Doozy naturally got a couple days off after her fantastic weekend at the Area II Champs, especially after all that trailering oof! But life goes on, and we got back to it with a lovely evening hack with a barn buddy!
the days are noticeably shorter by now, with unmistakeable color changes in the landscape
especially out in the big hay fields!
i really love and am grateful for how pleasant doozy is for this simple hacking routine
often we end up alone, but the horses seem to love having company! and the riders too, natch
there are apparently other (and longer) trail routes, but i actually quite like our little routine circuit
doozy is a very bold horse, but she’s also a typical thoroughbred — she likes knowing the answers in advance
so i think she appreciates this predictable path. no surprises, no work. just… marchin around lol
i’ll be sad when the clocks change, tho
especially given that our outdoor arena doesn’t have lights, it’ll be hard to prioritize hacking on weekends when we might otherwise be itching to school outside
there’s still time, tho. so for now, we take advantage of the daylight hours when we can!
“yes yes that’s very nice and all, but #NeedsMoarCookiesPls” — doozy, 100%
Happy Monday, friends! Brace yourself for a marathon post of pics, gifs and videos (tho I promise not too too many words) because Doozy and I had a pretty big weekend! The Maryland Horse Trials at Loch Moy Farm hosted the Area II Championships, and despite our somewhat unimpressive record, we actually qualified!
lookie who completed their first big multi day rated show!! and with a top 10 finish!
Sure, sure, a rational argument can be made that, given our current performance quality, I could have saved the extra $25 entry fee (not to mention the extra gas and **fuss** associated with two days of showing vs one) and done the normal class — which was itself much smaller (meaning I probably would have placed higher / earned more year end points).
brace yo’self bc we spent a LOT of time just sitting around, meaning lots of random pics LOL
But. Who ever said there was anything rational about horses anyway? To me, it sounded like an exciting opportunity to do a ‘bigger’ class, get a little more dressed up, and basically just make a full experience out of the whole thing.
looking serene at the trailer <3
A way to challenge ourselves in new ways without meaningfully changing the parameters of the competition itself, ya know?
step 1 before dressage: fill the tank!
That challenge was most apparent in warming up for all three phases, since they were so spread out (esp for day 2 show jumping) that each really did need to be treated as its own individual ride, vs a continuation from prior phases.
proof that mare accomplished all her important responsibilities at the trailer
The new recorded ride guides kept working their magic, tho, and Doozy and I were able to execute one of our best dressage warm up sessions to date. Not necessarily our most relaxed, per se, but we were able to perform all the figures, transitions, gaits, etc of a normal ride with minimal explosiveness.
arriving at the warm up!
The test was more of the same too — it’s clear that these recent changes in our anpproach are helping Doozy focus and channel her tension rather than lose it completely. The test riding practice also paid off in showing improvements in the areas we’d practiced — including the entry, walk work, and final ‘Harmony’ collective.
click to read full size
We still biffed the right lead canter, and the whole second half of the test was worse than the first… But it was still a ~1.5% improvement from BCHC, AND a new personal best at a rated event, beating our average score by more than 9% points. Heck yes!
AND! It didn’t put us in last place in our giant division LOL… In fact we were all the way up in (checks notes) second to last place. #Progress y’all
moving on to phase ii of day 1 — cross country!
That was all good, tho. Like, nobody could have possibly expected more, right? I certainly did not! Altho, while cross country is generally the ‘easiest’ phase for Doozy, I DID expect that our warm up for this phase at this event might pose some, hm, unique challenges for us.
do we look ready?? lol
Cross country came after something like a 3 hour break, so we were well and truly ‘cold’ again by that point. I couldn’t just cheat by trotting a couple circles, jumping two things, and then GO. (Trust me, tho, I was tempted).
And holy mother of dog, guys, xc warm up amid that huge crowd was NOT easy for Doozy. We were a bit of a hot mess, 100% spiraling onto the doom loop. But the practice still definitely helped us anyway, even tho I didn’t have my phone in the warm up so obvi didn’t have the recording going.
trotting thru the box made for a smoother less explosive start
Both Doozy and I were able to channel enough of that recent practice to sorta kinda put together a proper flat school that did include actual trotting (vs tranter-bolts) and transitions, such that when we did move to the warm up jumps, the wheels stayed firmly on the bus. Whew!
I opted to keep her trotting around the start box when we were on deck tho, as she remained quite explosive and I thought we’d be able to ‘ooze’ out more easily from trot vs halt or walk. And it totally worked!
it was crowded in the woods, with all the different level tracks squished together. red circle is our jump 3, which required navigating around some stuff. this proved challenging for many in the class
Doozy left the box fantastically and instantly hit a good rhythm to the first couple jumps. I’m honestly super proud of that, and really wish the rest of the course was similarly flowy. Unfortunately it… uh, was not.
beware of the itsy bitsy garden gate at jump 5 — it’ll get ya!
Idk what exactly was going on with this course design — they ran tracks up thru Intermediate so maybe Starter just got squeezed onto whatever ground was left…. But jumps 3-4-5 were all lumped right on top of each other and kinda jumbled together in a bit of a mess for us.
Which, realistically, is mostly my error — I didn’t notice how close together they were when I walked the course, so I kinda just rode ‘one jump at a time,’ rather than landing with a plan for the next. So we had to have a fairly big “Whoa!” correction on the way to 5.
familiar water but from a new direction she was tentative (and spooking at all the crowding jumps) but good!
No big deal, tho, Doozy was able to find each of the jumps decently well, she just was landing a bit too unbalanced and fast. The track made a U turn to 6 that went fine bc I was ready for it, then another nice flow to 7 before leaving the woods. Then a screaming line downhill to a barely-there log that again was a tad wild omg.
at least one rider got straight up ejected from the saddle when their horse saw that Forestier finish arch!
But then we had a nice flow up hill before trotting thru the water. Doozy was a touch tentative which worked nicely in our favor as she backed off well enough to catch the next little downhill jump much more comfortably. Then a sprint to the finish — wherein she did not launch me while spooking at the crazy inflated arch haha.
**immediately** mugging for cookies at the finish lol
Personally, this course was an interesting lesson for me. My mental state is such that I tend to really fixate on the less good moments — being wild to 5 and that downhill log — while completely overlooking the good parts.
cross country helmet camera!!
So I was feeling a bit disappointed with myself while rushing to take care of the mare and pack up to get home before sunset (we ran xc at nearly 5pm). But after reflecting while driving, and then watching the video once home, I changed my mind.
Sure, those two moments on course were not great and I’d love for everything to be perfect… But also, basically the entire rest of the course was good — Doozy jumped everything nicely and easily, and started and ended well. What more could I want? Esp considering that the sort of wild ‘derby-esque’ feeling of jumps 3 to 5 proved to actually be extremely influential in the overall class, no wonder it was a bit tricky for us too.
same shit, different day!! mare cannot believe we drove allllll the way back out for a 70second show jump round LOL
Working on reframing my perspective has been… Hm, a significant challenge for me over the years. I tend to get really wrapped up in negative thoughts and this blog is literally littered with examples of me withdrawing prematurely from shows bc I didn’t want to keep going.
pro pics are in the mail so for today we just have shadow jompies <3
Except that I *do* want to keep going. For whatever crazy reason, I *do* want to horse show, I do want to keep learning and living these experiences.
So being able to shift gears after cross country, drive all the way home, and then drive all the way back out again for a single show jumping round at 4:44pm the next day? To me, that is proof positive that for all the ups and downs of the last 2 years, this little Doozy Experiment is working, y’all — and we are really doing the things!
eager beaver got redemption at this judge’s line where we had a rail earlier this summer
And again, the recorded ride guides featured heavily in warming up. I expected Doozy to be wild and she absolutely rose to the occasion haha. But guys. The practice is working: The Unfeeling Brit Bot, He of No Intonation Whatsoever, kept us on track.
We accomplished a proper ‘normal’ flat school as if we were at home, trotted (but really actually trotted) the X, cantered a vertical. Took a break until we were on deck, trotted (again, for real trotting) another X **perfectly** then went in for our round.
and a minor pilot error won me a face full of dooz ears, oops, but we made it to that blue jump anyway
Similar to XC, I got Doozy trotting right away. Historically since I’ve had so much trouble keeping her from exploding, I wait until the bell to pick her up. But actually things feel a lot smoother when I can let her be forward right away. And that proved to be true again in this course.
no harm, no foul, mare kept chugging along!
The track didn’t entirely suit us, given the whole “omg related distances” thing LOL… Doozy is getting REALLY good at finding her take offs, but idk if I’m just doing too much bc we do NOT land in the same canter we jump from lol. So related distances are tricky. But we fit the planned add in from 2 to 3, and actually made the step work from 4 to 5, tho it was a touch wild.
I got a bit lost on the turn to 6, resulting in that “face full of ears” moment above, but Doozy carried on anyway and basically found her way to a good shot at any jump I pointed her at, regardless of how crooked my approach lol (oops).
enthusiastic mare <3 had a silly rail at the last, but c’est la vie!
Our luck wouldn’t last forever, tho, and we did have a rail at the last. Again, it was a fine enough jump but we were just a bit too flat and strung out. To be honest, tho, I’d mentally prepared myself for at least 2 rails haha since… ya know, we are who we are. So just one still felt like a win!
show jumping helmet camera!!
Somehow, tho, even knowing that sure, it’s not perfect or whatever, I still left the ring feeling super proud — of both of us <3 Doozy obviously for doing this crazy thing with her crazy slightly unreliable pilot lol, but also myself for sticking with it.
she may or may not have eaten all her prize cookies immediately LOL
It’s so easy to get caught up in feelings about how it should be, what we should be doing, where we should be, or whatever. But honestly I’m just so happy to be back in the game at all after a few years on the sidelines.
raced the setting sun home to turnout before dark. good mare <3
And besides, nobody ever remembers all the driving and fuss anyway. All any good memory needs is that happy wash of endorphins, and maybe a couple nice pics / videos too <3
It’s been a bit of a journey with Doozy, not gonna lie. The combination of her sensitivity and my general rustiness has meant for slow going. It’s been more than just ‘slow’ tho — it’s also frequently been really hard.
Challenging for me in ways I didn’t really anticipate and that at times often made it impossible to just bliss out and enjoy the ride the way I could with Charlie.
another day, another trip out for a lesson!
Doozy unapologetically demands my full attention and focus every step of the way, there’s no doubt about it. But there’s more to it, I think. Obviously she’s sensitive, but she’s also super reactive — in ways that often feel completely out of proportion to whatever I might expect.
As a confessed over thinking rider, it never really felt like it added up — that 2 + 2 wasn’t coming out to 4, instead we’d get something crazier like the square root of pi.
we also jumped at home, including our favorite footwork exercise
Over time, I think I’ve started absorbing some of Doozy’s reactivity too. Which, ya know, makes sense… if your formula spits out nonsense answers no matter what the input, eventually maybe it’s natural to just sorta ‘wait and see’ what output you get before deciding what to do next, right?
But the result of this, I think, is a situation where our performances aren’t exactly predictable — and in fact perhaps aren’t even reproducible. In other words, when things are ‘good,’ it’s sorta like, “Holy shit wow omg it’s happening this is good - wait don’t change anything - don’t fuck it up!”
And on the flip side, we get scenarios like at Waredaca earlier this year where we slowly descend into the chaotic doom loop of inescapability — and I have zero tools to break the cycle.
and a nice inviting two stride
I don’t really mean to keep banging on about these silly recorded ride guides, but it’s almost unreal how consistent our rides have been since we started using them. And in fact, in our lesson with Woodge yesterday, even she noticed the difference. Suddenly we have a half halt! And where did that lovely balanced 15m canter circle come from???
Not that everything is perfect — it obviously is not. And I still almost literally ate shit just trotting around bc Doozy went “AHH GHOSTS” at nothing, tho thankfully realized she was about to lose me and was like, “wait no aren’t you coming with me??” and paused long enough for me to get my shit together lol…
And obvi other stuff is imperfect too. I’m still crooked, still have timing issues, still make bigger moves at the jumps than I should bc ya know. #AdultAmmy right??
ground pole options, plus single jumps across the center
And Doozy still has all her things too. The aforementioned ghosts, natch, but also still her patented little mini bolts or, the flip side of the same coin, her crooked behind-the-leg “hiss! am snek!” fuss moves.
Something about riding to the recordings is changing the game tho. It creates a proactive “not taking the bait” vibe that separates my aids from Doozy’s reactivity. In other words, instead of chasing her around with all my aids as she pretzels and contorts around a constantly shifting center of gravity, instead I can just focus on that anonymous unfeeling british bot voice casually reminding me to “breathe” and “sit long into your inside leg.”
bonus goblin pic <3
It feels like that breakthrough we had about ‘riding the footprints’ earlier this summer, where suddenly Doozy ‘accepts the leg’ bc it means something, not just bc I wore her down about it.
It’s like since my posture is more stable (not perfect, but more… you know how it is), my aids are more continuous and consistent, and she’s not baiting me into changing the subject on inside bend or whatever by ping-ponging off in some other direction… Suddenly my posture and aids and proactive direction actually … mean something more to Doozy.
The pattern is becoming more predictable to her, there’s less noise in the system, and — gooo figure — she’s responding in kind.
and of course, the Original. in a bag bc #cat
For the first time, it feels like we’re getting more consistency and predictability in her responses to aids — from beginning to end in a ride. That, as Janet Foy would say, for each aid, there is one consistent answer that we all agree on. And it’s super exciting!
Realistically I don’t think this necessarily ‘cracks the code’ on relaxation for Doozy. That… might be a lifelong journey, if we’re being honest. But maybe we can start channeling that tension, and help Doozy continue to operate ‘within the parameters’ even when she’s kinda losing it. Like maybe there’s an off ramp from the doom loop after all lol.
Eventually I’d like to, ya know, bypassall that entirely lol. But it feels like we’re making small steps of progress, so I’ll take it! And naturally we’ll probably get an opportunity to see if any of this progress proves durable ‘out in public’ at our next show… wish us luck!
We had a couple opportunities this weekend to practice the USEA Starter dressage test, with the help of our new recorded ride guides. And I’m really glad for it, and especially for videoing the first session on my helmet camera.
d’aww flashback to the weediest biscuit circa winter 2023
Realistically, I haven’t done much dedicated ‘test practice’ with Doozy bc the juice never really felt like it was worth the squeeze. Like, we all knew she’d be a wild animal at the show so why even bother, right? Better to just practice the general basics and then take what we get in the actual dressage ring.
slightly more robust version two years later <3
But ya know. The horse *IS* growing up and becoming more schooled, and actually put together quite a nice (IMHO) set of tests at BCHC a couple weeks ago. It feels like we’re finally getting closer to a point where the horse is more or less going to go the way I ride her. Which, naturally, means it’s **my** responsibility to ride as clean of a test as **I’m** capable of doing.
not gonna win any awards for this video (or test, LOL)
but it gets the job done for recording our practice!
Which… Turn out, I’m nottt quite picking up that slack yet. Above is a video from our first test run through this weekend, after a reasonably successful warm up facilitated by my new favorite ride guides. And it’s pretty easy to see in the video that Doozy is going along quite nicely.
anyway. today’s pictures are all blurry brown blobs. sorry? at least it sorta masks how i’m losing her shoulder around this circle LOL
Her rhythm is much more consistent, and she’s mostly quite obedient for all the transitions, especially the downward canter-trot transitions that are historically more of a challenge for us.
recording our practice is so helpful!
But… It’s still not actually that great of a test, but **finally** for reasons that are fairly easy to pin on the rider instead of the horse. My favorite type of problems, yay!
Namely, the whole test looks a little bit behind the leg IMO. I don’t really have Doozy on the aids, and it’s especially apparent in three key places:
1. Our entry tour past the judge on the way to the first trot circle is fairly wobbly
2. Similarly, picking up after the free walk is too tentative, reins too long
3. Canter transitions were a little sticky, especially the right lead
pictured: a pretty decent canter trot downward transition, rider still collapses tho
Now I want to be completely clear here: if I got a test that looked like the above video at an actual three phase horse trial? I’d be happy LOL!
But! It was also fairly apparent to me watching that video that I am still overall too tentative riding the test. Like. Emma. C’mon. We’re in the quiet indoor at home alone. Ride every.step of the test, it’s literally not a big deal.
soooooo our free walk has gotten a bit curled recently, womp
So I came back out the next day and repeated the whole exercise, tho I didn’t fuss with the camera on this day.
New areas of focus included being a bit more assertive about pushing the mare into the aids. I tried to imagine Doozy as a balloon — I just wanted a little more air, puff her up just a little bit more — while still trying to find a fluid forward balance in the contact.
trying so hard to not fall apart in second half of test
Especially for that right lead canter depart. There’s something to how I’m riding that pattern from free walk to trot circle to canter depart that’s creating the right conditions for the mare to fuss and kick out, bc she’s generally not doing that at any other time in these rides.
I also need to be a bit more disciplined in overall geometry in general, and riding corners in particular. In fact, I could do myself a favor and fit more foot steps into every long side by riding deeper into the corners. This is especially apparent in the entry of the test, where we ride the short side past the judge, and then again as we pick up after the free walk.
the rest of the circle was actually fine tho!
Finally, my last big takeaway is that I need to push harder on my position. Even with the ride guides, I’m still often sitting off to the right, with my hands too low and reins too long.
anyway here’s a gif of doozy being fascinated with the steward’s pug from loch moy, as a reward for looking at all the blurry brown blobs
It’s not ALL bad news, tho! A couple areas from these practice rides went really well — especially the canter-trot transitions. With the help of the recording, I’m thinking about preparing for that transition into the corner instead of coming out onto the long side — and that seems to work a lot better for Doozy.
Practicing the final center line pattern to halt has also been helpful. Doozy often is thinking ‘canter’ at that particular moment, but I think she’s figuring out the pattern and learning to anticipate a halt instead.
yer a good mare, dooz!
Honestly it’s kinda amazing how enlightening intentional dedicated practice can be, LOL…. Who woulda thunk. I’ll probably ride the test a couple more times this week too.
Idk if next weekend will be our last time riding the test or not, but regardless I’d like to see improvement from past efforts. Or at least, I don’t want to unnecessarily leave points on the table for not riding my best if Doozy happens to be particularly well behaved haha. We can all hope!!
