well that was easy!

Have I ever mentioned that Fall is my favorite?? Gosh, I just love this time of year. The weather, but also all the activities!!!

it's Maryland 5* time @ Fair Hill!!

As has become habit in recent years, I take a whole bunch of time off work for the annual celebration of eventing that is the big 4* 5* at Fair Hill! This year, I had a super easy volunteer gig on Wednesday: acting as 'crossing guard' while the seven US Pan Am Team riders did their dressage tests in the main arena.  

the US Pan Am team ran through their dressage tests on Wednesday

It was neither a long day, nor a difficult job -- considering the only people really around on the Wednesday before the event are either involved in setting up / preparing, or are themselves riders / grooms / support crew / owners etc. So it wasn't exactly a difficult crowd lol.

when you have to ride your Pan Am horse at 11:30, but jog your 3* horse at 12:00....

Plus it got me on the grounds a day earlier than anticipated, to preview some of the shopping plus watch the jogs. If you're into that sort of thing, the whole 5* class, complete with full view of all outfits, is squeezed into little micro clips in the below 45sec video lol.

link to a super short compilation of all 26 5* entries at the jog

Anyway, again, was a short shift at the event for this day --- esp compared to today and tomorrow, when I'm doing Young Horse Champs stuff over longer days. Which meant it was perfect to get all puffed up with inspiration and whatnot, then go play with the red pony!

lolz not every horse is destined for the FEI jog strip!!

We've definitely got our little riding routine down pat, now. I stop by the indoor on my way down to the barn to arrange all our little exercises and obstacles, then go get the mare, and we proceed in more or less the same fashion. Bonus for this ride was that she was a bit less tense than last time, and we had the whole place to ourselves. 

cross rail is getting a little bigger lol

"Less tense" doesn't mean "Not tense" tho. The mare is still a little touch and go about this whole.... riding arrangement. But she's becoming quite reliable about the actual riding aids. Doozy is a whiz at steering, even when I have to escalate some aids to improve straightness in a turn, for example.

oooh we did a second cross rail too, in a new place, plus our standard trot poles

She's also got the trot transition figured out. Recall in our earliest rides (after restarting the restarting, tho), she'd often kinda spurt immediately from walk to canter. She seems to know now that, actually, we're just going to trot around a bit. I aim to ride a few symmetric figures off each rein, then find an early moment of softness for our first break. Rinse, repeat a few times. 

we've more or less stuck with this array -- i need to break out my #GridProQuo book for new inspiration!

I also still like to walk her through all the ground poles first, before trotting them. And we're finally getting to the point where there isn't much difference in how Doozy tackles the poles whether we're going toward or away from the door. 

We added a second cross rail for this ride, and "beefed up" the normal one, raising the poles a little bit and adding a ground line. We did each one twice, with her first tries being a little wiggly, but second tries very business like. She jumped the bigger X super cute, in a nice way where I actually added a little leg, tho in this ride we landed from everything in a trot. 

i think she's ready to not have to ride alone all the time

So, all that was left to do was a little canter in each direction. My canter aids really are not at all very good right now. My position isn't great for the normal feel I get on Charlie, I'm too perched, and my legs hang differently, so I'm kinda all over the place, sorta hoping she'll just get on with it. 

Luckily, so far, she does lol. Tho it still routinely takes us a second try to get the left lead. Nbd. 

well well well, what have we here??

So the 20th ride is in the books -- and I promise I'm done with counting them at this point lol! It is an important milestone, tho, and I really like the feeling I'm getting --- where, actually, the next big breakthroughs are probably going to come from me riding better vs Doozy magically figuring it all out. Feels like the ball is in my court, ya know? Which means.... lessons!!!

big Dooz Nooz!!! first time practicing with the trailer was a non event!

I'm working on a few options for getting lessons at home.... Considering part of why we moved to this barn in the first place back in 2017 was bc we had previously been shipping in for lessons. Things change tho, c'est la vie, but I'm hopeful we might figure something out. 

In the meantime, have trailer, will travel! Ya know, if the mare loads!

link to short video of doozy on a trailer!

And she loads!! I had exactly zero expectations about this first practice session, not gonna lie. We didn't really have trouble getting her into the trailer at the adoption facility, but it did take two (patient) people and a few long moments. 

I've shown her a trailer ramp once since then, without asking her to get on... And I dunno, I just kinda had this feeling that I should be ready to go slow, ya know? 

obvi food helps lol

But I walked Doozy up to the side door first, and showed her the food bucket I'd hung on her chest bar. She was obviously intrigued by that lol. So when I walked her up to the passenger side bay, she took a moment or two to think about life, but then decided to come right on in and get dat bucket. Good girl!!

She'd had a little trouble backing off the ramp when I first brought her home, and seems to do very nicely with a little light repetition. So I got her out of the bucket before she was quite finished, and asked for a careful, slow reverse off the trailer --- which she did quite nicely. We walked a little circle then represented to the ramp, and ta da!, she just walked right on in and finished her little meal. And again just sorta stood there snacking until I asked her to back up. 

all aboard!

Obvi bribing a horse with food isn't the same as "training" them (lol), but eh, I'm a big believer in positive experiences and associations. It's not clear what our first few outings will be, but my hope is to be partnered up with a seasoned horse + rider combo so Doozy will have a good role model and I'll have help if needed. 

We'll see, tho, all in good time!