saddle spam

Happy Labor Day Weekend, folks! It’ll be a quiet one around here — long overdue! Tho naturally I have to have **something** to occupy my attention, so we’re deep into our Veritas Eximo dressage saddle trial!

Isn’t it pretty?? A little worn, sure, but in quite nice condition

Looks pretty good on the horse too — and let’s just pretend this saddle pad is the right shape. As far as I’m concerned, it’s #closeenough

I took legit about 8,000 pics of Doozy just standing here, and she looks kinda silly in 97% of them lol. I swear she is the prettiest little mare, but somehow the camera always catches her mid-expression haha.

It’s a nice saddle, tho. I like it. I think Doozy likes it, tho you know how it is with sensitive red mares… It can be hard to tell. Maybe a smarter person would use that chunk of change and buy a new horse instead of a new saddle. Ahem.

“Excuse me, but *I’m* the star here!!” — doozy, 100%

You know how it is, tho. I like the animal, and I want the full spectrum of tools to get the best out of myself and her. This saddle might just be a big part of that!

Tho. Frankly. I think part of my sorta #yolo attitude right now is just from being a bit tired from a long grind this summer. So realistically I’ll probably extend the trial to give myself a bit more space to decide for sure.

“ffs, are you done yet??” — pushy biscuit

Honestly expecting to roll with the brown bridle for a while tho bc… Eh, we try to keep things fairly consistent in the Land of Dooz. It ain’t exactly the worst picture tho, right?

Well. Ahem. Except our fancy new (consignment) bell boots suddenly rubbed the shit out of Doozy in our ride last night. Christ almighty, poor mare! It’s always gotta be something, amirite??

At least her skin funk cleared up again without evolving into full fledged skin moss omg. Small wins, but we’ll take it!! 

Anyway. That’s it from around these parts, hope y’all have a nice weekend too!

eximo kiss

I wrote in last week’s Friday Foto Finish about an upcoming saddle fitting appt — it finally happened yesterday, and I’m excited about how the whole experience went! 

arrived early to hang out and chill while the fitter worked on other horses

It was serendipitous actually how it came to be… We’ve been having a nagging pressure point issue with Doozy’s lovely County Solution monoflap jump saddle, and despite the local rep being super helpful and attentive, the issue hasn’t resolved. 

So at a recent lesson I asked trainer C who they use for fittings. It turned out they already had the Veritas owner booked for a visit — and we were invited to crash the party!

she literally acted like this was the most normal thing in the world #love

Some real talk first, tho: I am *not* a saddle fit expert. And in fact, over the course of my extensively documented and varied saddle buying + fitting experiences, I’ve only grown increasingly skeptical about the field in general. 

It is my personal opinion that you can have different fitters (esp those from different brands and training schools, all of which have their own philosophies and brand ideologies) examine the same animal, the same saddle, in more or less the same conditions, and each fitter might arrive at a different (sometimes extremely so) conclusion about whether the saddle “fits” or not. 

To me, it’s sorta like how the man with one watch knows what time it is, but the man with two is never quite sure. Typical horse stuff, guys.

holy shit, emma’s in a dressage saddle!

Therefore consider me an agnostic-cum-anarchist on the subject. My guiding principles are basically to focus first on the horse, and second on the individual professionals* themselves (to a degree), and otherwise stay open minded on brands, construction, materials, whatever. 

And in this case, I have immense trust in trainer C: she has referred me to various other specialists over the years whom I’ve also come to trust (like our longtime chiro / acupuncture guru who we might be seeing at the same exact moment you read this!). So we went along for the ride. YMMV.

(**Note: dearest reader, you may consider yourself an expert in this field and perhaps are literally brimming with advice you’d love to offer me. Please have no doubt, however, that unless we’ve had direct private conversations (and perhaps even if we have lol) you are not among the individual professionals I’m using for this experience!)

it remains true that nice tack does not solve every issue, but it certainly helps!

First order of business at the appointment was obviously assessing the County. That particular brand identity, at least in my experience, seems to include believing that horses appreciate a more snug, narrow fit. Tho, depending on who you ask, it might be said that a County “narrow” is more like a “medium” from any other company’s stamp. Again, ymmv. 

It is true, tho, that every County person (and there have been a few now) who has assessed Doozy has classified her as a ‘narrow’ horse, and she goes in a ‘narrow’ stamped saddle. But….. the pressure points, bleh. 

much closer to actually sitting the canter omg

This new fitter declared Doozy a medium narrow, however, which I personally perceive to be synonymous with a ‘County narrow’ in general… Tho he also observed that the saddle was in fact flocked snugly at the tree points. That, combined with likely side to side movement from Doozy’s and my combined biomechanical asymmetries and poor girth choices (in the fitter’s opinion), could very likely be the root of our issue. 

Ooh, and the fact that Doozy is, erm, plushly upholstered at the moment. Ahem.

might be ready to #riskit for the biscuit

Fortunately, he was optimistic he could make all the needed adjustments via reflocking the saddle. AND, in the meantime, wouldn’t ya know it but he just happened to have a couple dressage saddles with him that matched our specs, and wouldn’t I like to try them while he worked on my jump saddle?? 

Which. Obviously, yes please — don’t mind if we do!

Because, as any of you who have been following along will recall — I’ve been low key trying to get us into dressage tack for, um, a while now. We’ve tested quite a few different saddles at this point, but idk if it’s just me being far too noisy of a rider for that much touching omg, who knows, but we have not had good experiences.

first clip is the first test saddle; 

second two clips are in the saddle i took home on trial

But Doozy had clearly remembered to take her #PrincessPills on this particular morning, and was a DOLL for the rides. And both saddles felt super comfy! AND trainer C, who was in the ring with us on another horse, was able to snag some video — yesss!!

Please keep in mind while watching the video: we were not in a lesson, I was not getting real time instruction, yes I still ride crookedly and tip forward and sit to the outside and look down and do weird things with my hands and hold Doozy counter bent even tho all I’ve been talking about for legit months now is inside bend. Yes I still don’t sit the canter well and yes I still go floppy the literal second Doozy gets soft bc “omg holy shit wow we’re doing it what now omg.” Ahem. 

“does this mean i’m grown up yet??” — doozy, skeptical

But guys. It felt goooood sitting in these saddles. Omg. both of them. The first had bigger blocks, and the second had a deeper seat, so they felt a little different, but both quite nice. Obviously just sitting in a dressage saddle isn’t enough to resolve muscle-deep positional bad habits, but it’s crazy how much more attainable certain postural changes felt.

I opted to take the second home on trial (with generously flexible terms) bc let’s be real — trainer C’s barn has weird magical juju that always brings out the best in horses. I need to see what happens when that spell breaks and we’re alone at home lol — will it still feel so good? 

So wish us luck. The saddle is a slightly older model Veritas Eximo that’s so pretty I forgot to get a picture of it lol, whoops. The fitter went ahead and flocked it for Doozy too, so I’m extremely hopeful that we’re set up for a representative trial. 

Wish us luck! Ooh and also cross your fingers that the adjustments made to the County did the trick for our pressure point too…. It’s always something, amirite!

windurra w Sally!

Happy Monday, y’all! We’ve continued to enjoy the milder and less humid conditions lately, and decided to capitalize with a destination xc clinic @ Windurra with local legend Sally!

freshly arrived on a gorgeous day for some xc!

Not gonna lie, Windurra is just a touch far from our new boarding barn, and especially for our level there are certainly plenty of places closer to home. In fact, I’d kinda gone into this year thinking we’d get our regularly scheduled xc fix in lessons with new 5* event trainer, considering those lessons take place at a full fledged eventing facility complete with xc course too… 

started by being a princess over some little logs

But that hasn't happened yet for whatever reasons, and in the meantime I’ve been keeping us in practice with little solo expeditions to Tranquillity. Which, obvi, I love. But every now and then I wonder if all the haters who think I’m ruining my horses by jumping them so much outside of lessons might at least have a point. And so off to a lesson we went!

i feel like there were more bebe jumps than last time we were here

And it was a good one!! Not necessarily meaningfully different from my solo schools — bc let’s be real if you’re jumping small fences for the lowest levels of eventing… Basically just point and shoot your way around lol. 

But then again it’s always super nice to have expert supervision — esp in the form of Sally, a widely popular local pro who is all about confidence and successful progressive repetition. And also a bit unapologetic for pushing for those slightly bigger or more technical elements that we might not do alone.

look at this cute little table!

Doozy, for her part, was a super star! Still strong and chaotic (especially on the back side of fences), and also *quite* fussy about picking up our trot and canter at the beginning of every turn. Like she gets so ahead of herself, knows we’re going to canter, but also knows I’m going to ask her to go slower than she wants, and so we kinda get stuck in a little fit just trying to get going. Thankfully, these little moments became significantly less explosive as the lesson wore on.

already a pro about water

It was exactly the style of ride that I honestly never really do with Doozy — because it’s hard, because of those little fits. Starting and stopping and jumping one fence at a time is a challenge when every transition feels so hard won. Much much easier to just get into gear and cruise around for a bit. 

ooh we jumped some BN things too!

But then again, that’s what lessons are for. That’s what practice is for. And Doozy can certainly benefit from learning that we stop after every single jump, instead of racing off into the distant horizon, never to be seen again (LOL. But Really Tho!). 

a little wild about the banks combination lol

The jumps themselves were also quite nice. It seems like Windurra has invested in a whole bunch of new low level fences — including quite a few that had too much top spread for Starter but maybe weren’t fully BN height - a lovely dimension! It was nice to have the variety, even tho realistically Windurra is most useful for the higher level horses.

another super sweet little table!

Doozy tackled each fence with aplomb, only ever really surprising me when she occasionally proved slightly more civilized than I was expecting. She really didn’t make a bid at anything (except the step up, oops) and actually bc of our sorta fussy sticky transitions, I was able to keep a fair amount of leg on the horse almost all of the ride!

lovely roll

Our straightness was not fantastic — possibly also a side effect of the fussy transitions. But ya know. That’s why we practice, right?

fun feeder!

Probably the only kinda crazy (for us) thing that we jumped was a little roll top coming out of the water. Not a big fence at all, tho obvi bc of its position on rising ground it’d measure quite a bit larger than its true dimensions. Plus, obvi, the proximity to water makes it significantly more technical than what the guidelines allow even at Novice. 

technically you wouldn’t see *anything* like this before training level, but why not play a little amirite?

But that’s kinda the cool thing about Windurra overall — All the questions thru 5* are set up in various levels of progressions and heights, such that you can start to get familiar with more technical stuff in easy and inviting ways. 

view of the same jump from the other side — obvi a very small jump but quite a nice question!

Overall, I’m glad we went — and def want to go again, tho ugh I wish it wasn’t so far! It felt reassuring to be in a lesson environment where the coach was basically just reaffirming that we’re doing the things we need to be doing for where we are in the training. 

proud biscuit <3

Like, yes, there are things for us to work on — straightness, balance, posture, all the normal things — but that’s literally what this level is for, learning all that. There is no prerequisite for needing to know everything before you’re allowed to do anything, it turns out.

helmet cam video!!

And ya know, it also turns out that doing the things — even somewhat less than perfectly — is still fun and rewarding in its own right <3

feeding the beast before going home

Anyway. Doozy was basically a princess about being on the grounds from beginning to end. There was a fair amount of activity when we first arrived, tho we had the place almost entirely to ourselves by the end. Didn’t seem to matter for Doozy, tho! 

feeding the other beast too, ahem

She was also super good about horses in our group coming and going for their turns, including galloping and jumping in close proximity to us. We’ve only ever really had maybe 3-5 experiences ever of schooling xc in this type of group environment, and you really never know with Doozy, but so far, so good!

pro tip (especially if you’re actually a pro!): *PaY* *tHe* *PeOpLe*

It’s nice to know bc while realistically I’ll still probably do most of my routine xc schooling solo at Tranquillity or similar places, there’s something special about the fun camaraderie of group clinic-style lessons. 

I was actually talking about it with someone who rode in an earlier group — about how it’s a little far, and a little expensive, and all these little reasons why maybe it’s not the most rational thing. Except — legit NONE of this is a ‘rational’ thing. We do it bc we want to, and isn’t that enough?

friday foto finish

Happy Friday, folks! Anybody else feel like schedules are starting to get a little chaotic with the close of summer and impending fall? At least around here, esp with all our recent events and whatnot, we’ve kinda been running from one thing to the next, without much downtime.

the softest schnozz <3 <3

I like being busy, don’t get me wrong — but I also like being able to sit down and reflect on the totality of what all is up in the Land of Dooz erry now and again. So let’s take a quick trip thru all the various random photos that have accumulated on my phone in recent weeks without landing in any dedicated post.

such a pro at the trailer these days

For starters, a couple recent lessons have slipped a bit thru the cracks — but maybe deserve some attention. In the weeks leading up to Waredaca we rode with both longtime dressage trainer C, and new eventing trainer Woodge, and both lessons were excellent. And then we had yet another lesson with trainer C yesterday. So let’s get caught up, yes?

young bucks were racing around the cornfields outside of trainer C’s ring like they were running the daytona deertona 500 lol

I’m continuing to really enjoy intermingling these two trainers, and feel like Doozy benefits so much from the slightly different approaches. Idk if it’s just a dressage thing, or maybe just a trainer C thing, but we seem to be able to let Doozy travel along a bit more in these lessons while helping her find her balance in the forward — vs feeling constricted or held back.

we had a good lesson anyway <3 not that it made much difference for waredaca tho, womp

The focus has stayed on continuing to establish and sustain a fluid inside bend thru Doozy’s whole body — utilizing circles, serpentines, spirals, and leg yields to help achieve the right positioning and posture in the horse. 

In one lesson, Doozy was really getting it in one direction, and really locked up going the other way, so we used one-loop serpentines to slowly introduce the difficult bend in more ‘bite-sized’ steps when she was already traveling well in her stronger direction. 

and yet another pre-waredaca lesson, this time with new eventing trainer, and we jumped jomps!

For my purposes, I’m working on thinking more about ‘lifting my chest’ vs ‘shoulders back’ as that seems to be a more effective mental trigger to help me sit taller. Also thinking about ‘knee down’ vs ‘leg long’ as again this slight variation on the terms helps me arrive in an overall better posture. 

Other current inner mantras include reminding myself to feel the balls of both feet pushing equally into each stirrup footbed — to help me stay sitting centered and down on the horse. And trying to unlock my arms in canter while keeping my torso more still. Feels like rubbing my tummy while tapping my head, but y’all know how it is lol.

we changed farriers at the end of last summer and our experience this year has been so much better. note that little white squidge of some sort of epoxy-esque substance he’s started using under the clips to reduce chipping and damage 

Our recent lesson with Woodge was a good one too — and she moved us fairly briskly thru our warm up and into some jumping exercises — including multiple jumps in a row, and approaching jumps in canter omg. The whole focus seemed to be on utilizing shorter turns on landing to try to show Doozy the importance of not blasting away from every jump. 

another day, another ride. we practiced circles in this session lol, can you tell?

Doozy, for her part, has been an absolute princess for all of these lessons. Which again, can be hard to believe considering how we performed at Waredaca. But I swear, the mare is really getting it. 

And when the pieces come together and she finds her balance, it suddenly becomes so easy — for both of us! Suddenly I feel like I’m sitting up tall like the queen and all my body parts are where they belong. And Doozy feels like she’s floating along, continuing to unlock stride length and suspension. 

slicked with mtg… #pray4us

The trick, I think, will honestly come down to management. Doozy is so sensitive, she has such big reactions, I suspect even the littlest issue or discomfort or complaint can morph into a giant problem in the added pressure and atmosphere of a big show. 

clever biscuit knows how to customize her hay nets for a perfect fit

Her saddle fit situation, for example, has kinda been a nagging low grade issue for a couple months now. I don’t think anything is wrong with the saddle itself — it looks like it was made for the horse. But we think it sat unused for probably a couple years, and the flocking keeps doing weird things. 

My local rep has been super helpful with frequent visits for ‘micro adjustments,’ but we haven’t quite resolved a somewhat specific issue. So we’re gonna squeeze in to an appt at trainer C’s next week with a very established longtime fitting professional who travels the region, and see what he has to say. 

ta da!

Another management area I want to shore up revolves around gastric health. Doozy doesn’t have any indications you’d associate with a classically ulcery horse — except the extreme tension and reactivity (at times). And, obvi, her lifestyle of frequent travel and training. It’s not hard to believe she may have low grade inflammation at the very least, and probably maybe more than that — even if it’s not a raging case.

post-lesson, feeling like a princess <3

So we started another month long treatment of omeprazole, and will continue to supplement with the sucralfate — which I rely on heavily for routine management. Ooh and that Triple Crown Stress Free fortified forage — that’s just so so so useful to have on hand for keeping bellies full of forage even in stressful situations (like at a horse show or while trailering).

Personally, I *do* expect to see a positive difference from the treatment. And hopefully from there, a positive difference in her ability to cope with stress or tension, fingers crossed lol.

and so it goes, on and on!

Presumably a better rider than me would have more tools or abilities for getting Doozy unlocked when she’s as tight and explosive as she was for dressage warm up. IMO, tho, it’s a helluva a lot easier to not let her get that dialed up in the first place. 

And if that can be accomplished through management practices? All the better lol. We’re all happier when Doozy is happy!! Plus, there’s still so much more fun stuff ahead of us in the coming months, and maybe even this weekend! So we’ll do what it takes. Hope y’all have a good one too!

ww: not again

Two big* concerns this week, guys. Ugh. 

First up: surprise surprise, it’s mid August and the mare has early signs of rainrot, again, ughhhh

 

i really thought we were past the worst of the season, but am determined to not be caught flat footed — so we did another chlorhex scrub-a-dub

 

lol, only did half the mare tho bc natch the *day* after our big show, the weather turned mild and cool. cross your fingers for us that we started treatment quickly enough!

 

ooh and Item #2, perhaps, in the grand scheme, a *slightly bigger deal, ymmv, my (un)trusty craigslist #redneckmobile started making HORRENDOUS noises on the way to Waredaca this weekend…. The drive home was, uh, stressful to say the least. 

 

mechanic literally heard me pull into his lot and met me at the door with a quart of power steering fluid. all things considered, not as bad as I feared. hopefully we can keep the voracious beast quenched with topping off the fluids until we can get in for our scheduled repair appt! 

That’s my drama for the week…. anybody else got any carnage going on?