installing buttons

Bad news in Baltimore… We’re already 3 weeks into the new year, and… Yep — *looks outside window* — it’s still winter. Womp.

There’s not really a whole heckuva lot going on right now in our world. And obvi all the warm fuzzy feelings of *inspiration* and *motivation* and *energetic excitement* associated with “New Year, New Me OMG!” can’t last forever, amirite? 

So… eh, let’s dial it back a little. Not ALL the way, tho, bc today’s topic is still entirely inspired by (and based in part on) my experiences of digging into those new year intentions. Specifically related to my foray into a new physical activity. 

Namely, I want to share a couple observations from attending yoga classes… Which, naturally, I’ll attempt to tie back into some sort of equestrian relevance.

sweet mare is so patient with all my shenanigans LOL

Bc it turns out, learning new things as an adult… kinda sucks lol. I’ve never been a fantastic multi-tasker anyway, but seriously guys. Trying to listen to, understand, and act upon a whole new set of vocabulary words in real time and real heat (did I mention the studio is heated??) while **simultaneously** not falling on my actual literal face during said actions, which themselves seem to defy physical laws of gravity and flexibility… Yeeeahhhhh, it’s been. Hm. Wobbly. 

The first few classes were a constant struggle. I burned so much energy just concentrating on following the prompts and remembering to breathe, that I often couldn’t make it through the full sequences. 

Soon enough, tho, things started clicking! Suddenly the words, poses and sequences became more familiar. My experience in class shifted from an overwhelming bombardment of sensory stimuli to organized flow. My stamina increased, my pants magically lost their post-holiday snugness… I felt good!

And what a trajectory, right? Exponential achievements unlocked! At this rate, I’ll be well on my way to nirvana in no time flat, right?? Right?!?

“nirvana?? yea right, get real, lady!” — doozy, 100%

Ahem. Cough cough. Yeeeahhh. About that. 

Anybody familiar with the phrase “regression to the mean” (or, I guess, familiar with the basic regression curve itself) recognizes this pattern. Starting from zero, followed by a period of rapid growth / improvement, before tapering onto a near-flat trajectory toward infinity. 

In other words, results tend to plateau over time. Not bc we suck or whatever, but bc it’s legitimately a long, slow, incremental process of building skill and proficiency in just about any and every endeavor. Like it or not, I’m probably stuck with the wobbles for the foreseeable future.

Relatable, right? Sliiiiightly discouraging, sure lol. And probably a big reason why a lot of new habits or intentions often don’t stick. Bc unless you legitimately enjoy the activity itself, that long slow grind isn’t super fulfilling lol.

Obviously there are plenty of parallels to riding just in that concept alone, too. Like how with Doozy, all those exciting new milestones from the early days — our first sit! our first jompies!! our first jompy lesson!!! — eventually gave way to the slow steady grind of incremental progress 2.5 years (really) later.

Have no fear, tho, this whole blog is basically a shrine to the grind LOL. So I promise not to dedicate this entire post to that subject. It’s been interesting and enlightening, however, to experience it more directly and personally, that’s for sure!

pictured: the face of a horse who is *astonished* at the suggestion that our progress has been slow
“don’t look at me, it ain’t my fault!” — doozy, without a doubt

So let’s move onto my other big main observation from these yoga classes: what that regressive concept means for understanding reproducibility in general, and the conditions for success in particular.

Sure, it’d be easy to believe that having finally accomplished a tricky twisty balancing pose for the first time, that now it’s part of my ‘repertoire,’ it’s something I can do. Or, in a more horsey jargon that I personally find mildly obnoxious, it’s a “button” that’s now been “installed.”

We’ve all heard it before, right? Maybe about some sort of flat work exercises — lateral movements, flying changes, fancy dressage stuff — that a horse has a ‘lot of buttons.’ 

And sure, there are some very nicely schooled horses out there who are capable and confident at executing upper level maneuvers with relatively minimal input.

But real talk…. there are some things I can do at the *end* of a yoga class that… I can not do at the beginning. And don’t even TRY to ask me for that same degree of flexibility or muscle tone when I’m standing at the bathroom sink, brushing my teeth after waking up in the morning. Bc it ain’t gonna happen like that. 

maybe i just have ‘warming up’ on my mind bc i’m trying to manifest to the universe??

Obviously this is NOT rocket science and I’m not telling you anything you don’t know by saying it’s actually the progressive warming up, stretching and activation of different muscle groups throughout class that suddenly makes those trickier poses more “available” to me. It’s not that we install a headstand “button,” but rather that the conditions for achieving a headstand* — aligning the spine, stacking hips and shoulders, etc etc — are met such that the headstand is possible. 

((**Obviously NOT referring to myself here, ain’t no way, no how, I’m stacked in ALL The Wrong Ways LOL))

Academically, again, this is not new information. For me, for you, for any of us. But going through the experiences personally, recognizing the differences in my own body between when I’m not ready for a particular movement vs when I am, has been enlightening.

And it’s made me think in new ways about how we go about “warming up” in a typical schooling ride. Bc again, let’s be real, it’s super easy to fall into a pattern of treating the warm up like a check list. Like, ok, let’s walk for 5minutes, trot for a bit, change directions, work both sides, introduce some figures, maybe a little canter, then voila! we’re ready to jump a couple jumps.

That might not necessarily be wrong either — perhaps it’s a normal pattern bc it basically normally gets the job done. But now it’s got me thinking more deeply about exactly which muscle groups I’m asking the horse to activate, when, and to what degree of intensity, and how that sequence can progress through a ride. 

looking forward to a day when we’ve got better things to do than navel gaze!!

And more specifically to that whole idea of “buttons” in the horse, it’s so easy to think that once we’ve schooled a horse to a specific movement or maneuver, then the horse should always be able to do that thing. When, in reality, it’s all the underlying conditions, circumstances, situations that have progressed to make that “button” available.

A horse that’s on the aids, in front of the leg, and relaxed but attentive will have an easier time stepping immediately into a new gait transition or lateral movement or whatever, compared to a horse for which some or all of those criteria are not met. 

More thoroughly trained or well schooled horses might get there faster with less fuss or rider input, might also have the conditioning necessary to do more “advanced movements” with less preparation (for example: plenty of folks can wake up and whip out some fancy poses while brushing their teeth cold at the sink,** right?)… sure. 

(**Tho there probably aren’t too many PRs recorded cold at the bathroom sink!)

But for the most part, I’m guessing a lot of us probably need to spend less time thinking about achieving specific movements or transitions or whatever, and more time focused on those basic fundamentals: on the aids, in front of the leg, relaxed but attentive.

The basic ingredients that make an activity possible and reproducible in the horse. For me and Doozy, for example, that could mean reframing how I think about practicing for dressage tests. Shifting focus from just rehearsing the test pattern itself to instead really working on practicing that ‘readiness’ to perform a test.

Not really an earth shattering concept or observation, obviously. But maybe interesting. At least to me LOL, on this cold wintry day, staring down yet another snowstorm! What do you think?

busy biscuit

I know it might *feel* like I’m suddenly taking a shit ton of lessons right now… But actually, well. Yea. Ok we did kinda get a bit stacked up in the last two weeks between the gymnastics clinic with Sally, hosting Dan for a pop-up clinic at home, and now another dressage lesson with longtime trainer C… 

frosty biscuit!

It is maybe a little bit of a busier schedule than normal, but not really unheard of. What *IS* so unusual, tho, is the massive amounts of accompanying media!!! Bc as you all know, media is essentially the fuel powering this entire blog — the nuclear core of this living documentary.

lol she apparently wanted to be like @Opie

Realistically, most lessons are not earth shattering events, chock full of ground breaking discoveries or brand-new, never before seen or heard nuggets of wisdom. So in the absence of accompanying media, we kinda get the relatively sparse coverage from this past summer of nearly weekly lessons with local 5* trainer Woodge (who has since gone south for the season). 

fast forward a few minutes and we’ve arrived for our lesson!

Those lessons were incredible, and forged a whole new level of schooling and understanding in Doozy. But ya know. Zero media = not much to show for all that in a ‘blog’ sense. Until now, that is, when suddenly the stars aligned and I’ve gotten tons of media from other recent lessons that continue to build on this past summer’s work!! Much excitement!

absolutely #spoiled by my barn mate snapping so many sweet candids!!

And much thanks to a barn mate who tagged along to our latest dressage lesson with trainer C to see what all the fuss is about. She braved the early morning frosty chill and captured some REALLY cute pics <3 <3 Hopefully I can repay the favor in the near future by helping facilitate some fun safe off-farm adventures with her baby mare, one of Doozy’s field mates.

and she got video too!!!

ANYWAY, tho. All gushing about so much recent media aside… Let’s talk about the lesson!! So much easier to remember details etc with reference material too, amirite??

video is slightly choppy but in her defense, it was literally freezing out LOL

My last lesson with trainer C was in the closing days of December, about two weeks ago. It only got the briefest of mentions bc, again, no media. Doozy was, to quote that brief mention, a ‘hot touchy explosive diva’ in the lesson, including nearly launching me when another mare had the audacity to be slightly thunderous in her flying changes.

brave biscuit ain’t afraid* of no lounge window!
(*usually)

In Doozy’s defense, tho, we’d had a fair lull from off property adventures at the end of 2025 due to concerns about EHM, and she tends to get a bit uncivilized when not adequately occupied LOL. Flash forward to now, after a stacked two weeks, and the mare is all business, ma’am!

oooh doing more with the canter than just wild circles!

Doozy was quiet and attentive right away, and I tried to channel everything we worked on in the clinic with Dan about keeping everything always exactly the same, not over thinking it, just riding the horse forward connected to all the aids, legs on pushing into hand. 

trotted AND cantered one loop serpentines with correct adjustments to bend!!!

And go figure, this set us up perfectly for trainer C, who carried on with her constant mantra of establishing correct bend first, foremost, and forever. It’s crazy to me bc I feel like we’ve come so far in this regard, and in this lesson I could really feel Doozy connecting the dots with pushing her rib cage out off my inside leg. But even still, in the video you can clearly see there’s more to do, in both directions. 

she seemed to like the added complexity of new figures beyond just circles

Trainer C said to think of it as making Doozy longer along the outside of her body, while simultaneously sitting and sinking deeper into my inside seat bone and leg. Which, coincidentally, is another thing I’ve been working on seemingly forever that, yep, *checks video,* still needs more work.

practiced canter-trot transitions across the diagonal as well, good girl!

Ain’t that always the way with dressage tho! It’s always demanding ‘more + better’ lol… Even so, tho, one of the fun things about riding with a pure dressage trainer like C is that as soon as you can more or less consistently get around a circle in all three gaits, she likes to start introducing all the various figures and patterns common in test riding!

figuring it out

It can be hard to think about transitions, changing directions, bend, figures, etc, all that when Doozy is a hot emotional mess, but on this day she was totally game! So we practiced all sorts of fun things that are included in the video, like leg yields and one loop serpentines from trot, canter segments like what we’d see in a test (ie canter across the diagonal, trot transition at X), and even counter canter loops!

she looks pleased with herself, but she’s actually just transfixed by a herd of deer outside the window LOL

It was a cool feeling too bc obviously I was integrating the ‘half halt building blocks’ we’d just worked on with Dan (remember the halt and walk transitions we did along the rail, with steady contact, ankles and wrists connected and closed?), and it clearly ‘clicked’ for Doozy that the half halt meant something was coming, and she should tune in.

#obsessed with this sweet mare

Like the first time we cantered across the diagonal for a transition to trot at X (in the video), she clearly was just blasting across and not at all expecting nor ready for the transition. The second time, tho (also in the video!), she’d totally gotten the message, was ready, and actually transitioned so quickly that we were well ahead of the letter.

also my barn mate’s camera takes such nice pictures <3

Same idea for the counter canter loops — it was as if she realized that we’re doing new and interesting things in the canter, not just spooling around an endless circle. Doozy has always been a mare who likes to stay busy, stay occupied, and will otherwise fill the gap with her own interpretation of entertainment. 

My expectation hope is that she’ll maybe actually get a bit easier to ride as her repertoire of different exercises grows. Maybe she’ll be similar to Isabel in that she’ll just keep getting better the more complicated things get. 

We’ll see. In the meantime, it feels good to get on a schedule and to get so much media establishing where we are at this moment in time. Realistically neither the schedule nor the omnipresent videographer are likely to stay fixed or as consistent as I’d like… But we’ll enjoy it for now haha. 

pop-up clinic @ home!

A big advantage of our current boarding barn over the prior arrangement is that, with appropriate planning / scheduling / communication / etc, we are allowed to bring in outside coaches for lessons and even clinics!

every gait got attention: here’s our slinky panther walk

Granted, anyone who has organized a clinic knows it’s easier said than done — for various reasons. Most professionals are busy and prefer students travel to them, or alternatively require a minimum number of participants / hours / dollars to come to you. And naturally, everybody is interested in participating right up until you ask them to commit to a day and time LOL!

sassy cheetah trot

That’s just the natural way of things, ya know? But somehow, some way, the stars aligned and the calendaring gods smiled down upon us, and my humble little boarding barn came together to host a pop-up clinic with erstwhile trainer Dan! Much excitement! 

our patented “emma-still-can’t-sit-the-hissing-cobra” canter LOL

Doozy and I got the party started with our game faces ready, and Dan immediately put us to work in all gaits, including halt. His main style of coaching hasn’t really changed in the intervening years, although his applications and techniques have continued to become more sophisticated. 

forgive my slight indulgence with loads of screenshots, my barn mate recorded literally 5 gigabytes of footage omg 

Which ya know, makes sense. He’s had another trip around Kentucky since I was a regular student, plus multiple other FEI horses. And naturally all the coaching and training involved in all that, including with the likes of Bettina Hoy and Erik Duvander.

for the intensely curious, here’s that video

It’s also possible that I’m able to hear things in his coaching with new ears too, just from having increased my own experience over the years. Regardless, it felt like we got a lot of interesting and nuanced takeaways beyond what I’d sorta expected based on past lessons. 

anyway, i just like the pictures bc i think she’s pretty <3

In particular, Dan still starts with the most fundamental building block of a horse connected to all the aids, squarely between leg and hand. Tailbone down, ankles and wrists together and connected, leg to hand. Within that construct, however, was a constant mantra of allowing the horse to travel more, pushing forward and covering ground.

Dan focused on a lot of repetition in the ride. everything is the same, always

In walk, he wanted to see a slinky fluid top line back to front, not a stilted lateral or sideways-moving walk that was too shut down.

lots of transitions too — ankles and wrists together and active always!

From walk, we practiced halts on the long sides, letting the rail help us find straightness— but not overthinking it. Halt. Walk or trot on. But hold the contact steady throughout, but especially into the forward transition. Be crisp, be clear, be connected.

more trotting <3

Once in trot, Dan right away wanted Doozy traveling more forward. Not faster, but more of that forward ‘in front of the leg’ balance I was just writing about last week. But on a smaller circle. Using the turns and shape to hold balance, along with a clear slow posting rhythm. From there, back to transitions on the long side, exactly as we had done in walk.

Doozy was engaged and trying the whole time, what a mare

Doozy a couple times broke into unplanned canter (that’s actually where the video above starts), but Dan was adamant that I hold my position in those moments and immediately ride the canter in the same forward traveling way, both legs on, pushing leg to hand and using smaller circles to help create the balance needed to soften.

trying to stick my butt to the saddle in canter remains… elusive lol

In canter, we had some of the same issues as in the walk, with being a bit stilted and stuck and lateral moving, vs forward and fluid. Partly bc I still (forever?) have a hard time sitting the canter, and partly bc Doozy hasn’t really learned to give me a place to sit. 

both of us have our listening ears turned on haha

We managed to get a few decent steps to the right, however, which Dan observed seemed to be my easier direction based on my own alignment / postural habits. The main exercise in canter was finding opportunities to open the stride down the long side, then return to a small circle, then repeat down the next long side. Rinse repeat.

i’m partial but i think she’s pretty cute!

Which was basically the gist of the whole lesson — repeat everything, ride everything exactly the same. Show the horse the pattern, help her get used to me sitting down on her. Nothing changes, even when it’s time to jump.

star pupil <3

And for the jumping, it was literally exactly the same stuff. Walk, to trot, to canter. Don’t overthink it, just do it the same exact way and go. Achieve your quality canter — traveling forward fluid over the top line, more leg (both legs!) pushing to a hand that can stay steady and wait to the jump.

ooh we jumped !!

Doozy absolutely nailed our first little crossrail, off the right lead — with perfectly even steady steps straight to the base. Achieving the same thing to the left (our ‘harder’ direction) was a bit trickier. 

oooh we made jumping shapes in strange proximities to jumps !!

It was harder to hold my position, harder to get the quality canter, and then needed a bit more involvement to make Doozy wait without shortening her stride or shutting her down. I needed to think more about keeping the bit active and moving in those final strides, but not just setting against the mare or letting her take over. 

lol, better <3

And ya know. The cool thing about this mare is… she’ll basically do whatever I ask, it’s just up to me to 1) actually ask; and 2) be clear and consistent. Doozy is a smart cookie, an overachiever who will fill the gaps and make her own choices in a vacuum. But she’s also a super good girl who likes it when things feel good and are comfortable. Which… ya know, what horse doesn’t?

and that’s a wrap!

So overall, a super valuable experience and great lesson. One that probably bears repeating often LOL. With any luck we’ll be able to continue willing these lessons into existing haha. One way or another. Hopefully. 

In the meantime, tho, I’m just so pleased with this horse. I know I’m biased, I know we have a LOT of work ahead of us and she remains a pretty tricky horse for me to ride… But imho there are moments when she looks damn good in that video — and it’s so exciting to feel those pieces click together!

the dude abides

TGIF, friends! Hope everyone is looking forward to a nice weekend!! We’re getting a little break in the weather, with relatively mild temps — tho still some rain, so we persist indoors. Fortunately with Doozy’s new fancy shoes to improve the experience!! 

literally no clue what i’m talking about here — but hey, it’s a picture!!

And even better, not only was Doozy sound for our first trial ride, but a friend was able to snag a couple video clips too!! Yay media!!

It feels like a perfect moment in time to capture, too. Obvi for evaluating how Doozy responds to the changes in shoeing, but also for stepping back and grounding myself in the new year intentions we talked about last week. Particularly that whole “physical capacity” bit lol.

not-so-random flashback to the Charles Himself
it’s a rare shot where you can see BOTH sides of the rider at the same exact moment, so this is an interesting insight into my long-held postural asymmetries

As a step in that direction, I attended a yoga class on new year’s day, during which the instructor handed out notecards inscribed with various ‘sutras’ to all the participants. Mine said, 

“Then the seer abides in its own true nature (1.3).”

Which, it turns out, is not a Big Lebowski reference LOL, but maybe isn’t far off, either.

anyway. trotting around in our new dancing shoes!

A little light googling uncovered all manner of various translations and explanations of the verse, and its insights into the journey toward discovering one’s true nature. 

In particular, one article said this sutra was about recognizing that “our current state is just as it should be.” And that it intends to inspire us to begin—right now—to practice. That the realization of self is not to be viewed as a far-away, barely obtainable goal — but rather it is within us right now, waiting only to be uncovered.

trotting the other way too! #needsmoreforward

Which… Ya know, might be a **little** woo-woo, but also ain’t a bad message for those of us looking to use the new year as a launching pad, amirite? Here we are, right where we should be, ready to practice becoming what we want to be!

quick video clip of our post-canter trot

Ancient philosophical texts aside, tho, it’s a good message for me on many levels. My struggles with bad postural habits and asymmetrical strengths are, erm, well documented here on ye olde blogge. I’ve long since accepted the reality that I’ll never be able to just ‘flip a switch’ and suddenly sit tall like a dressage queen.

post canter trot has a better overall forward balance, tho perhaps feels less organized + ‘together’

Or at least, not while actively riding my horse… Since all my strengths and ability as a rider are rooted in those same muscular patterns that hold all my other habits. 

But! I can practice. And this year* I’m hoping to create space for that practice separate from saddle time. So that I can (hopefully) make the most of Doozy’s and my time together, showing up well-ish for her while also maybe observing how things do, or don’t, change in my way of riding with the added external practice.

(*Ahem, at least as of the time of this writing LOL, another one of my new year intentions was also to give space for fatigue, burnout, other external realities… so we’ll see which intention lasts longer!!)

needs more inside bend too lol
we went thru a phase where the answer was almost always ‘more right rein connection.’ doozy has moved on, but apparently i have not!

In our schooling sessions in between lessons right now, my aim is to stay as present as possible to our quality of going. Are my legs long, pushing down evenly into the stirrups on both sides? Is my rib cage level and upright, collar bone open with shoulders down and soft? Are my elbows bent, hands holding themselves up, with reins an appropriate length? Is my chin up? 

easy enough to pick ourselves apart, but i’m overall happy with our current state

And for Doozy: Is she in front of the leg? Can I move her off each leg, bend and counter bend? 

My biggest bugaboo right now (especially after riding inside for so long) is riding the horse a bit under powered. It’s tempting, ya know? It feels more organized, quieter, ‘steady.’ But with most horses, and definitely with Doozy, that’s also where the mischief lurks LOL. Like, for instance, bucking or kicking out into canter is a direct result of transitioning from a behind-the-leg trot.

the goodest girl <3 i love that she wears her forelock in the same dweeby center part as charlie <3 <3

So our current state isn’t ya know… perfect. But it’s where we are, right where we should be. Emma — focusing on postural alignment; Doozy — gettin’ in front of the leg!

All of which is aided hopefully in no small part by growing confidence that Doozy’s new shoeing arrangement will keep her comfortable. Since ya know. Our season of practicing dusty laps in the indoor is apparently far from over… I’m looking forward to worrying less about that particular component!

Anybody else getting started on any new practices for the year? Or doing any sort of personal rundown or assessment of the current status quo? 

happy feet

It was exactly this time last year, under extremely similar circumstances — extended periods of frozen ground and exclusively indoor-only riding — that we first observed a strange mystery NQR-ness in Doozy. It started off as a suspected bruise, but kinda spiraled from there.

happiest hand grazer <3

My immensely practical vet has an established method (almost, perhaps, scientific?? lol) for assessing this sort of thing, including evaluating and eliminating normal / common causes and solutions first before proceeding with more complex diagnostics. 

As such, over the next ~4 months we did a bute test, took time off, reintroduced work while limiting tight turns or small circles (tricky to do in a narrow indoor while sharing space), did multiple lameness exams with flexion tests, nerve blocks, rads… injected a fetlock, added hind shoes, put the mare on equioxx…. 

“but wait, wtf is that??”

And probably other stuff I’m forgetting too… Alongside, naturally, typical holistic wellness type activities like chiro / acupuncture, magna wave and saddle fittings. 

Throughout it all, the NQR-ness would come and go somewhat mysteriously. Either there or not there. Never getting worse. Not increasing over the course of a ride, nor would Doozy ‘work out of it.’ She was either taking lame steps, or not. Until, eventually, it disappeared entirely by mid spring and the mare remained consistently reliably sound ever after. 

friggin cats gettin their paw prints everywhere!

Until. Ahem. Midway through winter, after an extended period of frozen ground and exclusively indoor-only riding for a while now. In a recent ride, Doozy again took a couple of those same exact characteristically NQR steps.

being stalkerish in the hopes of being fed lol

Throughout all our diagnostics last year, my vet never felt like we could fully eliminate the possibility that the main issue was essentially a bruised hoof. My farrier seconded this opinion, with observations of a chronic pressure point in Doozy’s sole, most likely attributed to her imperfect forelimb conformation.*

(*In other words, homegirl has some significant twisting and crookedness in both front legs.)

anyway, onto the real point of the matter:
Doozy’s chronic pressure point, a result of her imperfect forelimb conformation

Doozy’s legs are not straight, and therefore her hooves are… well. Not exactly textbook. But she has a clean, sound way of moving — and my farrier has worked hard to ensure a level even footfall. Rads from last year confirmed that basically everything about the feet are healthy even if the ‘shape’ isn’t classically correct. 

But this little pressure point is basically always there. Well, not always always. It apparently becomes more pronounced in winter. After extended periods of frozen ground, when we’re riding mostly in a narrow indoor whose footing is fine but not exactly the most modern stuff in the world. And when maybe the hoof isn’t growing as fast as it would on summer pasture.

pictured: two imperfect forelimbs. the chronic pressure point is on her medial left front sole, so the hoof on the right side of this picture, on the inside closer to her midline. 

Adding pads was on our list of things to try last year, but with how her shoeing cycle intertwined with our other tests, it was never quite the right time to try. We wanted to do one thing at a time — like adding hind shoes! — to try to see what worked. And obviously, once she became reliably sound by mid spring, there didn’t seem to be much wisdom with continuing to tinker, ya know?

When I felt that funny feeling again tho, literally days before our recent farrier appointment, pads seemed like as good as any place to start. 

oooh Doozy’s gettin her own fancy boat shoes!!

Doozy doesn’t really react to the hoof testers on that pressure point. Which… Realistically she’s probably had that spot, or something like it, for most of her life. And recall, our nerve blocks from last year were inconclusive on whether her discomfort originated in the hoof or higher up. 

farrier likes using R.A.T.E. Hoof Packing under the pads, and generally prefers using natural materials vs synthetics like dental impression (tho it depends on the use case). past farriers have used magic cushion too

But our current hypothesis is that some combination of repeated and cumulative exposure to frozen ground + hard footing + exclusively small turns + limited hoof growth = exacerbation of her existing conformational flaws. 

one shoe!!

Other factors in support of this hypothesis include the intermittency of the NQR-ness, literally from one day to the next. And the fact that whether it presents or not seems to be related to where we are — as in, what ring, what footing. 

two shoes!!

All of this makes me hopeful that adding a little cushion via leather pads can mitigate the issue entirely. Sure, I might be rationalizing the known facts, rearranging them to fit this new narrative. But. Eh. It makes sense to me, my farrier and my vet, and seems like a worthy trial. 

As always, I am NOT a professional on ANY of this stuff. If you have similar concerns or experiences, it’s best to confer with the trusted members of your own team and circle. And also as always, unless I’ve remitted payment to you in the last 12 months, you are not among *my* trusted circle. Feel free to disagree with our approach as you like.

time will tell but i’m optimistic!

Realistically, Doozy is a thoroughbred with generations of human-engineered selective breeding. She’s pretty explicitly far from the typical adaptations you’d see in nature, where “survival of the fittest” drives gene selection. As such, she may require throughout her life various interventions to comfortably live out her days. 

and anyway. cats.

And that’s before we even consider the realities of what she needs to be successful in sport. Which, by “success” I don’t mean actually literally winning, I just mean being comfortable, capable, and resilient to the training, conditioning and exercise of it all. 

Especially with all her extra, errr, expressiveness… It’s integral for my confidence in our approach to training that I can reasonably rule out discomfort as a source of the behaviors we sometimes experience, know what I mean? Ymmv, obvi. 

So I’m honestly pretty excited by this little experiment. There was only one ride where I thought I felt the funny steps, and we basically immediately made this change in shoeing. If the funny steps never reappear again, I’ll be a very happy camper. If not, that’s fine too. Well. Not “fine” but you know what I mean. We’ll try the next thing on the list lol. 

At least we know from last year that… the mare never got “worse,” and in fact eventually became completely 100% better for all of late spring, summer, fall, and early winter. That’s a pretty confidence-inspiring history, so we’ll see what happens!