chuckles the chunkle

Meanwhile in Charlieland, things have been chuggin right along. After a couple days in a row of a bellyache when his herd first began transitioning to summer pasture, Charlie has since seemed to acclimate. Which, obviously, is a huge relief.

riley dog was rooting for boyd martin at this weekend's MCTA USEA event at Shawan Downs

Homeboy just loves his grass, and I was reluctant to muzzle him. So far tho he appears to have made the transition just fine. Maybe next year tho I'll plan to have a muzzle ready to go for those first couple days, since this farm has a slightly more, uh, blunt transition to grass than other barns I've been to.

But, oh my word do they have nice pastures. Charlie's grass right now is insane. Actually obscene. And there are two more fields, each bigger than the next, waiting for him as summer wears on. His life. It ain't bad!

we got to see a lot of him too while jump crewing!

Anyway tho, like I said, things have been moving right along. Charlie was feeling well enough to try a little flatwork by the end of last week. And he felt seriously good. Like, obvi let's be real here - he felt rusty and started off behind my leg and it took a couple canter laps in each directly to feel that "channel" opening in his back, wherein he rediscovered his trot afterward.

But after that? He was good to go. Plus, no real dinosaur moments even in his sticky stuckness behind my leg before the warm up. The bronto was lurking beneath the surface for sure, but he stayed agreeable enough that we were able to get through without any real throw downs.

And again, after we had that first canter, all systems were go. We kept that ride short and fluffy - lots of focusing on shapes and changes of direction. But also a pleasant little foray into counter canter as a way to reengage Charlie's hind end, and he did quite nicely!

He's better on his stronger right lead than his left - he actually pinned his ears and got upset on the left lead counter canter. But even after a stutter step break still picked the left lead back up again without urging. Good pony! I see counter canter as being a really great exercise for Charlie bc his canter is naturally very strong, and a better gait for accessing his balance and hind end strength vs the trot.

jimmie schramm's horse eclaire looks good too!

The second flat ride found him much more willing to go forward even just in trot, such that we didn't need that preliminary canter to open him up. And his trot right now.... feels good man, feels good. We may have been a little early on the schedule for doing his hocks, but he is very clearly feeling very good about it.

Really the only sticking point right now given our quiet last few weeks is his shoulders. In some ways he's a brilliant horse to steer bc he really honestly is very sensitive. The only caveat is.... Sometimes he's.... just, like, not. And flat work is where that becomes the most obvious.

When he's got places to be, people to see, it's as easy as shifting your hips to steer him. When you're endlessly circling the same ring again and again? Yea, uh, them shoulders just sorta have a mind of their own.

i won't bore you with another full course walk, but took pics of the combos and holy trinity of xc on this walk anyway. here we have the up bank combo, which walked in what felt to me like 1.5 strides. i didn't see it ridden tho.

I was very pleased with him anyway tho bc even tho our steering wasn't great, nor our straightness, he was finding a really easy "pushing" gear from behind.

In fact we had our best "medium" trot (quotes definitely intentional) to date, tho not bc it was a true lengthening. Not yet lol. But because he was really strong and pushing - yet still round. And most importantly? He showed a clear distinction in his trot upon reaching the corner.

Again, none of this is like... correct or anything. Rather, I'm just focusing on the fact that I straightened Charlie and put my leg on. Got a difference in him, a response. Then similarly got another equivalent response upon reaching the end of the diagonal. Small steps. But very very good steps, and we quit on that.

ditch to log walked like a careful balancing three strides. small ditch, big log.

Tho naturally as is our wont, we added a little hack ride on with Brita after the school. Nothing crazy bc now that summer is arriving, all the gates are closed again as herds transition back to the summer pastures. Plus, obvi, I don't want to get my new fanceh PS of Sweden fuzzy dressage boots all nasty from crossing streams haha.

But still. It's such a nice way to add another peaceful 20min on to a ride by just hacking along some fence lines with a buddy to cool down. Charlie, for his part, seemed to seriously enjoy it and was striding out in a bigger walk than I'm used to seeing in him. I'll take it!

water was quite nice - there was a 14 coop jump before hand, then the water was 15, then this small log was 16. also there was an unflagged water earlier on course before the up bank for dipping toes in should that be needed. 

For my final ride of the weekend, I wanted to get back to a little more of a conditioning focus. Brita and I had spent hours upon hours volunteering at MCTA's Shawan Downs event this past weekend, after which I walked their N course.

Lots of good stuff to see on the course, and many of the jumps actually belong to our own farm. But... There was still a lot to learn from the walk. Namely? Yea, I'm still not sure our conditioning is there yet. This course had one jump at the top of a steep rise, and another at the bottom of a steep drop.

The jump after the rise was a let up, but the jump after the drop was not. A strung out Charlie or strung out Emma could have issues at something like that lol.

oh yea. btw. chunky chuckles. i present to you: fat kid in a donut shop lol. his life does not suck

So I immediately went back to the barn and decided to tackle all of those wonderful new paths my barn mate showed me last week. And all the hills I've discovered from the Altitude Profile app. We were able to crisscross every which way through the woods, trotting hither and thither, catching every hill possible.

Charlie, for his part, was shockingly into it. Like, nobody is calling this horse "surefooted" -- but maybe these trots through the woods are just the ticket? He was really picking those clodhoppers up (even jumping the occasional branch or downed log!) and figuring out how to see both low hanging branches AND eroded out ruts in the ground as he went. I like it!

For my part, I mostly just held on and ducked when necessary. Constantly reminding him that we were just trotting, no need to run, and occasionally flicking off wayward caterpillars and spiders lol. Honestly, that was maybe the most fun I've had doing trot sets like... ever haha.

he knows it too <3

Then we emerged into the fields (after dismounting for a gate bc we are still #gategreen) and Charlie still had a TON of gas in the tank. So... we did some banks up and down into the water; casually trotted a ditch; then made our way into another field for a BN hanging log and N ramp. Both of which Charlie just.... loped right out of stride after locking on a few strides out. Yessss.

This horse, guys. It's crazy. I get myself so bent out of shape thinking how much effort the horse has to put into a jump... Meanwhile Charlie's just like, "Hey btw I'm 17h+ and bred from a heritage of incredible athleticism. Hold my beer."

I especially liked how after about 40min of trot sets and hacking, he felt really really really nicely balanced (and game!) for a couple jumps. That, to me, feels really instructional about how I have to plan out his schooling and workload. Plus obvi we're super lucky to happen to have ditches, banks, water, plus jumps, easily on hand for the casual school.

Hopefully we will have more time soon for a proper jump school. Personally my own happy place has been in the 2x weekly range for jumping. But I'm finding with Charlie, he's always the same horse no matter what. And even the 2x monthly schedule seems fine for him. So we'll see. More to come soon tho!

Do any of you find your normal routine shaking up a little bit with the onset of warmer weather? Whether that's by changing ground or newly available trails? Are you starting to do more conditioning now that the option is there? Or maybe ramping up in some other area? Or does your work look pretty much the same no matter the time of year?