Guys! I know it's almost the holidays and a lot of folks are checked out already... But I'm still excited to write about our long-awaited clinic this weekend with Sharon White on the XC Derby course at Loch Moy!!
the look of a mare who is #coping despite arriving literally 10min prior and already saddled
I entered literally a full month ago -- before losing Charlie, even. I was browsing the calendar looking for fun off-season educational opportunities, and this particular clinic was a no brainer. It checked ALL the right boxes --
1) I wanted to school and/or have a lesson on Loch Moy's fabled derby xc course ahead of possibly doing one of the actual derbies this winter
And, more importantly: 2) Sharon White has been on my "Bucket List" for literal years.
grown up dooz <3 <3 <3 also you can tell from the water that it hasn't been a sustained cold snap -- no ice!
Tho obvi as the day grew nearer, I became less certain. As one does. It got cold. But like, really cold.* And then Doozy had that suspected abscess / bruise fandango that made us miss the last planned clinic and from which recovery had felt a little slow.
(*For Maryland standards, that means 'below freezing, but only just')
two orange ladies lol, and me obvi
But, slowly but surely, the pieces started coming back together and even a couple little hiccups on the morning of weren't enough to derail us. Up to and including arriving wayyyyy later than intended. I'd planned for about 45-30min of familiarization time after arriving, and got 15 instead. Literally, 15min from parking to swinging a leg over. Not, uh, ideal.
warming up by proving to myself that, actually, emma, you CAN trot this mare to the base
But Doozy coped!! She was honestly a super star. The group before us had a horse that was still working through some ditch issues when we arrived anyway, so we did end up with a relaxed period of hacking about the arena etc anyway. Still, tho, very proud of the mare!
and in fact, you CAN trot BN fences too <3 <3 good mare!
Doozy kinda checked off some big boxes before we'd even started too -- in our early walk-abouts before the lesson started, she went straight into the water like maybe it was made of cookies or something (literally), and also walked through the driveway ditch like it was nothing more than weird telephone poles. Which, uh, I guess it is? lol....
i don't love trotting fences, esp "big to us" fences... but athletic mares have answers, go figure
Once we actually started warming up tho, mare was on FIRE. And Sharon immediately called us out for speeding. Her instruction was similar in many ways to Lauren Sprieser: the second you feel the rhythm get away from you, transition down. Immediately. Then right away back to trot. Rinse, repeat, 18,000 times.
I got dinged a couple times for being a little slow and wishy-washy vs what Sharon wanted to see... But in my defense, I find this type of training approach is best done under direct supervision bc millions of rapid-fire transitions is a great way to blow this mare up if I'm not careful.
goooo Doozy!!
The same approach held for all our jumping too: We'd trot EVERYTHING. Politely. With a big focus on the landing side of fences. And honestly.... while in some ways this might seem 'remedial' or whatever, it's still kinda what Doozy needs. On occasion.
figuring out the footwork without any frantic drama
And go figure, it works. I'd already kinda figured out a few weeks ago that, if I remind myself that "If I want to trot, it's **my fault** if we accidentally break into canter."
guys she's got a pretty decent canter imho
Or, in other words --- The mare LISTENS when I'm clear. She's a good girl, she colors inside the lines. She just needs to understand. And I DO have tools, I know how to do it. So ya know. This lesson was all about reinforcing that she's PLENTY capable of jumping the fences without needing to rely on speed.
And she totally did it just fine!! Trotted around all manner of BN fences more or less easily. Good girl! And I was proud of myself too bc I def get a little excitable when the jumps look "bigger" and that's part of why I'm maybe more likely to just let the mare roll on... But honestly everything rode fine. Go figure lol...
wheeeee coming back the other way!
Unfortunately the cold temperatures meant that anything with a battery was kinda struggling -- including my helmet camera. It was actually my first true #fail with the Cambox. It's a shame bc we did a lot more than what was captured on cell phone footage... but c'est la vie, right?
this mare, guys... she is a cool customer. like, chaotic and hot lol, but prettttty cool
Tho the one bit I'm most sad about missing on video was the up- and down-banks. Not that it was anything spectacular -- but actually that's kinda the point LOL. Doozy just walked UP, turned around, then walked DOWN, then dragged my ass back into the water with a gleeful little canter LOL (even as Sharon was hollering, "No Runnnnnnning!!" haha.....
look at her go!
We did get all of the formal ditch work on video tho. And obvi Doozy was perfect <3 <3
It's not a crazy ditch -- quite shallow and very inviting. But set up in a nice little gymnastic 2 stride line that we did each way (with a little loop into the far arena just to say we did, for the #culture etc).
yes i wore my dubarry's in the expensive fancy destination clinic bc dear lord it was cold, and also i showed up hella late. something had to give and skipping tall boots was an easy choice lol
I'm so pleased with this mare, tho. Like. This lesson wasn't revolutionary. It wasn't the nitty gritty intensive deep dive we did with Dom in our private lessons this summer. In fact, it was something different entirely.
video from actual literal saints who risked their fingers in the bitter cold
It was a lesson in which I showed up with a very green mare under slightly harried circumstances (very late arrival etc), but.... it was no big deal. And mare could just proceed with the lesson in a predictable and reliable fashion. Yes she's hot and chaotic, but also... Yes she's ready for the exercises and the jumps.
so proud of this lil critter <3 <3
And honestly? That's a win unto itself! Maybe one day we will be beautiful and elegant and well-schooled and all the things.... But for now? I'm enjoying the HELL out of just being able to go out there and have fun safely and confidently!
Happy holidays y'all -- wishing you all the FUN in the New Year too <3
What a great clinic! Doozy was adorable ‘lemme go fast!’ But she listens well.
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