keepin’ up with mondeuse

These crazy weather systems that have devastated friends farther south or west (thinking about you, Texas and North Carolina!) are blowing through Maryland this week — not nearly at the same scale or violence, but still with plenty of drama (and rainfall).

it’s been an unusually wet summer just about everywhere, it seems

A former barn mate once absolutely blew my mind when she randomly — and very nonchalantly — mused that she “didn’t really believe in weather forecasts.” 

grateful for indoor riding spaces

Idk about you all, but part of my neuroses charm as an obsessive planner includes a desire to constantly have informed expectations about weather conditions. Tell me I’m not the only one LOL! For real, tho, especially when it comes to the horsey side of my life, so many key decisions revolve around the weather — like when / where / how I want to ride, for example. 

also grateful that the daily evening thunderstorms break up the heat

Perfect case in point: deciding to skedaddle on over to Tranquillity last weekend bc conditions were so fleetingly perfect. Or other examples: scheduling when to ship out for lessons with our new coach. Obvi there’s more to those logistics than just the weather, and we can make do with the indoor at that farm as needed… But ya know. Who doesn’t love to optimize when possible?

i swear i did not edit the colors in this pic

Overall temperatures have fallen since the nationwide ‘heat dome’ a couple weeks ago, but it’s still notably hot and humid — with brief respites when yet another thunderstorm blows through. I figure, if our outdoor is too wet to ride in anyway, might as well time our rides to capitalize on maximum temperature relief when it’s stormy out, right?? I mean, that’s just common sense haha.

another day, another trailer ride. we were a bit early tho so opted to chill inside the shady trailer with the fans rather than bake out in the afternoon sun

Tho, for whatever reason, most of our lessons end up getting scheduled in kinda the opposite orientation: mid to late afternoon, when conditions are maximally oppressive right before the storms blow by. C’est la vie amirite? 

these Ryobi mini fans have been the absolute best addition to my trailer set up, i literally cannot believe it took me 10 years to figure that out lol

It’s funny too bc Doozy’s barn and my coach’s barn are sorta in slightly different weather zones, and a front was about to hit at home so I opted to get Doozy loaded up to ship out slightly early vs waiting until the front was truly upon us… But then arrived for our lesson in still scorching 90*F sunshine, with about a half hour to kill. 

Woodge said we were welcome to hack the xc fields while we waited but… bleh, the sun was so strong it honestly felt better to conserve resources inside the trailer with shade + a good cross wind + these little Ryobi mini fans that I absolutely love.

the two fans are zip tied in strategic locations, and each 1ah battery lasts a few trips
(ignore the weird distortions it’s a panorama shot and doozy was obvi movin around)

Soon enough, tho, it was show lesson time! AND!! We got to play in the dressage court set up for eventing camp, yessssss! One of my biggest goals over the winter was to manufacture as many opportunities to ride inside the boards as possible. Which… obviously just like everything else I had planned over the winter, that never happened. 

But I really was eager for the opportunity to just “ride as normal” inside a proper court to help Doozy realize it’s no different from any other ride.

oooh there was a dressage court set up for eventing camp — obvi we played in it for our warm up!

And guys, omg I don’t know what it was about this lesson or this particular day… maybe Doozy remembered to take her Princess Pills in the morning or something LOL, but she was suuuuper rideable. Really relaxed* (*for her), really responsive to my position and aids, and for once not particularly inclined to spurt off at the least provocation! 

Like, I felt like I actually got to focus on myself and the coaching each step of the way, making small adjustments and seeing a difference in the horse — vs kinda just whipping around hanging on and hoping for the best. What a great feeling lol….

picts from a ride at home, but representative of both of us trying <3 <3

Also a timely feeling, too. I had been thinking a bit about the clinic rides we did last summer with Dom, that had been so monumentally transformative for us, and was wondering why things felt a little more ‘stalled’ this summer… 

Except when I went back and actually reread those posts, whether I realized it at the time or not, Dom’s biggest focus was still on exactly what we’re doing now: lateral bend and flexion to improve longitudinal balance. But now we can *actually do that,* where as last summer in those lessons it was almost a miracle if we could make it through a corner with the neck “straight,” let alone in true bend. 

#Perspective, y’all. It matters haha. 

mare was a full blown perfect princess for this ride <3

Anyway, tho. The flat work in this lesson felt really reaffirming that Doozy is ‘getting’ it, and learning, even if it’s maybe not super realistic to expect that same quality in the show ring this year / century LOL. Who cares, tho, we’re here for the journey and here to celebrate small wins!

straight up gangsta posin’ for the camera

The jumping was still a bit remedial, tho, but still insightful. Still working over just a single crossrail with placing poles, still working on being less explosive to it. Interestingly, a couple times I felt like I got fairly well left behind, but Woodge actually liked my position in those moments. 

She observed that sometimes I’m making too big of a move, being too ‘snappy’ right at the jump — and that sure, my intention is to ‘go with’ the horse and be soft, but the effect is basically just adding to the chaos of the moment. Her advice was to just focus on straightness, and try to “do less” with myself, to help really reinforce to Doozy that we don’t need to make big moves.

she’s a special biscuit <3

Overall good food for thought, and another productive session. And we managed to allllmost outrun the next storm on our way home lol, tho still got properly drenched womp. 

Ah well, ‘tis the season, I suppose!