routine charles

It's been so so nice to get back into a habit with riding Charlie now that his epic heel grab wound is all better. Obvi bc he's my favorite and most bestest horse haha, but also bc he's such a nice counterpoint to Doozy -- they are on opposite ends of the spectrum for sure lol.

charlie and royal never miss a meal

So many things that are complicated, hard, scary or even impossible feeling with Doozy are just... old hat for Chuck. Like strolling around the farm on the buckle, visiting random areas to see friends of both the two- and four-legged varieties.

"tell me it's round bale season without telling me it's round bale season...."
(yes those are all little nips and bites, poor guy!)

Or ya know. Things like trotting in a steady rhythm LOL.... I gotta say, spending all those years riding Charlie with a metronome app tick-tocking away in my pocket really paid off. He just.... trit-trots pleasantly around in a way I decidedly under-appreciated in my pre-Doozy life haha.

spirit + flynn demonstrating exactly how these silly boys chew each other up

Bc... Well. Right now, Doozy ain't got no rhythm. And, in fact, is in a really special new phase of training that, ya know, now that she's a big bad cross country horse who boldly goes wherever pointed, trotting is boring and for the birds and she'd really rather not, thanks.

ooooooh --- in the woods with charlie, for the first time in forever!

Never a dull moment in the green horse journey, I guess! 

with a pony parade, too!

For real, tho, it's really helpful and reassuring for me to spend time riding Charlie right now. Our rides are very much focused on rehabilitation and therapy, helping him use his body and stretch his muscles in gentle low-impact movements. 

some of the mares were very curious when we cruised by, esp considering our group included two of their herd members. doozy (second from top left) was notably disinterested. apparently seeing Candee Kisses outside of the field only blows her mind when they are BOTH out lol

We're up to about 9min total of trotting, with 2-3min of cantering -- spread out obviously over the course of a ride. And all along the way, my biggest goal is to just really focus on my own posture, position, and balance. 

so fun to wander the grounds on this guy

To be honest, it's actually been a little eye opening. Charlie's consistency has helped me understand that... actually, some of Doozy's jittery skittery inconsistency is kinda my fault (big surprise, right?). Bc ya know, spending the better part of a year not riding in any serious sort of way means I'm a little less balanced than the sensitive creature would like. 

charlie is 100% a pony at heart <3 <3 <3 

I also cultivated (through a lot of really hard and intentional work) a somewhat looser leg and style of riding for Charlie, to counteract his occasional dullness and my tendency to nag with leg aids. So ya know. Nbd, just need to master an entirely different style for each horse.

"please come closer to pet me! i promise to only bite a little bit" -- Icee, probably

A barn friend recently picked up an Equi Cube, this weighted block thingy designed to be held while riding. I've always wanted to try one, and figured these early easy rides with Charlie would be perfect test environments. So we gave it our first shot this weekend!

tried one of these for the first time -- has anybody else used one regularly?

I opted to warm Charlie up a bit first, then carry it once we were really going, in case I found it really fatiguing really quickly. But actually, it wasn't quite as hard to carry it around as I expected, at least in terms of exhausting the core muscle groups.

oh charles, so sweet, expressive, and more than a little neurotic lol

The hard part was actually managing my reins and contact. Thankfully Charlie steers like a champ off my seat and legs, but he definitely relies a bit on the contact to help with his longitudinal balance (esp given the state of his hind end**). But I'll definitely need a little more practice to get proficient.

(**Cross your fingers -- he should be getting his hocks done at maybe the exact moment you are reading this!!!!)

you really are the goodest boy

Feels like maybe a cool tool to help tighten me up a bit. It's interesting with Charlie bc over the years I've utilized all these various external gizmos and gadgets to help passively instruct us in our rides --- like the metronome, the interval timer app (which I still use almost every ride with him) and maybe now this equi-cube. And some of them really make a difference! 

So things seem to be in a good place with Charlie. I'll be interested to hear the vet's thoughts on his overall condition and soundness at his appointment today, esp as it relates to his short and long term prospects as a riding horse. Cross your fingers for us!!

my weekend at Ram Tap

Over the years, I've worked to diversify my involvement and activities in eventing. Mostly because I'm really interested in learning more about the administration of the sport itself, and everything that goes into it. 

Also because... Let's be real, I'm not super likely to reach the pinnacle of the sport as a rider -- but I definitely want to stay involved in other ways.  

welcome to a very special place

So a few years ago, I started getting involved in more formal certification programs. And it has been an incredible (and humbling) experience ever since! 

The program renewal came due last year, tho, with the seminar located far enough away that costs were prohibitive. So I deferred. Then this year... Well. Same story. Except, kinda worse.

tucked neatly between a power line field and railway line, this little plot of land has been fostering west coast eventing for decades and decades and decades

It had been so long since I'd even competed myself... with no clear path toward change any time soon... It felt a bit ridiculous to lay out a big investment in renewing my certification when I'd honestly much prefer to spend that capital on my own riding. 

Gotta keep the main thing, the main thing -- right??

our esteemed panelists discussing the big impact from simple treatments like paint and plants

So.... I did what "normal" people do lol: I let my association know my license would be lapsing, and bought a young horse instead (hi, Doozy!). Because... Let's be real, I need to keep gaining experience in the saddle, right?

yea, there's geometry involved. but eh, it kinda just makes sense

But Lo! I'd applied somewhat haphazardly to the Broussard Charitable Foundation grant program for the "r" training program, never believing in a million years I'd be awarded-- but I was! 

Holy moly and THANK YOU to the generosity of families and sponsors supporting and developing the officiating pipeline!

spent time walking and evaluating courses solo

And thus we arrive on the West Coast in February, among a great group of  seminar participants, warmly embraced by the Ram Tap family at the Fresno Horse Park. 

very pretty fish!!

And these seminars are incredible, guys. The topics covered are wide and varied, relating to fence construction, use of terrain, the impact of decorating, risk mitigation, and the biophysics of how horses perceive color and contrast. 

color matters! consider the red corner B element on the left side....

Much of this feels at least passingly familiar to the intrepid eventer -- and it should! But it also bears repeating, and often. 

just bc it's an older style of fence doesn't mean we can't make it work!

Probably my favorite aspect of this seminar, vs when I was originally certified down in Aiken, was that we actually got to see the competition in action over the weekend. 

ground lines, yo!

Like, we walked the courses first, evaluating them from a variety of perspectives (ie, design, construction, decoration, safety, etc.), assessed what we liked or how we might adjust or do differently... Then watched the riders go, and mapped actual footprints against our expectations afterward. 

then we watched it go!

link to clips of most of the intermediate course

Especially when it comes to conversations about fence profiles, terrain and distances in combinations, this was an extremely useful exercise. 

checking out takeoff + landing footprints afterward

The most interesting bits for me included how different the ground is on the West Coast from my usual haunts in Area II. 

footprints aren't always where you'd expect!

The travelling lanes on Ram Tap's courses are impeccably maintained -- scraped of grass, harrowed, aerated, watered, etc. It's almost like jumping on arena footing, except with terrain!

beautiful execution of the P sunken road by Elsa Warble on FE Unlimited

Not that the horse park has a whole lot of terrain, let's be real, but they definitely put to use the roughly ~15m of elevation gain they have! (Compared to the roughly ~30-35m of elevation change you might expect to see at the Fair Hills or Plantations of the world).

blue line delineates the far-out landing zone from the sunken road, with human for scale

Another interesting observation, at least imho, was the notably high quality of both the riders and horses at this event. Not that we don't have extremely talented riders and lovely horses here in Area II (obviously we do). But the uniformity was kinda amazing. 

plotting hypothetical future combinations

Maybe bc the format of events in Area VI is just so different -- all levels at this event ran across 3 full days, with each phase on a different day whether you rode at Intermediate or BN. Most riders shipped in with big programs from 4+ hours away (and often much farther distances). 

behold, my hypothetical training combination -- raised log to angled palisade

It was an expensive event for these riders who need to be highly committed to their performance. Compared to here in Area II, when you might be a bit more reasonably casual about entering a one-day event an hour up the road to show out of your trailer all day and still make your dinner plans that night. 

and my prelim combo -- drop to angled shoulder brush, set a bit farther back from water's edge

Just a very different level of accessibility for showing, ya know? Which maybe makes for a broader range of execution performance. Or maybe it was just an early season event where everybody was riding well within their comfort zone? Who knows haha, just an observation!

organizers were so kind to us, we got to attend the Area VI awards banquet!

Anyway, it was a very cool event. Apparently they've been running horse trials here for decades. Seemed like everybody had a fun story or memory of competing at the Fresno Horse Park as kids over the years, and they have a super dedicated core group of organizers, builders and volunteers. 

again, this is a very special place, here's to many more decades of eventing at Ram Tap!

I always love going to new venues -- esp in such a different geographic region from my own home base! 

The seminar itself was also super valuable and inspiring. It's exciting to see the USEA continue to develop and formalize curricula for future officials -- especially considering many eventing stalwarts are aging out and retiring. Thanks again to the Broussard Charitable Foundation Trust's Going Forward Grant for supporting this pursuit by offsetting the costs of registration and travel!

So. Overall it was a fun trip to California, and a weekend well spent with the experts! Curious if anyone else has also explored these sorts of seminars or certification programs, and what your experience has been. Or maybe you're interested for the future? 

Doozy does Arena XC

Whew happy Tuesday, folks! More to come later about the rest of my California trip --- to include recapping the incredible weekend I spent at the Ram Tap Horse Trials. Wow, talk about a special place! 

exploring the grounds at Loch Moy

But! No rest for the weary. I touched down in Baltimore at 2AM yesterday, and by noon was tacking Doozy up at Loch Moy to ride on their all weather arena xc schooling courses. 

Quite a few serendipitous things worked in my favor -- like my seminar ending a day early, and somehow all the stars aligned that I could actually get directly home... My friend Katie had been planning this schooling day for some time and I leapt at the opportunity to tag along.

 

guys it was crowded --- but lookie at her omfg! #TrafficSkoolGraduate

Tho ya know, obvi it was always going to be a somewhat big ask for Doozy. Not least bc she'd had a week off while I was away. But, eh, I figured... It was going to be hard no matter what, right? She is who she is. At some point we have to give her the opportunity for exposure, and go from there. So I went into the adventure with literally zero expectations and no agenda. 

closer up pic of doozy doing doozy

But at every step... Doozy kinda just... Stepped up. She came off the trailer quietly. Tied right away (tho she did dance around a little and bonked her head at one point). Stood easily for the saddle and bridle, and more or less proceeded in a direct route to the big mounting block by Loch Moy's score board (which also features a whole bunch of flags). 

Sure, Katie was there with Rosette to assist with the process as needed. And we certainly needed the assistance, obvi. But everything went off on the first try with minimal fuss. YES! 

we got comfortable with lots and lots of little logs at walk then trot

Our warm up was more of the same. We started in the ring typically used for show jumping, and basically spent about ages familiarizing. Walked past the ivy wall and signage in both directions, observed spectators, experienced horses running and jumping in all directions... And didn't murder anybody. Tho we didn't really get much done either beyond a few little trots while Katie did her thing.

then we did proper jompies!

As we moved from ring to ring, tho, Doozy seemed to kinda figure stuff out. And by the time we made it to the lower ring, where a lot of the little stuff was set up, she was a lot more at ease with existence. 

just cantering this little rockette out around wide open spaces omg

The cool thing about this horse is that once she's thinking about jumps, kinda nothing else matters. The rest of the world melts away. It's.... honestly a wild feeling. 

her expression is honestly pretty incredible

But there's just kinda a big hump to get over before she's ready for that. Like, gotta put the "bolting" feeling to bed first before starting with the jumping lol. And that... takes a while.

pictured: a relaxed horse making a small mistake about distance as she learns to be clever and more consistent with footwork

But literally as soon as we started tinkering around with little logs, this mare was ALL ABOARD the schooling train. 

this is a FUN horse to ride, guys omg <3 <3 <3

I aimed her for some of the ittiest of bittiest actual jumps, and she just... is a lot of fun haha. 

bebe's first "table" lol

So obvi we went for the next little level up -- the 2'3 fences. 

ermagerd we got into the water and learned it's actually kinda fun!

And she just jumped everything I pointed her at, some questions asked, but all answered correctly. And I didn't push things, ya know? Like, I didn't try to string things from different ends of the arenas together --- we kinda stayed in one "zone" at a time. And I didn't do anything with banks or ditches, tho we did get through the water nicely.

video includes: my helmet cam (which died early, womp), my friend's helmet cam capture of us, 

and some cell phone footage. enjoy!

But I'm just so pleased with this mare, guys, omg <3 And she's getting exponentially better about life as Le Sport Horse with every single trailer outing. Like, sure, the first hour of our 1.5hr ride was spent keeping a lid on the powder keg... But the last 30min was worth it <3

guys, i'm so so so excited about this sweet little mare!

It's honestly wild to see her grow in leaps and bounds from week to week. She's sensitive and reactive... but actually pretty darn sensible too. She wants to be good, wants to color inside the lines, and has an incredible and innate pressure response. 

can you believe that's Charlie's Back on Track cooler?? maybe she's not that small after all...

So. Another achievement unlocked, another milestone in the books. It all feels very exciting, and so good to get back to doing fun horsey adventures. 

It's actually kinda crazy, bc I really haven't experienced the same type of anxiety (yet) with Doozy that characterized some of the early days with Charlie. Maybe bc... Charlie just gave me a lot of confidence over the years? Or bc after a year away from doing the things I wanna be doing, the determination is winning out over the anxiety? 

Who knows, ya know? All I know is that this process has been a lot of fun so far, and I'm not really in any rush to change that!

friday foto finish

In this week's episode, we see a sculptural representation of Charles, looking like the trazadone just kicked in lol...

"feeling kinda funny, guys!" - charles, usually

"mmmmm tastes colorful"

getting ready to bask in his sedation for a full 45min longer than the vet said haha

This trippy fountain is brought to you courtesy of the Huntington Gardens lol... TGIF y'all!!

westerly wordless(ish) wednesday

Happy mid-week, y'all. Not too too many words today, bc I'm actually out of town so not a whole heckuva lot is happening! 

look closely -- this statuette apparently has an abscess-wrap on his hoof lol

Or at least, not a lot for Doozy. She's getting a little vacation, aside from some extra TLC from barn mates. 

beachy with my aunt!

I figure, she's been working hard and doing well. Plus she proved after the snowstorm last month that she can come back from a break without much fuss. 

the wild west

So, eh, what's another week or so, right? 

garden at the Getty Center was incredible

Charlie, meanwhile, decidedly does not thrive with neglect haha. And in his book, "neglect" means going longer than 36hrs without direct personalized 1:1 attention lol. 

certainly more scenic than late winter mud lol -- see charles spying from the bottom right?

He actually started back under saddle about two weeks ago maybe, very simple rides spent mostly working on lateral suppleness at the walk, with adding trotting very slowly -- a minute or so more every couple of rides.

different day, same charlie <3

His heel bulb wound is almost entirely gone, but recall he still needs his hocks done since he keeps interfering with those plans... Plus ya know, he's been out of regular work for a year. And at the end of the day we just aren't sure how his feet will respond to increased load again.

back to hacking!

But I'm hopeful. Aside from the janky hocks, he honestly feels like a million bucks. 

lots and lots and lots

Like, feels so good that it's easy to get greedy haha. Bc damn it's just so nice to be sitting on him again!

and lots and lots and lot and LOTS of hacking lol

So I'm eager to keep up the (slow low intensity) momentum with him, ya know? 

and a sma smidge of ring work too <3 talented junior got a lesson on him before i left town

Fortunately, Charlie has a LOT of friends around the barn -- and he's reliable enough that it's practically worry free to hand the keys over while I'm away.

and got to enjoy hacking around too

I'm never sure if he's the most classically "fun" horse to ride, bc he can be a little pokey and lazy... But then again, he knows a LOT. And maybe can teach a lot. At this point, basically all you have to do to ride him is hold a steady position with a clear forward intention... And he just... goes lol. 

So... Actually, maybe that IS fun for the typical barn rat junior who always ends up with the surlies or greenies lol.

he's in good hands! and so is she ;) 

All in all, I feel good about it -- and it definitely helps me feel a lot less guilty about leaving for so long (wish the same could be said for my guilt for my two little house kitties who are used to having me home almost full time....). Feels like a win-win, ya know?

So anyway, more news later. Hope y'all are having a nice week!