biscuit does BN!!

Guys — we finally did it!! I finally took the plunge and rode Doozy around her first full three phase event at beginner novice, yay!!!

helmet cam snapshot post-xc of my sweetest mare’s face, since i apparently took exactly zero good pictures of her throughout the day!

Our progress together has been, without a doubt, the slowest boil of any horse I’ve ever gotten going. Not sure if that’s entirely bc of who Doozy is as a person, or if it’s just a combination of factors including where I am in my life and journey with horses. 

Regardless, tho, Isabel and I did our first BN together after just 2 lower level events. Charlie moved up to BN about 4 months + 4 starter trials after his first show. And Doozy? Well. Lol. She did her first CT in March 2024, ahem, has 8 three-phase completions at lower levels, plus all manner of other activities along the way.

arrived early enough for some low key grazing

But ya know. It’s always been apparent to me that the ‘difficulty’ of the level was never the biggest question with Doozy. Rather, it’s… all the everything else that we needed to work through and sort out, while keeping the “main event” of our actual rides relatively easy and drama free. 

carefully observing the xc finish line lol

And honestly I feel really good about our trajectory together so far. Doozy was a very good girl for her dressage warm up, even tho we almost got cantered into once or twice by wayward juniors. Oh, and xc started running right behind some shrubbery, which Doozy found a bit triggering… But even so, it was a really solid warm up. 

Lately I’ve been focusing on establishing a forward balance in front of the leg. Which, natch, is possible now that Doozy isn’t constantly racing off, slipping into canter at the least provocation.  

snackies for a good mare

And this soft balance in front of the leg, paired with a relatively soft contact that’s trying to push the mare’s neck out, meant we actually had a relatively decent (for us) test. It wasn’t perfect, obviously, still basically a ‘bottom of the class’ type score. 

She’s still tense, above the bit, tight, needs more bend, etc etc etc. But I was happy with our rhythm, geometry and pacing through the test. We got our leads without any fussy moments, were able to soften again even after a little bolt step in the first canter, and only had one little accidental break into canter during the second trot circle — but again, could still soften after.

jump 2 was a bit of a reality check that… whoops we’ve never really done oxers at this height

The ride-ability is slowly coming along. It doesn’t necessarily feel like much to show considering that basically all we ever do in lessons is flat work LOL… But ya know. C’est la vie! I’m happy, and that’s enough. 

i knew this line was supposed to be a 6, but we kinda splatted a bit when we got there early and i thought she’d go for it in 5, sorry mare!

Tho… part of me would realllllly like to do more real jumping in regular lessons LOL. As it is, virtually all our work over jumps with any height is done solo at home, with whatever I’m feeling brave enough to set up. Meaning mostly single fences and grids. 

‘twas not my best riding — note our severe crookedness here

So I kinda knew this show jumping course might be a somewhat, er, big ask of the horse. But again, we had a really solid warm up where I maintained that feeling of ‘forward in front of the leg’ — trotting along in a marching rhythm for way longer than I normally do. And it paid off!  

full disclosure: the mare 100% saved my ass

Doozy was super game around the course, even tho it was definitely a little impressive to both of us. Naturally the weekend I selected for our move up was also the weekend Loch Moy was running their starter series championship, so all the courses were totally maxed out. Including a big giant oxer at jump 2. Uh, oops. 

finished strong tho, and somehow only 2 rails for all my messiness!

Plus a two stride in-and-out…. since when does BN have in-and-out combinations??? Again, tho, Doozy got us around. I admit to not riding my best tho. I hadn’t walked the course so didn’t really know what to expect in some of the lines, plus I kinda missed a few turns.

the helmet cam doesn’t look quite as gritty as it felt

Doozy would have been blameless for opting out at multiple points in the course… But what a mare, she’s so game, she likes the jumping, she’s good at it, and she’s willing to fight for it. Obvi that’s not really a sustainable way of getting around lol, ideally I’ll calm down and get my shit together and pilot her a bit more reliably… 

finally, tho, our strongest phase!! got our only real ‘oopsies’ jump out of the way at 2

On this day, tho, it was enough to get around, bc I was pretty sure cross country was going to be an absolute blast!!

this log box doesn’t look like much, but something about it (maybe the vertical slats?) always catches a couple horses and riders off guard

The course was freakin lovely, lots of nice big inviting fences and almost everything placed on rising ground. No insanely steep ups or downs, and enough of a challenge to keep us occupied every step of the way. 

so mature for the bending line!

Doozy left the start box fantastically — no explosiveness at all! Then we had maybe our iffiest jump at 2, a nice big roll top that we kinda launched at and landed in a run… Took a minute to get organized after that but then 3-4-5-6 were all close enough together that we kinda stayed on the ‘straight and narrow’ from then on. 

baby’s first corner — another fence shared with novice! also note the sneakily tricky landing. better have a plan for that tree well in advance!

Obviously it’s been a minute since I’ve gone around BN, Charlie’s last BN was March 2018 after all… But this definitely felt like a properly stout course for the level, again likely bc it was set for the series championship. Like, omg we had a corner! It was an option for my class, we could have jumped the table on the left in the pic above instead if we wanted, but c’mon — a corner!! Obvi Doozy would nail it!!

our little cedar oxer (just to the left of that white-ish roll top) was set on a somewhat rakish angle to the water

Honestly she nailed just about everything. I still trotted her into the water just to be safe — esp given our next jump is a funny little timber oxer that I’ve seen cause problems. It was set on a weird angle to the water too, so I just wanted to give it the proper respect.

steeplechase!! these always look big to me but they jump great!
also, omg the foliage in the pro photos is insane, i can’t wait til they arrive!

It didn’t seem to matter, tho, Doozy was locked and loaded. She just marched right on around wherever I pointed her. Cedar oxer? Cool. Baby ditch that we jumped last month? Nbd. She got a little strong for the next to jumps leading into the woods, but then was literally foot perfect for the final leg of the course.

this ‘rolex barn’ was properly large! then straight ahead to the last jump and finish line!

They had some properly impressive jumps in the woods too — the steeplechase roll (tho it wasn’t brushed up for BN) and this crazy ‘rolex barn’ looking thing that isn’t overly wide in terms of top spread, but definitely used up every inch of allowable height lol. 

what fun, and doozy was 100% up for the challenge!

Doozy felt incredible the whole way around — sorta this visceral awareness over the last few jumps of just what a special and lucky feeling it is to jump around on a horse like this!

obsessed with this sweet little xc machine <3 <3 <3

In a way I think Doozy was overdue for a more challenging course. It felt like she was paying the jumps more attention, and was therefore easier to rate and ride all the way around. It also felt like she was using herself better, vs sorta just cantering largely over the jumps. 

All in all, I’m just so happy with how the day went for us — a properly satisfying end to our season. Our inauspicious start to the year wasn’t what I’d hoped or imagined, but honestly I think we’re better for it. It forced us onto a different trajectory than I’d planned, but one that’s proved to be more leisurely and confidence-building. If this is what the future holds with Doozy, I’m all in!!!