down the rabbit hole

So! Anybody who was foolish enough to check in on my incessantly prolific musings over the weekend will already know: I made a thing, and am kiiiinda excited about the concept.

Like, literally can’t shut up about it. I’m going off about these little recordings to anybody polite enough to pay me any attention, even my farrier had to hear about it LOL. Sorry dude. 

pics today are from volunteering at Plantation Field’s big international event!!

But! Early feedback is positive, and a couple barn mates have either already done trial rides (and provided feedback) or have indicated they plan to soon. 

A couple aspects of that first recording kinda obviously needed tweaking. I already wrote about my early impressions (ex: the warm up is too long), but the other big take away was that, overall, I hadn’t accounted accurately enough for the time spent talking. 

That first recording was designed to walk you through gaits and exercises, with frequent coaching prompts (like “chest up!”) tossed in at least every 5 to 10 seconds, with pauses in between. My measurement on the timing of the various exercises and time-in-gait etc was based off the length of those pauses plus a guesstimate on time spent talking.

i signed up too late for my normal favorite roles like stewarding warm up rings, where i get to interact with riders. instead, i ended up as timer in the show jumping judge’s booth, where i got to interact with legends like Peter Gray, Marilyn Payne, and Hellen Brettell instead. it was actually pretty cool!

Except, in the end product, the pauses felt a little awkward, and meanwhile the time spent talking actually exceeded the time of silent pauses.

So I ditched the pauses entirely (aside from walk breaks), reconfiguring the script to be constant talk. It turns out, especially with a text-to-voice AI app, the average words/minute is extremely consistent. So you can reliably time a script cadence on word count alone. 

If you want to spend 2.5 minutes in a trot segment? Put 312 words into that script block. Boom!

All that to say, I made another set of recordings that I’m sharing with you:

- Schooling Plan - Short Session (about 17min)

- Schooling Plan - Long Session (about 24min)

These two plans are identical, except the ‘Long Session’ has an added block of work inserted into the middle. After riding the short session, it felt… a little too short, like a few pieces of work needed a little more time and attention. YMMV.

not gonna lie, this bell + timer device was a bit more intimidating than i expected — i’ve only ever timed at national events with just like, a stop watch… but the course designer gave me a very clear orientation and fortunately none of the riders tested me with any unplanned stoppages etc.

So let’s talk through those ride guides and their components!

Both start with free walk into working walk, including gathering contact and organizing walk onto a 20m circle in both directions. In the second circle, the rider is prompted to find moments of true bend and counter bend in the walk circle. 

Trot work starts on a circle after about 2.5min. Again the rider is prompted to find feelings of true bend and counter bend before progressing into a trot spiral exercise. 

I’ll be first to admit — these feelings are a bit *aspirational* for us, we’re mostly just trying to survive on a steady rhythm and circular circle. But the proactive coaching reminds me to activate all of my rider aids, even if we aren’t technically executing a “spiral” etc. 

Anyway, the spiral then transitions into trot leg yields down the long side, which feels like a progressive use of aids. After this, the rider changes direction in trot, with a trot-walk-trot transition across the diagonal. Then the whole trot pattern repeats in the new direction. It’s about 2.5min of trot each way.

The guide picks up the canter from the leg yield exercise in the second direction, then instructs the rider to spiral the canter in and out. Again, this is a little aspirational for us, but helped to get my aids on. From the canter circle, we go into canter leg yields from rail to quarterline — so again, activating the outside aids. Then another canter circle that includes canter-trot-canter transitions before a walk break. All in all about ~2min of canter.

didn’t get much video bc my fingers were on the buttons all day,
but here’s Boyd in the 3* with Mo Chroi!

The ‘Long Session’ deviates from the ‘Short’ at this point, as I inserted another block of work after feeling like we needed more. I really liked the ‘Short’ tho — even tho it felt like we probably could have / should have done more work… Well, the mare was finishing the ride very well and on the aids, and…. isn’t that the whole fucking point?? As it is, I have not personally ridden to this next block myself, take that for what you will. 

Anyway. It picks the rider up from free walk into working walk before preparing to trot. This block is all about downward transitions and building the half halt. It starts on a trot circle, then a change of direction with a trot-walk-trot transition, then back to trot circle. 

From there, you pick up the canter, ride a circle, then execute the canter-trot transition down the long side just like in the Starter test. Ride another trot circle, then, **pay attention,** bc on the open side of the circle, you change bend and canter off on the other lead. My intent with this is to 1) square the horse up in that change of bend, and 2) not put all the canter transitions in true bend on a circle bc we already have enough of a problem with accidental transitions. 

Anyway. In this new canter circle, you repeat the pattern: ride a circle, then trot transition down the long side, ride a trot circle, then change bend/direction on open side of circle and strike off on new lead. Rinse repeat a couple times. 

Like I said, I haven’t personally ridden this pattern yet, but you can hopefully pretty easily see why I set it up this way for me and Doozy at this point in our life. It’s essentially a variation of the ‘snowman’ exercise, for those familiar.

it was super cool to be a fly on the wall for all the banter in the judge’s booth, esp bc these same folks had judged the riders in dressage too and had (obviously) higher level perspectives on all the rounds, horses and riders.

After all that is another 90sec walk break, before switching back to the ‘Short Session’ plan to finish the ride. 

The rider is guided from free walk into working walk (ymmv but Doozy and I need this help!) into trotting a circle. It again instructs the rider to find feelings of true and counter bend on a circle, then change directions using a trot-walk-trot transition, then another circle with alternating bend. Next into a spiral feeling to activate outside aids, then push off the inside into a canter transition. 

The canter exercise mirrors the first block exactly, with both spiral and bend/counter bend feelings on a circle, followed by a canter leg yield from rail to quarterline (off outside aids), then back to a circle with canter-trot-canter transitions. 

Finally, you transition to trot to ride serpentines / figures of 8 / changes of bend with trot-walk-trot transitions, again reinforcing the “full halt— to—half halt” development. After a few moments of this, you trot long and low to finish.

i didn’t stick around for xc, sadly, but here’s a quick shot of Ema Klugman in the 3*

Obviously this is a very new (and shiny) toy in my riding toolkit, so my utilization experiences are… limited. But the two rides I’ve logged to date have been overwhelmingly positive, to the point where I’m clearly bought in enough to keep refining and making more recordings. 

It’s not that we’re accurately (or even effectively) executing all these exercises. Instead, I think it’s a lot simpler than that: A constant voice in my ear guiding me to ride Doozy *proactively* means I’m NOT getting baited into riding *reactively.* 

In other words, instead of getting mired down in an argument telling Doozy not to go so fast, or whatever, instead I’m focusing on a specific pattern that, surprise surprise, just so happens to be easier to execute from a slower more self contained balance. 

And so far, Doozy is responding very well to this change in style. Again, it may be too early to tell, and I PROMISE to let y’all know if we start going the opposite direction or frazzling the mare… But for now, I’m all aboard, and even created a hyper-personalized guide for us to use when practicing the Starter dressage test.

anyway. thanks for humoring me while i go a little micro down this ‘guided ride’ recording rabbit hole. as a reward, here’s a little goblin who looks ready to catch any bunnies that come out of it!

Ultimately, if this concept continues to consistently produce good rides, my idea is to develop a ‘library’ of sorts. 

One barn mate suggested that instead of full start-to-finish ride guides, I could create ‘modules’ that can be interspersed for a more mix-and-match experience. For example, there might be a ‘warm up’ module, and then individual recordings for various gaits and degrees of difficulty. 

I’m also imagining modules that are just pure coaching prompts (like, “chest up!” or “long legs, level shoulders!”) with no specific movements, gaits or patterns included — something like that could be useful during a jump school, for instance. 

So perhaps there’s more to come. In the meantime, I’m definitely interested in hearing from you all if you have a chance to try riding along to one of these recordings!

volunteer report: plantation field HT

Longtime readers will already be super familiar with my penchant for volunteering at horse trials around Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. And also my somewhat cynical view that the current model of volunteer reliance in our sport is unsustainable without further investment and support from the USEA.

they ordered perfect weather for this show!

I’m worried about the coming year too — given everything else that’s going on in the world. It’s already an expensive and demanding sport. Finding the spare time (and gas money) for a day of jump judging may feel increasingly unrealistic for many folks who might otherwise be inclined. 

this unique venue’s xc course basically cascades down a giant hillside, complete with ruins natch

It’s possible my pessimism is a direct result of this weekend’s experience, too: one of Area II’s most iconic venues (and home to an absolutely fantastic Fall 4* International), Plantation Field, was so hard up for volunteers this weekend that they risked not being able to run at all — with organizers forced to make personal phone calls right up to the day before the event soliciting prospective volunteers for even half a day’s time.

Chris Talley’s MBF Firebrand looks like how doozy imagines herself

These events can not run without volunteers. There are not enough paid stewards and members of the ground jury to facilitate horses through the phases (especially in a timely manner when individual riders may be competing multiple horses), and safely oversee the cross country event. 

Sure, a single jump judge can often manage multiple fences (especially at a venue like Plantation, with its expansive hillside profile)… But combinations with accuracy questions or narrow faces, like corners and wedges etc, often need the judge positioned strategically to observe the horse passing clearly through the flags, and be close enough to put those flags back in place when they are inevitably knocked down throughout the day. 

intermediate trakehner rode great all day, as shown here by Caitlin Reamy & El Patrone

Other fences, like frangible and MIM style jumps, similarly need the jump judge to be close enough to actually inspect the device any time the jump may have had a hard knock.

Obviously, tho, the absolute most fundamental job of the jump judge is to be the warm body with eyes on the rider and radio in hand in the event of an accident. It is unimaginable that something catastrophic could happen at a recognized event and go undetected for lack of sufficient jump judge coverage.

and local legend Sally Cousins with Truly Wiley

Whether or not you feel like the USEA should do more in facilitating and incentivizing the volunteer pipeline (as I do) rather than relying on each individual organizer and venue to cultivate their own volunteer pools… Anybody who participates in the sport and appreciates the relatively low costs for membership and entry fees (compared to say, typical rated h/j stuff) might worry about venue owners shifting away from eventing if running horse trials feels increasingly complicated, risky and expensive.

and Canadian team rider, Lisa Marie Fergusson on Raytheoin Quality Imp!
(all you Welsh Cob lovers out there should look up her longtime partner Honor Me!)

And, of course, there are more specifics related to this particular case, too. You might remember a giant controversy a few years ago when, in the wake of the George Floyd murder and the Black Lives Matter movement’s ascendency in national consciousness, Eventing Nation took a moral stand against Plantation Field bc of connotations with the name. 

My understanding is that things got heated and personal behind the scenes, and of course social media was aflame with strong feelings. 

next up — a MIM table on the prelim course! these frangible devices require a jump judge to be positioned close enough to do regular checks throughout the division in case of hard knocks

Not gonna lie, tho, guys — it always felt a bit like misplaced anger to me. Especially when you consider the same publication, Eventing Nation, has since done significant sponsorship work with Morven Park — another incredible iconic local venue down in, uh, Leesburg, that… actually does include owning and housing slaves as part of its history as a plantation. 

Not trying to cast aspersions on Morven Park here, either, guys. It’s a lovely place that I’d go to way more often if it weren’t on the other side of DC from me. 

Lee Maher’s HTF Charming Cooley wasn’t touching it tho!

But rather, my point is that this publication — with whatever influence it has — took a very public stand against a venue whose historic use of the word “plantation” relates to tree farming, and continues refusing to this very day to name or cover the event itself. Instead it’s listed as the “Unionville Event” (for the venue’s location) and otherwise basically ignored. 

another local (adopted) legend, Australian rider Ryan Wood with Cooley Maestro

Which… Fine. Every publisher is allowed their own standards. From the most modest bloggers (like me!) to national legacy print media, we all get to choose what we cover, how, and why. 

i could only stay thru modified, so my last assignment was this crazy roller coaster, ridden here by Tiffany Wandy & CV Outlaw

But I was recently rereading Originals by Adam Grant, and he introduces a topic of “horizontal hostility” that really reminded me of this exact scenario. His case study was on Lucy Stone and her role in the women’s suffrage movement — and the rivalry that broke out between her and other suffragists at the time. A rivalry that risked fracturing the entire movement.

According to Grant, “horizontal hostility” arises in group dynamics, and is reflective of the small differences that drive apart otherwise aligned groups. A typical dynamic includes the differences between purists and more moderates. Issues with the “true believers” and folks who might be more peripheral. Another example he shared was the frequent friction between vegans and vegetarians, with vegans often spurning vegetarians as not being “true” supporters of the cause. 

Elle Stephenson & Treasury Stock made it look easy too

That passage immediately reminded me of countless other instances where I could think of people who might otherwise appreciate the same things, like the same sport, share the same values, instead find themselves at odds bc of disagreements on the details. 

There seem to be countless ‘tribes’ among equestrianism, too, right? Shod vs barefoot, bits vs bitless, stalls vs turnout… and that’s before you even get to the particulars of any given sport. 

it was Conrad Alexander and Just My Style, tho, who won the class

And I guess I’m not really necessarily trying to get into all that, or pick the scab on a sensitive and nuanced issue in our society — at a time when ‘nuance’ and ‘sensitivity’ themselves seem to have been completely discarded by the powers that be. 

Except to say that… Listening to the book’s segment on “horizontal hostility” got me thinking about all the times in my life where conflict, friction or controversy has arisen between friends, groups or similar associations in ultimately devastating and counter productive ways. Whether for me personally, or for issues I care about. 

anyway. there’s video if you’re into that sorta thing moreso than the words!

I honestly don’t even really know if there’s any relationship at all between that and Plantation’s severe volunteer shortage this weekend, either. It’s probably a fluke. Or one of those random convergences of many small issues (for example, changes in key operational roles within the venue in the last year leading to gaps in coverage, etc). 

Or ya know. Maybe it’s just Mother’s Day weekend and people are busy. Who knows, right?

all in a day’s work!

It got me thinking, tho. And so here I am writing about those thoughts. 

So. Eh. If nothing else, there are pretty pictures and some cool video clips of amazing horses and riders doing their thang. Or this could be the reminder you needed to remember to sign up for a volunteer shift at your favorite venue sometime soon. 

Or, maybe, it’s a reminder to myself — for any of us, really — in this weird strange and ominous era, to be more thoughtful in looking beyond purity tests among those who would otherwise be friendly and/or aligned with our vision for the world we want to be a part of. To focus on the values we share, the areas that bring us together, and our common goals. 

friday fotos: show pictures!

Happy Friday, everybody! For today's adventure, let's zone out and enjoy reliving our 2min of glory from this week's schooling jumper show at Plantation, by way of literally 28 beautiful HQ photos taken by my YR barn mate's father!!!

obvi i'm a dyed in the wool obsessed media junkie... but it helps to have such a handsome subject!!

oooh there's 4K helmet cam too for those of y'all into that sort of thing! 

no joke, tho, i whittled down this gallery from no fewer than 400 original photos... literally half of which are us walking and jogging around the warm up ring since the show was behind schedule

"just happy to be here!" -- emma

first warm up interval was literally just dinkin' around

eventually we got to work tho <3

d'aww charles and his twinkle toes

apparently one must not look directly at the boyd lol

am i the only one kinda obsessed with this landscape?

again tho, not lying, half the pictures are basically this. and i am HERE for it lol

practicing our patience waitin our turn

ooooh eventually it was time to do things tho!

omg yes actually jumping a jump at the jumper show after like 30min of just wandering around lol

and a slightly bigger jump! i think we did the X twice, then once each for the small oxer, this vertical, and the other larger oxer

go go gadget racehorse! also, this is your daily reminder that while pros like courtney (background) might import and produce some of the nicest young horses on the market.... many many horses are fully capable of doing this stuff and pedigree is not a prerequisite. what really matters is that you like your horse and enjoy riding it.

i mean, we look like we fit in, right??? lol

oooooh finally tho, it's go time! look at his face tho omg i love it haha

jump 1 was no joke but charlie is a beast, y'all

the verticals in this course all looked so unimpressive compared to the oxer spreads

pro tip: if you're going to spectacularly beef it to a jump, make sure to do it while *everybody including the olympian* is watching

good recovery, tho, chuck! i swear he makes these jumps look microscopic tho

brave boy jumping into the spooky corner past the judge's gazebo!

so nice i liked it twice!! love these shots of airborne charles <3

this line seemed to ride mostly in 6 for BN, tho a lot of N riders were doing it in 7

was pretty sure the 6 would be just fiiiine for chuck tho lol

look at these cute phone booth standards going into the 2 stride!

rounding the corner toward home!

ping!

thanks, sir, for being the way you are <3

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Jumpers @ Plantation Field

Idk if this is happening anywhere else, but there seems to be a new trend in our area of like... weekday jumper shows. I think it started with Loch Moy's Twilight eventing series and just sorta took off from there. 

view from on top of the world!!! only mildly overwhelming!

Which is kinda cool but also kinda a drag bc... Damn, guys, don't any of y'all have jobs too tho?!? Most of these events are designed to be super inviting and low key too, which as you all know is my favorite flavor of horse show. 

omg they let us park up on top of the hill next to the rings instead of allll the wayyyy down belowww. pretty sure this made a huge difference on everyone's experience (for the better!)

The summer series at Plantation Field International (host of numerous yearly recognized and unrecognized events, and notably their Best Show On Earth, the Fall 4*) has for some reason always been super enticing to me too. 

let's introduce the team ---- here's Katie (of hunter pace fame here and here and here) with friend's in-need-of-mileage (but extremely talented) ottb Avi!

Mayyybe bc Charlie and I flamed out at this exact venue so very spectacularly back in 2018 lol, wherein Charlie had his first ever real stop on xc.... immediately followed by, ahem, his next few. 

and y'all should already know Loki by now --- but if not, here's a link to his last feature when his YR accompanied us on a fun little xc school at home

A lot went wrong that day, tho I always suspected this venue's unique facilities and topography contributed to our poor performance. Namely, the arenas are right smack on top of the world and 2018 Charlie absolutely shrank in the face of confronting all that.... vastness. Or something, I dunno. Maybe we just kinda moved up quickly by relying on the horse's good nature and athleticism rather than proper confirmed training LOL. Actually.... Yea, it was probably that. 

charlie did walkies around the warm up perimeter while spying on both Avi and Loki, visible above

ANYWAY tho. I really do love this venue but have always been nervous to bring Charlie back lest history repeat itself. So this little jumper series seemed like a perfect way to test those waters! 

they finished their classes a solid 3hrs before ours, so there was much hanging around at the trailers under the canopy!

It's mostly just local professionals bringing out their younger or green horses for more mileage --- just straight show jump rounds, no clocks no scores no ribbons, nada. But a course designed by a legit local CD, Jeff Kibbie, set to full complete height + width, natch.

bleh, including when a downpour rolled in about 10min before i was about to get on.... sorry charlie!! (and plz somebody remind me to condition that poor saddle later....). you can see Avi was very concerned for his poor wet sad friend

Having never been to one before, we seriously underestimated attendance too. Like... We planned to enter just a day or two in advance, but were then shocked when spots filled up completely and we just barely managed to snag the last available times in all our respective divisions. Which naturally meant that my friends in the BN division rode a solid 3 hours before me, whoops. 

the skies cleared, tho, and off we were to reach for redemption with this view that might be hyper-reminiscent to any of you who remember charlie's LAST time at plantation (and yes i purposefully tried to recreate this same shot)

It worked out, tho, bc it gave me a chance to hand walk Charlie around the warm up a little during their rounds, as a way to help familiarize. Not sure how much of a difference it made, honestly, since he was too busy trying to graze while hand walking -- but then did in fact take a long (LONG) hard look off into the distance once I was actually on him.

cruisin to jump 1, meanin business

He warmed up well, tho. It wasn't my ideal competition warm up -- but actually I ended up feeling really happy with how it went. I got on about 30min in advance and walked like a solid 10 around the warm up. Then checked in with the steward who said they were running behind. 

So I kept sorta switching between standing in complete relaxation for long minutes on end with our friends in the shade, then walking and trotting some laps for 5ish min intervals. Then checking in with the steward, rinse repeat. 

easy over 2!

Each time we returned back for more laps, Charlie was kinda begrudging but simultaneously quicker to click into gear. By the time we actually started cantering and jumping, I'd been on for like 30min and he was READY. Our warm up fences weren't perfect, but he was good and forward and bold, and I held mane to cover for my own nerves and mistakes. Perfect! Oooooh and I only almost ran into Boyd once lol....

had a major rider error at #3 (you'll have to watch the video for that, i promise it's legit front and center directly in front of the camera) --- but wanted to include this poorly framed shot over #4 to prove what a fucking saint this horse is.... rider fucks up at 3? horse tries even harder at 4... ugh i love him <3

We waited patiently at the gate for our turn, then took a meandering route to jump one --- passing first by the British phone booth standards at the in-and-out, then cutting diagonally across the ring toward the judge's gazebo and past a corner oxer that ALWAYS rides hella spooky bc the announcer's tower is right smack behind it. 

 

#Not4Sale

Charlie did in fact feel a little peeky making his way around the corner, but it was all good bc we had plenty of time to still establish our canter for jump 1. Which.... Was of course a giant oxer. Idk what it was about these jumps... Maybe I've gotten too used to 2'9 Novice vs 2'11 Novice LOL but they all looked just a tad impressive to me lol. But Charlie jumped that first fence basically perfectly, good boy. 

also true story: 6 of our 11 jumping efforts were maxed oxers. i admit to being *a little* impressed 

From there we more or less just.... made our way around. I tried to remember to keep a hold of mane or neck strap (with varying degrees of success), and just aimed to keep my leg on. I didn't walk the course in advance, so found myself a bit surprised on the way to Jump 3 when we were omg HELLA CROOKED and it was too late to do anything about it...

but oh my goodness this horse guys, what's not to love?

Plus naturally I doubled down on that sin by leaning at the fence when we got there long... Ugh. I *never* lean at fences, but suddenly it's happened twice in recent memory. Eh, maybe that's a natural consequence of trying harder to keep my hands more forward, my body wants to follow? Anyway, we'll work on it. Charlie was a saint tho and made his way over/through that fence without dropping me, and then jumped straight out of his skin at fence 4 -- an effort I in no way deserved but am immensely grateful all the same <3

pretty pleased with the new tack sitch too --- hackamore + no spurs (even tho our disaster here 4 years ago is what prompted always competing with spurs in the first place)

Again, I'd love to get through rounds without any big mistakes or whatever, but this is life as an amateur. So we deal with it and move on. And move on we did --- the rest of our round was honestly quite steady. 

#KeepingHim

Some of our turns were not super sharp --- but that's probably more to do with not walking the course vs the hackamore. The two related distances rode great, Charlie moved forward off my leg, and also picked up and rebalanced in all the corners when I remembered to ask. What more could a girl want?

link to video here!

Fair warning --- there may be more to come from this show later bc word on the street is that there'll be pro pics (omg! I hope!), plus eventually my helmet cam footage (4K, natch) will finish processing LOL. 

In the meantime, tho, I'm just happy it was a good day. A long day (very long day). A slightly wet day (humidity... rain...). And.... on paper? Well. Ya know, like most of what I do with horses --- it's kinda meaningless in the grand scheme of things. 

Except.... Ahhh this is the stuff for me <3 And even with our mistakes and imperfections, I'm really really happy with my horse, and becoming happier with my riding too. It's the little things, right? Ooh, and putting that nasty Plantation 2018 memory to bed finally ain't bad either!!