playing in the grass ring

It’s been just rainy enough, often enough, to keep our outdoor arena closed while the footing dries (or, doesn’t, as the case may be).

setting my pivo up on the fenceline, willfully ignoring the storm clouds behind me lol

Obvi with two indoor rings there’s still plenty of options for riding … But idk, I kinda hate riding inside if we don’t have to, ya know? 

walking with doggo lol

Like… We’re basically confined entirely to the indoors during the winter since the outdoor ring doesn’t have lights (and again, the footing is bad in wet weather and slow to dry). So for the rest of the year, unless there’s a specific reason to do so (like when I wanted to jump before Thornridge last week), I’d really rather not go inside.

just trit-trottin around the field!

Especially on the weekends — this time of year the horses are inside during the day, meaning the paddocks are all empty. And there’s a very nice and decently flat paddock right next to one of the indoors. This paddock has the extra advantage of being essentially the closest thing the farm has to a dry lot — the grass is extremely short and picked pretty bare by the sweet pudgy ponies that use it for turn out.

something so refreshing about the grass!

Obvi I do my best not to leave marks or tracks or ride out there when it’s muddy anyway, but since it’s the one paddock that never gets ‘rested’ to grow grass, I really don’t worry too much about that.

jussssssst enough terrain to keep it interesting

And there’s something so nice about riding out on the grass! It’s up on top of a hill so there’s a nice breeze, and there’s options for working on slight variations of slopes and undulations in various corners of the paddock.

lateral suppleness remains an area of opportunity lol

I feel like it’s an entirely different type of workout for the horse to school on uneven ground too, compared to well groomed flat surfaces and footing. Like Doozy has to work harder to contain herself, keep her feet underneath herself.

feels like canter is coming along tho!

A friend I boarded with years ago moved to a farm that didn’t have any ring at all, and I remember seeing them at shows and her horse looked amazing. Like, obvi she was a lovely rider and he was a very nice horse anyway, but something about working full time on the grass had really done wonders for him.

obvi not perfect, never perfect, but it’s feeling a lot more pleasant to ride!

Plus, we have a lot of events around here that run dressage or show jumping, or sometimes both, on grass — in addition to cross country. That can be a slightly different experience if you’re not used to it, too.

Ms Thing felt very balanced on the grass!

Like I’ve honestly kinda avoided some events historically bc of the grass rings or especially the warm up situation. Which… ya know, is fine. But it’s also something we can practice, right?

wouldn’t mind having this down transition at a show!

It’s also “just different enough” that it can kinda influence how I ride in the same way being at a show can — in the sense that maybe I get more tentative or passive, or lower my expectations etc, bc we’re doing something “different” and “hard.” 

we squeezed in some quasi-test-practice before the rain got too heavy

So with all that in mind, it was nice taking advantage this weekend of the nice weather but unrideable outdoor to get out into the paddock.

**singing free-walkin in the rain!**

Doozy is still going strong on her Princess Streak too. Idk what’s in her Wheaties these days but she’s been literally the most pleasant creature for actual weeks at this point. The last time we had what I felt was a ‘bad’ or ‘frustrating’ ride was back in July, actually.

actually kinda nice to school in the rain — a rarity for us these days

And that was its own interesting experience too bc it was when I first got the pivo, and upon watching the video from the ‘bad’ ride… I actually felt better about it, like maybe it wasn’t that bad after all. And in fact, that was the ride / video situation which kinda helped me figure out that I was trying to solve rideability issues by getting too backwards. 

our “test practice” was more like just trot a circle, canter a circle, change directions, rinse repeat

Since that ride, I’ve been a lot more intentional about keeping my leg *on* and riding forward. And gooooooo figure, lol, Doozy looks like an entirely different animal now to how she felt then.

doozy loves her halts now

Actually, if anything, I probably need to add even more leg now bc she’s suddenly so ho-hum about life. It’s honestly been so pleasant!

fairly quick ride bc of the weather…

It’s like I almost don’t know what to do with ourselves when she’s this pleasant haha. Like, we walk, trot, canter, she’s a perfect princess, and it’s like…. okie dokey so…. now what?? LOL…

collecting the expensive electronics before they get too too damp!

Obvi it’s easy enough to see from these pictures and the video that perhaps I could push for a little more, be a bit more exacting about frame and posture and all that… And sure, we’ll keep working on that. But I’m not gonna lie, it’s nice to just enjoy Doozy’s relaxation for a bit too haha.

lol @ her face…

My hope is to keep sorta reaffirming this relaxation in new and slightly different ways — like riding out in the grass! or riding in the rain! — while also continuing to nibble around the edges of improving our flatwork, so that ideally the relaxation will remain accessible to us when we get back to events. 

A girl can dream, right?