Happy Friday, folks! Things are quieting down a little bit around here after what felt like a sudden onslaught of activities all at once haha. Funny how the calendar works sometimes…
first trot of the lesson!
I actually wasn’t even originally planning on going to the Thornridge show, and certainly didn’t initially think jumping a round would be in the cards… But other plans moved around, and then Doozy was immediately such a princess about jumping again that, ya know, why not, let’s do it!
little ms sensible <3
But we’re back to our regularly scheduled programming now, which, in this case, means another dressage lesson with trainer C! Natch, accompanied by my new favorite toy, the pivo!
Which I set up in the corner this time since it occasionally lost us in the corners when it was set at C in our last lesson. Unfortunately I chose the corner by the in-gate, so we missed a chunk of work at the end when the next horse joined the ring. Nbd but next time I’ll try the opposite corner.
warming up with leg yields!
Anyway, obvi I love using these lessons to prepare for events and all that, but it’s also equally nice to show up and be able to tell trainer C to “have your way with us!”
change directions, rinse, repeat!
Which, in this case, meant trainer C wanted us to play around with first level stuff, eventually putting together the pieces of 1-2. Exciting!!
In her view, when Doozy is relaxed and engaged in the work, she basically already has all the requirements for the level, and is maybe similar to how Isabel was in that the harder and more demanding the tests get, the more interested Doozy becomes.
learning to find power in balance
Tho, realistically, that’s also probably a function of that Brett Parbery quote I shared last week, about how “exercises are for people, aids are for horses.” Meaning, perhaps, that as the tests get more demanding **for me,** then subsequently **I** do a better job of being clear crisp and correct in my aids to Doozy, who then naturally goes better and better.
started playing with lengthening the trot, v exciting for dooz!
Obvi it’s useful to understand the mechanics of why a good ride is good lol, bc understanding that makes it reproducible, right? But… more fundamentally, it’s also just plain fun to have good rides where everything feels connected and flowing.
leg yielding from center line
And Doozy seems like a total junkie for that feeling too — she loves being a good girl, loves getting the answers right. And it seems like the more good rides we stack on top of each other, the happier and more relaxed and more confident she gets in the work.
lots of canter this lesson!
So anyway the whole video is included below with all the main exercises we did and obvi all trainer C’s coaching through each movement. Probably mostly just interesting to me, but there’s some generally universal stuff in there for anybody looking for nuggets of wisdom.
my 15m canter circle geometry was shockingly pitiful lol
We warmed up right away with leg yields from the quarter line, and trainer C wanted me to be clear and consistent from the word ‘go’ about correct inside bend. Which, at times for Doozy, can almost look a little like shoulder fore, with her nose a bit to the inside of her chest center.
princess was so good i kept being wayyy too early for our canter-trot transitions over X
Lots of alternating between circles and leg yields, always looking to solidify and confirm the correct bend through the movements (ie, using the pattern to get Emma to deliver more consistent aids to the horse). And, this was **finally** the day when trainer C had us start pushing the trot out more on our diagonal changes of direction!!
we repeated both directions of the canter work but alas, pivo got distracted when a handsome gray pony joined the ring
We hadn’t really gone there yet with Doozy bc it’s been such a journey to get her to balance and contain herself in a working trot, vs sorta unspooling out the front end… But something tells me Doozy’s gonna eventually love her lengthening and extensions LOL.
actual visual representation of pivo being truly torn
Anyway, the canter pattern in the 1-2 test was pretty good for us too. It’s a fair amount of canter, with long sides and 15m circles, and cantering across the diagonal to trot at X, then immediately pick the canter back up again in the next corner on the new lead.
in the end, tho, it stuck with us <3
All of that wanted me to be a LOT more clear and prepared in my seat and aids. The 15m circles, for example, went best when I really concentrated on pushing into my seat bones, while also feeling both legs long, pushing the balls of my feet in each stirrup.
The canter transitions… Honestly that was maybe the most interesting feeling. For so long, Doozy’s aid to canter was almost the *absence* of an aid. Like, you just stopped holding her and off she went! Now that she’s actually like, steady and on the aids and relaxing in the work, I actually have to be a little more proactive in preparing her for the transition.
basically the full lesson, trimmed of walk (and pivo) breaks
We never quite nailed the feeling in this lesson, my up transitions were always late and a bit shuffle-y. But now that I understand the pattern better, I think it’ll be a good one for us to practice to help me refine my own positioning. So long as I keep riding forward into it, tho, Doozy seems happy to go — compared to that little phase we went thru last year when I got too backwards and she was kicking out into her transitions.
sweet doozy, best of biscuits
So yea, a good lesson for a lot of reasons. Super gratifying and honestly legitimately exciting to have trainer C tell us she thought we should be doing more first level stuff too.
I’d like to find more opportunities to get out to just do dressage tests at shows, mostly bc the repetition seems to helpful for Doozy, and not having impending jumping phases helps me focus and be more intentional… But we’ll see what the calendar holds.
Fall is my favorite season for riding and activities, and I’m so relieved and grateful to have Doozy coming back into action for it!
Not gonna lie, it feels so great lately to get to write about not just riding my horse, but actually going out and doing activities again too!! Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure I’d still be out every day riding and grooming and spending time with my animal even if for whatever crazy reason we could never do another off property field trip ever again…
“behold! i’m on a horse!!” — emma, 100% cheesin
But for me? This is where it’s at, this is my jam. Going out for lessons, little schooling shows, bigger rated shows, glorified trail rides… whatever, that’s the good stuff, ya know? And I’m so grateful to have this unique but special little mare back in action for it!
there is video from dressage!! but i don’t have a good resolution copy yet
And she was the absolute most perfect little Biscuit for our CT at Thornridge this weekend!! I won’t go into all the nitty gritty details about warm up and test riding and all that bc it’s basically exactly the same stuff I’ve been droning on about for the last couple weeks.
click for full size — it was one of our best!
Tho, maybe all that writing and studying and pivo-produced feedback is working its magic on us, bc Doozy put in what might have been her best ever dressage test! Or at least, close to it. Not perfect, obvi, and the scoring is 100% inflated, and probably by a lot, compared to what we’d see at a rated show.
and the jompies were fun too!!
But I was over the moon with the horse, and will hopefully be able to get some higher resolution video + screenshots to share soon.
we were a touch skittery on some of the distances but big mare don’t care!
And in the meantime, it was very gratifying to basically immediately meet the new goal I laid out in a post two weeks ago about Harmony, with the judge’s overall collective marks and commentary indicating: “6.5 — Very fancy pair! Some tension today.” Hell yes, we’ll take that!
our most, uh, skitteriest lol… wherein we’re juussssst barely making that 7th stride fit, drifting exactly the opposite direction of ideal considering our next fence…
It was a relatively quiet wait for the jumping phase — we’d been forecast to get slammed with torrential rain literally right up until the storm somehow swung south and missed us completely. So the weather and ground ended up being literally perfect, but probably a lot of people had already decided based on the forecast the night before to scratch. Unfortunate but them’s the breaks sometimes!
the end jumps always come up tight but it was fine!
So Doozy and I were first down to the jumping area, first to go for the day. And honestly I kinda like just getting straight to it, ya know? We reestablished a little connection on the flat then jumped maybe two warm up jumps and went in for our round!
a little more composed into the final line!
They’d clearly planned the course with the weather in mind. There was nothing too too crazy out there, beyond the normal “it’s kinda a tight space with turns planned by dressage riders not jumpers” LOL — and the jumps all looked small for BN.
left a stride out tho LOL
But the ground was perfect and Doozy was ready to go!!
video of the round here <3
It wasn’t our tidiest round ever — kinda slightly funny distances to the first couple. And while the two related distance lines walked in an uphill full length seven, Doozy barely squeezed in the 7th in the first line and left it out entirely in the last…
so fun to be doing activities again <3 <3
Plus naturally I did my own usual rider shenanigans like straight up letting go **completely** of my right rein over jump 2, for… reasons????… and almost forgetting about the end jump at 5 until the last possible second… So yea. Not exactly textbook tidy LOL… but FUN, and also somehow CLEAR!!
proud biscuit won herself a very pretty little red ribbon <3 as much as i love getting big brown ribbons for this Big Brown daughter… a new run of Big Reds could be nice too LOL!
Whatever Doozy’s thoughts about some of the skittery distances, she had no trouble just popping up and over and getting on with it! What a mare! I literally do not remember the last time we show jumped on grass, it’s always such a different feeling from totally flat and level arenas, ya know? But Doozy seems to like it!
all in a day’s morning’s work, amirite??
So another fun day in the books, and still all in all a pretty low-impact activity all things considered, with maybe 25minutes of flatwork and 10 jumps on perfect ground. Not much different from a normal every day ride, it just so happened to be out at one of our favorite places full of a lot of our favorite people. Not bad!!
This week we had “take your pivo to school” day for our dressage lesson with Trainer C!! Much excitement!
ready for a bunch more pivo pics????
It’s especially exciting bc it means I don’t have to try to remember all the stuff we did in the lesson, or any of the coaching tips and feedback trainer C provided, bc it’s all here in video form!!
video from basically the whole lesson, including our run thru novice A at the end
if you just want to see the test, it’s broken into its own video below
Tho obvi I still gotta write something, right? Even if it’s just to help me remember and internalize the details (and not just spam you with a zillion nearly-identical pics of my mare being a perfect princess LOL).
doozy was the happiest clam in this lesson <3 <3
So for starters, there’s the stuff not captured in the video — the catch-up and context I shared with trainer C before we got started, since it’s been a month since our last lesson (I was in Minnesota two weeks ago instead), and obvi before that Doozy was still too early in the rehab for lessons.
pretty sure the footing has magic fairy dust in it or something, vibes were so good!
Basically, tho, if you’ve already been following along, you already know the gist of where things currently are in our work: My big focus lately is prioritizing riding forward in front of the leg first and foremost, even if that means we’re occasionally a little over pace or slightly running.
good vibes == no shortage of nice moments to screenshot!
The most interesting thing to me, tho, watching the video, is that we don’t look over pace at all. Like, not even a little bit. No signs of running either.
for real tho, sorry not sorry but there are a zillion shots exactly like this
Now, in the interest of honesty, Doozy just sorta happened to be in a fantastic mood. Serene, sweet, happy. She was already in a good mood before we even left home for the lesson. And trainer C’s barn has always had the most amazing vibes, horses are always so comfortable and confident there. Who knows why, but it was certainly very enjoyable!
still planning to upgrade my phone sooner rather than later tho bc we need this in higher resolution pls!
And Doozy likewise seemed to just settle in and enjoy the work herself. Trainer C was on board with my “riding forward” approach, and if you watch the video you’ll hear her contextualizing some of her coaching within that framework — specifically relating to continuing to work on bringing the contact and frame together without sacrificing that forward feel.
legit the goodest biscuit <3
Working on the lateral suppleness is always a feature with trainer C, and played a big role in creating that organized and ‘together’ feel in this lesson too. Particularly to the right, our tougher side by far.
she’s an expert at halt transitions now!
You can see the difference as the video goes on tho, from us starting out nicely forward but a bit braced and above the bit… To working the lateral bending and suppleness persistently and consistently enough (still with a forward v backward feel tho!) that Doozy was able to really soften into a nicer balance.
~~princess mode activated~~
Especially after transitions, or shifting between figures like three loop serpentines or leg yields, trainer C wanted to see me be quicker to actually ask Doozy for the bend and contact. She made the point that if I don’t ask, and Doozy therefore doesn’t do it, Doozy ain’t exactly wrong.
holy crap i can almost kinda sorta sit the canter when she’s this soft!
Which is kinda a “duh” statement, but also something I need to hear fairly often! Especially when Doozy is this soft and responsive and pleasant, it becomes really REALLY obvious how accustomed I’ve become to that more reactive style of ride, vs more proactive preparation.
the other way too!
If you’re only every used to the horse kinda just whipping around turns, falling in or out or whatever, then yea maybe you might get caught flat footed or unprepared for actually riding a neat and tidy center line turn.
an expert at trotting after cantering now too
Like, seriously, no joke, twice in a row, trainer C had us practicing center line turns and each time as I was literally halfway thru the turn thinking to myself, “wow ya know I *should* have half halted like six strides ago bc now we’re just kinda drifting along!”
she’s always been a free walk super star tho
At which point, like clockwork, she was like, “Uhh yea go do that again but maybe actually set Doozy up this time?” Which I then did, and Doozy went forth and nailed some perfectly crisp 10m half turns like a seasoned veteran, natch.
here’s just our run thru novice A
It was also super apparent why the bending and softening is so important for Doozy, bc when she’s more relaxed and soft through her back the difference is literally insane — especially in canter.
geometry was a little whack bc i was just guestimating my boundaries for riding a short court test in a big ring. nbd tho!
So it was a lot of good work in establishing that feeling of pushing the mare up into a contact, but not sacrificing the forward feeling and not getting stuck into trying to micromanage her pace or slow her down. And also a lot of good moments of me needing to be reminded to be more proactive about all that.
pivo missed our canter transitions in the close corners, but this test suited us!
We finished the lesson with a run through the Novice A test, which I’m hoping to ride at an upcoming schooling show mostly for shits and giggles. The current eventing tests are a little tricky for us — they seem to be designed to be completed as quickly as possible, presumably so event organizers can squeeze as many tests as possible into each ring.
free walk is best walk <3
But it means some of the tests end up riding a bit choppy and hectic, with a lot of transitions stacked on top of each other. The Novice A test, however, seems like it might actually suit Doozy reasonably well — with actually quite a bit of soft changes in bend at trot, up and down the full court in both directions to start.
you’d be forgiven for thinking this was another walking pic but it’s actually my red hot firecracker looking like a soft little lamb in her stretchy trot <3 <3 <3
The canters seem well placed for us too, tho the pivo had the most trouble with the corners closest to it so it missed the transitions, sigh, and the test does all the trotting and cantering etc up front before finishing with a free walk then stretchy trot circle. And guys, Doozy loves her stretchy trot apparently! I’m so sad the first half of the circle was missed on the video but the whole thing was so nice!
she knows she’s a champ
Overall, tho, the test rode pretty well for us — and would have been even better if I had been even more proactive and consistent in asking Doozy for bend and connection.
Realistically it’s unlikely we’ll get anything even anywhere close to that level of execution at an actual show at this point, but it’s just so exciting to me to Doozy really start to shine in the work. She’s a mercurial critter and the relaxation puzzle has proved tough to solve but it’s clear that her confidence IS increasing, as is her overall level of schooling. Baby steps, y’all!
I’ve continued to let all the thoughts, ideas, concepts, etc from Windurra camp marinate for the last couple weeks, rolling around in my head sorta like a lapidary machine. Ideally, eventually all the rough edges will grind down into smooth polished gems, right??
i spy with my little eye…. a red horse and her spotted pony friend!
A girl can only hope LOL… But for real, there are ~3 main concepts I’m prioritizing. Bc realistically, I can’t really walk and chew gum at the same time, so I sorta need to keep a relatively narrow focus at any given time. And also, even more realistically, some stuff will just have to wait until we’re farther along in the rehab.
there she is <3 <3
The first big concept is “Composure.” Also known as “not overthinking” and “not getting desperate.” The round pen practice I wrote about last week has been instrumental in implementing this idea, in giving us space and breathing room to get on the same page for a working session with minimal drama.
ooooh we got to share the ring with emotional support barbie dream horse v2.0
For whatever reason, whether it’s truly related or just kinda coincidental (Doozy is, after all, a mercurial changeable critter!), we’ve been basically explosion-free for all our rides since we started with the round pen. Like, the tension is still there, it’s always there, ya know? But we’ve been able to work with it and through it.
working on square turns and, uh…, “straight” lines LOL — can you tell??
Which takes us to the next big concept we’ve been prioritizing: line of travel and shoulder control. For whatever reason, this is one of those evergreen focal points for me. And apparently one that I’m constantly forgetting and then rediscovering, over and over again.
composed biscuit
There’s something about being really intentional with our line of travel that has something close to a “magic fairy dust” effect on us. Probably bc it forces me to really plug all my aids in, seat and legs first, and ride both sides of the horse evenly from back to front.
routine maintenance — pretty happy with how her feet are doing!
And goooo figure, Doozy likes being ridden like that LOL. Maybe she has actually read the textbook?
her tootsie turds!! little rolls of magic cushion for under the leather pads
Part of why she’s been so tricky for me to ride is that it’s literally the riding that increases her tension. My aids increase tension. Touching the reins, using my leg, adjusting my seat — she is sensitive and reactive to all of these things and it is absurdly easy to end up feeling like she’s ping-pong-ing all over the place, bouncing off all the aids.
farrier has this cool epoxy-like stuff that can help secure the clips if the wall got a little crumbly
Except, simultaneously, she also wants and needs direction. As a somewhat insecure horse, she kinda wants me to hold her hand, tell her where to go, maintain a constant “I’m ok, you’re ok!” dialog. And in the absence of any clear direction, she will **absolutely** fill the void herself. Generally with poor choices haha.
she might actually love her farrier more than she loves me — look how serene she is!
Somehow, by focusing on the line of travel, riding back to front, we’re able to maintain the composure, keep the train on the proverbial tracks, and let Doozy settle on the aids, no muss no fuss.
anyway. chickens, bc they is a part of our life now haha
Bc it is only at this point that we can start on the next big concept — all those transitions between and within gait that were such a highlight from the camp sessions. Which, makes sense, right? Like, from an order of operations POV, the composure + riding forward back to front, on the aids, are necessary requirements for the quality of transitions we’re talking about, right?
ooooh and off to the super fancy indoor — complete with the most aggressively powerful fans i’ve ever seen
At least, that’s the way it seems to be working for us. 5* eventer Matt Brown was back again at the lovely local farm up the road from us, so naturally we signed up for another lesson. And somewhat humorously, I reintroduced ourselves to him by saying “We’re the ones with the unhinged flatwork!” and he was like, “Ohhhhh yea” haha. hahahahaha…. What a way to distinguish ourselves LOL…
i swear i don’t set out to intentionally take absurd pictures of my horse. it just always seems to happen like that haha
Except yay, we weren’t unhinged at all, and the lesson picked up exactly where I hoped it would — on that next big focal area of the transitions. Which is somewhat insane actually bc I swear to god I did not even mention wanting to work on that AT ALL.
But ya know. The basics are the basics for a reason, and that’s right where Matt took us after establishing that we can in fact now trot around on the aids with composure.
anyway. moving on. breakfast time at the OK Corral!
I don’t necessarily have a ton to write about the lesson itself, bc this isn’t really ground breaking or new information, but it’s exactly the type of supervised practice we’re looking for right now. He provided a really solid framework and guidance on integrating the practice for Doozy, and also suggested adding in yielding the hind quarters to both our in-hand and ridden sessions.
then, drum roll pls!!! back to one of our favorite haunts!!!
Which, naturally set us up perfectly for Doozy’s grand return to our erstwhile regularly scheduled dressage lessons with Trainer C! Wherein we picked up on all these various threads to put together a lovely (and carefully measured) little w-t-c session with Doozy on her absolute best behavior.
there’s still a fair amount of recovery ahead of us, but it’s exciting to keep moving along!
It was like she knew exactly where we were, and why, and was honest to god happy for it. Happy to see Trainer C, happy to be working in a lesson where she already knows all the answers and can show us all how smart she is… Happy for the familiar routine.
the happiest biscuit to be doing activities again <3 <3
I swear, this horse loves going places and doing things. She gets so much confidence from routine outings that it can have a bit of a snowball effect, with rides at home getting better and more “boring” after she’s been out in the world lol.
Even so, “composure” will be our vocabulary word-of-the-day for… the foreseeable future lol. But I’m hopeful that maybe, at last, after all this time, we’re finally developing a sort of rubric / methodology / repeatable framework for bringing some order to the chaos. Maybe. Haha…
