you could say it's getting serious

Guys, Doozy really came through for me this weekend -- with a few much-needed impressive experiences, plus more 'firsts' checked off the list. Including cantering! And jumping! (ish, lol)

ready for action!

The hard thing about not being in a consistent routine is that... it's hard to plan from one ride to the next. Doozy was fantastic for our previous ride (#13), but it was a bit unexpected, ya know? Like, I didn't even know if she'd be sound, first of all. 

And secondly didn't even really know what to expect just from a normal riding perspective, since... ya know, we have such limited experience. So I didn't really have a game plan. 

desperate times call for desperate measures: i set my helmet cam up on the arena wall to *hopefully* catch the action lol

That all changed for #14, tho. I was so excited about the good feeling I'd had from the previous ride. Plus, now we had this new saddle to try. So I wanted to be super prepared.

small wins: can take off jacket and drop on barrel, no shits given

This included bringing my helmet camera along to try to catch some footage, since we'd be alone again. It also included me stopping by the indoor on my way into the farm to set up a more intentional array of 'obstacles.'

can walk out

It was always really useful with Charlie to have physical landmarks strategically placed around the arena to help him focus and concentrate -- things like ground poles etc. And that's proving to be true for Doozy, too. In the absence of any external stimuli, she's happy to be completely consumed by a preoccupation with the exit LOL. 

can walk thru 9' poles!! and learn about straightness along the way, ahem... 
on a sad note: my footage missed all our trotting through these

So, I basically set up 4 main cardinal points: a series of ground poles spaced @ 9' on one long side, a ground pole between standards at the far end of the ring, a teensy cross rail on plastic risers on the other long side, and a barrel in the near end -- as something for us to circle around. 

crossing between standards = also fine
also did this at trot, not on film womp

And Doozy is definitely getting the idea. Actually, I suspect she might be more comfortable with various obstacles and landmarks vs just wide open blankness. Something to keep in mind... 

In any case, we spent a long time walking around warming up over all the various components (except the little X), all captured in the helmet cam. Sadly, I couldn't remember which light meant 'recording' and which meant 'standby,' so I kept periodically stopping to hit the camera's button, and tried to do all our riding stuff twice, so that hopefully we'd catch most of the important details. 

when your trot transition is actually a perfect walk to canter LOL

And, more or less, we did! Like, capturing Doozy's first "trot" transition above lol. Let's call that a work in progress haha. Basically, we both just sorta need to calibrate ourselves to each other. 

Tho I was pleased with myself for not reacting as rigidly as the first time she took off into canter instead of trot (as she did in #10). In fact, I considered actually riding it out a bit... Except, well, in the case of #10 we suspected she was cantering/trantering bc she was too uncomfortable to trot. And since I wasn't sure how sound she'd be on her second ride in a row for this #14, I didn't want to risk it and brought her right back to trot. Wherein, hallelujah, she was sound!

ok but we can actually trot!

And so we trotted and trotted, first mostly with figures and changes of direction. At one point, Doozy broke into canter again, and this time I did ride it out (in the longer video below around 4:10). I admit to being very defensive in my position -- as in, very high hands -- bc I'm definitely relying a bit on the running martingale to keep Doozy where I want her... 

But, eh, that's ok, right? I'm allowed to not be perfect, just like she is. We are learning together lol. And, in this imperfect, slightly improvisational way, we had our first little canter together! 

downside to helmet cam snapshots: serious blur, womp

Tho in our first break, I hit the camera button again, which unfortunately turned it onto standby whoops. So we missed the whole next little session of trotting, wherein we trotted the 3 ground poles, and did more work with the little pole between standards. 

link to super short video of doozy's first jompies!!!!

Finally, I aimed Doozy at the tiny little X!! And she just... trotted right on over like the goodest girl! Even tho it didn't have any standards! Obvi we stopped for much petting and praise, plus a cookie, and I opted to cruise by the camera to hit the button and repeat again, just to make sure at least one attempt was captured. Bc media junkie #4lyfe, obvi lol

dramatic reenactment lol... whaddagoodgurrrrl

Lucky for me, the second attempt was what ended up captured on video --- and Doozy actually did a little jompy, ermagerd!, and cantered away!! Plus, naturally, cantered a little circle to finish before being absolutely praised to the high heavens <3

telling her she's wonderful

Obvi she got a cookie and we called it a day with that very nice effort. And I was just so so pleased with her! And, honestly, a bit relieved, too. There's been a significant amount of self doubt these last 2 months about my life choices haha. 

ok ok, i'm a sucker for casual candids

But this is the kind of routine I live for. Just small steady practice and a growing history of shared experiences. It's ok that I'm not perfect for all of it, that I can be just as reactive as she is. And it's ok to pick myself apart a little bit with videos like this, connecting how it feels with how it looks, so I know what I need to work on for myself and the horse next time.

full (ish) ride video

For example, I need to continue looking for moments of soft release in the contact. Doozy is not exactly super trustworthy in that regard yet -- and will exploit the release a bit. But I still need to keep giving her that chance, and that space, and she'll learn. 

our matching expressions haha... i swear we are both happy redheads!

It's actually pretty interesting, bc so far... Doozy isn't super subtle in her 'moments.' She kinda telegraphs them, but seems easily contained with just heightened contact and more intentional positioning on my end. Which means... using my whole body for turns, staying upright and tall in my position, and not letting my reins get long enough for my arms to do weird things lol.

happy 'n relaxed for the long walk home

Anyway, tho, I'm trying not to take anything for granted, but am legitimately excited about the work that lies ahead of us. Excited to finally start logging experiences that make the idea of "lessons" not feel so distant. 

First impressions of the trial saddle are good, too! Tho I'll reserve judgement until we're farther along in the trial --- to give Doozy a chance to protest if it starts bugging her, and give me time to hopefully get normal media (as in, not a blurry fish eye lens) to evaluate myself in it.