give a dog a bone

Happy weekend everybody! This past week really just flew by for me, aided in large part by the fact that I took PTO from work on Thursday and Friday, plus Monday too. Five day weekend for the win!!

this sacrifice winter field barely has any grass yet but that hasn't stopped charlie from trying!

And it's been a fairly light week too, as we recover from our thrill ride at Loch Moy. I had so much fun and have so many feelings about our season opener this year, plus literally zillions more pictures (esp those candid in-between moments that Austen has such a good eye for) so I'll probably share more later.

forsythia is starting to bloom too!

For now tho, I kinda just want to cover where we've been and what we've been doing in terms of show recovery, knowing that the calendar will be heating up in very short order.

meanwhile spring uncovered all sorts of fun things for Riley too, like this "stick" she found

Mostly? We've been hacking. Lots and lots of hacking. Charlie got a day off after the show, but has been under saddle ever since.

Obviously the cross country round ended up being a bit harder of a run than was necessary or expected, and both of us were pretty sore afterward. So the name of the game has been lots of low intensity conditioning, intermixed with flat work aimed almost exclusively at stretching and suppling the horse.

so proud of herself and her new toy

Charlie doesn't truly have a "long and low" frame yet, or really a stretchy trot either. He's kinda sorta learning how to carry himself that way, but feels a little vulnerable and lacking in confidence in that frame. Which like, I totally get bc he's got a habit of being heavy up front lol.

mmmmm sticks....

But we're working on it, plus other stretches from the ground (like belly lifts and butt tucks), and a week later he's feeling more limber and soft again.

srsly tho, how pleased does this dog look haha

I've also been trying to keep the schools brief and to the point. Remembering what Boyd Martin told us about his horses's riding schedules, ideally the balance of our riding schedule would entail lengthier low intensity conditioning work, whether that's walk, trot, or canter, and shorter but more intense schooling sessions.

and a cat. bc cat pictures are the internet's currency

Meaning I want to be more disciplined in asking for good work, rather than settling for half efforts or mediocrity. So that we make the time count - quick bursts of intensity but not needing to drill anything. For us, this usually means a 20-30min dressage ride. Followed by another ~20min hacking through the fields.

plus sleepy shaggy sun bathing ponies

It's super easy to get that mileage in right now too bc none of the horses are turned out on the big summer pastures yet, so all the gates are open. The trick will be keeping the habit once we have to contend with gates again haha. Charlie's gotten so much better in that regard tho so I'm sure it'll be fine.

dressagin' in jump tack. sorta. haha

Anyway. I also promised to write more about our last lesson before the show but.... Well. Honestly there really isn't a whole heck of a lot to write about. We limited how many jumping reps Charlie did, since he's not super fit right now and I didn't want to run out of horse at Loch Moy (lol, that fear proved very unfounded!).

meanwhile, a video from our last lesson before the show

He was great tho. It's a fun simple video that I'm happy to have documented as part of the ever-growing log of Charlie's progression. Plus, I get a serious kick out of the fact that this course is nearly identical to what we saw the following day in our show jump round haha.

Trainer P must be a genius or something. Same elements jumped off the same leads and everything. Except the lines were shorter and the jumps were bigger in Trainer P's course.

i'm pleased with this picture <3

But back to our week of riding post-event, we did another very light jump school with Trainer K too. Brita, Rachael and I had originally planned a fun cross country outing this day to take advantage of my PTO and Brita's spring break. But rainy conditions meant the course wasn't open, sadness. Nbd tho, it worked out better bc I didn't really want an intense school anyway.

and then another light jump school to try out the hackamore!

Mostly we just worked briefly over some small jumps to give Charlie a chance to crack his back a little bit. And give *me* a chance to experiment with jumping in the hackamore!! Verdict?? I actually really liked it. It'll need more testing to see if it works when Charlie's adrenaline is really pumping, but I'm hopeful.

and ponies and puppies sharing treats!

The curb chain is a miracle worker, but also isn't so strong on Charlie that it's likely to back the big boy off. Plus, omg this bridle is so much easier to put on than his current jump bridle and its 8,000 straps lol. Basically the feeling I'm looking for is a lightness in the contact (but I *do* want contact) and a feeling like I can put my leg on. So we'll see.

plus a pic of charlie's freshly bathed tail in prep for the show. bc damn that's just a nice tail, buddy

So things are cruisin right along in Charlie land. We've been waiting so long for spring to arrive and the show season to begin, it's hard to believe we're finally here. It's all very exciting. I have my work cut out in balancing Charlie's fitness and workload to ensure everybody stays happy and healthy, but honestly tho? We feel ready. And eager. Haha. Maybe too eager.

I'm still learning what works best for Charlie in helping him feel his strongest and soundest. The show at Loch Moy was definitely one of the most intense workouts we've ever had together, but I think this week spent hacking out and stretching and whatnot has done his body good in recovery. And it's also kept me feeling like we're doing good schooling work too, so win win.

Do you have a typical routine for post-show workloads for your horse too? Does it kinda depend on how intense the show was? Do you subscribe to the idea that "motion is lotion" and keep the horse moving and working? Or does your horse do better with more down time?