wild ‘n woodsy

Wow three posts in one week lol, a sure sign that conditions are getting nicer outside! 

It’s no secret my posting schedule is almost entirely a function of number of photos taken… And idk about you, but at a certain point every single photo in the winter looks like just another dusty brown blob. Horse looking cute in crossties? Yea but it’s bad nighttime lighting and everything is brown. Horse looking cute after a nice ride?? Ok, yea, but we’re indoors and again, literally everything is brown. Cute ‘between the ears’ shot?? Still literally a picture of dust.

pictured: descending into madness the wilderness a “normal” hack about 

But lo! Longer days, later sunset and improved ground conditions = more time spent outdoors + therefore more interesting pictures, hallelujah!

live look at dooz earlier in the day.
legit the most still she’s ever been in her LIFE

And even better? Earlier this week I got to the barn after work just in time to join some barn mates for a hack out! Legit my first time out with Doozy in MONTHS omg!

looking a little “less still,” having already survived our first brush with catastrophe lol

And oh lord…. Our riding companions were fantastic but it is 1,000% Spring Silly Season right now, holy mother of god. Every single paddock we passed on the trek out to the woods seemed to boil over with boisterous geldings breezing the fence lines nearest us…

doozy’s bff had to take the lead to calm his nerves, and poor doozy had to #cope with walking slower than 95mph

Our three horses held it together decently well but not gonna lie, it was sketchy AF omg. Doozy was so coiled up she could have fit all four feet on a dime omg, and I had a hand on the neck strap just trying to hold her back while one companion pranced like she was auditioning the for Spanish School and the other did a quick intentional dismount to avoid accidental launching.

she’s so funny — finds the wide open spaces more calming than the closeness of the woods

Fortunately tho we were able to put some distance (and a tree line) between us and those ridiculous geldings (who kept noisily galloping around snorting and farting and all that) and continue on more or less unscathed lol. Good girl, Doozy!

the other horses know the routine well enough to pep up on the walk home

And actually the trip into the woods was lovely! Doozy normally leads the way bc none of the other horses can keep up with her walk. It doesn’t seem like she particularly cares one way or the other about being in front or behind other horses tho, so when one horse preferred to settle his nerves by setting the pace, Doozy more or less acquiesced to following along in the woods.

poor doozy was too tired tho — almost couldn’t keep up omg!!

It’s funny tho — it’s getting so much warmer and obviously the woods and fields around the barn have some seriously steep hillsides (compared to the absolute flatness of our winter spent in the arena). Doozy still has most of her winter coat and was completely puffed by the time we made it out of the woods lol. 

d’aww sweet lady, look at the camera dooz!

Like could legit almost not keep up on the last hill back to the barns haha… Silly mare, you shouldn’t have wasted so much energy jigging around in the woods!

doozy! look at the camera!!

Overall, tho, ridiculousness aside, it was a great ride and felt so refreshing to get back out into the fields and woods again. Definitely eager to make that a regular thing again. We were hacking out weekly through last fall…. but it’s just so steep in some places that with the wet slippery ground conditions we kinda just gave up over winter. 

MARE!

It’s all ahead of us, tho! Doozy had her spring wellness check with my vet this week, and we added in some flexions and whatnot, spending a fair amount of time talking through that suspected hoof bruise plus Doozy’s general crookedness. And it was a good appointment!

d’aww sweet worn out biscuit <3 <3

I basically opened my checkbook in terms of doing any and every baseline diagnostic imaging she felt could be helpful — especially relating to understanding whether the bruise was truly a bruise or possibly something chronic related to the mare’s conformation. But my vet, who is immensely practical, felt reasonably confident after the exam, flexions, trotting out on hard and soft surfaces, straight and circles, that the mare is sound. She thinks whatever I’m feeling sporadically is still related to the fallout from that ice ball back in January. 

back out into your pigpen now!

She advised patience and time. Which like, bleh lol sounds awful, can’t I just buy a fancy treatment instead??? /jkjk

She suggested giving the mare another 3ish weeks of relatively light duty — enough “work” to keep the mare sane ‘n civilized… But minimal tight turns or concussive exercises like jumping. 

lol the #wildest, and her pony <3

Which…. in the grand scheme of things, is honestly just fine. Yea sure it’s true that we went a little backwards this winter with the time off in terms of quality and consistency in our work… But the horse has also proved that it’s all still in there. 

Improvements we’ve made on the flat are holding, and she obviously still loves to jump — ain’t nothing changing that! Those skills will still be there when we’re ready.

OMFG RUDE BISCUIT!

I remember with Charlie I used to get so frustrated and almost panicky when it felt like we had a setback or that we weren’t “on track” to our goals or whatever… But with Doozy, there really isn’t any rush. 

I’m eager and excited to get out and do things, and obviously am always scheming and plotting adventures and whatnot… but, eh. Another few weeks of hacking out and low impact flat rides (outdoors!!) still sounds like a treat after such a nasty winter!