4 minutes

I was going to start this post by saying, "A few years ago....," except.... ahem, actually, it'd be a bit more accurate to say, About a decade ago, I audited a clinic with David O'Connor in which he recited a series of clearly often-repeated** lectures chock full of useful nuggets.

They were the sort of lectures you could listen to again and again and always hear something new, depending on your current horse journey and experiences. And obviously the material stuck with me considering I'm still talking about it lol. But y'all know me, I tend to veer toward the systematic and methodological.... so when DOC solemnly declared, 

"Know the parameters so you can reproduce them," 

Well... Yea, that's exactly the type of guidance that inspires my ongoing horsey pursuits.

(**Confirmed when I audited him again some time later, and it was virtually the same material. Legit super valuable all the same, and would listen to it all over again!)

New York bred mare is right at home in the snow <3

Which.... is also maybe an insight into why Doozy has been so uniquely challenging for me to get going. She's a sensitive chaotic creature who can have disproportionately large responses to relatively minor (and even imperceptible to me) stimuli.

But winter is the season for paring back, scaling down, simplifying and reexamining all those systems and methodologies I guess. And as such, we've had a number of pleasantly gratifying little micro-breakthroughs in recent weeks. 

view from the upper indoor is so pretty <3

Obvi re-introducing the metronome was a big one, especially paired with using my interval timer app. And actually, filming our entire ride with the wall-mounted helmet cam the other week led to another new discovery that we're just now sorta testing out. 

Specifically: in terms of 'reproducible parameters,' how long does it take right now for Doozy to warm up, settle in, get soft? 

I wrote in that post about trimming the first 4 minutes of trot out of the video, mostly bc it was just us sorta warming up etc.... It was a random observation in that moment, but one I've tried to keep track of since then. 

was a good biscuit for some fun low key ground work

Bc basically it's really easy for me to get on the horse and immediately start fiddling, asking the horse to do this, do that, what have you. And then maybe if what I'm doing "isn't working," maybe I change tactics or try something else or whatever. Ya know, the whole "chasing my wet noodle of a mare around with all my aids while she bounces off contorting every which way."

But if, instead, I just ride the rhythm, keeping all my aids steady (within reason, it's still **me** after all!), and the horse squarely between said aids...? 

Turns out, right now 4 minutes of trot is actually our magic number. (Recall my interval timer dings every 2min so it's easy to keep track). Idk if that's a "good" or "bad" duration. But.... maybe I don't care if it's relatively reliable and reproducible? 

And actually having that little bit of data in my mind has done wonders for emphasizing and encouraging relaxation. If I'm starting our rides with a commitment to patience and steadiness -- goooooo figure, Doozy is likelier to match my energy there.

"ma'am, but why i am nekkid???" -- red mares everywhere

And the last little recent breakthrough relates to the new bit. I have almost no experience doing intentional flatwork with a straight mouth piece. But maybe I had some incorrect assumptions about what it would be like, esp re: bend. 

Asking Doozy to flex in or out with this bit is an entirely different (and actually quite nice) sensation from the jointed bits we'd been using. That could be purely a function of how she reacts (or, doesn't react) to the bit so YMMV... But it's interesting to me. Also interesting is how easy it is for me to feel when my outside hand isn't allowing the level bend I'm asking for. Which, it seems is often.** Um. Whoops? 

And I'm not talking about the whole "inside leg to outside rein" purity test here (altho, natch, DOC had plenty to say there too in contradiction to my current approach lol), bc right now our Holiest of Grails is asking Doozy to maintain gentle inside bend, with nose jusssst reaching level with the point of her inside shoulder vs staying centered on her midline. 

(**If you watch carefully ((even just literally the first 0:20sec)) you can see exactly what I'm talking about from that last filmed ride, which was done in the snaffle before we switched to the nathe. It's most apparent when we track right.).

sweet raggamuffin

Bc when these parameters are in place --- steady rhythm, steady inside bend, patience to wait it out --- we are ****finally**** starting to get 'reproducible' results in our flat work. Mostly-ish. Lol. Y'all know how it is haha. 

And obvi, as L. Williams was fond of pointing out... Sometimes today's solutions become tomorrow's problems.... But, eh, that is by definition a problem for Future Emma. 

For right now, it's exciting and empowering to start having flat rides that are less 'at the mercy' of external conditions, and more a direct result of consistent inputs. Oooh, and as further proof of this, our most recent session was held again in the spookier lower indoor, tho with company finally. And sure, it still produced larger reactions in the mare than I'd expect elsewhere... but not enough to disrupt us from the work. Small steps, y'all!