fire horsing forward

It’s still winter around these parts… But at least the weather is normalizing a bit. It’s only freezing out?? We’ll take it! It hasn’t been quiiiiite warm enough to meaningfully melt any of the snow, tho hopefully that’ll come this week.

somehow only very few new pics, so enjoy this nice shot of Ms Fire Horse Herself, She of Big Emotions, from the last snowstorm

In the meantime… It feels like time to get back on the proverbial — and literal — horse. 2026 has already been a lot of things to a lot of different people… for better, but unfortunately often for worse too. 

We’re imminently approaching the Lunar New Year — the Year of the Fire Horse — tho, which is apparently a time to embrace our independence, challenge authority, and trust our instincts to strike off down new paths, while not shying away from pivoting or adapting as needs arise.

bc…. the current snowstorm is still with us LOL… gotta love mares tho, look at that tidy little path out to the pasture, clearly demarcated by breadcrumbs manure piles

To me, that leaves a lot of freedom and openness to interpretation. That linked article says,

 “It’s a time for big change and big emotions,”

Which… feels somewhat strangely dichotomous considering so many folks are feeling cooped up, restrained and stir crazy, kept inside by a vast array of perilous external forces… Literal, figurative, take your pick. But maybe that’s also the point, the actual sign of the times?

pathway marks a direct line straight to the round bale lol

Anyway. I dunno about you, but “big change” sounds good to me. Well. Ok, let’s back up a sec. I’m actually a bit more of a Wood Ox, personally. More of a ‘dependable planner’ type, admittedly change-averse in my own day to day operations… LOL. 

But it’s a sentiment I can get behind if we’re talking about the general times!! 

well. **almost** a straight line— clever ladies dogleg over to the heated water trough on their way in and out

Because as it is, there seems to be an increasing feeling of general restlessness and malaise with everything going on. Shifting seasons aren’t likely to fix all (or even any) of that… But maybe the improved conditions can inject some much-needed energy and motivation into the collective psyche, right? Maybe??

speaking of injecting much-needed energy… this gadget continues to be useful in the face of persistent cold!

For my part, I finally dug the trailer out of its snow cave, zapped the truck battery back to life, and hauled Ms Mondeuse over for a dressage lesson with trainer C. Sure sure, we’ve barely ridden at all in recent weeks and the animal is straight up feral. But. Eh. Who cares. We’re following our Fire Horse intuitions, not getting bogged down in the rigid details, amirite?

older pic, lately have had the best success with hooking both positive and neutral cables directly to the corresponding bolt nuts on the battery. ymmv.

And it was good! Tho you’ll have to take my word for it bc obviously we don’t always have friends tagging along taking pics and video of every little moment LOL (sigh). 

all the better for gettin where we wanna go!!
(yes, this is the only actual picture from our lesson LOL)

And ok, maybe it wasn’t, like, classically “Good” in terms of getting stuff done, being productive, furthering Doozy’s dressage prowess, etc etc etc. More like small-g “good” — keeping horse between rider and earth despite unplanned dance moves; staying patient with a sense of humor when the mare can bolt on a balanced 15m circle… etc etc, you get the picture! 

replaced the pastern wraps we’d been using with new navy DSBs snagged with a recent gift card

It maybe ain’t much lol… But I’m here for it anyway. Getting my fix, focusing my time and energy on the things I love doing. 

Spring is coming. The Fire Horse is coming. And if the Chinese lunar zodiac is to be believed, Times of Big Change and Big Feelings are also coming. 

flashback pic of my mare and her sweet glare <3 <3 <3

For as tiring and relentlessly oppressive as this winter has felt, it has to end eventually, right? 

“i’d like to speak with the manager”

Not naming any names or anything… But there miiiiiight be a little red mare out there gettin ready to write a strongly worded letter about this whole w*nter situation lol…

the look of a mare who is running out of patience with the whole “sn*w” mess

“wtf is it actually snowing again right now???”

“this is bullshit”

“if i slip and fall and die, i’m taking you with me.”

meanwhile. in baltimore city. 
nbd, just scoopin’ up some actual literal icebergs in the middle of rush hour traffic!

Stay warm out there, kids!

imbolc

That weird rodent up in Pennsylvania might have predicted more winter, but we still passed an important milestone this week: a previously-unknown-to-me Gaelic holiday Imbolc!!

#trashhound

February 1st is apparently some sort of ancient pagan festival celebrating the beginning of spring — marking the halfway point between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. 

trying to hide how excited she is about actually getting to go do something again!

Presumably all these weird winter holiday variations all have shared ancestral roots — or at least, in the case of good ol’ Phil, shared observations of the natural rhythms of seasonal change. 

“reading the news”

And while I wouldn’t exactly look out the window and think, “Ah yes! Spring is coming!” there ARE some undeniable signs.

biscuit has been so bored she was literally thrilled to be back in the dusty ring lol

Sunset is noticeably later now — something that makes a HUGE difference for me personally, and probably a lot of you too. 

apparently so starved for grass, even dead half rotten grass

The horses are also getting more serious about mid-winter shedding. Doozy started getting a few loose hairs around the solstice, but it’s really picking up steam now. Which, as usual with this sensitive little mare, is a good reminder for me to keep an eye out for under-blanket skin funk.

sunset is later and later every day!

Coat Defense powder is my go-to for trying to stay on top of funk prevention. And actually, one of the barn managers makes a DIY version with tea tree oil that is absolutely luscious! 

behold! we aren’t the only crazy ones!

Anyway. Other signs of a shifting season: The horses definitely seem to be hunting for ANYTHING approximating grass. Which I guess could also just be a reflection of having the ground hidden from them for a couple weeks… But still. I like to believe it’s a sign they can smell the earliest signs of growth. 

friesian frens are best frens <3

Tho, the downside is Doozy seems more preoccupied sometimes with hunting grass than just chillin at the round bale. It feels inevitable with TBs that they tend to grow a little lean by the end of winter, and Doozy’s definitely on that path. 

Nothing crazy - imo she looks fantastic (and was possibly admittedly a *little fat* at the height of summer grass anyway), but ya know. Something to keep an eye on!

so intrigued by this dark mucky substance peeking thru the white

We’ve laid relatively low since the storm anyway. Obviously the new year kicked off with a bunch of exciting lessons, and hopefully we’ll get back to all that soon! But, eh, all in good time — and temperatures, amirite?? 

Maryland is finally returning to more seasonally appropriate weather, which means this snow might be gone soon-ish too. Here’s hoping!

mmmm maybe more grass!!!

In the meantime, we’re working on embodying yet another little teaching nugget from the recent yoga classes: focusing on ‘wise stewardship of energy.’ 

In other words, trying to be mindful in how we use our time and energy, rather than operating in mindless autopilot. Recognizing that even tho Doozy has apparently limitless vast reserves of stored energy (lol), it’s up to me to help channel her in productive ways, especially when some of her normal outlets are less available bc of conditions etc. And maybe also especially when my own energy levels are decidedly less than hers… Let’s call it a work in progress LOL!

friday foto finish: bundled biscuit!!

Unbelievably, it’s still January… How? Nobody knows! Fortunately, tho, in another 3,846 weeks two days we’ll be into February. Still winter, obvi. Probably still gonna be cold and gross… But maybe an improvement anyway? We’ll see, I guess lol…

pre-storm: the most bundled up hobo east of the mississippi! 

Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’re within huge proportion of the US that got slammed with an epic cross-country snow storm last weekend. It was … a LOT.

a very dire forecast indeed for this part of the world

Tho, interestingly enough, the forecast was remarkably consistent (and appropriately serious) pretty well in advance. Everybody knew it was coming, and everybody most people planned accordingly.

big daddy, most impractical of commuter vehicles, actually proved useful parking amidst the city drifts!

Members of the barn staff and care team — including the primary paid force of guys who live on site, and the flex folks who cover days off and some weekend stuff — were all able to juggle days and shifts etc to ensure the main guys got enough time off before the storm. 

the barn guys did such a surgically precise plow job, tho, the civic should be free soon!

They had a plan, folks were rested and ready, and it all went super smoothly! What a crazy feeling to be hunkered down, snowed in, off the roads bc of ‘state of emergency’ restrictions, and completely at peace with the knowledge that Doozy was absolutely fine!

anyway. ponies. WILD ponies!

This is probably one of the first times in my life as a boarder that I wasn’t among the core group of folks gettin shit done when circumstances required it. What a luxury! 

Instead, I basically got to just… stay out of the way, let the guys do their thing, and otherwise just wait for the coast to clear to show up and play with my pony!

just look at that sweet face and tell me she isn’t the most precious??

Now, granted. Doozy is a VERY different type from Charlie. Sure, she’s still spoiled rotten and considers 3 days of no grooming to be a shocking dereliction of my duties. Absolute neglect, no doubt. 

But Charlie, that sweet silly gelding, may he be resting in peace… if he didn’t get his daily grooming, homeboy was as likely as not to take things into his own hands and stick a leg thru an actual fence while trying to scratch dat itch! Ahem.

ooooooh they heard the peppermint crinkles LOL, **Incoming!!**

Doozy is… not that kinda girl lol. Tho naturally she was quite happy to finally get groomed again anyway — especially under her hood!

speed racer, look at that blur!!

With things as they are outside, tho, everything is slowing wayyyy dowwwn on the productivity scale. Tho I still want to make sure Doozy gets regular opportunities to move out and let off some energy!

lol. just kidding… ‘twas more of a mild lope

Turnout in the indoor with her favorite little bebe morgan field mate seemed like the perfect activity! Nice soft flat footing in a safe environment!

for real, tho, check out those stems!

Naturally, neither mare seemed to really know what to do with themselves. They weren’t super stir crazy (probably bc it’s tiring enough just trudging thru the snow to the round bales), so there wasn’t much in the way of galloping zoomies, bucking or squealing… 

Doozy let out a few little bucks and bolts, but mostly just kinda lazily ‘self lunged’ LOL! To be honest, both mares seemed far more interested in inspecting the two tractors that were parked behind the camera to stay out of the snow… 

sweet spoiled mare would like us to please clean up all that nasty icy mess!

All in all, not a bad way to get a little enrichment! Conditions aren’t likely to meaningfully improve any time soon — with temperatures staying well below freezing for at least another week, and the possibility of another storm coming too. 

Not ideal, but them’s the breaks. It IS Maryland tho, so who knows, maybe all this nastiness will be followed by a week of sunny 40*F weather and everything will be back to normal in no time flat! A girl can dream, right?

How did you make out in the storm — still digging out or basically back to business as usual? Or maybe you’re one of the lucky ones and missed the snow entirely?

installing buttons

Bad news in Baltimore… We’re already 3 weeks into the new year, and… Yep — *looks outside window* — it’s still winter. Womp.

There’s not really a whole heckuva lot going on right now in our world. And obvi all the warm fuzzy feelings of *inspiration* and *motivation* and *energetic excitement* associated with “New Year, New Me OMG!” can’t last forever, amirite? 

So… eh, let’s dial it back a little. Not ALL the way, tho, bc today’s topic is still entirely inspired by (and based in part on) my experiences of digging into those new year intentions. Specifically related to my foray into a new physical activity. 

Namely, I want to share a couple observations from attending yoga classes… Which, naturally, I’ll attempt to tie back into some sort of equestrian relevance.

sweet mare is so patient with all my shenanigans LOL

Bc it turns out, learning new things as an adult… kinda sucks lol. I’ve never been a fantastic multi-tasker anyway, but seriously guys. Trying to listen to, understand, and act upon a whole new set of vocabulary words in real time and real heat (did I mention the studio is heated??) while **simultaneously** not falling on my actual literal face during said actions, which themselves seem to defy physical laws of gravity and flexibility… Yeeeahhhhh, it’s been. Hm. Wobbly. 

The first few classes were a constant struggle. I burned so much energy just concentrating on following the prompts and remembering to breathe, that I often couldn’t make it through the full sequences. 

Soon enough, tho, things started clicking! Suddenly the words, poses and sequences became more familiar. My experience in class shifted from an overwhelming bombardment of sensory stimuli to organized flow. My stamina increased, my pants magically lost their post-holiday snugness… I felt good!

And what a trajectory, right? Exponential achievements unlocked! At this rate, I’ll be well on my way to nirvana in no time flat, right?? Right?!?

“nirvana?? yea right, get real, lady!” — doozy, 100%

Ahem. Cough cough. Yeeeahhh. About that. 

Anybody familiar with the phrase “regression to the mean” (or, I guess, familiar with the basic regression curve itself) recognizes this pattern. Starting from zero, followed by a period of rapid growth / improvement, before tapering onto a near-flat trajectory toward infinity. 

In other words, results tend to plateau over time. Not bc we suck or whatever, but bc it’s legitimately a long, slow, incremental process of building skill and proficiency in just about any and every endeavor. Like it or not, I’m probably stuck with the wobbles for the foreseeable future.

Relatable, right? Sliiiiightly discouraging, sure lol. And probably a big reason why a lot of new habits or intentions often don’t stick. Bc unless you legitimately enjoy the activity itself, that long slow grind isn’t super fulfilling lol.

Obviously there are plenty of parallels to riding just in that concept alone, too. Like how with Doozy, all those exciting new milestones from the early days — our first sit! our first jompies!! our first jompy lesson!!! — eventually gave way to the slow steady grind of incremental progress 2.5 years (really) later.

Have no fear, tho, this whole blog is basically a shrine to the grind LOL. So I promise not to dedicate this entire post to that subject. It’s been interesting and enlightening, however, to experience it more directly and personally, that’s for sure!

pictured: the face of a horse who is *astonished* at the suggestion that our progress has been slow
“don’t look at me, it ain’t my fault!” — doozy, without a doubt

So let’s move onto my other big main observation from these yoga classes: what that regressive concept means for understanding reproducibility in general, and the conditions for success in particular.

Sure, it’d be easy to believe that having finally accomplished a tricky twisty balancing pose for the first time, that now it’s part of my ‘repertoire,’ it’s something I can do. Or, in a more horsey jargon that I personally find mildly obnoxious, it’s a “button” that’s now been “installed.”

We’ve all heard it before, right? Maybe about some sort of flat work exercises — lateral movements, flying changes, fancy dressage stuff — that a horse has a ‘lot of buttons.’ 

And sure, there are some very nicely schooled horses out there who are capable and confident at executing upper level maneuvers with relatively minimal input.

But real talk…. there are some things I can do at the *end* of a yoga class that… I can not do at the beginning. And don’t even TRY to ask me for that same degree of flexibility or muscle tone when I’m standing at the bathroom sink, brushing my teeth after waking up in the morning. Bc it ain’t gonna happen like that. 

maybe i just have ‘warming up’ on my mind bc i’m trying to manifest to the universe??

Obviously this is NOT rocket science and I’m not telling you anything you don’t know by saying it’s actually the progressive warming up, stretching and activation of different muscle groups throughout class that suddenly makes those trickier poses more “available” to me. It’s not that we install a headstand “button,” but rather that the conditions for achieving a headstand* — aligning the spine, stacking hips and shoulders, etc etc — are met such that the headstand is possible. 

((**Obviously NOT referring to myself here, ain’t no way, no how, I’m stacked in ALL The Wrong Ways LOL))

Academically, again, this is not new information. For me, for you, for any of us. But going through the experiences personally, recognizing the differences in my own body between when I’m not ready for a particular movement vs when I am, has been enlightening.

And it’s made me think in new ways about how we go about “warming up” in a typical schooling ride. Bc again, let’s be real, it’s super easy to fall into a pattern of treating the warm up like a check list. Like, ok, let’s walk for 5minutes, trot for a bit, change directions, work both sides, introduce some figures, maybe a little canter, then voila! we’re ready to jump a couple jumps.

That might not necessarily be wrong either — perhaps it’s a normal pattern bc it basically normally gets the job done. But now it’s got me thinking more deeply about exactly which muscle groups I’m asking the horse to activate, when, and to what degree of intensity, and how that sequence can progress through a ride. 

looking forward to a day when we’ve got better things to do than navel gaze!!

And more specifically to that whole idea of “buttons” in the horse, it’s so easy to think that once we’ve schooled a horse to a specific movement or maneuver, then the horse should always be able to do that thing. When, in reality, it’s all the underlying conditions, circumstances, situations that have progressed to make that “button” available.

A horse that’s on the aids, in front of the leg, and relaxed but attentive will have an easier time stepping immediately into a new gait transition or lateral movement or whatever, compared to a horse for which some or all of those criteria are not met. 

More thoroughly trained or well schooled horses might get there faster with less fuss or rider input, might also have the conditioning necessary to do more “advanced movements” with less preparation (for example: plenty of folks can wake up and whip out some fancy poses while brushing their teeth cold at the sink,** right?)… sure. 

(**Tho there probably aren’t too many PRs recorded cold at the bathroom sink!)

But for the most part, I’m guessing a lot of us probably need to spend less time thinking about achieving specific movements or transitions or whatever, and more time focused on those basic fundamentals: on the aids, in front of the leg, relaxed but attentive.

The basic ingredients that make an activity possible and reproducible in the horse. For me and Doozy, for example, that could mean reframing how I think about practicing for dressage tests. Shifting focus from just rehearsing the test pattern itself to instead really working on practicing that ‘readiness’ to perform a test.

Not really an earth shattering concept or observation, obviously. But maybe interesting. At least to me LOL, on this cold wintry day, staring down yet another snowstorm! What do you think?

busy biscuit

I know it might *feel* like I’m suddenly taking a shit ton of lessons right now… But actually, well. Yea. Ok we did kinda get a bit stacked up in the last two weeks between the gymnastics clinic with Sally, hosting Dan for a pop-up clinic at home, and now another dressage lesson with longtime trainer C… 

frosty biscuit!

It is maybe a little bit of a busier schedule than normal, but not really unheard of. What *IS* so unusual, tho, is the massive amounts of accompanying media!!! Bc as you all know, media is essentially the fuel powering this entire blog — the nuclear core of this living documentary.

lol she apparently wanted to be like @Opie

Realistically, most lessons are not earth shattering events, chock full of ground breaking discoveries or brand-new, never before seen or heard nuggets of wisdom. So in the absence of accompanying media, we kinda get the relatively sparse coverage from this past summer of nearly weekly lessons with local 5* trainer Woodge (who has since gone south for the season). 

fast forward a few minutes and we’ve arrived for our lesson!

Those lessons were incredible, and forged a whole new level of schooling and understanding in Doozy. But ya know. Zero media = not much to show for all that in a ‘blog’ sense. Until now, that is, when suddenly the stars aligned and I’ve gotten tons of media from other recent lessons that continue to build on this past summer’s work!! Much excitement!

absolutely #spoiled by my barn mate snapping so many sweet candids!!

And much thanks to a barn mate who tagged along to our latest dressage lesson with trainer C to see what all the fuss is about. She braved the early morning frosty chill and captured some REALLY cute pics <3 <3 Hopefully I can repay the favor in the near future by helping facilitate some fun safe off-farm adventures with her baby mare, one of Doozy’s field mates.

and she got video too!!!

ANYWAY, tho. All gushing about so much recent media aside… Let’s talk about the lesson!! So much easier to remember details etc with reference material too, amirite??

video is slightly choppy but in her defense, it was literally freezing out LOL

My last lesson with trainer C was in the closing days of December, about two weeks ago. It only got the briefest of mentions bc, again, no media. Doozy was, to quote that brief mention, a ‘hot touchy explosive diva’ in the lesson, including nearly launching me when another mare had the audacity to be slightly thunderous in her flying changes.

brave biscuit ain’t afraid* of no lounge window!
(*usually)

In Doozy’s defense, tho, we’d had a fair lull from off property adventures at the end of 2025 due to concerns about EHM, and she tends to get a bit uncivilized when not adequately occupied LOL. Flash forward to now, after a stacked two weeks, and the mare is all business, ma’am!

oooh doing more with the canter than just wild circles!

Doozy was quiet and attentive right away, and I tried to channel everything we worked on in the clinic with Dan about keeping everything always exactly the same, not over thinking it, just riding the horse forward connected to all the aids, legs on pushing into hand. 

trotted AND cantered one loop serpentines with correct adjustments to bend!!!

And go figure, this set us up perfectly for trainer C, who carried on with her constant mantra of establishing correct bend first, foremost, and forever. It’s crazy to me bc I feel like we’ve come so far in this regard, and in this lesson I could really feel Doozy connecting the dots with pushing her rib cage out off my inside leg. But even still, in the video you can clearly see there’s more to do, in both directions. 

she seemed to like the added complexity of new figures beyond just circles

Trainer C said to think of it as making Doozy longer along the outside of her body, while simultaneously sitting and sinking deeper into my inside seat bone and leg. Which, coincidentally, is another thing I’ve been working on seemingly forever that, yep, *checks video,* still needs more work.

practiced canter-trot transitions across the diagonal as well, good girl!

Ain’t that always the way with dressage tho! It’s always demanding ‘more + better’ lol… Even so, tho, one of the fun things about riding with a pure dressage trainer like C is that as soon as you can more or less consistently get around a circle in all three gaits, she likes to start introducing all the various figures and patterns common in test riding!

figuring it out

It can be hard to think about transitions, changing directions, bend, figures, etc, all that when Doozy is a hot emotional mess, but on this day she was totally game! So we practiced all sorts of fun things that are included in the video, like leg yields and one loop serpentines from trot, canter segments like what we’d see in a test (ie canter across the diagonal, trot transition at X), and even counter canter loops!

she looks pleased with herself, but she’s actually just transfixed by a herd of deer outside the window LOL

It was a cool feeling too bc obviously I was integrating the ‘half halt building blocks’ we’d just worked on with Dan (remember the halt and walk transitions we did along the rail, with steady contact, ankles and wrists connected and closed?), and it clearly ‘clicked’ for Doozy that the half halt meant something was coming, and she should tune in.

#obsessed with this sweet mare

Like the first time we cantered across the diagonal for a transition to trot at X (in the video), she clearly was just blasting across and not at all expecting nor ready for the transition. The second time, tho (also in the video!), she’d totally gotten the message, was ready, and actually transitioned so quickly that we were well ahead of the letter.

also my barn mate’s camera takes such nice pictures <3

Same idea for the counter canter loops — it was as if she realized that we’re doing new and interesting things in the canter, not just spooling around an endless circle. Doozy has always been a mare who likes to stay busy, stay occupied, and will otherwise fill the gap with her own interpretation of entertainment. 

My expectation hope is that she’ll maybe actually get a bit easier to ride as her repertoire of different exercises grows. Maybe she’ll be similar to Isabel in that she’ll just keep getting better the more complicated things get. 

We’ll see. In the meantime, it feels good to get on a schedule and to get so much media establishing where we are at this moment in time. Realistically neither the schedule nor the omnipresent videographer are likely to stay fixed or as consistent as I’d like… But we’ll enjoy it for now haha.