doozy's 30 day performance review

Monduese, aka Doozy, joined us just about a month ago. The conditions under which I decided to purchase a second horse were... pretty specific. So. Let's see how things are shaping up, yes?

cute? check

The short story is.... Doozy flunked her 30 day review. Bc... Well, soundness. Recall her left hind limb exploded into cellulitis about 2wks after coming home. And now, even as that issue subsides, she appears to be working thru a run-of-the-mill abscess in the same leg.

easy to handle? double check

As far as I'm concerned, my second horse -- this lovely sweet red mare -- has basically one job: be rideable. And so, with 8 rides in the first ~30 days.... That's not quite good enough.

sittable = can do!

There's a longer story here, tho. Obvi, lol. First off, the "8 of 30" isn't totally fair bc I was away a couple days, some days we did non-riding activities intentionally, plus I take days off too. So it's actually closer to "8 of ~18" of rideability. Still not good enough for "second horse" material, but not so dire either. 

ooooh, trottable too!

More importantly, tho, I'm not actually making any decisions about Doozy based on a 30 day timeline. Bc she's a horse, and cellulitis happens, and abscesses happen too. 

driveway walkies with the bestest chaperone in the whole wide world

So ya know. Cons to keeping the mare: alarming pattern of not being sound very early in the relationship. 

Pros? Ya know, I kinda like her ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

curiosity -- check!

I'm finding it really really valuable, however, to constantly pause and take stock of what I'm actually doing, or trying to do, with this little lady, tho. Bc I keep consistently running into the same mental road block. 

can hack in company!

She is without a doubt going to be a more complicated and challenging horse to "get going" than Charlie was. BUT. That statement also remains true of.... virtually every horse everywhere. Bc Charlie really was that easy. 

yep, still cute!

Except for when he fucking was NOT. But see --- these are the memories long forgotten, right? Bc once a problem is fixed and finished, it's forgotten, right? So I have these insane rose-colored glasses from Charlie, that... are kinda telling me lies. 

arena work??? hmmmmm
fun fact: after this 'periscope up' moment in our first lap of the ring during Ride 8, i hurriedly shoved that phone right back into my pocket bc mare was coilin up for a maneuver lol

So when Doozy does things like spin turn around and bolt proceed at speed back toward the in gate on our first solo + ridden exploration of the dressage ring... My mind immediately goes to.... 'Well shit, what now?' 

Except... Actually... I can (on occasion) sit through unplanned dance steps. And, despite my general and varied neuroses, in a moment of intensity, I usually focus. Plus, turns out, while Doozy is capable of quite literally retracting the full length of her neck back into her shell in a bolt moment of speed, thus rendering the reins laughably useless, neck straps are one helluva a drug haha. Literally. As in, drag that lady back down to earth, and now. While seated, natch.

soundness??? double hmmmmmmmmm

All of that to say, ride #8 was.... educational. And it takes me kinda a lot of forced perspective to recognize that it was a net positive ride. We both learned a lot about each other. The ride resolved positively. 

We stayed in the dressage ring walking purposeful figures despite occasional interruptions via interpretative dance moves... until I was satisfied with the level of focus and softness to allow an extremely choreographed exit from the ring. 

And then we stayed (mostly) flatfooted the long walk back to the barn. Sure, I had to keep a hand on the neck strap the whole time, including occasional tugs to return Ms Thang back to walk, but we did it. First fully solo ride = accomplished. 

enjoys spa days? 1,000%

And ya know, that's the stuff, right? Like, that's the puzzle, that's the game play, that's the day in, day out type situation I want to unpack, pick apart, analyze, experiment, all the things. I don't need the horse to be a carbon copy of Charlie, bc ya know, he was challenging in his own ways (who remembers the "dinosaur-stuck-in-tar-pit" routine??).

and also, michael

Except, ya know, my training methodology basically relies on "routine consistent practice" to account for whatever I might lack in actual skill. 

And, UGH, go figure, the next day, when we were all set to replicate our adventure from Ride 8 with a Ride 9, But This Time With A Friend, (Punky + Amy, bless them), Doozy presented with a shockingly sore foot that by all accounts is likely an abscess in her unshod hind foot. 

ok lady, you know the rules! 

So. Ya know. Yea, she flunks her 30 Day Review. And I told her as much. 

At this moment in time, my idea is to have another check in around the 90 day mark in November. Ideally, I'll forget all about it bc we'll be too deep into all the things of young horse development. But ya know. If we're only at ride 16 or 17 by that point.... This a reminder to my future self to stay focused on what we're really trying to do here. 

Anyway, tho, idk, maybe some of this comes off a bit flippant, or harsh. I hope not --- hopefully you can read between the lines to see my humor and fondness for this sweet little mare. But it is also a serious subject, and one that makes a lot of horse people uncomfortable. 

And I KNOW some of you have had to confront the question of, "Is this the right horse?" Which often leads to uncomfortable, unkind, or even insidiously mean questions of, "or is it me?"

So I'm curious if you've ever come up with any sort of rubric or decision making about, what makes a fit, a fit?