princess mode

Doozy has been an absolute princess this week, and lucky me — there’s actually media to prove it!! Jumping media, woot woot!

nbd just casually being a total princess <3

Tho, me being me, I’m still going to try to combine a couple recent activities into one post, so feel free to skip ahead to the video if that’s your thing.

obligatory “snacks at the trailer” pic

Anyway. We’ve kept a full dance card this week after last week’s travel — esp in preparation for another upcoming go at Loch Moy. So earlier this week we had our regularly scheduled dressage lesson with trainer C, followed by a routine chiro / acupuncture appt, and then an easy breezy jump school at home.

did a drive-by of our vet’s office on the way to our lesson to get a microchip number!

The dressage lesson was another good one — focusing on the same areas we’ve been building on with trainer C. In particular, more and better leg yields and spirals, and trot and canter loops. The canter loop I think is from test 1-2 or 1-3 maybe, not sure, and introduces counter canter.

smartest biscuit can smell the future flowers

I’ve always loved counter canter — Charlie was legit the best at it, plus it was the #1 exercise to get him straight, in front of the leg and on the aids without making him fizzy or pissy. Doozy’s proving to be pretty decent at it too, tho her left lead is stronger right now. She seems to like the complexity of needing to focus on it and it’s useful in the same ‘proactive’ way I’ve been writing about already.

obligatory picture of the latest in stabby jabbies!

It was an interesting lesson tho bc we continue to peel back layers of Doozy’s insecurity. She’s learning to hold a lovely tempo — and particularly learning to find that tempo again after a gait change or disruption or whatever. And she was able to be softer in her overall posture within that tempo too. 

ooooh and actual action shots omg!

Tho it’s almost like she feels a little more vulnerable in that soft open balance, vs the tight rigid ‘on-the-muscle’ feeling she so often has. She almost got a little more spooky and ADHD while we were cantering thru the loop exercise, like she’s less sure of herself. But she held it together and did nicely, and was able to regain the soft balance again if we lost it. 

look at us trotting a crossrail all casual and low key <3

It’s really an exciting feeling, like she’s really thinking and learning. Doozy is such an overachiever, it can be tricky when she’s like, ‘I KNOW we are going to canter, so can’t we just get on with it?’ but it’s like some of these exercises — like the spiral — are turning into almost cheat-codes, where she’s like, “OH, ok, I recognize this pattern, fine.”

and the little boxes too!

Truly amazing what regular lessons and practice can do, amirite?? LOL…

*pats self on back for setting up an oxer lol*

Speaking of which!! We also had a lovely jump school! With media omg!! Our first jumps after Loch Moy were in a lesson with Sally about a week and a half ago, then I jumped a few little things at home too — again just really trying to reestablish the whole ‘routine practice’ thing. 

when the horse lands more organized than you expected lol

And then this week I knew I wanted to fit in a schooling session once the ring dried out. Most of the jumps were already in place but I reset the heights for our purposes — including giving myself two oxers, something I don’t always do LOL… And also shifted one combination into a 21’ in and out of verticals.

she has the sweetest expressions
(and giantest nostrils!)

Overall a nice set of singles to catch off both leads from various straight or bending approaches. Plus a set of 3 ground poles at 9’, and a cross rail with trot pole at 7’ for warming up. 

still gave myself a placing pole into the combo

Of particular interest to me was our gear for the day — I’m experimenting with Charlie’s saddle again since it didn’t sell after a year at consignment, and it’s truly my favorite saddle in the world. Our County is lovely, don’t get me wrong, but this l’Apogee is just… ugh, my favorite <3 

I might look into re-panelling it for Doozy, actually, since perhaps it’ll be easier to sell the County anyway? Idk. We’ll see. 

#GridSavant

I also am trying out a new bit for our jumping too: it’s a knockoff verbindend mouth piece with bevel cheeks. My intention is to give myself more reliable braking power so that I’m more trusting that it’ll be there when I need it, vs needing to hang on to the ‘e-brake’ nonstop. 

ooooh and a second oxer too, go me!

And so far I really like it!! We actually first wore it in Doozy’s first ride back after my trip last week, and I tried to be really clear about establishing a pattern of a big clear whoa into down transition (not necessarily a heavy aid, but aiming for a faster more crisp response), followed by a big clear release. It seemed to work, and Doozy didn’t seem at all offended by it. So far so good!

full video of our jump school!!

Tho to be honest, Doozy was on a whole ‘nother plane of perfection for this jump school. Idk what was in her wheaties this morning but she was just like… The happiest fucking camper in the whole universe omg! Literally perfect, no notes. 

Like, ok, sure, notes for the rider, obviously. Always. Like, Emma, please stop jumping the left side of every fence, for fucks sake, ok? 

the best biscuit <3 <3 <3

But the horse?? So good <3 So perfect <3 Who knows why LOL, she’s a mercurial critter, it’s hard to understand the rhythms and currents of her tension vs relaxation. 

Rides like this, tho… It’s like, “OMG Holy Shit, she IS getting trained!!” Slowly but surely, amirite?

friday foto finish: #shameless

Wasn’t it just the other day that I wrote about how nice it is having a sensible mare who could resist the temptation to stick a leg thru the fence just to scratch ‘dat itch??

Well. Ms Thing would apparently like to correct the record LOL. 

Bc this week she’s been feeling…. a certain sort of way, and “resisting temptation” ain’t got *nothing* to do with it haha…

Doozy’s serenely placid expression with all those sheepish geldings lol… ffs mare!

I’ve clearly interrupted a moment here. Just be grateful that the camera didn’t really capture the, erm, yellow tinge to all that snow omg.

Ugh. Mare. Keep your legs out of the fence pls!! Luckily was just a minor little flesh wound… but still!!

One bonus to her, uh, willing mood was that she not only was NOT violent about the acupuncture in her recent appt, but actually seemed to like it for once! Goooo figure haha, that’s the most needles we’ve ever been able to safely place!

Ridiculous critter, I swear to god!

Hope y’all are having as good a Friday as Doozy, LOL — just make good choices pls!

feeding frenzy

Happy Monday, friends! It’s been a bit of a whirlwind around these parts for… hm, basically the last full month. I actually straight up cancelled all my plans this weekend to just chill out and slow down. It was super nice, not gonna lie!

doozy is obsessed with these specific leaves and legit drags me to them
srsly tho, look at those flared nostrils!

And gave me the perfect opportunity to get a whoooole bunch of random photos off my phone and recorded here in ye olde blogge for posterity, if not exactly for some sort of cohesive story line lol. So, uh, brace yo’self for the randomness!

new tailgate spot this year!! 
(purple dot)

First up, obviously my friends and I had our big annual To-Do at the Maryland 5*!! I always love making a whole big thing of it — with volunteering Thursday and Friday at the YEH Championships, then tailgating Saturday, and then show jumping / shopping on Sunday.

Allison Springer & HTS Jenson in the 3* at our prior tailgate location

And this year did not disappoint! Every year is a little different, It’s still a very young event and they tweak and change things with each running. For example, our tailgate spot of the last 2 years was absorbed into another area, so we relocated up the hill to the Sunken Road complex. 

Monica Spencer & Artist in the 5* at the new spot. not bad!

And guys, it was a fantastic spot! A super cool (and influential) combination to watch, plus a big screen to follow along with the action. AND a liquor store literally directly across the street — convenient when I realized we needed more ice + coolers. Plus, this tailgate section is on the opposite side of the ropes from the normal spectator paths, so we never had to deal with crowds. 

It was a great day with a wonderful melting pot of so many horsey friends over the years, including our core original group, friends from the last boarding barn, Charlie’s barn, Doozy’s current barn, and even some folks from the Isabel days. So fun, I’m already excited for next year!

and meanwhile, doozy <3 <3

Per usual, I did all my shopping on show jump day too. Unfortunately didn’t get pictures of everything yet, but am pretty pleased with my haul. Biggest priority was a shimmable half pad, since Doozy and I continue to be frustrated by weird fit issues related to our combined crooked mechanics.

new shimmable half pad from shopping at the 5*

Like, both saddles fit the horse. But they also both shift in exactly the same way over the course of a ride bc Doozy and I are both dynamic and moving beings who apparently don’t adhere rigorously enough to postural ideals. Womp. 

brand is ErrePlus, comparable to the Mattes pads

This particular half pad appealed to me bc it’s predominantly natural fibers — with the sheepskin lining and wool shims. But it’s also extremely non-bulky. So it can be as “barely there” as you want it to be, with a nice progressive set of shims for precision adjustments. So far, so good, I’ll keep you posted. 

also got a few new pairs of breeches at the 5* — finally, purple pants!! and green!!

Other shopping items were maybe less exciting — I got a couple pairs of Romfh breeches from the same booth I always pick up a pair or two. For whatever reason they always have the inside line on Romfh deals, legit maybe the only good “deal” to be had in the entire vendor village!

equine artist Darlene Ivey had the most incredible prints, you should follow her on insta if you’re into that sort of thing!

Tho independent small business Sona Equestrian definitely won the award for best prints used across the most inspired selection of products! I picked up a pair of socks, but was also completely smitten with her charming shower curtains, notebooks and notecards, tumblers, totes, and so many other items, definitely check her out!

all the better for our low key schooling practice on terrain in random paddocks lol

I’m also working on getting Doozy back onto the cross ties reliably in our grooming bays at home, and picked up some really really cool rapid release devices from our friends at Nunn Finer. I’ll get actual pictures + thoughts when I’ve got them properly set up.

pictured:: mare who ignored the nets when they were full….

Ok. Whew. So yea the 5* took up a lot of time and energy (and miles driving LOL), but life goes on and Doozy naturally requires her due as well! Obvi we had our big Windurra outing a couple days later, and I was slightly miffed to observe that… Doozy wasn’t really touching her hay nets in the trailer.

musical chairs hay piles!

I’d noticed the same at the Area Championships, but thought maybe it was just a funny weedy bale or something, so I filled another couple nets for the trip. Obvi the idea of a 3 hour round trip without palatable hay doesn’t sound great to me, so when she left basically all those nets untouched after Windurra, I opted to dump them all out in her paddock and start from scratch.

apparently much more palatable when not in a net…

My very first riding instructor (at whose barn I first learned chores) always said to leave a hay pile for the “invisible horse.” As in, enough piles for however many horses are in the group, plus one. Her rationale being that the dominant horses will always push around the meeker horses, and you want an obvious open spot for them to go.

good girl, eat your vegetables!

Doozy is such a tyrant with her ponies, tho, that I opted to leave enough piles for **two** invisible horses LOL. And somehow, go figure, the hay was much tastier when she didn’t have to fight a net for it. Ugh, horses. 

so you can grow big and strong for our adventures!

In the meantime, I picked up a bale of timothy / orchard mix from the local feed store. At ~$14 a bale, it’s more expensive than just buying a regular bale from my barn as I’d been doing… But, eh, peace of mind, right? It’s hard to ride an unhappy belly.

i might be biased, but i think she’s extremely handsome <3

So that brings us up mostly to real time. Doozy and I had a bit of an uneven few schooling sessions post-Windurra. Not ‘bad’ rides, per se, but probably the ‘least good’ since we started using our recorded ride guides. I think my most recent version is just a little too long, making it more likely that I’ll deviate from the plan and possibly tune it out a bit. 

and so is our hacking buddy Dante! 

Plus, obvi, it seems reasonable that we might both be a little tight after such a big cross country schooling session! Fortunately it worked out that we were scheduled for another body work / chiro / acupuncture session. 

Doozy still doesn’t love these sessions as much as Charlie did, but she’s getting better. And the practitioner seems really pleased with the mare’s development and condition, so that’s always super reassuring!

good mare, always marching eagerly ahead haha

Anyway. We closed out the weekend with a lovely hack through the fields and woods. Our foliage is finally peaking and daytime temps are still super mild in the 60s, what’s not to love, right?

as a reward for making it thru all those pics, here’s my cat,
as he discovers the radiators are on for the season!

Not gonna lie, it felt super nice to have a relatively quiet weekend. This time of year I’m always so tempted to get swept up into a whirlwind of trying to do all the things bc “winter is coming!” But ya know. There’s still plenty of the fall season ahead of us!!

let ‘er rip

Over the last couple weeks we’ve checked a whoooole bunch of routine maintenance and wellness tasks off the list. We’re about half way thru the month of ulcergaurd treatment, Doozy had her jump saddle reflocked — plus got a new dressage saddle on trial also fitted to her, and last week finally saw her favorite chiropractic / acupuncture guru.

#creepin on her friends

For me, personally, I try to stay proactive about this stuff… Especially with a horse as sensitive and reactive as Doozy. So most of that was already on the books before our trip to Waredaca earlier this month. After seeing what a tense mess we were in dressage warm up on that day, tho, I was extra eager to give the mare a proper ‘once-over’ via all the various specialists etc.

fan’s nice but the cookie bag is nicer

And it felt like a good ‘order of operations,’ too. She was about a week into the ulcergaurd treatment in time for the saddle fitter, and then immediately got a fresh bodywork treatment right after all the saddles were adjusted. Seemed like a nice all round reset, right?

acupuncture!

Right. Because… Ya know. Lol... It turns out that none of those things are in fact a substitute for training. While issues with gut health, saddle fit, or general body soreness can certainly hinder a horse’s ability to perform in a predictable and relaxed fashion… The absence of those issues does NOT guarantee that… suddenly the horse will go better lol.  

mare is so violent, she gets a very minimalist treatment — and even then we had to compromise. that lower left one should be up top with the other, one on either side of the spine. but mare said NO!, so it’s shifted further down the meridian

Because, ya know, Doozy is who she is lol. But by taking a wellness-first approach, theoretically I can have more confidence in ruling out physical problems and instead focus on the approach to training. 

More than once now in my two years with this horse, I’ve had to kinda step back from a certain training style because it seemed to be increasing tension in our rides vs promoting increased relaxation. And I’m wondering if we’re in maybe a similar place now.

things mare did not say no to: fun little narrow block jump with flower topper!

This past week I’ve tried to take a few steps back and simplify the terms somewhat. Dialing down the focus on contact, and instead focusing again on trying to find a forward balance in all our gaits and transitions. I’ve also really increased the amount of cantering we do. If Doozy is so hell bent on cantering, fine. Let’s go. 

pleasant little 21’ X to oxer!

She’s a thoroughbred, after all. She’s a natural born runner. Maybe constantly focusing on making her wait and holding her back is the root source of all her fizziness — like shaking up a soda bottle but never fully unscrewing the cap.

continuing to intermittently practice flat schools out in the grassy paddock

There could be a few advantages to this approach: 

- Let the mare work off some of her tension early in a ride, with less fussing and fighting

- Take advantage of all the cantering to really work on building strength and balance and adjustability in the gait — don’t just let her blast around for a few laps, make it work

- And therefore maybe resolve the issue of slipping into canter as an evasion

there was a VERY SUSPICIOUS water tub in the next paddock over, but we survived

Or ya know. Maybe instead I’ll just reinforce the mare’s tendency to constantly try to run off with me, while simultaneously making her fitter and less and less likely to tire haha. 

For now, tho, we’ve had a couple decent rides with this approach — including a couple dressage schools in the trial saddle, and a jump school too. That jump school actually started off really tense and hectic… But it finished with some really nicely balanced canter and tidy jumping efforts. So I’m hopeful.

the store was out of the Stress Free forage, so i grabbed a bag of the Safe Starch instead. it’s apparently less tasty lol

It’s an approach I want to try the next time we’re in a warm up ring too. At Waredaca, the mare was such a mess that we never even touched the canter in warm up (other than the various steps she slipped in while racing hither and yon in trot). My thought had been to try to avoid her getting too too dialed up before the test. But maybe that’s not quite right for her, and maybe giving her a little space to vent energy and tension will work better? Idk haha. We’ll see.

will still begrudgingly eat it tho lol

It feels like she really understands the individual elements of the job at this point, and the moments where everything clicks together are straight up magical. For now, tho, cracking the code on her tension / relaxation feels like the most pressing puzzle piece.