It’s still winter, y’all. Surprise surprise. But I sat down with the calendar last week to spend time sketching out ideas and possibilities, and am feeling pretty good about things.
sn*wy biscuit
Or at least, I’m feeling good enough to not be too too annoyed by recent little snow squalls lol.
lookie guys, i’m getting better at a no-pull method that **doesn’t** involve scissors lol
Tho one howling windy night last week, I figured that sometimes discretion was the better part of valor and opted to do spa night instead of a ride lol. Judge me if you want! Doozy’s mane needed attention, tho, and I’m determined to keep it tidy without resorting to trimming with scissors like I did for Charlie.
she’s teaching me lessons, y’all
A former barn mate showed me a ‘no-pull’ method using a SoloComb, wherein you basically go through the motions as if you’re going to pull the mane: keep hold of the longest strands while back-coming the rest. But instead of then wrapping those strands around the comb and pulling, you just get the SoloComb as close to the neck as possible, then activate the cutter.
good girl #coped with some chaos this week haha
If done patiently enough, it basically has the same effect as pulling, but without… ya know… the pulling. Which Doozy appreciates. This mare, I swear. She has strong feelings. You couldn’t even snip her mane with scissors when I first got her — she’d be so indignant, like, Bitch did you just CUT ME??
Like. C’mon Dooz. I know you feel everything at an eleven, but does your **hair** really hurt???
we had quieter days too tho
Ahem. Anyway. Our rides this week have otherwise been more or less ok. Some kids were getting ready for the Loch Moy Derby this past weekend and every night seemed to be Practice Night lol. But they’re cute and sometimes a little chaos is good for Doozy, so meh, fine.
ooooh and we had our first field trip in weeeeeks!!
We got enough reps in to FINALLY get back off property again for our first time since right after New Years — with a trip to see dressage trainer C, yay!
i set up my helmet cam too, tho obvi screenshots are pretty potato-y
Trainer C is always really good about asking how I want to spend our lesson time together. Bc sometimes we are looking for help getting a test ready for competition, and sometimes we just want to let her have her way with us, ya know?
For this ride, tho, I asked for something sorta in between — not actually running through tests, but more structure and raised expectations re: promptness for both us of.
the video is pretty meh overall, but i’m including a clip below in case you’re innerested
Our last dressage test of the year at Waredaca was a bit disappointing despite Doozy being relatively relaxed and quite good in warm up. It just felt like we sorta whipped through the movements, with me reverting entirely to survival mode vs any intentionality.
My plan had been to squeeze in as many schooling dressage shows this winter as possible. But so far… Well. No dice there, womp.
it was a good lesson, and the video helps with #accountability
So for this lesson, trainer C tried to help fill the gaps a little bit, with having us do more rapid fire transitions and shifts from movement to movement. We also spent more time using the full long sides of the ring. Key takeaways include continuing to work on straightening my torso — keeping equal space between my rib cage and hips on both sides of my body, and keeping both legs down square underneath me.
I get especially crooked when I feel like Doozy is getting away from me, which presumably only exacerbates her balance disruptions.
#SadMareDiaries
Overall, Doozy continues to get significantly more rideable. I didn’t have the metronome going during the ride, but you can still see enormous improvements there — which have a direct bearing on her ability to balance and hold herself together.
such a sweetie tho <3
She was a little less steady on the aids for much of the lesson — but actually that’s basically exactly why I wanted to kinda practice pushing her buttons a little more. She’s learning to have really lovely soft moments of carriage, but it’s a bit fragile and delicate — and easily disrupted by like, turning or going straight, or transitioning or…. staying the same lol.
I wanted to spend more (supervised) time going through the various motions while still having the accountability of Trainer C right there to remind me to slow down or sit up or what have you.
arghhhhh muddy biscuit!!!
Overall, time well spent imho. And hopefully if things go to plan (which like, we all know how that goes), I’ll be able to get back over there more often through the rest of the spring.
Doozy is so clever, she’s such a quick learner and seems to appreciate ‘tasks’ and patterns… It really feels like she’s in a place to really benefit from more regular lessons. Plus, getting her off property is so key for keeping her civilized LOL.
We’ll see I guess! As always... First we gotta survive all this mud OMG haha….
The snow is melted, temperatures mild, and Ms Mondeuse is back in regular work — things are looking up! (Let’s just pretend the forecast for more snow storms this week is a lie. Yes? Yes.)
mare loves her some snacks <3
And true to form, after a couple wild ‘n woolly sessions wherein Doozy just like couldn’t cope… She’s right back on her A Game again, yay!!
the kids call her “the troll” bc you have to pay the toll to walk past haha
I did start giving her daily sucralfate again and honestly it’s hard to know to what degree it impacts the mare… Except she always seems to just go so well and relaxed when she’s had it recently, even if I’m imagining things it still feels worth it to keep using it for gut maintenance.
my trailer is basically a storage closet / feed room on wheels at this point
I also got all inspired by Carly’s recent post about Opie’s day to day management, and decided to pick up the Triple Crown Stress Free fortified forage she mentioned. The product markets itself as basically a gut support supplement that is particularly useful for keeping horses eating and happy in higher stress situations like while trailering and competing. For the cost of about 3 hay bales, seems like a reasonable experiment!
d’aww mare has the sweetest face!
All things being equal, I’d much rather still have Charlie and be paying board on two horses… But life is what it is, and those dollars are now earmarked for getting Doozy whatever she needs to thrive as leading lady. Hopefully at some point soon that’ll include more lessons. But for now, fancy snacks will do!
making up for lost time by playing randomly with whatever is set up in the ring
Our rides this week have been, without exception, lovely. Nothing crazy or extravagant, not really pushing too many buttons yet. Just reestablishing steady consistent working sessions at trot and canter, utilizing basic figures and ground poles. And playing with mixing up when we canter in the ride to relieve some anticipation and reaffirm that we can trot as nicely *after* a canter as before.
short little 2 stride grid was a breeze!
I’ve also finished every ride this week with little bonus jompies over whatever was set up in the ring. Stuff is always set up, and often moving around. Usually the heights are quite low (like in the above grid), but this week there were a few days where stuff was closer to 2’ish, including that low wide oxer above.
more snacks. always with the snacks!
My confidence benefits so much from routine consistent practice. And Doozy benefits from exercises feeling boring and easy. It’s not like two or three trips over a 2’ fence is gonna run her down or anything either, right? So it’s been fun to just kinda bop around a little bit.
had to check the empty buckets too obvi
In an ideal world, we’d do intentional jumping exercises 2x weekly… But that’s almost never really played out in real life for me. So maybe if we bop around when little opportunities arise, and then have at least one proper school with fences set intentionally etc at least every 1-1.5wks, that’d be a nice balance? Idk haha, we’ll see. It all seems to depend on ring availability anyway.
left a few forage crumbs but i’m sure they’ll be gone by morning
It’ll probably be at least a few weeks still before the outdoor is usable — it just really doesn’t hold up to any wetness whatsoever, and with more snow on the forecast… Idk. We’ll see.
fingers crossed the snow forecast is wrong bc i’m so ready for consistent bare ground!!
But spring is coming, I can definitely feel it! Last season definitely ended on a high for us, with what felt like a lot of momentum. I’m looking forward to carrying that forward into this coming year, tho am trying to be a bit more thoughtful and patient about prioritizing good confidence building experiences.
Some of this jumping stuff comes so easily to Doozy, it’s easy to feel like she ‘needs to be challenged.’ Except. Ya know. Who cares haha. She’s my horse so I get to call the shots and what I’m most excited about is having FUN eventing again. Whatever it takes, right?
There’s nothing Doozy likes more than to make a liar out of me. This mare, she’s full of surprises. After all my whining and self pity about how far away we felt from just a month ago… Well, the mare would like to set the record straight haha.
sweet mare is tired for the first time in recent memory LOL
Well. Ok. Real talk. It’s a challenging environment for young hot blooded things like Mondeuse. It’s finally mild again, but the ground is still frozen under a thin layer of slick slippery mud.
There isn’t a whole lot to do in turnout other than commune around the hay ring and wait for sunnier days, ya know? Energy is going in, not working out.
lolol soooo close to express delivery!
Which is partly to blame for all her recent explosiveness. Well. That, and just who she is as a person. Ahem.
And it’s times like this where we benefit most from getting the ring to ourselves. We just need access to the rail, or ring mates who can occasionally yield the right of way or take turns doing stuff. It’s too unproductive to constantly be staying out of the way when what Doozy really needs is clear directions on Going Forth, Ma’am.
like so. well hello, mare who quite likes this bit!
So after yet another demoralizing attempt at productivity wherein we stole snippets of frazzled trot during the walk breaks of another rider’s jump school (bc Doozy was hellbent on *losing her shit* while said rider was in motion)… I made it my business to get out *before* work yesterday, and commit to a proper school with an unoccupied ring.
aaaand hello also to doozy’s patented scoot ‘n shoot move (the video has sound effects lol)
You know the type — where you set up intentional exercises in advance: 3 canter poles at 9’; 2 low bounce Xs also at 9’; skinny flower box between standards; 1 larger X with takeoff / landing poles at 9’; and low but built up oxer with trot takeoff at 7’.
PLUS! My favorite accountability partner: ye olde helmet camera set up on the wall to keep me honest.
go go gadget trot poles!
And bless her…. Doozy more or less just got to work. Like. Still explosively lol… Always explosively. And for your viewing pleasure, the video is mostly unedited so you can kinda see what I mean. Just these random little… episodes… little geyser eruptions, if you will. Then back to normal.
playing with flower boxes <3
I try not to indulge too much in the drama, ya know? Like, “Ok yes, duly noted, now let’s proceed…” haha. And that seems to work for Doozy, tbh. And is basically the main reason why it’s so valuable to have the room and rail to just get on with it.
the video is higher resolution but i swear these are bounces
The flat work for this ride didn’t start particularly fantastic… We’re not quite on that ‘4 Minute’ warm up game I posted about last month lol… But, eh, maybe not that far off either. At least for the purposes of this ride. In which my motto was, “Let’s get the “N” back on to the “FU” pls!”
our favorite pole-9’-X-9’-pole configuration
So we got on with it, and moved fairly quickly to the various exercises I set up. Doozy loves exercises. Something to look at, think about, contend with. Everything else disappears for her when she’s got a task at hand.
holy moley, i set myself an oxer and actually jumped it, yay me!
Like, true story: to get to this oxer, we had to follow the rail past the far door — a feat we haven’t accomplished in, ahem, weeks. There be birds monsters there, yo! Except while jumping. All is fair in love and war jumping, and Doozy happily cantered past the doors with nary a flutter.
look at how nicely she trotted to it!
Anyway. The exercises themselves? Went great!! The bounces felt a little optimistic when I prepped them, but actually Doozy was aces — even the first few times when she didn’t realize were were moving into Jompies Mode and *DID* get all silly passing by the open door… I just held my ground, held my line, and she figured it out.
Tried all the things lol — jumped them perfectly, jumped them sideways (bc #SillyAboutDoors), launched at them, and then finally tried the slow thoughtful approach. And each time was a breeze, good girl!
excited to be doing things again <3 <3
Same story for our pole-X-pole combination, which we jumped once each way, and then the little oxer to finish. It was like mare had run through all her explosiveness, realized it wasn’t doing anything except making the work a little harder, and so decided to just be civil instead.
a cookie for the biscuit!
Like literally just trotted right on up to the oxer polite as pie. Still did a little victory gallop afterward haha… But, eh, fiiiiiine. You do you, boo!
Video highlights for anyone disinclined to watch all 10min:
- 0:00 to 1:30 — Trotting, with some ground poles
- 1:50 to 4:25 — Cantering left, with ground poles + flower box
- 4:30 to 6:15 — Bounce drama
- 6:15 to 7:50 — Cantering right and more jumps
- 7:55 to End — Main jompies (other than the bounces)
related: lesson learned, Ms Thing just #CantEven when these loose straps touch her
All in all, exactly the kind of ride I needed for our first time jumping since, uh, December.
gotta be pony club approved, apparently
And maybe a good enough steam vent to mind her manners coexisting with lesson groups for the rest of our evening rides this week. A girl can dream, amirite?
stalker cats continue to stalk my trailer lol
So anyway. Here’s hoping the next 6 weeks of winter go a little bit better than the last 6 lol.. Maybe we’ll even make it to a lesson this month??
If for some weird reason, archeologists from the future examined my credit card statements to analyze what Doozy and I got up to this past month, they might reasonably believe our January was… Epic.
winter: not as epic as advertised
Like all well-intentioned plans, ours was slated to be awesome. We’d capitalize on the momentum from the December clinic with Sharon White by starting the month with an entry in Loch Moy’s January XC Derby.
“Reading the News Feed”
Then, straight back to basics with another clinic — this time with Martin Douzant, with whom I lessoned a few times with Charlie to excellent effect and have been very eager to try again.
Derailment #1 of 2025
Then the next week, another cavaletti clinic with our favorite dressage trainer C (one of the last real activities Charlie did before retiring), and the week after - another dressage clinic but this time with a different local professional who has long been on my list. And ya know, a few other options for shuffling things around should need be. Gotta have options!
It was a worthy experiment i guess, but the bit wrap had to go
Except. Well. Options or no options, literally NONE of that happened. Wompppp lol.
Somebody has been a bit wild. Must be the other red one tho…
It all started innocently enough — Doozy got a nasty bruise from ice accumulations jammed up in her shoe that already had me doubting if we’d be ok for the derby anyway. But Lo! The polar vortex arose and they rescheduled once, before ultimately cancelling entirely.
Trying to persist and persevere thru the cold weather
Meanwhile, Doozy was slow to recover from the bruise while somewhat less slowly descending into winter-induced Cabin Fever with a Capital F (the “U” is implied).
But wait, something’s not quite right here!
Eye I warned Trainer C that Doozy was likely to be a certifiable lunatic for the cavalleti clinic since we’d missed so much saddle time. But ya know. Joke’s on me anyway, as usual.
Ugh, derailment #2 of 2025
Doozy must have been watching me hook up the trailer from her field, bc once I brought her in, it was easy to see (puns, I have them) she was in no shape for a schooling session: her eye was swollen weepy and sore, poor nugget!
Luckily resolved without prescription intervention
Technically I could have waited to see what the eye would look like the next morning before calling it on the clinic… Except…. Ehhhh I really don’t love cancelling at the last minute when it can be avoided. Plus. Real talk. The mare needed ridden in order to be prepared for the clinic. And she couldn’t be ridden with her eye like that. So she wouldn’t be prepared. So we wouldn’t go. End of story.
Barn cats are getting more use out of my trailer than me :(
Naturally her eye WAS totally fine the next day (tho I’d consulted with my vet anyway and treated with some OTC flushing solutions), but them’s the breaks sometimes.
You’d never know there’d been a problem!
Oh, and I skipped the part about the Martin Clinic. Ugh, that got eaten by the polar vortex too — and rescheduled for a date when I’m not available. Curses, yo.
she’s trying to look civilized lol
And yet, we persist! Bc we love it and are fulfilled by the process etc etc etc, right?? So I finally was able to get some semblance of a routine under saddle going again, with a deep focus on just getting our work done while overlooking / ignoring all the ‘noise.’
Pretty biscuit
Engaging the tension and ignoring the drama, right?
Looking suspiciously serene in the snow
And I will say, even tho Doozy and I have decidedly gone a bit backwards in our work this month (for example, this ride feels almost unattainable at the moment) — the quality of the brief moments we do accomplish gives me a lot of satisfaction.
It’s no secret this horse thrives on routine and consistent work. It’ll naturally be harder for us when that routine gets blown up. I’m sure we’ll get right back up to it once conditions improve.
Nooooo!!!!
So obviously Doozy got herself another new ding in the meantime LOL(sob).
Ugh mare, pls just be pretty :(
This one is (fortunately) just cosmetic, at least, tho she was a little ginger on it at first.
So many things we could be doing
Oh and then I had to leave town for a work retreat, and picked up one of the many nasty bugs going around on the way home and have been basically flatlined for a few days — thus spelling doom for our final clinic scheduled for this past weekend with the other local dressage trainer. Siiiiiigh.
It’s all ahead of us, tho, i guess
So ya know. As they say, the ‘best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.’ But, the silver lining is that, as far as Doozy is concerned, not only does none of that even matter — it might as well never have even happened! (Well, ok, it legitimately didn’t happen, but you know what I mean).
From Doozy’s perspective, January was basically one big vacation with the occasional silly schooling session. She’s looking great and feeling fiiiine, so eh. Bring it on, February!!*
