memorial pictorial ketchup

Happy long weekend for readers in the US, happy Monday to the rest of y'all. We've had a pleasantly quiet week around these parts, easing more or less gently (if somewhat damp from all the sweating...) into summer.

my sweet beautiful red mare. i swear, sometimes i really do groom her!

Last you heard of my intrepid red rockette, we had a dressage lesson originally planned as preparation for another show. She had been kicked, tho, so we missed other prep and I was on the fence about the show even tho it was a great lesson. 

stall noshies are best noshies

Well, she got kicked again, ugh (mare tho, really??), and this time was pretty sore. So. Eh. We took a little time off, and are just now getting back onto the weekly schedule again. 

oh yea... also, she got kicked AGAIN. this time a direct hit to her hock

It's honestly all good, tho. That earlier dressage lesson was really valuable and timely, esp with letting Trainer C sorta zero on in what she sees as our most immediate key issues. Number 1 among them? Inside Bend. 

"my legggg, it hurtssss" --- sad mare diary entry #1,034

And the second biggest issue? (at least from my perspective...) My outside hand's general fuckery. Bc as far as I'm concerned, these two issues are related. I think I've been riding Doozy fairly counter-bent mostly as an emergency braking mechanism, with that outside hand ready and willing to do whatever to bring that train to a whoa.

not a significant wound, but a big ol' hot swollen bruise right on the joint

It's really just in the last couple days that we've gotten back into daily schooling sessions again (vs general hack-abouts), and that's been my primary focus: inside bend. But always. 

in the meantime, somehow without any of us noticing, doozy turned into an extremely pleasant hacking horse!

I'm trying to keep my outside hand literally pinned to the saddle, and my inside leg straight down under me, but **on** the horse to push out for a leg yield feel (with outside leg also down under vs braced out in front doing only-god-knows-what), and inside rein just working that lateral supple --- keeping Doozy's nose visible to the inside.

she doesn't do the gates yet, but honestly isn't far off!

Sometimes Doozy wants to Ping! off the leg contact and shoot off... Often she wants to fall in toward the inside flexion vs staying up straight and moving off the inside leg... And occasionally she wants to go whole hog and exaggerate the whole exercise, falling wayyyyy out onto her outside shoulder with hyper inside flexion. 

she is, however, the "normal" one

My job, as it may be, is to basically not get distracted or baited by any of these slightly not-quite-right responses, and to just stay hyper disciplined on the one thing I'm asking for: inside bend while moving off the inside leg. That's it. Beginning and end. 

Like in the case where she goes way overboard and falls out on the outside shoulder? Fiiiiine. Good girl, that is inside the line I've drawn. (And we'll refine later, right?)

the most pleasantest <3 <3 <3

I also keep repeating in my head advice from erstwhile coach Dan C, when he said, "If what you're doing isn't working, slow it down." Always good advice for Doozy, let's be real. But also good for me to remember that instead of just sorta spiraling into some weird pretzel-y tug of war at trot... Just come back to walk again, and reestablish the posture. 

shift gears to --- spring clean up! holy f'ing lord how did i get so many blankets?!
also. ahem. yes, these are CLEAN. i SWEAR. stop looking so closely tho omg

And guys! Omg, it's working! Absolutely ground breaking to find that.... inside leg to outside rein actually like, WORKS and stuff!

We had three rides in a row last week that kinda blew my mind, not gonna lie. Not bc they were like, amazing or whatever. But bc it finally felt like I could lay down some mortar on Day 1, put some bricks on it on Day 2, and by Day 3 --- we actually had a solid wall!!

just doing normal dooz things

The first ride really sucked, tho. Not gonna lie. Again, we'd had some time off, Doozy hadn't done any proper schooling in a little while. She was wild. Friends riding with us were cantering and doing things. It was stressful and hot and Doozy had a white lather on her neck despite us not doing anything more than walk and trot. Oh and I also damn near fell off at one point....

shifting gears again: it's the most wonderful time of the year, guys!! lookiee at all my pretttttiessss!!!

But it resolved well. And I reminded myself that what I'm looking for is a response, a feeling. It doesn't matter if that feeling comes from just walking. The feeling is what matters, and what I want to end a ride on. 

why yes, we are embracing a barbie theme this year, why do you ask?

The next ride was... very different. We rode in a different ring -- the dressage ring instead of the jump ring -- and we were alone. Actually, it was the middle of the day on a week day so the whole farm was quiet. And we just picked right back up where we left off the day before. 

poor Icee, tho, not his favorite time of year! it's hard being a svelte pelted Barn Panther in this humidity!

Doozy still sweated more than what was necessary, but seemed less stressed. Actually seemed to be thinking and thoughtful. Focused on ME, not the wider world. Obvi since we were alone I basically spent the whole time singing her praises and verbally encouraging her through every step (which she loves), but she really seemed to get it. 

turns out, tho, the heat makes this Icicle a Nice-icle!! we'll take it!

We actually **Trotted** OMG. Sounds stupid. Isn't tho. It's real, it's where we are, and we celebrate the trot, yo! Went through a few cycles of repetitions too, to confirm that the feelings were reproducible. Got canters on both leads -- including the right lead that's been a bit elusive with her kick-sore hock, and then a little more trot, and a LOT more praise. Short sweet, and done. 

speaking of nice!! look who showed up in one of my lockers --- hello snek fren, pls take care of the source of all those mouse turds!

Third ride really proved the whole concept. Which, again, is staying really hyper focused on extremely basic and gentle fundamentals: inside bend, moving off inside leg. Nothing more, nothing less. Not "on the bit," not leg yields, not shortening or extending a gait. Just.... Inside bend, moving off inside leg. 

a better nice tho --- cute pony frens 

And guys, Doozy clearly felt like she'd had a breakthrough. Like she's starting to understand that... Yes, I'm asking her to do specific things. But... It isn't really hard, and it's definitely not fast. She just needs to tune in, trust me, and try. 

doozy looking sweaty and tired after her 2nd ride of what was a 3-day breakthrough session

And the moments where she gets it??? Omg, GREAT!! She's obvi got a HUGE trot in there, but she also has a stretchy trot just waiting to be understood. And a collected trot too --- tho obvi will need a lot more strength and balance for that. 

figuring life out, learning lessons and stuff <3

Once this horse really understands that, actually, we kinda just wanna trot for the sake of trotting... I think she'll love it haha. But for now, we'll keep staying hyper focused on the basics --- and keep taking lessons --- and see where that gets us!

On that note, hopefully a few more lessons coming this week! Hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend too!