cursed chaos

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!!*

(*But like, maybe less chaos pls!)