clinic chaos extraordinaire

Somehow, some way, my humble little boarding barn managed to get all the ducks in a row to host Dan again for another clinic! I always have lofty aspirations of trying to get on a regular schedule — whether that’s some combination of him traveling to us, or vice versa, or meeting somewhere in the middle… 

my feisty critter!!

But ya know. Life is what it is. People have schedules, responsibilities… Obvi there were some winter storms thrown in for good measure… But hey. A lesson every 6 weeks is still better than every 6 years, amirite?? So we make the most of it!! 

Tho. Not gonna lie. There was a *LOT* going on throughout my lesson. Doozy obvi had ~~feelings~~ as she so often does. Plus, omg, there was a kubota doing something in the woods outside the ring. And omg OMG, another horse lunging in the ring with us. And, to top it all off, birds. Oooh and also Doozy’s field mate screaming bloody fucking murder right outside the arena windows (audible in the video, natch).

trying to look like we have a lid on it

I’ll be honest and admit that part of me was annoyed. Part of me wanted to just stop the lesson, send someone out to resolve the screaming pony (who had been unintentionally left alone in her field) and ask the lunging horse to go to the other indoor. Bc come on. Can’t I get like *one* dedicated time block in the ring without distractions??

But. Sigh. I did not give in to that temptation. Bc realistically… Well. Those distractions ARE the challenge with Doozy. And they are everywhere. Including when she’s just inventing distractions inside the chaos between her ears. Doozy is straight up the most ADHD horse I’ve ridden, and we *both* need to learn to cope haha.

trotting like i can sorta sit up-ish

And thus commenced our lesson in COPING, MA’AM. Starting naturally with trying to get me to sit correctly on the horse. Perhaps a day will come when that’s not a primary pursuit for me. Like, I keep waiting for these yoga classes to “work” so that I can suddenly sit up tall and straight LOL. Hasn’t happened yet tho…

tense but trying!

Dan had me actually start the ride holding the neck strap as it it was a water skiing handle bar — literally pulling back on it from my upper torso while trying to simultaneously shifting my seat more forward. And also trying to maintain a somewhat normal contact on the reins, obvi, tho mostly it was about the posture. A nifty trick I’ll play around with. 

lol why am i like this

He also called me out for moving around way too much — too much side to side with my seat, too much movement with my hands, “meshing” the bit and contact instead of just holding one steady position. He said my approach was sympathetic and ‘nice’ to the horse, but not effective training and not giving Doozy a place to settle.

That to train the horse, I needed to sit up tall, in one place, with legs on and contact firm and steady so that the horse comes to me. So that it’s *clear* to the horse when they’re off the aids. Squeeze and hold, squeeze and hold, forever and ever amen.

one of these days she’s gonna break my face if i keep leaning forward like that!

It was a bit hard to settle into the lesson bc of the constant cacophony of aforementioned distractions… Like, it never really got better in that regard haha. Which was maybe helpful in an odd way bc it forced me to just get into the moment with Doozy. 

Dan obvi wasn’t going to let go of his expectations just bc the horse was distracted. So. Ya know. Work through it. 

you can jussssst barely see the background lunging horse get silly before doozy reacts…

And a few notable findings came from this approach. First most - “working through it” did NOT mean sacrificing quality of work And it’s always been Dan’s approach that “if what you’re doing isn’t working, slow down.” 

So for example, after the above moment (which is also in the video in a more complete format), Dan actually just had us come back to walk to reset bc he felt like we got too shut down, to up-and-down in the canter vs forward and ground covering.

back to remedial transitions (and some internal screaming from doozy) to get back on the aids

From there, we worked on basically a never ending cycle of transitions - mostly walk-trot-walk-trot - focusing on literally nothing else except keeping my aids ON and STEADY, particularly my rein contact, at.all.times. — but *especially* in the upward transition. Which, it turns out, is uh, hard for yours truly!

Tho this was also where the second notable finding about “working through it” came in play. Obvi lots of transitions can make an already tense, worked up horse go nuclear. But the whole point was to do the opposite — help the horse connect to the aids, stay on the aids, find safety and security on the aids. 

the jumping was easy after all that!

Liberal application of verbal cues really proved to be a difference maker for Doozy too. Not even necessarily just “good girl” or whatever, but just constantly checking in with her. Using my voice to try to get her to stay with me, focus on me, anchor with me — vs, ya know, again, can’t stress this enough, her field mate who was quite literally in a panic right outside the window. 

Fortunately, Dan became satisfied with our progression in being able to hold all the aids steady through various transitions, including another canter - this time slightly more successful than the last (also in the video) - and we got a walk break. Wherein Doozy was finally allowed to release the whinny she’d been holding under her breath (lol poor thing) and I did finally suggest that somebody go rescue that sad fucking pony. 

holy crap is emma actually sorta sitting(hovering-ish) on a cantering horse???

At the same time, the lunging horse had finished and was waiting his turn for a training ride with Dan, so peace was restored to the universe, right in time for — omg — jompies, yay!

looking normal!

And ya know. In Dan’s world, the whole point of all that sweat equity with the never ending walk trot transitions on the aids is that… Nothing should ever change. It’s always the same. So when you start jumping, it’s literally just the same exact thing. Just with… Jumps LOL.

grown ass mare just jumpin’ a jump <3

And gooooooo figure. Doozy just… went as she had been, as we had established, and just jumped her jumps. Easy, quiet, on the aids, waiting. No rushing, no drama. 

We started with foundational type exercises — landing from the jump and going immediately into a circle, right away reestablishing the aids before doing anything else. And also practiced jumping the above line going away from the camera, and halting straight before the second element. Not on video bc that was when my barn mate went to rescue the pony. But an important piece of the practice puzzle.

patient biscuit!

Bc after we’d practiced stopping straight before* the next jump, you will be SHOCKED to hear that… as if by magic, Doozy had a half halt on the landing side of fences!

(*And Dan was explicitly crystal clear that this would be our ONLY option. No swerving left or right. No twisting, no getting sideways. No pulleying or shimmying. Just. Stop. Straight.)

sitting-ish the canter going the other way too!

And as we practiced a few more little mini courses (all in the video now, yay!!), Doozy suddenly graduated to jumping a fence, landing to turn into the short side (as above), and *immediately* coming back onto the aids such that she could proceed directly to the next jump, and in fact complete the full line now without rushing or changing shape or stride.

and jumping a long straight line on a steady add stride. knock me over with a feather!!

Miracles, y’all. It’s amazing what clear consistent practice can do, even in the space of an hour.

link to youtube clips

It’s almost hilarious, actually, to watch the jumping in that video. Bc… It’s SO ho-hum haha. She just canters around, steadily and politely. You might even say too steady, as if we should be going more forward. And it honestly felt pretty easy too — the mare was connected, on the aids, ready for whatever came next, whether it was a transition or jump or whatever.

progress slow ’n, uh, ….slow haha

And she honestly finally felt the most secure too. Like, she’s obvi a tense and kinda insecure animal at heart. She likes feeling safe, like she knows what to expect or like she can trust what’s happening to her. Which, fundamentally, is the whole point of this type of practice. Make the connection a safe reliable place for the horse, no matter how spooky or nervous they may be. 

Especially with the jumping, where her tendency is to get forward and frantic, being able to stay in front of the leg and connected to the aids makes everything more comfortable, for all of us LOL!

So overall, a really productive session. As is so often the case with Doozy, I didn’t really get the circumstances I wanted … But maybe instead we got what we needed. 

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!

more activity pls!

It's hard to tell whether this will be a regular thing or not (esp with winter and dark nights coming in fast...), but for now I'm enjoying these sporadic lessons with upper level event rider Molly.

She's getting a better grip on what Charlie and I do and don't know, and what we do and don't want from our rides. In particular, she was momentarily surprised when I told her we'd ridden 1-3 after our last lesson with her, and that it had gone well. I say "momentarily," tho, bc it seemed like she absorbed that information and immediately set about dialing up her focus on our basics. 

Today's "basic"? Activity. Every judge ever in the whole wide world who has seen Charlie go, has made at least one remark or comment about "Needs more activity." Plenty of trainers have said as much to me too. But.... How? 

For this lesson, Molly actually got us there through a series of efficient and practical exercises, paired with well-timed coaching. And it was great!! Really really a super lesson, with some really incredible feeling work from Charlie. Mostly what I need to remember are the feelings from this ride, so here are the exercises and steps we used to get there: 

looking confused at that weird thing on the floor outside the feed shed...

- 10 / 10 Exercise: 10 steps walk, 10 steps trot, rinse repeat. Forever. Admittedly I was not suuuuuuper precise about exactly "10" for each, and would sacrifice a couple extra steps to get a nicer feeling. Importantly, Molly coached me to use this exercise to slowly shorten the reins and bring the frame in with each transition. 

- 20m Square. Done in conjunction with the 10/10. Basically. Square turns, and again, and again. Forever. More or less on 20m-ish. But like, again, not super exact. Our purpose was the turns, specifically: preparing for them. And once we moved on to full trot (vs constant transitions), the idea was to feel like we were going to walk going into the turn. For Charlie, this meant actually walking some of the times. But that's fine -- that's good, that's the process. 

lol, wait a second...

- Slow. Slowwwerrrrr. Think, Dan C level slowness. Bc guys --- this was probably the closest I've ever come to taking a lesson with Dan... from someone not named Dan. Molly was on that exact same wavelength, which was cool bc I've always suspected this type of approach suits Charlie better than constantly chasing him forward. The slowness really helps Charlie develop his full power in the gaits, without losing balance out the front.

- Level 2 Bands: Oooh, and I was back in the resistance bands this time. She called these bands (they were purple) the "Level 2" bands, and they were a bit stiffer than what I've worn before. Molly first articulated each leg's various joints (esp around the ankle and hip) to ensure I was more or less loose, then belted me in. And yea, I was seriously belted in, from which I could sit virtually ALL the trot in this lesson, which itself was mostly in trot. Something I've NEVER done before. The bands plus how we got Charlie going tho.... It felt like butter. 

it's just mikey!! doin normal mikey things haha

Anyway. Forever and ever with the square turns, and the slow. And the idea to "think about walking into the turn, but don't walk." We got to a point where I could add inside leg (but not clinging!) and really feel that bouncy cadence from Charlie. Who, it should be noted, worked his tail off for this ride -- what a trooper! 

And what an incredible feeling! It was hard keeping track of all my various body parts -- where are my arms (Molly wanted me to bring my inside hand closer to Charlie's neck)? Was I sitting up tall and straight -- but soft? Was my lower back and seat relaxed and following, or braced? Were my legs drifting backward or staying at the girth?

So much to think about, but Charlie and I were able to find those moments of good feelings more and more often, and stay there a little longer each time. 

dusk comes earlier every night

Canter was a bit tougher. Our pattern was: while still on our 20m square, do a 10m circle in trot at X. Slowwww. Jiggity jog. But bouncy. Then proceed around the square back to A, and repeat. Coming off that second 10m circle, canter. Not a big motion, not a big aid, not a big swing or anything. Just.... canter. Maintaining more or less the same speed we were already trotting. 

This was... Yea, hard. We already know I wanna make big moves into canter. Plus I always kinda wanna chase Charlie in his first few shaky steps -- like, yes keep going Sir! So we ended up breaking a couple times, at which point Molly insisted we stay calm and immediately slowwwww down again. Nbd, it's ok to lose balance, but always ALWAYS reestablish that slowness again. (Again, the Dan vibe in this lesson was so strong, I loved it). 

It was also interesting how I definitely telegraphed to Charlie what we were about to do, bc our second 10m circle always lost rhythm and slowness as I anticipated asking for canter....

we've been treated to some gorgeously dramatic skies tho <3

Another interesting takeaway was that... Charlie hit our "struggle point" in this ride -- the inflection point where a ride shifts from kinda leggin' him on (warm up), to self carriage (the happy place), to suddenly plowing down into the bridle dragging me forward (tired). 

I kinda try to avoid that feeling, bc it feels like the point of no return -- where we probably aren't getting any more quality and risk devolving into a pulling match. I actually pointed it out to Molly when I felt the change in Charlie, saying "This is the feeling where we really struggle, when he just bears down into the bridle and flattens."

But then, suddenly, it passed. It was over. Charlie pulled up his big boy britches, and kept trying even through his tiredness. THIS, folks, is the difference (for me, at least) with being coached through the moment. And also, the reason why I'm not likely to repeat a ride like this on my own, and why I haven't pushed certain limits this past year during our solo adventures. 

ya know, it ain't bad haha

Charlie is a good boy and will do the things when I work for them. It's enough to know that -- I don't feel like we need to have this exact ride every single day. The lessons are there, the training is there. The horse is prepared to respond correctly to correct aids. 

And we can achieve those feelings together, albeit to slightly lesser degrees, in our solo work. It's just up to me to not muddy the waters too much, and especially to avoid the risk of souring the horse or getting him really backward in the bridle again by practicing some of this stuff poorly, ya know? 

All the same, what a good feeling. AND, even better? Charlie came out for our next couple rides feeling really fresh and happy in an energetic forward balance. I'm not sure when the next lesson might happen, but we've got at least one or two more judged dressage tests to ride this season (hopefully!) so I'm excited to keep chipping away. 

still trying to learn from the past

A few weeks ago I wrote about returning to weekly jump lessons at OF with Trainer P, after spending the past year in more of a private individualized program with upper level rider K.  

It's honestly a fairly complicated subject for mainly uninteresting personal reasons, but... The gist is: I want / need more mentorship and individualized attention to take the next step in my riding ability.

2015 lesson with isabel coached by dan. i miss the mental and physical intensity of these rides lol

I often think of the halcyon days of 2014-15 as the absolute epitome of my riding education, when I took two jumping lessons a week. One with current trainer P at OF, and a second with 5* eventer Dan C. These two distinct coaches combined into what felt like perfect complements in the whole of my learning process. 

This 2015 post summarizes exactly why it felt that way -- and honestly that reasoning still holds today. Tho... by the time Charlie entered the picture and was ready for that degree of training, Dan had relocated farther north and weekly lessons were no longer logistically feasible. And actually, they've since moved the business down to VA. 

 

another 2015 lesson

We've managed the occasional "clinic" style lesson with Dan over the years... But it's really not the same. And I've been wracking my brain to try to fill that gap ever since. It seemed for a while that maybe trainer K was the solution. But, alas. No. 

I've also continued doing clinics and occasional lessons with other upper level riders, including Sally Cousins, Martin Douzant, Phillip Dutton, etc.... But again, that's always going to be a very different dynamic from a trainer you see weekly, ya know? 

One of my 2020 "themes" was prioritizing mentorship, and... Well. It remains an unresolved issue. Sigh. I'm still grappling with how to recreate that old magic, haha....

last lesson with Dan in Jan 2019, an XC clinic at Loch Moy

In the meantime, tho, I've been trying to learn "remotely" lol. There's so much great content online by all these amazing professional riders -- Piggy March's youtube channel is a new favorite. Obvi you've seen me post about Doug Payne and Martin Douzant's channels before, too. And Boyd Martin's been posting a TON of his own riding lessons lately as well. Which.... lol, listening to Peter Wylde give Boyd the same instructions I myself hear in lessons is.... idk, humanizing?? 

Dan, too, often posts training updates on his 4* horse Frank for the ownership group. And man.... Listening to the way Dan describes Frank reeeeeally makes me wish I could get Charlie in front of him for lessons too lol. They are obviously very different horses but.... There are also some key similarities, summed up fairly nicely in the particular video below. 

Specifically, one key theme really hit home: That tricky balance between riding a horse forward, and riding a horse in an uphill balance. 

Dan and Frank in the intermediate at Morven in spring 2019

Who remembers my last lesson with Sally before the covid shutdown? When, after what was a reasonably pleasant and productive session, she kinda bluntly and abruptly warned that I'm "not going to be able to do what I want to do" with this horse if I don't get him more uphill. 

And, who also remembers (not that you could forget bc I say it all the fricken time) me talking about "kinda giving up on dressage"?

These are related issues. And Dan describes it in this video in a way that maybe helps me understand not only how this dynamic is playing out for Charlie, but how to do better in our training. 

Basically, Dan notes that for some horses, like Frank (and also Charlie), if you focus too much on getting him uphill, he gets behind the leg. Simultaneously, focusing too much on forward puts the horse on his forehand. 

link to youtube here

It becomes this 'back and forth' dynamic between trying to get the horse's shoulder up higher, and riding the horse more forward. How much time are you going to spend getting the horse back on his hocks? Versus how much time will you spend getting him to go forward? 

Going forward tends to push the horse onto his forehand, but Frank is not a super forward horse so you have to work on it. Charlie, you will all recall, while occasionally an absolute madman at competitions -- is likewise not particularly forward in lessons or on the flat. 

So. We also spend a lot of time working on going forward. Which, similar to Frank, can result in more of a horizontal (vs uphill) balance, with Charlie's shoulder dropped. But then when I try to put Charlie back on his hocks, it's really really easy to get into a backward, behind the leg canter. Which... is also not at all productive for jumping. 

and then there was Charlie!! Dan's only coached this horse over fences twice, first this lesson pictured here in fall 2018 (and video below), and the xc clinic in winter 2018-19

In the video, Dan talks about how he has to spend time in both places for Frank -- and that he also sets up his exercises to address the same issues. Like lots of bending "S" turns that naturally help a horse pick his shoulders up. Or, long straight lines to angled fences or skinnies that require more lateral accuracy on a committed line (vs wandering side to side when the horse adjusts his longitudinal balance). 

I hadn't really thought of turning vs straight line exercises through this same exact lens.... but seems relatively easy enough to try out on my own with cavaletti and ground poles. 

He also talks about the value of conditioning the not-so-forward horse in company vs alone. This is.... less applicable for Charlie bc we don't really need extensive speed work in our conditioning for the low levels haha, let's be real. Plus, Charlie *does* get plenty forward in his gallops lol. 

But still, it's interesting food for thought to use riding in pairs to get the horse more in gear -- possibly as a way to counteract the endless plodding arena trot loops? Idk. 

13sec video coulda been a gif - but then you wouldn't hear charlie's turbo blasters lol 

link to youtube

So..... Watching a video of my former coach describe how he addresses with his horse something I perceive to be a major issue with my own horse is baaaasically the same thing as a lesson, right?? Lol..

At this point, I'll take what I can get haha. At least it gives me some ideas for exercises to set up. Most of my lessons with Dan were privates, which had the sad effect of very limited media. Tho it meant I spent more time diagramming what we worked on (all captured under the tags "danc" and "course diagrams"). 

 

grid is much harder than it appears

So I actually have both media AND a diagram from the one lesson where we specifically worked on (and kinda failed at) a short "S" bend exercise. Methinks Charlie might like to try something like this out haha. 

It's also super helpful to hear straight from a pro that these two major issues ("uphill balance" and "forward horse in front of the leg") CAN actually be conflicting functions for some horses. So rather than trying to always address both at the same time, it might be more effective to focus on each individual component separately. Kinda the Keep-It-Simple-Stupid method lol.

It's always motivating to get new ideas on how to keep chippin away at this stuff.... But what I'd really love is to find some sort of new regular coaching routine that gets me back to that educational balance I felt back in 2015. We'll see what happens, I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

putting it into action

It is straight up insane to me that we're almost  halfway through 2019. Where did the time go? What on earth have I even been doing these last few months?? I feel like I've been super busy, hustling constantly... And yet I also am not entirely sure what we have to show for all that lol.

the bugs and heat are officially bad enough that the horses are voluntarily coming off grass to get to the shed midday

Possibly that's just an effect of getting older?? Maybe?? And I guess we kinda got a late start this year.... Regardless, I'm feeling eager for some action lol.

just look at that goofy lovable face tho <3

I've made so many awesome plans for this month. So many cool things to do. But.... Per usual, not much has come of it. Last year we ended up missing out on all my grand plans (all those clinic and competition entries for instance) because Charlie kept getting injured.

This year tho, the horse feels fabulous. Really really really good. Emotionally he's in a great place. In his schooling with me he's in a good place. He feels like a fully primed and prepared canvas ready for whatever I throw at him.

trying to keep my pledge of reducing water usage.... sometimes a full hose down is needed tho!

But my plans still aren't really panning out. Like, I keep booking these big xc lessons weeks (in some cases, more than a month) out. Organizing all the logistics. Preparing for the travel. Putting together a thoughtful exercise and schooling schedule to build up to these outings. Etc.

The universe is basically like "Wait a sec, hold my beer!" tho, and twice in a row this month the coaches I've booked for xc lessons have backed out less than 12hrs prior to our scheduled lesson slot.

Which like, sucks, right? 12hrs out and nobody else is gonna be available to fill the same time slot. Meanwhile all the rest of my schedule has been booked by that point, with the expectation that we would have had that schooling. So not only do I not get those rides, but it's also near impossible to reschedule quickly.

it's always nice when it's followed by some grazing obvi

Part of me wants to be snarky and be like, Well c'mon now guys, if I cancelled on you 12hrs out you'd still charge me for the full lesson price. What gives?!? Realistically tho, I get it. Horses are a tough business and when push comes to shove for most pros, I'm kinda a low man on the totem pole and am easy to bump. Which sucks, but that's how it goes sometimes I guess.

oooh look at this sweet familiar face i ran into while waiting for an appt at Waredaca!

My big plan for this past week was a show jumping lesson with upper level event rider K (which worked out perfectly, yas, and I wrote about on Monday), then school xc at Windurra in a lesson with Dan, and close out with a much needed dressage lesson with Trainer C at her lovely farm.

Essentially -- all three phases, with three key pros, spread out over a couple days. Then just hold steady as needed until the weekend for our starter trial on Sunday. Nice plan, right?

such a sweet old doggo to keep me company haha

Ah well, 2 out of 3 ain't bad, right? Dan's schedule apparently imploded after his wife (also a talented 5* rider, and a lovely individual) had a nasty fall. She's ok, thankfully, but it was scary and meant Dan had to pick up some of her rides and presumably lessons etc. So again, with their own priorities and schedules, when push came to shove, my little private off-farm xc lesson ended up getting bumped. I continued to be super bummed, but again, I get it. C'est la vie.

also here's a less sweet face haha, but always a welcome sight at the farm! go eat 'dem mice! fun fact: charlie strolled right on past this giant fucking snake without a glance lol....

Especially considering -- those other two lessons both went off without a hitch, and were exactly what I wanted / hoped for / needed. Again, I already wrote about the show jumping lesson, where we worked on staying forward in balance on a 12' even through bending lines, etc.

story time: i was already prepping my truck for the early morning drive to windurra when dan cancelled. feeling sad and discouraged, i went to gas up anyway, but recoiled in horror when i opened the gas cap and nearly palmed this nest and its wasp chillin in there. upon closer inspection, there was a second nest+wasp  inside the driver's side door frame too. bc fuck me, right? fortunately random gas station people are kind. a stranger took my broom to gently swat the nests down, and the wasps all flew away quickly and peacefully... full disclosure tho, i may or may not have had a little cry after that once back on the road.... sigh. 

The second lesson - a dressage ride with Trainer C at her farm - was also exactly what the doctor ordered. Obvi not as exciting as cross country haha, but we'll take what we can get, right?

Again, Charlie's been doing super super well in our rides, and I've been trying to be disciplined in my position and riding style. It's hard tho. I have so so so many bad habits, and at this point I've kinda conditioned Charlie to respond to my pretzel contortions. So when I feel like I need to get something specific from the horse, I revert immediately back to my bad habits. You know how it goes haha.

and speaking of biting stinging murderous beasties.... sorry to post a picture of charlie's junk but the bugs are absolutely savaging his under bits. i try to clean the crusted blood out every day but it's seriously awful, poor guy! :(

Basically, at this point, Charlie feels like a true reflection of me and my riding, for better or worse. He's been very good and very obedient lately. He's getting stronger and stronger, and has really been trying for me. I like it a lot!

But I just don't really know what the next step is. I know that for him to be better, I have to be better. I just don't know how to do that on my own. We just need coaching right now, ya know?

every day he's got fresh blood drops :(

In some ways Trainer C is kinda funny bc I see her so infrequently that she feels like she shouldn't disrupt my style too much in case I'm doing things for specific reasons. Like rein length, she seemed to think I was keeping them longer or looser or whatever bc Charlie wouldn't like it if I shortened them too much.

But like, no. Actually I just have bad hands bc I don't have someone there to tell me repeatedly and often to fix my bad hands LOL. Luckily I didn't need to tell her that twice and she made it her business to remind me every step of the way to fix my god forsaken hands haha. Yassss.

he hasn't let that slow him down tho! good boy has been busy lately!

Particularly, she wants me to pay more attention to my inside hand. I want to let it sorta get low and pull down, but she wanted me to think of actually having it be a little higher than the outside hand. Like in our leg yields, where she was basically like "even if the barn is burning down and everyone is dying, for the love of god stop pulling your inside rein." Or for moves like the 10m half turns. Something we've been practicing a lot lately, mostly to good effect, but that still need improvement.

Overall Charlie was pretty good for everything. No real standout glaring issues or anything, and nothing too too nitty gritty (at least, not that I remember) about changing my ride. Except for the whole clinging and clutching with my lower legs. That's another habit that's going to take a lot of persistent coaching to eradicate.... And maybe a County Epiphany LOL.

so tired but so pleased with himself <3

And for the end of the lesson, we actually opted to do a quick run through 1-1. I've only read the test once or twice, and have never put the whole thing together with Charlie, tho we practice components from it almost every ride.

The purpose of this test ride was more or less just to set a baseline. Kinda see where we're at, what the weak points are, etc. And actually Charlie did WAY better for the whole thing than I expected. He was a little tense and tight in the base of his neck, possibly bc he felt like we shifted gears too quickly from lesson mode to test mode, something I'll need to consider in warm up and maybe schooling too.

But actually he did surprisingly well with the rapid fire (relatively speaking) transitions and figures etc. The trot lengthenings in particular were on fire, literally way better than anything we've ever practiced before. Good boy! The canter work was good too, especially his transitions were also more prompt and crisp than I sometimes see in schooling. And the 10m half circles were adequate.

the juxtaposition between charlie and his spicy little nugget of a trailer mate always makes me LOL

It was certainly rough around the edges (our halts in particular were quite bad) and I'm not sure it'd break a 60% at even a schooling show lol.... But it was a great start. And super reassuring -- I think the construction of that test suits Charlie way more than I expected.

We'll be riding that test, plus the very similar USEA Training A test, at a schooling dressage show in a couple weeks, so at least now I have an idea of how to keep refining. Charlie definitely has all the pieces tho. It's a good test for him. I just need to help it flow more, be more smooth.

And. Ya know. Perhaps try to lesson more than once every 3 months LOL. Details, details. This weekend we're just riding Novice A again anyway. As much as I would love to really put in a solid effort for a test we've been riding for legit a year, it'll probably still be kinda mediocre. That's ok tho, I'm excited anyway.

Just excited to get out and do things!!! Ya know? Looking forward to stuff on my calendar is one of my favorite activities, even when, blargh, they don't quite pan out. Hopefully this weekend will be good tho. We shall see!