a week of things

Happy Friday, y’all. Let’s play a little quick catch up to get some photos off my phone before the weekend, yes? Yes. 

i swear she has a neck LOL

I took a whole bunch more photos from another recent hack with the intent to better measure the relative distances of our various little loops, and steepness of some of the hills.

mapping the farm, slowly but surely. gotta get that beta, right? also, look at that elevation chart, short steep 30m climbs, eesh. images and data from the AltitudeProfile hiking app

Mostly bc let’s be real… I’m just a junkie for gettin in the weeds on all the things, plus pictures obviously lol. At some point presumably I’ll want to find the best slopes (ie long ‘n gentle) for trot sets… But for now it’s nice enough just to have a clear estimate of distance and average speed.

hacking away from the barn around the little paddocks, bottom right side of map

And in the meantime, it’s kinda like a pictorial tour of the farm, sorta lol. Bc unfortunately I don’t have many pictures of the actual important things we did this week… whoops!

heading toward the Big Climb, top right corner of map

First on the docket was our much-anticipated saddle fitting appointment. As we suspected, the wool in my County Solution monoflap had compressed significantly over the last 6 months — to the point where the fitter could actually pinch the panel leather like you would a dehydrated animal. Yikes. 

looking toward the woods after following the top line (right to left) in the map, about to turn back down toward the barn

My plan at this moment in time is to stick to a somewhat more aggressive maintenance schedule for this saddle — probably having checks every 3 months or so for at least the near term. The fitter advised that narrow horses like Doozy tend to need more frequent adjustment anyway, since they lose wither/spine clearance faster than a broader backed horse. 

like so: indoor up on top of the hill, barn down below, then outdoor just barely visible beyond the trees to the right of the barn

We did a full fledged appointment this go-round, with tracings and a test ride and all the things, but will probably do what the fitter calls a “dry flocking” next time — just checking the wool without riding etc., and at a lower price point.

we love our pasture lanes

Theoretically as the saddle gets more and more worn in it’ll need less frequent attention. But for now I consider the expense as basically ‘cheap insurance’ given how strongly Doozy seems to feel about it and my general tendencies to overthink / worry / etc. Ymmv.

back home after a jaunty 2km

The most important bit for me right now is Doozy’s feedback — both under saddle and whether that weird little squishy bump reappears. Bc to be honest, Doozy is proving above and beyond a shadow of a doubt that… She’s not actually wild and crazy and fussy, she doesn’t actually have to leap around every few moments when the saddle isn’t pinching her. Goooo figure lol.

lol clearly we have our conditioning work cut out for us

And most recently, she impressed the pants off me by being honestly really super good for our first jump lesson in forever, including shipping out to a new-to-her venue. Good mare! 

mare demands payment for her exertions

The lesson was with yet another local 5* pro (there are so many around here omg) who’s been on my list for a while, and is now only about 35min away since we moved farms. For many reasons, the timing and circumstances are right, so we finally got on the books!

“garçon, this is not what i ordered!”

And it was a good one, guys. Like. Nothing crazy, nothing fancy, just good old fashioned tactical technical focus on rideability. Not super dissimilar from the work with did with Dom last summer, or from lessons with Dan back in the day (long timers might remember lol).

oooooh flash forward to our first jump lesson since september! and GRASS OMG

Good nitty gritty stuff like reminding me in real time, in the moment, of the stuff I *know* I need to be doing, but somehow don’t lol. Like catching that wayward shoulder, or bringing down the trot tempo, or proactively managing pace. 

aaaaand flash forward again, bc no pics from lesson. instead, here’s our fun bath time ingredients lol. i pledge to be better this year about rinsing with vinegar more often, but the chlorhex is there if we need it!

One big takeaway includes being more subtle in the contact variations between “give” and “take.” Now that Doozy is (slightly) more grown up, I can be a little less obvious. And she reminded me, much like Dan ten years ago lol, to not confuse “softness” with “effectiveness.” Her point was to basically not let Doozy train me to take the aids completely off. 

Another key note was to not rush through these exercises. We spent a fair amount of time trotting back and forth, back and forth, over a long line of ground poles spaced about 9’ — but with a higher degree of accountability for pace and tempo. And occasional utilization of a slight counter bend feeling to help straighten the shoulders. 

scrub a dub, mare!

The jumping portion itself was just a continuation of the flat work — keeping things boring, steady, unexciting. With circles to reestablish softness and straightness after every effort. More often than not, she had us circle to the left after each jump since our tendency is to fall right. 

Notes include a reminder to stay crisp and clear in my position (vs getting excited and making any big moves), and keep working on softening my hand. Normal Emma stuff lol.

all in a week’s work <3

All in all, she seems like a great coach and like she has that tactical technical style I’ve been craving. I’ll most likely still have to ship out for all our lessons, tho she mayyy be able to come to our farm if enough other riders are interested. We’ll see. 

Regardless. It’s refreshing and weirdly liberating to be at this moment in time with Doozy. We’re comfortable together, we know and trust each other even in challenging new situations… But I can still introduce myself as basically somebody who has been “away from the frontlines” so to speak for a few years. I’m rusty, I have some glaring imperfections, and my horse naturally reflects this. 

But it’s all good! The mare is such a trier, she will literally go as well as I can ride her, and it’s so rewarding to see those tiny incremental improvements from season to season.  

So anyway. That was our week, and we’re hoping for a fun and exciting weekend too! Happy spring, y’all!

ready, set, GO!

Somewhat amazingly, adding a half pad under Doozy’s saddle while we await our fitting appointment (this week!) completely resolved the intermittent feelings of NQRness. 

It doesn’t seem like that should be true… and in fact my vet was skeptical when I asked her about it… But here we are lol.

legitimately the sweetest mare, esp when you have pockets full of carrots <3 <3

We’ve been able to stick to a consistent routine again, increasing low impact mileage via trail riding while being thoughtful about more concussive activities. Doozy did her first little canters again at the end of last week, and first little jompies this weekend, eee! And so far, so good — she feels great.

guys i keep buying more saddle pads from Fair Hill Saddlery’s overstock store lol

Honestly does not at all feel like she missed a beat. Which makes me wonder if the saddle issue has been going on for longer than I realized — esp given some of Doozy’s more extreme antics when first coming back from the original bruise in early February. The wool is very compressed in places, which wouldn’t have happened overnight. 

So it seems reasonable to think that she was coming back into work and simultaneously feeling uncomfortable in the saddle — thus the fireworks. Definitely something I’ll file away for the next time Doozy seems unreasonably… spicy lol.

this one is by Shires Arma and the color is divine

Anyway. Now that we’re back doing normal things again (knocking on wood), I want to carry on with examining the nitty gritties of our foundational work. With today’s topic being: our ever-evolving warm up routine. 

my tack cubby is completely overrun omg

I say “evolving” bc ya know. Situations and conditions are always changing. Right now, the horses have swapped to overnight turnout - meaning my typical ride times (after work on week nights or middday or on weekends) occur when Doozy has been stalled for hours. 

Especially with Charlie, who had myriad physical considerations on his high mileage body, the approach to warming him up varied by whether he was coming out of the stall, or out of the field.

anyway. to riding! quick warm up circuit around the close paddocks.
it’s a very hilly route, with high spots at the outdoor (far most left) and big indoor (farthest right structure) and low spots at the barn yard and small indoor (center) and farthest right tree line

Charlie obviously was an extremely different sort of animal than Doozy, especially later in his career. Getting him in front of the leg and responsive to forward aids had to be Black & White, always. That was our first and final commandment. 

But with his occasional tendency toward dullness, and all those physical considerations, it wasn’t always super fun (or effective) for either of us to arrive into the sandbox and immediately start picking on him. Instead, we’d often go on light hacks or little circuits around the farm or fields first to get him loose and swinging.

heading down the path to that farthest right tree line, and looking back up the hill at the big indoor

And now that the ground is dry again, I’m experimenting with the same approach for Doozy! She can be such an anticipatory type creature that just walking circles in the sandbox for 10min to loosen up can become a tense fussy affair. She’s the kind of horse that… when you get on, your inclination is to pretty much get to work right away. 

climbing back up toward the indoor

Not that she can’t simmer down and focus on intentional walk work… But she normally needs to vent a little energy first — have a little trot and maybe a canter first. 

So by going on a little farm walk before the ride, I’m able to let her just cruise around - marching happily toward the various horizons. Then when we get to the ring? We’re both ready to get straight to the ‘work,’ which task-oriented Doozy seems to appreciate.

arrived at the outdoor ready to play with jompies yay!! look how straight her foot prints are thru the grid, good biscuit!

And this weekend, that included playing with some little jumps! Fun! This gymnastic has been set up for a couple weeks now and I’ve been jealously eying it while passing from the driveway. But we finally got our chance! And Doozy was so good omg. 

We trotted a little X first, and the little green boxes below, then went straight to the grid exactly as it appears above - small X bounces set at 9’ (placing rail at about 7’ for trotting in), then 18’ to the 2’3 vertical. I was tempted to push the vertical back to about 21’, since historically that’s been an easier distance for Doozy… But idk who originally set the gymnastic up and didn’t wanna screw it up for the ponies. 

always with the face rubs lol

Doozy was fine for that short distance tho, what a good girl! And straight as an arrow! She touched the rail both times we went through, but didn’t knock it. Which, fine by me. She also landed on both leads for our two trips — perfect! 

another day, another trip out to the woods

I did have to remind myself to not completely stop riding once we started jumping and Doozy got excited tho. Like, I have to remember to tell her that she can still trot nicely in between jumps — and that it’s up to **me** to achieve the trot I want before aiming at the next jump. This isn’t a horse show, we are allowed to circle lol.

learning to be civilized about following lol

And Doozy impressed me by actually being able to achieve that nice trot again fairly quickly once I remembered to ask for it. A good lesson for me to learn, since especially at shows I tend to give in a little too quickly and just feed into the frantic excited energy. 

do we look like we’re having fun??

All told, it was a relatively short ride with only a few jumps and nothing approximating course work… But was just the ticket for getting a sense for how the mare feels. Verdict? She’s great. 

I’m hoping to basically pick up right where we left off last fall for this season, despite the somewhat bumpy winter. And that’ll start hopefully this week with our first jump lesson since…. September with Dom?? We’re trying out a new local pro and I’m very excited. Wish us luck lol.

finishing up with snacks. always with the snacks

And in the meantime, I’m going to continue experimenting with low impact / drama-free ways to improve our warm up routine and general condition. 

Anybody else out there have favorite routines, techniques or habits for getting your horse optimally warmed up and ready to work, especially after coming out of the stall?

happy trails

Am I the only one feeling like March is flying by?? It seemed like only yesterday when I mused that there was plenty of time ahead of us before the competition season kicked off. 

frosty morning flirtation

And yet here we are, about a week out from the first starter trial of the year… Still just sorta idling by. Womp womp. Truth be told, I did actually originally submit an entry for the HT at Loch Moy… But with lingering doubts about soundness and the vet’s suggestion to be more patient, we ended up scratching. 

Siiiiiigh.

wonderful woods!

It’s all good, tho, I swear. Yes I have some serious #fomo going on, and am itching to get out and do stuff… But. Also. Realistically. We’ll get there when we get there. 

brave biscuit <3

Plus, even more realistically… Oof guys, we are out of shape in a BIG way omg. One of the only truly redeeming qualities of the last boarding barn was the excellent and extensive turnout. Lots of grass, lots of passive conditioning — even in the winter sacrifice paddocks (well, some of them… and don’t look too closely at any of the fences omg). 

is it just me or are we starting to see tinges of green???

The turnout at the new boarding barn is plenty fine. The fencing is gorgeous, the round bales are replaced frequently, and Doozy loves her pony friends. It’s plenty of space too, and they do roam around a little bit, all things considered. 

she used to be so nervous about the rocks and tree stumps on this path lol

But I’m recognizing that I probably need to be a bit more proactive in establishing baseline fitness for the mare at this farm vs the old farm. Which, nbd — especially now that ground conditions are so favorable for trail riding!

striding out on the buckle <3

Doozy and I have been enjoying little micro rides in the ring this week — just enough trotting to see how she feels and keep chipping away at the basics… And actually a fair amount of intentional “work” at the walk too — figures, lateral practice, picking up, letting out, kinda pushing the mare’s hot buttons a little bit but with the explicit focus of asking her to see thru the sizzle and find softness.

photos do NOT do these hills justice

But I haven’t cantered or done anything with ground poles or jumps or anything yet. Maybe this weekend? Idk. We’ll see I guess. 

feels like you’re on top of the world

But she feels good. And felt GREAT on our most recent little hack about — the source of this post’s pictures! There’s something really liberating about riding this mare out just us. Like don’t get me wrong, I LOVE riding in company, and suspect Doozy does too. But she’s just got such an intense ground covering walk, sometimes it’s nice to just let her go, ya know? 

d’aww haha sweaty ears!

And she’s just so brave, so eager to strike off toward the horizon. Charlie was always a wonderful horse to hack out, but he ALWAYS knew which way was home. His internal GPS was extremely precise, maybe in another life he was a homing pigeon or something, idk.  

sweet thing, we’ll get you fit(ish) again!

Doozy tho? She’s the same coming and going, seems to quite like marching toward the unknown, and has yet to demonstrate any tendencies toward rushing home — even tho we literally travel virtually the same circuit every time. 

straight up outta gas lol

She was so funny on the hills tho lol. Like really digging deep and huffing and puffing and making little “oof” noises haha. It’s cool mare, #metoo lol. 

She always walks 4-beat flat footed vs jiggy, which I REALLY appreciate after years with Isabel lol, but she also always has a sorta sharp feeling to her too. Not quiiiite like she’s about to explode at any moment.. unless… you’re into that sorta thing?? lol… But by the end of the ride she had definitely slowed wayyy down omg. 

alllllllmost bath season lady

It was just what the doctor ordered tho. Isn’t it always? A few more regular rides on those hills and she’ll bit fit in no time LOL.

cute mare

Not too too fit tho, lol, ain’t nobody need that haha. Sorry Doozy but you’re gonna have to get a little more trained before we really try putting condition on you! 

the bigger browner one

My sweet chestnut mare, daughter of Big Brown, is flourishing as leading lady, despite originally expecting to spend her first year or two growing into the job as an understudy. 

he's not missing many meals, guys LOL

Because, ya know. The bigger browner one, Charles himself, had other plans -- and stubbornly refused to stay sound or reprise his role as the main star. 

this goofy gelding

C'est la vie, right? We can accommodate. So he stepped back, and instead has been living his best life over at Club Med since June.  

he's so needy <3

He stays busy with wrapping barn staff around his little finger hoof, bossing around his docile lamblike paddock mate, indulging in his near-daily grooming and spa sessions, and gorging on the plentiful grass and free choice hay that abounds at this meticulously managed facility... 

"cookie????" -- charles, ever the optimist

He basks in repose as we feed him grapes and fan him with palm fronds... Ya know. Normal retired horse things.

does this count as liberty work?? LOL

Somewhat unbelievably, tho, it isn't enough for Charlie. Lately he's been... Well. He's been an absolute pest. 

lol, the picture of raw svelte panther athleticism haha...hahahaha

I wrote a few times about how he seemed a bit unsettled lately. So he got a month of sucralfate treatment to see if maybe ulcers were to blame. And at the same time, I decided to increase his handling by adding ground work into his routine to reaffirm manners and obedience. He is, after all, a 1,400lb thoroughbred. Too big to be bored, apparently.

we had a really pretty sunset the other night

He also lost naked-face privileges in turnout, and instead wears his halter full time. Not bc he was hard to catch -- but the opposite, actually. 

Getting his halter put on was the MOST FUN GAME OMG, and he developed this whole ritualized song and dance that includes "helping" his handler by chomping onto the halter himself (and, according to him, it's not his fault if your hand happened to get in the way!).

what can i say except that i like sweet horses <3

Like, Charlie is NOT a mean horse, but he will absolutely put his teeth on you. He's a space invader, a boundary pusher, a close talker. With a strong oral fixation that I'd love to channel into something more fun like teaching him to paint pictures or something... 

"reading the news"

Charlie is so sweet and lovable, it kinda catches people off guard when he needs discipline. But he definitely needs something, and... honestly? I think it's a job. 

surveying his kingdom

Not like, a BIG job, or a hard job. Or the type of job that could theoretically help pay some of his bills (like a lease, for example). Bc, ya know, he still isn't exactly super sound. And I don't really like sharing my toys anyway LOL!

believe it or not these are pictures from three different rides lol

But... mayyybe the type of job that involves me toodling around with him a few times a week. Especially bc (**knocking on wood**), his feet don't seem to be bothering him at the moment. In fact -- I'm starting to suspect that he might actually be feeling quite good, and that this might be the true root source of his boisterous behavior. 

took advantage of the warm weather for a late season scrub-a-dub

So yet again, for the eight thousandth time in my years with Charlie, we are embarking on a new rehabilitation plan. No goals or expectations, just a desire to engage with him, and give him more activity to channel his energies and attentions in more productive ways. 

his life does not suck, that's for sure

Plus, ya know. Maybe I'll finally get to take advantage of using saddle time with my well-behaved schoolmaster to focus on my own positional habits. A girl can dream, right?