie’s foot-related fragility that it’s hard for me to relax again until the horse is fully shod and demonstrably comfortable. 

“i’ll let you live this time, but i have my eye on you!” — doozy, no doubt

Doozy, it should be noted, however, does not share my PTSD. And it was so nice out after her shoe was reset, and so many people were out and riding, it honestly felt like it’d be a crime to NOT throw on some tack and swing a leg over, ya know?

omg finally — our first hack of 2026!

I had intentions of meandering up the hill to the indoor where a few friends were already mid ride, but Doozy had other ideas haha. She set off on a marching pace straight down the lane toward the back hay fields. And who am I to deny her???

presumably the woods are still slippy sloppy mud, but the fields were perfect!

Honestly can’t remember the last time we hacked out, actually. The farm is so hilly and it’s been so snowy and icy and wet for so long… It’s probably been at least December, but maybe actually maybe even November since we’ve been out there…

it was legit almost 80*F out too, omg

Doozy clearly missed it tho, and was happy to wander around the hills, grabbing occasional bites of grass bc she’s obviously spoiled rotten haha. 

all these shrubs are gonna start sprouting buds any day now

I’m not getting my hopes all the way up yet, but it also looks like the outdoor ring might finally be opening for the season too!!

happy hacking <3 <3 <3

Obvi I’m beyond grateful to have indoor riding spaces, it’s made all the difference with keeping us on a more or less even keel this winter… But I also won’t be sad if we don’t have to ride inside again for the foreseeable future LOL!

oooh and a quick little bridle tag DIY mod!

Especially as we start thinking about gearing up for the season ahead, it’ll be good to be more out in the open, moving about in wide open spaces while staying accountable for our pace and balance without the passive influence of solid walls lol.

sure, i could have just bought a new number holder that was designed with a pin… 

I’ve also started doing a little light inventory work of all the various pieces of equipment that scattered every which way over the off season. In particular, Doozy became increasingly funny about things touching her ears last year. Her hair is a primary annoyance… but we also had some issues with my bridle tag too. 

So my hope is that a little light modification will transform it semi-permanently into a saddle pad number holder instead. Repurposing > buying new (if it works lol).

but eh, this’ll do! probably!

It’s also maybe time to shake out all the show clothes, do a little laundry, see what’s what. See if anything needs any attention or fixing / cleaning up before going out in public again. Not that I’m exactly a shining example of style and grooming, let’s be real (lol), but you know how it is. 

Spring cleaning season is officially upon us, as far as I’m concerned! Anybody else feeling the same?

a sticky situation

Poor Ms Doozy was left all alone for a few days while I was out of town for work. The sadness, my friends, it was extreme.

the saddest biscuit

I’d let her have the couple days prior to my trip off from riding too bc honestly it was just sorta like, ‘eh, what’s the point?’ when I really had some other stuff to get done anyway.

poor thing, living in such squalor, brutally exposed to the warm spring sun… truly. she’d MUCH rather be working, but — *alas!* — she lost a shoe in the muck. what a shame, eh?

And then naturally, the weather warmed up, the horses were all kicked out to frolic in the mud, and roll and roll and roll around, scratching that spring shedding itch… Truly. A difficult life!

there’s zero chance this survives the mud lol, but it’ll protect her from rubs while stalled

Sweet princess managed to survive all that catastrophe with heroic stoicism, however. And was hale and hearty when I finally got home and saddled up for our first ride back. And naturally she was a perfect princess for that ride too! Perhaps the first time I’ve EVER been able to say that about Doozy after so many days in a row off work lol…

bright eyed biscuit legit lives for being fussed over lol

But, much to Doozy’s intense dismay (obviously!) she was not able to repeat the achievement, having subsequently lost a shoe to the deep sticky mud the very next day. 

it’s soft enough outside she doesn’t really need the cloud boot, but hopefully by wearing it while stalled we’ll reduce the chance of her getting sore?

Clearly her regret was palpable… Especially after the clocks changed this weekend and the barn decided to let the horses have extended turnout hours… Obvi she would have much rather been working!

lol she’s already bored tho, and getting ready to spook herself touching the trash can ha

But no. Circumstances being what they were, we couldn’t possibly run the risk of bruising her delicate tootsies. Siiiiigh, such a shame.

 

anyway. unrideable horses must suffer the consequences. and suffer for their beauty, ahem.

Tho. Joke’s on Doozy, I guess, bc in Emma’s world, horses that can’t work might find themselves subject to other, ahem, indignities. 

snip snip, mother fuckers!

Like, say, whatever the opposite is of “world class grooming” haha… hahahaha.

washed a winter’s worth of grime out of the tail, and gave that a tidy little trim too!

Tho before you get too worried for Doozy’s overall safety and wellbeing, I will say we’ve been having pretty decent luck keeping her mane in order with the solo comb pulling method (basically where you tease up the hair as if you were pulling, but then snip the solo comb as close the root as possible).

“bitch did you just cut me?” — doozy, aghast

Her bridle path is still a scissor job, tho. And, ahem, a pretty bad job at that. Bc with Doozy, you really only get ONE snip. So, uh, make it count? 

This horse, I swear. You can practically hear her whining, “but my hair hurts!!” with every little snip. Her chiro / acupuncturist once observed that Doozy has a ‘long pain memory,’ and it really makes ya wonder what they must have done to keep her trimmed up on the track. 

“whatever, so long as there’s #snax”

And so it goes, tho, amirite? I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to get the shoe reset asap. But in the meantime, I’ll probably keep her in the cloud boot at least overnights in the stall to provide relief from any soreness. Presumably the boot wouldn’t stand a chance against the same mud that claimed a shoe, right? We’ll see, tho. Cross your fingers for us!

anyway. enjoy some mountains, pic snapped from the window of my uber bc i just had time for meetings while traveling, womp

And in the meantime, if temps stay so warm and pleasant, Ms Thing might find herself subject to an actual first full bath of the season!! 

We’ll see, tho, let’s not get too crazy haha, it’s still early days of March! Happy daylight savings, friends!

a little course work-ish

As usual, I had all these good intentions of “getting on a schedule” with all my various favorite local pros this spring… But winter had other ideas. Fortunately, tho, spring is finally making itself felt, slowly but surely. And we were able to make it out to ride with Sally again at her most recent clinic day in Annapolis!

invisible mare camouflages with the “greenery”

And given our recent uptick in “normal work,” I had a couple key goals from this ride. Namely, to make all the steps in between the jumps — before, during, after, etc — count just as much, if not more than the jumps themselves.

It’s so easy to fall into nasty little ‘survival mode’ habits with Doozy, ya know? She’s so good at the jumps, and so… er, tricky, about everything else, that I often kinda just do the bare minimum before getting on with it. 

all the way in the back corner with her boyfriends, trying to manifest the mud into grass

And that worked well enough at our last couple lessons with Sally, which were both focused exclusively on gymnastics work. Gymnastics are demanding, intense workouts in and of themselves, tho they start gently and progressively. So it’s not the craziest thing in the world to do only a light-ish warm up before getting into it. 

But ya know. We have to address the trickiness eventually, right? And for Doozy to really understand her job, I have to be consistent in my expectations. Which, anybody who has been reading will know is a key theme in our recent lessons with Dan.

fast forward and we’ve arrived at Cheshire!

I’ve also been working on staying consistent with my expectations even when Doozy would rather be distracted. Like by other horses in the ring, ahem, cough cough. Our last couple rides at home were perfect for working on that too — as we often had a couple other horses in the ring with us, but usually Doozy’s favorite friends (like her Friesian friend and bebe Morgan field mate!) and their skilled, predictable riders. 

The ring at Cheshire is gorgeous but FULL of distractions — as every window opens out to lovely vistas where as likely as not, other activities are happening. Horses galloping in turn out, riders schooling in the outdoor, and naturally just the normal foot traffic of people and horses going hither and yon.

for once i have no media from a sally lesson, massive sadness :( 
here’s a shot from our last time in this epically gorgeous ring tho!

Doozy was a good girl, tho! Tense, distracted, but contained within herself and (mostly) on the aids throughout our warm up, trotting and cantering around with our lesson mates. Good girl, a nice reversion to “normal” ahead of show season and it’s associated warm up ring chaos.

I was hoping the lesson would be more course work, but we actually ended up starting with a little gymnastic grid first. Started as a single X, grew to a ~28’ two stride (obvi set quite short but rode fine on a waiting stride), finished with a bounce in to the two stride. After that, tho, we started picking up some singles off sweeping lines. 

and for shits and giggles, another shot from a different ride with Sally, our last time at Kealani

I had hoped for more course work bc frankly the transitions are part of the trickiness to riding Doozy. The starting and stopping then starting again is harder for staying connected on the aids than just cruising around, ya know? Tho, uh, if you’re silently thinking in your head that, ‘well isn’t that the whole point of lessons tho, to work on the challenging stuff?,’ then… yea, you right LOL.

So it was good practice. Doozy was definitely a bit of a handful throughout in these upward transitions — especially into the grid. Just like last time, she had a tendency to get almost a little stuck and up and down and sideways, vs traveling fluidly forward. I found it very helpful, tho, to stay laser focused on the steadiness of my position, tempo of my posting trot (at least for the grid, that we trotted into), and steady unmoving rein contact. Just repeating to myself, keep it simple, don’t overthink it. 

oooooh that face is strangely familiar!!

It got a little easier when we started picking up singles off sweeping lines. Mostly bc we could canter, and because the ring is big enough that most things could be approached from either direction if you really needed that flexibility. Doozy has a tendency to lean on her right shoulder, which can be tricky when tracking right and trying to establish that inside bend. 

She was also getting a little stuck in her rhythm upon being presented to the fences — with little disruptions a couple steps out that would sometimes take us off our distance or line. 

Tho our last exercise of the ride was maybe a bit better, because we strung together a second jump. So landed from the first — and it should be noted, Doozy actually landed nicely (for us) from everything all day long, vs spooling off into a bolt — organized, and turned to approach a second jump. She still made a bit of a rhythm-disrupting move ahead of that final jump, but it was overall more fluid than just the singles alone.

of course, it’s two Big Brown fillies!!! so stinkin cute, amirite?

I’ll also point out that, without exception, Doozy’s efforts over the jumps themselves were all quite nice. Her technique thru the grid was good, and each individual jump was handled easily and comfortably despite the occasional disruptions. And no knocked rails, good girl!

For my own personal confidence, I would have liked to do more course work… string more things together, more related lines etc… But then again, for the purposes of the horse’s education and advancement, I think the starting and stopping and repetition of “not overthinking it” into our upward transitions probably has more long term value. We know she can jump. It’s just… all the other stuff LOL.

One thing at a time, I suppose haha — and decent rideability through a lot of transitions in an unusual and super distracting ring is a worthy enough “thing.” Especially when you consider her last jumping session was an xc school! 

winner winner biscuit dinner!

I’ve been a member of the Delaware Valley Combined Training Association for a few years now, but this was the first year I managed to fulfill the volunteer requirements needed for year end award eligibility!

handsome doozy, looking quite at ease with all her accoutrements!

Honestly, it’s a great club just in general and I’ve been proud to be a member regardless. And naturally I’m slightly evangelical about encouraging literally anybody I meet to join their local riding clubs and associations. For me, that’s the MCTA and DVCTA and perhaps I’ll rejoin the MDA this year too. 

“please refer to me by my proper title, Empress of the Universe, Knower of Everything” — Doozy, 100%

But. To be perfectly honest, a big part of why I joined DVCTA in the first place is bc literally everyone I knew who had a membership straight up RAVED about the quality of their year end awards program. 

let’s see that from another angle pls, bc obvi we had a full press bay for these glamour shots <3
(also, no, your eyes do not deceive you — she is in fact absolutely caked in mud lol)

So finally I made it my business this year to log the needed volunteer hours at qualifying events and shows. And holy smokes, guys, it was so worth it!

if we look like we’re straight up cheesin for the camera lol… well… 

I’ve never seen a year end submissions process quite like theirs… So many different categories, so many different ways to earn points…

lol @ my face haha

First of all, literally everything counts in one way or another. Recognized events, schooling events, CTs, all jump heights (including poles on the ground)… Everything. PLUS. Points were awarded for final placings, obvi, but also just for like… doing the thing. 

check out this sweet swag too! friggin plates omg - including a nameplate! 
forgot to include the lovely DVCTA mug in this pic bc i was drinking tea from it while writing this post LOL

Did you show up to the event? Good job, here’s a point! Did you finish the event? Even better, here’s another point! Clear jumping? Inside the time? Yep - you guessed it, more points!!

never in my life have i gotten a ribbon with a tassel on it omg
obvi hung some of that satin up on Doozy’s stall wall for a couple days <3

That, combined with the club membership base being predominantly dressage riders, meant Doozy and I made nearly clean sweeps of our jumping categories!! 

Which… is fairly insane if you consider, uh, our actual record LOL. We aren’t exactly what you’d consider a ‘competitive’ bunch. But ya know. That’s not gonna stop me from being tickled beyond belief by this incredible swag, omg. 

nbd, just sittin on my champion mare <3

Talk about indulgent year end awards, omg… Like, sure sure, we can all pretty much appreciate that Doozy and I might not necessarily be destined for topping the leaderboards at any prestigious events or anything like that… 

But if you go by the maxim, ‘90% of Life is Showing Up,’ then yea. We do that haha! Still gotta participate to get that trophy, amirite? 

and yet she persisted

With all the customization and ‘personalization’ of literally everything on the internet these days, I never really know if I’m seeing the same “news” as everybody else… To be honest, sometimes I think my google news feed is just like, “wow you check your weather app a lot, seems like you are into weather, let’s fill your ENTIRE FEED with headlines about weather!”

i spy three horse butts, none of them red. doozy, where are you??

Which. Like. No, google news feed. No, that’s literally what the app is for. I check the weather app to see what I need to see about weather, I’m not just generally curious about it LOL… But here we are, in a brave new era of the stupid internet.  

ooooh, there you are! Lil Ms Mafiosa likes to always face the entry way LOL, and it’s no coincidence that all the rest of the horses are crowded onto the opposite side of the hay ring haha 

Or maybe I’m wrong, maybe everybody is in the same boat. Which means that even if you weren’t in the path of this last weekend’s most recent storm, perhaps you heard about it anyway. 

outdoor ring almost entirely clear of snow on saturday, the day we went to loch moy!!

Fortunately, while areas north of Maryland — particularly up thru New York and into New England — got slammed by the recent nor’easter, we just got a respectable new snow layer that was quickly and easily cleared from the roads. No state of emergency, and no unending weeks of arctic blasts. Just normal snow. Fine!

then….. monday, blargh

After last month’s extravaganza, this barely merited a shrug haha! Well… except from the horses, who need no special invitation to be a little extra lol… I swear they know when a big system is blowing in, bc basically the whole farm was up in a tizzy! Gotta love it!

storm blew in with a lot of rain to start, and the horses were all a bit cray cray. 
here’s doozy just breakin dem’ boys hearts!

Anyway, tho, the storm hit overnight Sunday, was mostly cleared up by midday Monday, and by Tuesday we were off again to our now bi-weekly lessons** with dressage trainer C!!

(**At least that’s the plan haha, y’all know how it goes… But we actually have a standing day + time now for the first time ever, so maybe it’ll stick!)

nonchalantly trying to act like the whole lot of them *didn’t* just bolt up the hill behind me haha
i’m calling shenanigans!

And I tried to remember to take a lot of pictures in order to force myself to write about it… since the writing helps really cement the experience into my memories, but the photos are what really drive the writing. You know how it is.

anyway. onto the lesson!

This winter has probably been the most consistent era for seeing trainer C in years. Even so, tho, it’s still been a bit inconsistent just bc of the weather. Like, we missed a lesson last month bc of the big storm, and honestly with all the ups and downs anyway it’s always even odds whether Doozy has been working regularly leading up to the lesson. Which means it’s a bit of a gamble what horse shows up haha!

i always feel a little unworthy of being the first to leave tracks in this incredible ring…

We’ve been super productive the last couple weeks tho, so Doozy showed up ready to shine this week, yay! Well. Ok haha, let’s temper that a little bit. Bc she still is who she is. There’s often another horse schooling in the ring at the same time as my lesson, which is totally fine, tho naturally Doozy is often distracted.

random unrelated shot of us from home, only related in that — hey, it’s me on a horse!

Plus, this week we also had the manure spreader out in the cornfield above the ring doing its thing. Except, with the ~23*F temps, “doing its thing” happened to also involve putting off so much steam from the warm manure that you’d have thought the whole thing was on fire. Which, naturally, Doozy did think LOL.

back at the dressage barn again… doozy thinks she’d rather just move in and live there rather than go back into the cold wind

Much like our lesson with Dan last week, it was therefore a persistent issue throughout the ride of trying to keep Doozy’s attention, to keep backing her off the ledge of wanting to lose her shit.

handsome mare <3 i’m always trying to recreate one of my favorite shots of charlie thru these doorways

And I’m proud to say that we were successful! Like, sure, she had a couple moments here and there — especially the first time the steaming spreader passed close to the windows just as we turned our back to it. She had a fairly big spook into canter at that moment… But like, fine, right? Seems to me like a reasonably normal thing to spook at. What mattered is that she recovered, and then kept a lid on it (tho also kept an eye on that spreader) afterward. We’ll take it!

ugh. mare. c’mon, open your eyes!!

A really big difference maker in this ride, I think, was remembering what Dan said about my tendency to really move around a lot in the saddle, to kinda swing side to side with the movement of Doozy’s stride. He was adamant that I sit still and firm in *one* spot, to let Doozy come to me. And go figure, he was right.

look at the camera!! doozy!!

It really made a difference helping Doozy stay with me when she felt distracted or worried, but it also made a HUGE difference when we practiced our leg yields, which trainer C had us doing almost the whole ride. She started us off in walking leg yields, quarter line to rail, and then right away had us doing them in trot too.

sigh. the original, there can only be one <3

She set us off on a nice little pattern, too. Riding leg yield quarter line to rail, then immediately onto a 15m circle, which naturally lands you back on the quarter line to repeat again. And she also had us leg yielding from rail to quarter line, and again with the 15m circle to immediately rinse repeat again. For all of Doozy’s hemming and hawing, she was shockingly good for this!

you’ll do, tho, sweet biscuit <3

We did a similar pattern in canter, too — cantering a 15m circle, turn up the quarter line, transition to trot, leg yield to wall. Rinse repeat, or change directions etc. A very pleasant little exercise that I think we’ll adopt as it’s just enough to keep Doozy occupied and busy, while still requiring we be connected and on the aids quickly — but not quite so intense an exercise as to get the horse feeling stressed or anticipatory.

grateful to have this silly critter in my life!

And maybe a nice addition to the next edition of the Brit Bot, assuming that gets resurrected once we’re back to riding out in more open spaces again. (And Kat I promise I haven’t forgotten about your tests either!!)

So overall a nicely productive session — mainly in that it was yet another ride rife with #distractions and #feelings but yet we persisted and got on with it and (eventually) overcame haha. The real trick will be making that happen in the chaos of a warm up ring when I may or may not have step by step instruction… But that eventuality is still a ways off, so for now we’re satisfied enough!