finally, a feast! loch moy recap

A few things definitely worked in our favor to help produce a successful experience at Loch Moy this weekend. Aside from the weather, obvi, the heat and humidity were super unpleasant — but at least manageable.

Our ride times tho were straight up princess stuff haha — I was the penultimate rider of the day in every phase. Meaning I didn’t even need to arrive at Doozy’s barn to bathe and braid until 9am. Fairy tales, guys, the stuff of fairy tales LOL!

grazing around the rings pre-ride (but post-hose, dear lord it was so hot we were constantly hosing and sponging off…). she looks civilized here, but moments later lost her sh!t and had grazing privileges revoked, instead going back to the trailer to shut up and eat forage lol

Later times meant we’d get quieter warm up rings too, and I could be less psycho about watching the clock bc if there were horses around, they were virtually all going before me lol. 

Ooh it also meant prime parking, as trailers were already leaving by the time we arrived. All the better to conserve steps on a hot day! And easy access to the public wash stalls + hand walking / grazing options. Tho, uh, not gonna lie. Doozy had a bit of an unpleasant explosion on our little hand walk / graze — including spinning and rearing and screaming and all that. Instantly making me worry whether any of this was gonna play out at all, ugh. 

pictured: stuffing her face with forage while i tediously snip out the braids. these puppies def weren’t coming loose on their own LOL

Somehow, tho, by the time I was ready to get on and warm up for dressage, Doozy had returned to earth (helped, presumably, by keeping her face buried in that Triple Crown Stress Free forage Carly recommended a while back).

And our warm up was honestly fine. No little explosions or anything, tho I also really didn’t push any buttons. I’m still working on understanding the balance between asking more of Doozy — and risking increasing tension — or keeping a lid on things. Honestly? I don’t think there’s really a “right” answer at the moment, at least from a judging perspective. Kinda a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

So on this day, I prioritized Doozy’s feelings over our function, let’s say, lol… and ultimately was super proud of her efforts. She stayed with me, didn’t slip into canter (although we came verrrry close once or twice), was still able to release in her free walk, got all her leads, and basically just went forth and did the things!  

disappointing tho not unfair scores
click for full size

There is literally zero media at all from dressage tho (sorry!) so you’ll just have to take my word for it. And my perspective is, I dismounted telling the mare how proud I was of her, and believing that we were gonna have a good go at the rest of it <3 

show jumping was back in the center ring, on the new footing with iconic Sugar Loaf Mountain in the distance

So ya know, all that was left to do was actually have a good go! 

I recently watched the Dance Life mini series on Prime about an elite professional dancing academy in Australia. In the season finale, a dancer describes her nerves ahead of the big graduation performance, in which she had a leading role, and said, “I wanted it, I got it, so now I just have to do it.” And idk about you all, but that’s an empowering perspective, ya know?

the course was super twisty with some unexpected turns

Like. Doozy and I *have* done our homework, even if you’d literally never believe it by watching us go in the dressage ring LOL. But in the show jump ring? Mare knows what’s going on in there. She understands the assignment haha. 

it actually suited doozy nicely!

We warmed up decently well and relatively briefly, and then just watched the course while waiting our turn. I didn’t get to walk the course, but there wasn’t anything related — a couple bending lines that were going on variable 8+ strides.  

this high contrast oxer going toward the parking lot caught a couple horses out

The course was literally all S bends and changes of direction — like, jump-land-turn!, over and over again. Which honestly suited Doozy decently well, especially with all the practice we’ve been doing with using lateral bend to adjust balance and speed instead of pulling straight back. And also all our work in lessons about straightness etc.

if anything, tho, the ‘lookiness’ of the jump helped doozy stand off just enough for a great shot 

Like you can still see moments where I don’t have her shoulders totally squared to the fence — like the brown Kings jump in the gif above — but more or less we got through the whole course with minimal ‘ears in face’ moments! That’s definitely a win in my book lol!

you can see that she was clearly a good girl down this line to the last, but a little more rider input in waiting might have saved us the rail. c’est la vie!

Our pace was a little fast at times, a bit hurried still — we may or may not have had the fastest time of the division, oops. But especially as the course went on, it felt like I was able to sorta stabilize 3-4 strides out and get decently steady rhythm to the jumps. 

show jumping video!

It was a bummer about the rail at the last, but ya know, that’s also the test haha. Like, a whoooole bunch of riders had that same rail, and all for the same reason: letting the horse get increasingly strung out throughout the course. No biggie, just more to work on!

patient biscuit at the start box <3

And anyway, we wasted no time getting over to cross country — where they were sending riders out quickly and efficiently. These volunteers did such an amazing job all day long in the scorching conditions. And many of them had been there for all three days of the show!

then set off like a champ!

I didn’t love the selection of warm up fences for starter — there was a too-tiny coop, and all the rest were slightly larger than what we’d see on course. I knew Doozy was gonna be fine for the jumps tho, just wanted to give her a chance to orient her feet to jumping on terrain, so we just trotted the tiny coop once and called it good. 

And it was good! Doozy waited patiently in the box for our turn, then walked out politely, picked up a pleasant trot, eased into canter, and blissfully jumped the first two fences positively and confidently! Then a fun longish stretch uphill toward the woods where I let her run a little bit for once haha.

then straight into the woods!

The course itself… I can’t tell if I liked or disliked it LOL! Obviously the lowest levels get the short end of the stick when it comes to the best pieces of ground etc — considering how many levels ran at this show. But they did a nice job of placing our jumps in intuitive spots. Even when you couldn’t see the next jump, you knew it was gonna be right where you expected it. 

i never let my guard down about these little garden gates lol but doozy jumped it fine!

Most of our jumps were actually in the woods too — a ballsy choice given that the original forecasts suggested huge hits of rain this week. Tho, given that it ended up being so hot instead, the shady woods proved to be a good call. 

Tho I’ll never forget advice from Dan ages and ages ago about the transition from jumping in a field to jumping in the woods: he counseled that many horses back off and get behind the leg going into the woods, and that you need to be proactive.

you literally can’t even see the down slope we’re about to go down, it’s so steep. you just see the edge and then the far side bottom lol… also note that black car center top in the pic — that’s up by the water

Doozy did indeed back off — esp given that the finish line was in the same spot and a horse was coming through right as we approached jump 3. She was a bit distracted at first, but then locked on kept going. I tried to be proactive in not taking anything for granted, especially with again some funny turns and needing to steer around higher level jumps, but Doozy was honestly great!

Tho my least favorite part of the course was that they sent us straight up and down the hillsides between the woods and the fields twice. I opted to trot Doozy into jump 6, right before a steep descent, to help keep her balanced and make walking down that hill easier. 

back up the hill to the fun little array by the water!

Obvi she then blasted right back up the other side for the next little section. I liked how the water was set up on course — not flagged, very much a ‘choose your own adventure’ sort of deal. But obviously much easier to get from jump 8 to 9 by passing directly through — which Doozy did remarkably bravely, good girl!

good girl literally just walked right in and picked up her trot! also, see the black car by the tree in the top left corner? we’re looking straight back across the gulch to where we had just come from lol

Then we went straight back down the same hill we’d just come up, to make a weird 90* turn to a spooky roll top. I opted to again trot the off camber hillside before getting straight to the fence — so it’s pretty easy to see how I got time faults. But eh, it gave Doozy time to think through and understand each jump. 

then straight back down into the gulch for this tricky little cut out roll that caught a few people off guard — esp with the spooky jump judges down in the shady hole to the left

Sometimes the mare’s feet move faster than her brain, ya know? And like, she’s not a dumb horse, quite the opposite actually. But she’s reactive and her instincts are usually to move first, think second. It felt like she was thinking the whole way around this course, tho, and making great decisions at every opportunity! 

no rest for the weary, tho, it was straight back up the hill again back into the woods to our final two fences!

She blasted back up the hillside into the woods to catch our last two little jumps on course, and then through the finish lines! 

cross country video!

What a good girl, I really cannot say how proud I was of her, and how fun the ride was — not just after it was over lol, but actually in the moment! 

crispy biscuit ready to eat her cookie and go home <3 <3

The results on paper really don’t do the horse justice, especially compared to some of our earlier outings this year. But ya know, at the end of the day, nobody is going to care more than I do, right lol?? So we’ll keep working on the details and the training and all that… But for now I’m just happy and relieved to feel like we’re finally starting to put it all together!!

preview: Big Brown + braided!

Believe it or not, this weekend marked my *first ever* completion at a recognized horse trial! And obvi our first completion of any three phase event this year lol…. And not for lack of trying in either regard!

the trick is not to look too closely at any individual braid, and just take it all in as a whole

Recall Doozy and I went to the Loch Moy starter trial last March, but she came up NQR in dressage warm up so we just scratched to try again another day — which ended up being at St Augustine in May, wherein Doozy was an uncivilized wreck and we withdrew after show jumping. 

Finally, tho, we made it out the start box this weekend, woo hoo! And it more or less just happened to be a rated show bc that’s what worked on the calendar for me. 

or better yet, get distracted by her sweet friendly face <3

And anyway, it wasn’t exactly my first go at a recognized show either… Sure sure, ten years ago when I first got into eventing, there didn’t seem to be much of a point, at least where we are in Area II, to pony up the extra bucks for rated at venues where you’re basically jumping the same jumps and tracks anyway… 

But, eh, eventually I kinda got curious about it with Charlie, with whom I entered no fewer than 4 rated events over the years, and maybe even 5. It’s honestly hard to remember bc our luck was abysmal to the point where I’ve become almost superstitious about it. Half of the entries were lost entirely for one reason or another (usually yet another #ding for the King, natch). 

And the other two weren’t particularly auspicious either: I had my very first fall off Charlie in the show jumping at one (in 2019)… And then the other (in 2020) was an absolute clown show when Charlie more or less Yee-Haw’ed his way around sj, totally out of control, and we opted to not take that mess out onto xc…

verdict: not the world’s worst braids

But ya know. For some reason, we persist. And after all Doozy’s “little bite-sized outings” these last couple months, the timing felt right to try to put it all together again out in public. And for once, it actually worked out!

More details to come later, but it was a Good Day. Every phase, too <3

Like, not objectively good LOL, the dressage judge crucified us with a 50%+ score omg haha. Which, not gonna lie, kinda broke my heart a little bit bc I was actually super proud of Doozy after our test. She kept her shit together, no accidental canters, and was reasonably prompt and accurate for everything. Ah well, tho. The tension puzzle is a tricky one for us, c’est la vie!

possibly not the best at the whole ‘dressage’ thing either, but having a LOT of fun with the jompies!

The jumping tho? So good, what a mare! Like ok sure we had penalties in every phase — rolled the final rail in show jumping (a tricky little bending line that broke more than a few hearts throughout the weekend), and had two seconds of time in cross country, as I made intentional choices about walking and trotting in some places. 

But it all worked out! And was FUN! The mare was super bold brave and honest for all of it, what a good girl! AND! While I’d obvi never wish troubles, difficulties, or mistakes on my fellow riders, and it’s not exactly a proud thing to only kinda just get lucky to get into the ribbons… 

Well… I *am* proud tho, lol. Proud of this little mare and another pretty big brown ribbon to add to her collection <3 <3 It’s been a tough year for us, and she’s been a uniquely challenging horse for me. But it feels really good to finally put it all back together again, whew. 

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!

going nuclear

Ya know that thing they say about “Pride goeth before a fall”?? That whole moral platitude about how overly proud or boastful people are more likely to make mistakes / suffer consequences??

swamp critter, queen of scurf
(semi-related: omg look at that grass, it’s JULY, people — and still growing! the scurf is #worthit if that’s the tradeoff!)

WELL haha. Have I got a *shocking* update for you all. 

toasty biscuit still sweltering at 6pm

Literally the *same day* I humble hopeful bragged about keeping Doozy’s notoriously nasty summer skin funk at bay with regular rinses of diluted apple cider vinegar… That very same evening I arrived at the barn to see the mare coated in mud, sweat, and hives. UGH!

arrrghhhhhh!!!
(last wednesday, for those keeping score at home)

Maybe “hives” isn’t the exact right term, idk. The internet loves to tell me that “hives” are technically some sort of allergic reaction, whereas what we often refer to as “rainrot” is usually a bacterial skin infection or dermatitis, characterized by crusty scabs that leave bald spots behind. 

bleh poor mare 

In my experience, tho, the earliest stages of rainrot present as hive-like swellings that are sometimes itchy, tho often painful. Or sometimes a weird mix of both. Maybe there’s a different name for the puffy bumpies, but ugh my heart sank when I saw them on Doozy. 

dialed it up a notch to eleven: switched from diluted apple cider vinegar to diluted chlorhexidine

Charlie was certainly not immune to his fair share of delicate thin-skinned thoroughbred ailments, but his cases were always so easily managed that I usually gave myself a day or two of denial that the hives would really result in another outbreak. 

Sorta the “maybe I’m just imagining things!” attitude lol. 

scrub a dub, princess!

That’s probably where I went wrong with Doozy last summer tho, and by the time I realized we had a problem, WE HAD A PROBLEM. 

So I’m determined to take every available opportunity to try to stop this thing in its tracks before we get back to the “basically moss growing across her entire top line” situation again.

thursday (the next day): telltale little scabs with small chunks of hair

So I’ve since replaced our apple cider vinegar rinses with chlorhexidine — a relatively gentle but still fully effective antiseptic that is often used as a scrub for vets ahead of delicate procedures like joint injections. 

I forget when I first started buying it by the gallon — but it was years ago for Charlie, with one of his various horrific wounds, and my vet suggested it was a gentler (read: less painful) cleansing solution for flushing than whatever I had been using (iodine maybe?).

little lumpy crusties are slicked over with MTG, and nearly invisible to the camera

It may be gentle, but it can be VERY drying — so it’s worth testing on a small, less-sensitive spot on your horse if you wanted to try something similar. And apparently there are medicated shampoos that are formulated with chlorhex too, but, eh. I’ve tested this on Doozy (who has insanely oily skin, probably the root of all her problems right there) and she doesn’t seem to have any negative reactions whatsoever. 

you can sorta see in the right angle, tho — she likes to cultivate her gardens of funk right at the height where she’s slowest to dry

So we did the chlorhex bath on that first day, then the second day was shockingly mild weather and Doozy wasn’t sweaty or clammy or anything by the time I got there, and it was her day off, so we skipped bathing entirely and just did a shit ton of currying, then a light gloss of MTG over basically the entire back half of the horse. 

and while we’re on the subject of cultivating gardens of funk: the entire tack room looks like this, every day. this hackamore has been cleaned more in the last two weeks than maybe the entire last year, holy mother of mold!

Again, in my limited experience, these skin outbreaks seem to be most common in times when the horse is going through a coat change. And at least in our area, most horses go through a shedding cycle right around the solstices. 

Maybe something about all that dead hair sitting around on the skin creates the perfect environment for a funk explosion? Idk, but I spent a long while with the rubber curry getting as much off as I could. 

the struggle is real, but turns out giving a post-ride spritz with this stuff has really helped the helmet stay fresh!

MTG is also one of those products that folks seem to have love/hate feelings about, and maybe horses too. I’m firmly in the “love” category, tho. Like, I test it on horses first bc I’ve heard that some can have stronger reactions (tho I’ve personally never seen that myself). And I don’t “scrub” with it — more of a ‘deep massage’ style application. 

and since i was taking pictures in the tack room already, here’s the myler comfort snaffle for anyone curious

I also avoid applying it when I’m going to put something on top — like a blanket or bandage, it’s an ‘open air’ sort of tincture imo, and I try to not mix it with other topical applications in at least the same 24hr period. That might be overkill, ymmv. 

Oooh, and also maybe consider time of day and UV index too — don’t accidentally deep fry your horse by slicking them in oil then turning out at 1pm in the summer sun!

maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s maybelline chlorhexidine

Anyway, tho, that’s kinda where we stand as of right now. We’ve done 3-4 chlorhex rinses since last Wednesday, and one big gloss of MTG on all the main hotspots. And??? Well. Again, I’m hopeful that we got in front of it. Ask me again in two weeks, tho, and we’ll know the truth LOL.

I know that skin funk is one of those things where everybody has their own sworn favorite remedies. The above is (obviously) my go-to approach, tho for an established case I generally don’t hesitate to escalate directly to prescription grade stuff, typically the Animax / Dermalone / Panalog ointment (a mix of steroids and topical antibiotics).

It’s always interesting to see what everyone else does, tho — are there any Listerine lovers out there? Or Desitin slingers? Let me know what you swear by, especially if you’ve had tricky (read: Chestnut) cases before LOL!

lesson + a little xc

Happy Monday, y’all — hope any US readers enjoyed a long weekend full of fun activities, horsey or otherwise! We managed to pack in all my faves, including a lesson, some xc, and a reunion vineyard trip with former barn mates, all without feeling overbooked or frazzled. It was nice!

somebody, not naming any names, but somebody finally chewed thru her expensive rubber nathe bit…
she’s wearing the level 1 Myler comfort snaffle in this pic, for those curious

At one point in my blogging life, I would have split everything into individual single-topic posts… But. Eh. There isn’t really enough compelling media for that, and plus… I promise, there aren’t really all that many associated words either. 

sorry to only ever really have pics of the horse at the trailer for these lessons… it is what it is!

The lesson was another good productive session that was still more or less ‘remedial trotting.’ Continuing to lean in to the idea of using bend and lateral flexion to achieve the pace I want. Which, apparently, will be our focus for the foreseeable future LOL!

ooh i took a pic of her in the ring tho!

Basically doing our best to always stay on some sort of circle — even if that means sorta spiraling down a long side to get where we wanna go. Changing bend and being more obvious and guiding with opening reins to really make it super clear what I want from Doozy. And being more intentional about truly round circles, not letting Doozy get pancake-y falling in or out on one side of the circle or the other. 

and a little snapshot of our remedial cross rails lol

Woodge was a fan of the new bit, which we wore for the first time in this lesson. She felt like our reasons for going in the nathe these last few months made sense and it was probably an effective ‘era’ for us, but that Doozy is ready for something a little more sophisticated. And that with this bit we could get more lateral bend, compared to the sort of “elevator music” reaction we sometimes got with the nathe. 

post-lesson goofy faces

And Doozy went pretty quietly in it too — none of the rattley jittery bouncing off feeling we got in the KK, which had a bit more play than this comfort snaffle. Even when we got to the jumping, she stayed pretty quiet in her mouth didn’t throw her ears into my face any more than usual (lol). 

 

another day, another set of gymnasties. this time bounces at home!

The jumping itself was good too, tho still in what I’d consider “remedial” territory. We just focused on trotting a single cross rail with placing poles, halting after. Circling off each rein until quiet and balanced with correct bend, then approaching with a careful focus on straightness. 

A big focus this ride was letting Doozy travel more forward in trot vs holding her back on that itty bitty little restrained trot that kinda gives her no choice but to explode at the jump. But… It’s a balancing act bc the space between “more forward” and “too forward” is very very small lol. 

oooh and lookie, we’re back at the trailer again

All in all, good practice tho, and we carried all of it forward into our schooling ride at home the next day, including continuing to work on our circular circles, true bend, and traveling more forward while still in trot to a fun little bounce exercise. 

xc schooling at tranquillity!

Which, naturally led to the weekend’s most fun aspect — another little xc schooling trip to Tranquillity! Y’all might remember we sorta made a habit of frequent low key visits last fall, and I’ve been eager to get back on the band wagon. 

Tho timing can be a little tricky — most of the nicest jumps travel to Shawan for the MCTA events in June, and as of two weeks ago when we were here for the Mill show, the jumps were still just sitting in piles from coming off the trailers. I figured there would be plenty to jump regardless, but luckily the jumps have since made their way back out into the fields, yay!

the more things change, the more the stay the same lol

It was a good schooling session too. Nothing really new, nothing we haven’t really done before, but that’s also kinda the point. Just keeping it regular and routine. And in this manner we achieved a ride that was productive and efficient. Including starting with a warm up of trotting around in the field that *wouldn’t* put my coach to shame lol! 

(Compared to my normal approach of kinda just surviving a few trot and canter circles before starting to jump things)

wheeee up bank combinations!

The jumps were almost all pretty good efforts, too. No inverted deer leaps, and for the most part I was able to avoid any moments of just pulling straight back on the mare by again working to use turning and lateral bend where possible. 

trying to be civilized on long lines

It’s clear that we don’t get a ton of practice cantering fences, tho. For as much as I understand my coach’s approach in the lessons, I’m also not sure she really realizes how much better Doozy is at cantering jumps vs trotting them. Which, fair, I can totally appreciate why you might think it’d be a hot mess express lol! 

finished with something just ever so slightly bigger lol

But the same thing we worked on in the lesson at trot — traveling more forward than the tightly compressed holding back stride, but not too forward and bolting the fence — we need to practice at canter too. I made a few mistakes about holding for one-too-many (an old habit of mine) but we finished well, and got some nice practice with both single fences and semi - related distances. 

helmet cam video for those inclined

The forecast is calling for something like 3” of rain coming off the Atlantic this week, plus that crazy storm system that just devastated Texas over the weekend… So I’m not sure how much more we’re really going to get done in the coming days.

back at the trailer, yet again, ready to go home lol

I’m glad we made it out this weekend, tho — for once, the weather + timing gods seemed to smile on our plans. And any good routine has to start somewhere, amirite? Doesn’t have to be perfect, we’ll take our positive mileage and enjoy it, and hopefully look forward to the next time!