So! With the mare settling into what seems like consistent soundness over the last ~3 weeks,* we decided to test the waters with a fun low-key outing to our most favoritest summer CT series!
(*Maybe it’s the Equioxx kicking in? Or the changes from the shoeing? Regardless, I’ll take it!)
d’aww, somebody is excited for breakfast <3
And boy oh boy, it was a day!!
Let’s start with the good: We did it, yay! The mare pulled through when it counted (sorta!), in what were, ahem, undeniably tricky conditions.
The bad: those conditions, oof. It rained about 2” overnight and everything was completely water logged, including the grass jumping rings.
The ugly: A whole contingent of barn mates entered the show too — which is awesome! — including 3 of Doozy’s current or former field mates. Doozy straight up melted down, and threw ALL her toys out the pram when she realized her friends were there. Which, natch, was just as we went up center line for dressage. She also never quite recovered from the shock and was legitimately a nightmare for the rest of the day. Fun!
being her sensible + polite self at the trailer, pre-meltdown
All these weeks months I’ve been stressing over her soundness and avowing that she’s such a cool horse, the horse that I want, the horse I’d do anything to keep sound! And whoops, here we are and she’s sound and I’m like, ‘wow ok maybe she kinda sucks* sometimes tho’ lololol….
(*Don’t worry, guys, I still love** her even if she was a straight up violent psychopath.)
((**I reserve the right to change my mind at any time tho!))
staring *directly* at the camera bc it was attached to OMG FRIEND
But ya know. In the grand scheme of things, it was always going to be a hard day. Bc Doozy is… not the super easiest horse, at least for me and my skills. But of all the days, of all the places to sorta get out there and shake the rust off — however rusty we may be — this was basically ideal.
I love this venue, the vibes are so positive and chill. Doozy has been here plenty for lessons plus a couple CTs last year. And sure, it’s kinda embarrassing to be among so many familiar faces like, “Yea I’ve had this horse for almost two years now and she’s still totally crazy and maybe kinda occasionally dangerous…!” But eh. Who cares, right?
hard to tell but the ring was pretty mucky after 2” of rain overnight
We know from last fall that Doozy can settle down and behave herself, we just kinda gotta work through the process again. I had really hoped to just keep the momentum going through the winter — with our Sharon White clinic, some eventing derbies at Loch Moy, a few other clinics or jumper / dressage schooling shows, and then bam! right back at it in March.
But ya know. Obviously none of that happened. And instead most of winter and spring have passed by quietly, with just a few little outings to show for it. C’est la vie!
why yes, it IS another picture of us walking around lol
Our most recent little outings, tho — lessons with the new local 5* trainer — have been paying dividends. We’ve mostly been working on what blogger Which_Chick referred to as “remedial trotting,” staying almost entirely on 20m circles and working on the finer points of shoulder control and micro-yielding in and out. And it’s working!
For our dressage warm up at this CT, I really focused on holding myself accountable and riding as if this test was the most important part of the day. As opposed to my normal habit of sorta shrugging off our suckery by dismissing the dressage bc “we’re here to jump!” No no, for Doozy, the flat work needs to be front and center, always.
ridiculous critter
The warm up wasn’t perfect, tho. Doozy definitely felt more tense than she’s been at home lately (like for instance, in that video y’all watched a couple weeks ago). And then of course she saw her friends on the way from the indoor to the show ring and… yea lol. All bets were off.
I’m still proud-ish-sorta of how I rode, tho. Like, sure, I did slip more into survival mode than I’d intended. But eh it’s going to take a lot of practice to keep riding strongly and intentionally even when the mare gets so fragile and tight.
The parts that went well, tho? Go figure, it’s the stuff we’ve been working on in the remedial trotting lessons! Sure, I kinda lose her shoulders toward the gate in our first trotting circle, but it’s not terrible, and not so bad that she was able to slip into canter. By and large, most of our circles stayed mostly on the tracks I intended (vs kinda just whipping the mare around the figure), and even our final center line turn was fine!
click to see full size
The transitions were fairly prompt too! This is the BN-B test, which calls for canter in the corner going into the short end, with right lead coming up first. Especially with Doozy’s BEST FRIEND IN THE WHOLE WORLD standing off in the distance from that corner, and given that the end of the ring is demarcated only by small little white poles, I had what felt like realistic concerns about unplanned ring exits.
But no, Doozy was fine! Stayed on the lines I rode her, stepped into canter when I asked, and actually the down transitions were more or less in the right spots too. So. Ya know. Cool, we executed the pattern. The relaxation and steadiness are absolutely worlds away from what I know they can be, obviously, but eh. For now I’ll take it.
we are both slightly surprised to have gotten to this point
And anyway, all hell broke loose basically immediately anyway. Doozy’s friend wandered off after we saluted at X, and the meltdown began in proper. Doozy screamed and skittered sideways like a crab and threatened to rear the whole walk back to the trailers.
We had a super short gap to jumping, so my plan was to pause at the trailer to change bridles, then get back on and go straight down to jump. The changing bridles thing… proved to be a mistake anyway, tho. I’ve been riding Doozy more in the hackamore lately and she’s been so quiet and steady and wonderful in it — including with the little bit of jumping we’ve been doing. But… In retrospect, I probably should have predicted that it’d be the wrong answer for when Doozy is in full blown tension mode, behind the leg with a tightly retracted neck. It wasn’t the end of the world, but the nathe would have been better I think.
she jumped the first 3 fences with basically just her front end, and kinda either bunny hopped or stepped over with the hind end, oops
Tho. Lol. Bridle choice was pretty far from front of mind for…. uhhhh, about the next hour lol. Bc Doozy was, again, not to put too fine a point on this, completely psychotic by now.
It was clear that I wouldn’t be able to get on again at the trailer after changing bridles, so instead I hand walked her down to the jumping area. With her screaming and dancing, and at one point rearing up and threatening to strike. I don’t **truly** believe she wanted to hurt me at any point, but she definitely was UNHAPPY with me being in charge. And plus. Whether she “means it” or not doesn’t really matter when the behavior is that dangerous. Sigh.
she got better as we went
The next hour kinda unfolded in much this way. We got into the warm up area, close enough to the other horses for Doozy to get distracted enough to rage eat some grass (but still far enough away to hopefully be as minimally disruptive as a screaming horse can be).
Eventually I was able to climb aboard, and we loitered around the in gate watching the BN class go. I tried to get Doozy over to the warm up zone but the footing there was completely torn to shit, and Doozy’s agitation about going back to the trailers seemed stronger over there. So, eh, we stuck around the show ring while they reset the course to 2’3, and finally in a moment of quiet, with no other horses immediately around, I asked if I could just take her in to the ring.
finished strong, good mare!
It was funny, too, bc Doozy took a giant deep breath once inside the ring. Almost as if the ‘limbo’ of being out in the open loading zone was more stressful for her than being inside the contained ring where we do our work. Which… I honestly kinda expected the opposite from her, but hey, we’ll take it!
So… I picked up the trot and just jumped the course. Our first three fences were pretty squirrelly, with the mare kinda pogo-ing over them, all front end and no hind push. Which I’m attributing to the hackamore not really giving her the freedom she needed when we’re both riding so tight.
the last four fences were the best
Plus Doozy was maybe a little surprised to be jumping, and was possibly weighing her options at fence 2 and then definitely at fence 3 — a funny little off camber turn downhill past the in-gate. We made it over them, tho, and then over 4, which happened to be in the boggiest portion of the ring. Bc again, reminder, the footing was totally water logged.
It’s easy to watch the footage and think I should’ve let her go more forward. And, ya know, maybe I should have. But… with the footing being that unstable and the distances in that triple line animated above being a bit unforgiving… Idk, the last thing I wanted was to slide into a fence.
As it was, the last 4 jumps were set up to be a really nice confidence building finish. I think if the ground was better, it would have ridden 3-3, maybe 4-3. And I actually wondered for a moment if Doozy would do the 3 on the way out. But she fit in the 4, and then was her perfectly locked on self to the final end jump. Yay, good mare, you did it!
this was literally the easiest part of our day LOL, siiiiiiiigh
It’s so funny to me how the “hard” part of the day (the actual jumping test) is actually the easiest for Doozy. Like, I just knew that as soon as I could get her mind on jumping, she’d forget about her BEST FRIENDS OMG and focus. And that’s exactly what she did!
Well. Briefly, lol. Bc then she was a nutter going back up the hill toward the trailers, and a complete spastic pest at the trailer for getting untacked and sponged off. Tho luckily at this point one of her friends was parked nearby and just chilling, so I took Doozy and her feed pan full of forage over to that trailer to just calm down and rage eat for a bit before going home.
sweet* mare <3 (*pre-meltdown)
So ya know. It was a day lol. And we did the things, yay! And the training is sorta working, double yay! It’s just… all the everything else… that needs work. My hope is that repetition and exposure will do the trick. And in the meantime we’ll keep the actual ridden parts easy and accessible enough so that we can get around even in full blown meltdown mode.
Tho, uh, hopefully our next outing will involve fewer of Doozy’s BEST FRIENDS OMG so she can maybe focus a little better lol.
Longtime readers will already be super familiar with my penchant for volunteering at horse trials around Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. And also my somewhat cynical view that the current model of volunteer reliance in our sport is unsustainable without further investment and support from the USEA.
they ordered perfect weather for this show!
I’m worried about the coming year too — given everything else that’s going on in the world. It’s already an expensive and demanding sport. Finding the spare time (and gas money) for a day of jump judging may feel increasingly unrealistic for many folks who might otherwise be inclined.
this unique venue’s xc course basically cascades down a giant hillside, complete with ruins natch
It’s possible my pessimism is a direct result of this weekend’s experience, too: one of Area II’s most iconic venues (and home to an absolutely fantastic Fall 4* International), Plantation Field, was so hard up for volunteers this weekend that they risked not being able to run at all — with organizers forced to make personal phone calls right up to the day before the event soliciting prospective volunteers for even half a day’s time.
Chris Talley’s MBF Firebrand looks like how doozy imagines herself
These events can not run without volunteers. There are not enough paid stewards and members of the ground jury to facilitate horses through the phases (especially in a timely manner when individual riders may be competing multiple horses), and safely oversee the cross country event.
Sure, a single jump judge can often manage multiple fences (especially at a venue like Plantation, with its expansive hillside profile)… But combinations with accuracy questions or narrow faces, like corners and wedges etc, often need the judge positioned strategically to observe the horse passing clearly through the flags, and be close enough to put those flags back in place when they are inevitably knocked down throughout the day.
intermediate trakehner rode great all day, as shown here by Caitlin Reamy & El Patrone
Other fences, like frangible and MIM style jumps, similarly need the jump judge to be close enough to actually inspect the device any time the jump may have had a hard knock.
Obviously, tho, the absolute most fundamental job of the jump judge is to be the warm body with eyes on the rider and radio in hand in the event of an accident. It is unimaginable that something catastrophic could happen at a recognized event and go undetected for lack of sufficient jump judge coverage.
and local legend Sally Cousins with Truly Wiley
Whether or not you feel like the USEA should do more in facilitating and incentivizing the volunteer pipeline (as I do) rather than relying on each individual organizer and venue to cultivate their own volunteer pools… Anybody who participates in the sport and appreciates the relatively low costs for membership and entry fees (compared to say, typical rated h/j stuff) might worry about venue owners shifting away from eventing if running horse trials feels increasingly complicated, risky and expensive.
and Canadian team rider, Lisa Marie Fergusson on Raytheoin Quality Imp! (all you Welsh Cob lovers out there should look up her longtime partner Honor Me!)
And, of course, there are more specifics related to this particular case, too. You might remember a giant controversy a few years ago when, in the wake of the George Floyd murder and the Black Lives Matter movement’s ascendency in national consciousness, Eventing Nation took a moral stand against Plantation Field bc of connotations with the name.
My understanding is that things got heated and personal behind the scenes, and of course social media was aflame with strong feelings.
next up — a MIM table on the prelim course! these frangible devices require a jump judge to be positioned close enough to do regular checks throughout the division in case of hard knocks
Not gonna lie, tho, guys — it always felt a bit like misplaced anger to me. Especially when you consider the same publication, Eventing Nation, has since done significant sponsorship work with Morven Park — another incredible iconic local venue down in, uh, Leesburg, that… actually does include owning and housing slaves as part of its history as a plantation.
Not trying to cast aspersions on Morven Park here, either, guys. It’s a lovely place that I’d go to way more often if it weren’t on the other side of DC from me.
Lee Maher’s HTF Charming Cooley wasn’t touching it tho!
But rather, my point is that this publication — with whatever influence it has — took a very public stand against a venue whose historic use of the word “plantation” relates to tree farming, and continues refusing to this very day to name or cover the event itself. Instead it’s listed as the “Unionville Event” (for the venue’s location) and otherwise basically ignored.
another local (adopted) legend, Australian rider Ryan Wood with Cooley Maestro
Which… Fine. Every publisher is allowed their own standards. From the most modest bloggers (like me!) to national legacy print media, we all get to choose what we cover, how, and why.
i could only stay thru modified, so my last assignment was this crazy roller coaster, ridden here by Tiffany Wandy & CV Outlaw
But I was recently rereading Originals by Adam Grant, and he introduces a topic of “horizontal hostility” that really reminded me of this exact scenario. His case study was on Lucy Stone and her role in the women’s suffrage movement — and the rivalry that broke out between her and other suffragists at the time. A rivalry that risked fracturing the entire movement.
According to Grant, “horizontal hostility” arises in group dynamics, and is reflective of the small differences that drive apart otherwise aligned groups. A typical dynamic includes the differences between purists and more moderates. Issues with the “true believers” and folks who might be more peripheral. Another example he shared was the frequent friction between vegans and vegetarians, with vegans often spurning vegetarians as not being “true” supporters of the cause.
Elle Stephenson & Treasury Stock made it look easy too
That passage immediately reminded me of countless other instances where I could think of people who might otherwise appreciate the same things, like the same sport, share the same values, instead find themselves at odds bc of disagreements on the details.
There seem to be countless ‘tribes’ among equestrianism, too, right? Shod vs barefoot, bits vs bitless, stalls vs turnout… and that’s before you even get to the particulars of any given sport.
it was Conrad Alexander and Just My Style, tho, who won the class
And I guess I’m not really necessarily trying to get into all that, or pick the scab on a sensitive and nuanced issue in our society — at a time when ‘nuance’ and ‘sensitivity’ themselves seem to have been completely discarded by the powers that be.
Except to say that… Listening to the book’s segment on “horizontal hostility” got me thinking about all the times in my life where conflict, friction or controversy has arisen between friends, groups or similar associations in ultimately devastating and counter productive ways. Whether for me personally, or for issues I care about.
I honestly don’t even really know if there’s any relationship at all between that and Plantation’s severe volunteer shortage this weekend, either. It’s probably a fluke. Or one of those random convergences of many small issues (for example, changes in key operational roles within the venue in the last year leading to gaps in coverage, etc).
Or ya know. Maybe it’s just Mother’s Day weekend and people are busy. Who knows, right?
all in a day’s work!
It got me thinking, tho. And so here I am writing about those thoughts.
So. Eh. If nothing else, there are pretty pictures and some cool video clips of amazing horses and riders doing their thang. Or this could be the reminder you needed to remember to sign up for a volunteer shift at your favorite venue sometime soon.
Or, maybe, it’s a reminder to myself — for any of us, really — in this weird strange and ominous era, to be more thoughtful in looking beyond purity tests among those who would otherwise be friendly and/or aligned with our vision for the world we want to be a part of. To focus on the values we share, the areas that bring us together, and our common goals.
Happy Friday, y’all! It’s been the kind of week where I almost don’t even really remember everything that happened, except that things felt pleasantly routine and productive. I’m still not super sure that we have Doozy’s situation figured out, but felt optimistic enough to schedule another lesson with the new local 5* coach. Yay!
pretty biscuit went to another lesson! and was sound!!
I warned her that the horse would almost certainly be lame, even tho she seemed sound for all the rest of our rides earlier in the week… Bc that’s honestly just how things have been for us so far this year.
yours truly ran a bit late tho bc apparently my gps doesn’t have a setting for “avoid bus routes” at school o’clock
But I figured, eh, it was worth a shot. Worst case scenario, it would be just another off farm exposure, possibly with another set of experienced eyes weighing in on what might be going on with the mare.
it’s a very pretty farm. maybe eventually we’ll get out to explore the xc fields
Naturally, tho, Doozy surprised us all — as is her way, apparently — and was sound! Yay!! We still kept it super low key, tho, and just focused on the fundamentals.
no media from the lesson aside from where our halt transitions suddenly got a whooole lot crisper when a friggin wild turkey randomly sauntered across the ring LOL
This coach is really great about calling out all my positional bad habits and flaws etc in a positive and productive way, which I LOVE. But she’s not so rigid that she requires I completely abandon my core base of strength — even as she may want to evolve that over time too.
anyway. speaking of randomly spooky objects…..
Mostly, tho, her focus is on helping me be more effective in improving Doozy’s way of going and overall training. She zeroed in fairly quickly to my delicate handling of the hot horse, and wants me to be more proactive in getting my legs on and actually touching the horse more.
oh no!
She used a really great analogy for Doozy that reminded me a lot of our early days together. Remember how, back when Doozy was brand new we sometimes struggled to just like… hand walk around an arena? But literally simultaneously, if I had to do some sort of little task like picking up manure, setting up ground poles, or opening or closing a gate while still …hand walking the horse around the ring, Doozy was always totally aces for all that?
so #controversial
At the time, this behavior in Doozy really struck me as reinforcing that I needed to be keeping her occupied and engaged — like with the little ‘micro tasks’ — bc otherwise in the absence of any clear direction or objective, mare would fill the vacuum with her own ideas haha. All of which were, naturally, a bit chaotic.
she might be silly but she’s so sweet <3
So this new coach’s analogy was that Doozy is a bit like the kids out to dinner at a restaurant who stay occupied by coloring in the place mats with crayons. She needs something to do, beyond just “trotting around a circle.”
and hey, how about MOAR unrelated pics??? went on a gorgeous hack the other night too
W’s suggestion was to be more proactive in finding feelings of leg yield and counter bend while going around on our circle. And to be sorta strategic with whether I want to leg yield out or in based on where we are with the circle and Doozy’s natural affinity to drift one way or another vis-à-vis the gate.
it’s crazy how fast the hay fields grow this time of year
We practiced getting the feeling right while mostly staying on a figure 8 of 20m circles, spending time getting balanced and connected in one direction, then achieving a walk transition to change bend and direction, then trotting again the other way. All while working on those sorta subtle micro adjustments in Doozy’s balance and bend.
nbd just wandering the hillsides
This was super useful bc my own crookedness has only gotten more pronounced with time out of the saddle. Changing directions while staying mostly on small figures really helped me be aware of what my own posture was doing from one direction to the next.
looking back across the valley to the barn yard
Another comment from W has also really stuck with me — she advised me to make our exercises take more time. My tendency is to try to rush through things and get them done. Whether bc I’m not feeling confident about it, or feeling like the mare is unspooling, or whatever. But the point is to really slow down my own approach and be more intentional about making the exercises take the time they need to take in order to actually have the desired effect on the horse.
majestic mare!
That isn’t necessarily a ground breaking observation, obviously, except that it really helps me stay focused about what I’m doing in our schooling sessions. And go figure, Doozy has an easier time not rushing when *I’m* not rushing. Crazy stuff, guys lol.
my friend always gets the most epic shots <3
Doozy, for her part, responds really well to these lessons. Another great reminder that she will, in fact, go as correctly as I can ride her. Assuming she’s sound, obviously. Which… she was for this ride— woo hoo!
it ain’t a bad gig!
I don’t want to get ahead of myself or count my chickens before they hatch or whatever… But we’ll just keep sorta tentatively proceeding and see where it gets us. And mayyyybe try thinking about making some plans again. Maybe lol. We’ll see ;)
How on earth is it May already??? Time is absolutely flying by right now, and Ms Mondeuse is officially 7 today! Hard to believe, considering she still acts like the silly 5yo I brought home more than a year and a half ago lol…
the handsomest mare <3
With life outside of horses quieting down a little bit again, I’ve been able to enjoy more quality time with the princess herself.
her coat is looking so good — will this be the year i finally beat the skin funk??
Which… was definitely timely, since Ms Thing was getting a little wild with no routine and a new pasture / friend group. Well. Not a *new* friend group — just a subset of the ponies she spent the winter with, as they got divvied up according to their grass sensitivities.
looking innocent lol
Interestingly, there are very very few TBs at this new barn, compared to the last place where TBs were the norm vs the exception. So a lot of the paddocks are managed with fat ponies in mind vs skinny fruit loops lol, but so far Doozy has continued to hold her condition quite nicely.
omg the controversy of … saddle pads drying in the sunlight
Anyway. It’s been nice getting back to a routine. Especially with feeling more hopeful again with the addition of Equioxx to Doozy’s diet.
such a pretty time of year in the woods
It’s still probably too early to tell if it’s making a difference, but ya know. That’s never stopped me from hoping before haha.
ferns are starting to come back in again
And besides, we’ve mostly just been putzing around anyway — like with little walkies around the fields and woods <3
good mare <3
Tho you know me, I’m not immune from occasionally indulging when temptations present themselves lol…. Like this past weekend after the mare had seemed sound for a few rides in a row, and there were a couple very inviting jumps and ground poles set up…
omg we tested the waters again!!
Obvi we didn’t do anything crazy, but I figured we’d pop over a couple more or less just to see if she’d be sound or lame again the next day.
just a little bit of play… we’ll see what happens
And ugh, this horse is just so fun to jump — she was aces at all the canter poles and handled the two 2’3 jumps we did (the vertical in the above pic and the earlier swedish oxer) quite neatly.
getting some much-needed rain this week too
And even better — she was still sound for our schooling session the next day too!! Yay!! Again, probably too soon to tell if it’s a durable soundness or not, but we’ll see.
happy birthday, lady
It’d be a big weight off my mind if the Equioxx is enough to keep her comfortable. Tho obvi we’ll keep investigating other options (like potential shoeing changes?) as needed.
here’s hoping for many happy returns!
For now, tho, it’s enough. Mare is lookin good and feelin fine on her birthday — what more could ya ask for?
