going nuclear

Ya know that thing they say about “Pride goeth before a fall”?? That whole moral platitude about how overly proud or boastful people are more likely to make mistakes / suffer consequences??

swamp critter, queen of scurf
(semi-related: omg look at that grass, it’s JULY, people — and still growing! the scurf is #worthit if that’s the tradeoff!)

WELL haha. Have I got a *shocking* update for you all. 

toasty biscuit still sweltering at 6pm

Literally the *same day* I humble hopeful bragged about keeping Doozy’s notoriously nasty summer skin funk at bay with regular rinses of diluted apple cider vinegar… That very same evening I arrived at the barn to see the mare coated in mud, sweat, and hives. UGH!

arrrghhhhhh!!!
(last wednesday, for those keeping score at home)

Maybe “hives” isn’t the exact right term, idk. The internet loves to tell me that “hives” are technically some sort of allergic reaction, whereas what we often refer to as “rainrot” is usually a bacterial skin infection or dermatitis, characterized by crusty scabs that leave bald spots behind. 

bleh poor mare 

In my experience, tho, the earliest stages of rainrot present as hive-like swellings that are sometimes itchy, tho often painful. Or sometimes a weird mix of both. Maybe there’s a different name for the puffy bumpies, but ugh my heart sank when I saw them on Doozy. 

dialed it up a notch to eleven: switched from diluted apple cider vinegar to diluted chlorhexidine

Charlie was certainly not immune to his fair share of delicate thin-skinned thoroughbred ailments, but his cases were always so easily managed that I usually gave myself a day or two of denial that the hives would really result in another outbreak. 

Sorta the “maybe I’m just imagining things!” attitude lol. 

scrub a dub, princess!

That’s probably where I went wrong with Doozy last summer tho, and by the time I realized we had a problem, WE HAD A PROBLEM. 

So I’m determined to take every available opportunity to try to stop this thing in its tracks before we get back to the “basically moss growing across her entire top line” situation again.

thursday (the next day): telltale little scabs with small chunks of hair

So I’ve since replaced our apple cider vinegar rinses with chlorhexidine — a relatively gentle but still fully effective antiseptic that is often used as a scrub for vets ahead of delicate procedures like joint injections. 

I forget when I first started buying it by the gallon — but it was years ago for Charlie, with one of his various horrific wounds, and my vet suggested it was a gentler (read: less painful) cleansing solution for flushing than whatever I had been using (iodine maybe?).

little lumpy crusties are slicked over with MTG, and nearly invisible to the camera

It may be gentle, but it can be VERY drying — so it’s worth testing on a small, less-sensitive spot on your horse if you wanted to try something similar. And apparently there are medicated shampoos that are formulated with chlorhex too, but, eh. I’ve tested this on Doozy (who has insanely oily skin, probably the root of all her problems right there) and she doesn’t seem to have any negative reactions whatsoever. 

you can sorta see in the right angle, tho — she likes to cultivate her gardens of funk right at the height where she’s slowest to dry

So we did the chlorhex bath on that first day, then the second day was shockingly mild weather and Doozy wasn’t sweaty or clammy or anything by the time I got there, and it was her day off, so we skipped bathing entirely and just did a shit ton of currying, then a light gloss of MTG over basically the entire back half of the horse. 

and while we’re on the subject of cultivating gardens of funk: the entire tack room looks like this, every day. this hackamore has been cleaned more in the last two weeks than maybe the entire last year, holy mother of mold!

Again, in my limited experience, these skin outbreaks seem to be most common in times when the horse is going through a coat change. And at least in our area, most horses go through a shedding cycle right around the solstices. 

Maybe something about all that dead hair sitting around on the skin creates the perfect environment for a funk explosion? Idk, but I spent a long while with the rubber curry getting as much off as I could. 

the struggle is real, but turns out giving a post-ride spritz with this stuff has really helped the helmet stay fresh!

MTG is also one of those products that folks seem to have love/hate feelings about, and maybe horses too. I’m firmly in the “love” category, tho. Like, I test it on horses first bc I’ve heard that some can have stronger reactions (tho I’ve personally never seen that myself). And I don’t “scrub” with it — more of a ‘deep massage’ style application. 

and since i was taking pictures in the tack room already, here’s the myler comfort snaffle for anyone curious

I also avoid applying it when I’m going to put something on top — like a blanket or bandage, it’s an ‘open air’ sort of tincture imo, and I try to not mix it with other topical applications in at least the same 24hr period. That might be overkill, ymmv. 

Oooh, and also maybe consider time of day and UV index too — don’t accidentally deep fry your horse by slicking them in oil then turning out at 1pm in the summer sun!

maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s maybelline chlorhexidine

Anyway, tho, that’s kinda where we stand as of right now. We’ve done 3-4 chlorhex rinses since last Wednesday, and one big gloss of MTG on all the main hotspots. And??? Well. Again, I’m hopeful that we got in front of it. Ask me again in two weeks, tho, and we’ll know the truth LOL.

I know that skin funk is one of those things where everybody has their own sworn favorite remedies. The above is (obviously) my go-to approach, tho for an established case I generally don’t hesitate to escalate directly to prescription grade stuff, typically the Animax / Dermalone / Panalog ointment (a mix of steroids and topical antibiotics).

It’s always interesting to see what everyone else does, tho — are there any Listerine lovers out there? Or Desitin slingers? Let me know what you swear by, especially if you’ve had tricky (read: Chestnut) cases before LOL!

not on point, but on purpose?

I’m (re)reading a book right now about facilitating collective movement, and the author made a beautiful observation about the importance of focusing less on being ‘on point,’ and more about staying ‘on purpose.’ In other words, less of the discrete moment in time, and more of the big picture long view. 

testing our new Schockemöhle Air Silent bonnet!!

This felt timely to me after having a bit of a bust at the Loch Moy starter trial. Guys. I hemmed and hawed about entering this thing. See-ed and sawed. Whiffed and waffled. Well.. Mostly just the whiff. Classic clown stuff. 

I entered the show. Then literally scratched later that same day (getting a refund minus office fee). Then entered again, paying full price (again) PLUS late fee. And have literally goose eggs to show for it LOLsob.

did a little last minute grid too just to be safe

But ya know. Here’s the thing. I really love this event. The place has fantastic vibes, produces super reliable experiences, and I just ya know… love them. Loch Moy also has a lot of atmosphere, but in a not-unfriendly way. It really felt like such a perfect first event of the year.

Plus, I volunteered for the Saturday classes and could do all my course walking then… Leaving Sunday wide open for designing the most Doozy-friendly show schedule possible. 

loch moy requires competitors to bring their own pinny numbers… but my personal life has been hectic and both nights i missed closing time at the print shop by like 15min… DIY it is!

So with all the NQR-ness and missed time, I thought about maybe just signing up for a dressage test of choice. Or maybe just a CT? But ultimately I chose to enter the full HT, figuring if the mare felt good we’d just keep going. But if there were any issues? We could stop at any time. 

My sense was that… I’d regret it more for not at least giving it a shot, than if we had to call it early. And ya know. Here I am now on the other side of having had to call it early and… Honestly I feel great about all of my choices (well aside from all the wasted office fees LOL). It was a net positive experience.

walked the course the day before after volunteering — it look great! had a ditch option!

The cross country course looked literally fantastic. Some of the jumps were pretty small, sure, but eh at this point in our education, easy is fine. More importantly — the course had a ditch option, and a truly lovely water option that would allow us to jump all our jumps AND try out the water, but in an almost zero-risk sort of way. Perfect!

course also had a reeeeally nice water option. you could go direct through the water alllll the way around to that little jump just behind the car. OR, and my plan, you could do the jump option instead of the flagged water entry (was a pleasant starter table we’ve jumped before) and then go thru the water to the next jump. best of both worlds!

I was also determined to really ride each phase intentionally and accountably. Particularly the dressage. I wanted to really put our recent lesson to work, ya know?

But first, we arrived on the grounds about 2 hours prior to go-time so Doozy could have plenty of time for hand grazing, hand walking, and general familiarization. Last fall she was cool as a cucumber walking around all the rings, but on this day? Mare was lit up. I was grateful for the rope halter, to say the least. 

doozy was decidedly less quiet on the grounds than she had been last fall. we got there tho!

That didn’t give me the greatest feelings about surviving the warm up — but eventually Doozy seemed to remember where she was when we passed through the parking lot, and arrived back at the trailer after about an hour a much more settled horse. And in fact, was a dream for getting tacked up and hacking back over to the dressage rings. 

Then she could have knocked me over with a feather by how quiet and pleasant she was in the warm up ring. We spent a long while walking around, practicing changing bend and getting both my legs on and asking her to soften and give… And guys, the feeling was fantastic. She was super chill, and I truly believed we were about to *finally* ride a test that wasn’t characterized by purely trying to survive lol. 

look how excited i was to go do our dressage

But, womp, I picked up the trot and she was a little off again. Same friggin thing that’s been plaguing us. Siiiiiiigh. 

So ya know, obviously that was that. I dismounted, and we strolled placidly back the trailers, pausing by the show jump ring and all the other hallmarks of a busy bustling horse show. Absorbing as much exposure as possible before going home again. 

i asked the steward to take a photo of us for proof of the goodness before dismounting…
womp womp

And to be perfectly honest, Doozy was so completely relaxed by the end of the (very short) day that it was impossible not to see the value in the experience even if I remain frustrated by trying to understand what’s bugging her. 

Realistically, we probably would not have had a perfect test, but it might have felt a lot more rideable than anything from last year. The show jumping may have been dicey in places (there were a few spots on the course that looked less favorable to us than last year’s course). But the cross country I expected to be an absolute dream, and have zero reason to think otherwise. 

the exposure is so good for her tho

Which… is maybe another reason why this day was a net benefit. For me, a big part of feeling ready and comfortable and confident about showing revolves around having a relatively reasonable set of expectations. Navigating uncertainty is not among my chief strengths as a human. 

But on this day, I’m legitimately proud — proud of Doozy for venting her early season fizz quickly and efficiently enough to be a sweetheart in the warm up ring. But also proud of myself for setting up a healthy mindset and head space ahead of the show. That’s something I’ve been working on for years at this point — given my general tendencies toward anxiety, overthinking and vague existential dread. 

Being able to sleep well the night before, go through all the motions without obsessing, and get from point A to point B with just one foot in front of the other — all without once saying, “Eh maybe I don’t actually wanna.” To me? That’s a clear win. YMMV.

filling the tank before heading home <3

It’s also reaffirming to me that we’re on the right track with Doozy’s general training and education. It IS actually getting easier, and she’s growing and maturing as reasonably quickly as can be expected of a sensitive redhead. 

Tho obviously… That still leaves the NQRness as a literal and figurative sore spot from the day. So that’s something that will need a little further examination and exploration. Maybe the saddle needs another tweak - did we go too far with the flocking? Or maybe it wasn’t the saddle after all? TBD I guess. Tho we were already scheduled for a regular check in with our favorite chiro / acupuncture practitioner this week anyway, so we’ll start there. 

So ya know. Stay tuned, I guess lol(sigh). In the meantime, I’m just going to appreciate that while our “season opener” may not have quite gotten “to the point,” maybe it still supported us in our purpose. For now, that’s good enough.

on saturdays we wear braids

Happy weekend, y’all! It’s been a quiet one around these parts since I opted to just give Doozy a full week off post vet visit. Lots of grooming and snacks and…. that’s about it lol. 

But I did finally sit on her again yesterday for a very light ride, chaperoned by a nice steady mare, and Doozy felt fantastic! Here’s hoping we can just ease back into it over the next week or so, maybe test out some little jompies etc… We’ll see!

always with the side eye

In the meantime, tho, I figured we were due for a little hilarity practice. Specifically: braid practice. Bc. Uh. Well I probably haven’t braided a mane in 5 years… And wasn’t exactly what you would consider “good” at it back then anyway. 

#SadMareDiaries

And let’s not even get into the whole relationship between tidy mane keeping habits and easy braids, m’kay?? lol…. Bc… Well. Ahem. We really don’t have much at all going for us in that regard either!

But. Eh. What the hell, let’s give it a go. Complete with pictures that absolutely do not do the devastation justice…

Step 1: Gather the materials!
Pro tip: Your sensitive mare may require preliminary examination of any new products.

Step 2: We totally got this. There’s the clippy thing doing clippy things, and we have a proper comb to measure the appropriate section of hair. Check and check!

Step 3: We have achieved yarn in braid, go team!

Step….. Oh Dear: That knot might be more yarn than hair, ngl :(

Step The Next: OK, Rally, Y’all! We got another yarned braid! This time with more sauce!! Braid spray is our friend.

Step Ahead: Second attempt is vaguely more button-ish looking?

Step E for Effort: Ok we went back and redid the first (left side) braid and that one looks more-ish normal-ish-ish. Just ignore all the crazy flyaways pls.

Step … Success?: That last one on the far right looks baaaaaasically like what I’m trying to achieve here? Ish?

Closer look at it. Passable?? Mebbe??
Idk if the hair is really long enough for the Dutch braid look I was going for… But adding a lot (like a LOT a lot) more braid spray and using slightly narrower chunks seemed to produce better outcomes.

Last Step: Take more time trying to get all those knots out of there than it even took getting in LOL

poor suffering mare!

Idk. There was a time in my life (cough cough like 30 years ago…) when I could make some pretty fancy macrame friendship bracelets lol. And the few times I braided Charlie turned out decently well. 

All the same, tho, I might need a little more practice to knock all that rust off! Sorry Dooz, but part of the job of helping me learn and advance my skills includes… random shit like this too. 

Anyone else out there taking advantage of the budding spring to work on spiffing up grooming and show prep skills? 

"nobody said there would be ponies"

I've been really reluctant to buy more stuff for Doozy, mostly bc... Let's be real, I already have a LOT of stuff. #borderlinehoarder over here, not gonna lie.

shires 200g neck. would have preferred 0 fill... but for $20 in excellent condition, it'll do!

But I also wanted to be really intentional about prioritizing the stuff we really need and will use. Which I think has paid off. 

Over the last 6 months since Doozy arrived, she's gotten a fly mask, halter, rain sheet and shoulder guard new, and has otherwise gotten all her blankets used, plus all her tack repurposed from Charlie. Except for that used Beval jump saddle she wore for 2 months to get going before she gained enough weight to fit Charlie's monoflap L'Apogee. 

HKM cob-sized leg boots, super airy with lots of protection -- really happy with how nice they look!

I do love buying new stuff, tho haha... Plus got a few gift certificates to our local consignment shop, Maryland Saddlery, for my birthday and Christmas. So I finally polished off the remaining credit this weekend -- with another neck attachment, a nice pair of show gloves, shipping boots, and front and hind boots for Doozy!

Back on Track hind fetlock protection, bought to match the pair of brown Professionals Choice open fronts i already have that fit Doozy...

I'm really excited about those white HKM boots, which will get used for xc and look super flashy omg! Let's just hope I can keep them clean tho.... I'm less excited about the Back on Track fetlock boots tho.... 

fast forward to a post ride pic, however: these are not a fit and will either get returned or sold to somebody else. interested for $25?

They're super pretty and would nicely match the brown open fronts Doozy inherited from Charlie... But the fit is just not right for her dainty little stems... Oh well, it was worth a shot!

all dressed up and ready to play!

Anyway. It's fun to dress this pretty mare up all nicely, esp when we go out in public and kinda embarrass ourselves LOL...

descending into "death alley" following brave Punky lol --- there's just so much stuff down in this little clearing, can be spooky!

Like on Sunday, when we thought the lessons were done for the day, and could not have been more wrong. The jump ring was crowded with kids and ponies and parents and various spectators...

we thought lessons were over but noooope --- there were SIX cantering and jumping ponies in the ring, including Candee Kisses (top right), which blew poor Doozy's brain that her field friend also existed in the riding universe too lol

It was a lot for poor Doozy, not gonna lie. Especially considering one of the ponies is her pasture mate and she got really distracted and magnetized with trying to go say hi. Never mind that Rosette is also a pasture mate now and was with us... That's old news, bc we ride with Rosette all the time... But Candee??? Omg, earth shattering lol.

the atmosphere chilled considerably once the lesson finally ended!

Doozy held it together shockingly well, tho. Like, on one hand I was disappointed bc it was clear that we might have to abandon our plans for jumping around bc of the lesson... But, eh, this is real life and Doozy's got to learn to cope. And she did! Like, sure, we had a couple unexpected dance moves and a few sideways shies and bolt attempts. 

fun with artsy shadow shots lol

But none of it was nasty. And in fact, most of it was more or less unobserved by the crowd, including my riding buddies. Which is further proof that Doozy is learning to be a bit more self contained. Even when I feel her vibrating with tension, she doesn't necessarily look it. Good girl!

doozy's first helmet cam clip!

And ya know, the ponies eventually left after about 30min, and the vibes chilled wayyyyy down in the ring. And our little trio were finally able to fully focus on our objectives for the day. Amy was trying out a very nice trial dressage saddle. Katie wanted to pop a couple fences up to height. And obvi Doozy wanted to do some little cross rails too -- with bonus helmet camera footage!

chillin like a pro after we finished, while i caught video of my friends

It's been a LONG TIME since I did anything worthy of the helmet cam haha... and I'm not even sure this ride really counts lol. But it's a nice helmet camera, I like using it, and maybe it's fun to switch up the perspective every now and again!

also a pro about the hack back down to the barn!

Doozy for her part jumped around just fine. The cross rails were the most boring part of the whole endeavor, obvi lol, but we were able to string a few things together and I'm starting to get a feel for letting her take a more forward step to the jumps so long as she's steady in the approach.

and a pro about this stream crossing too!!

Doozy really impresses me in her ability to recover from extreme tension or anxiety. Like, I'm still sorta learning about what triggers her, how she reacts, and all the related implications and all.... But it's becoming clear that she CAN recover and move on after being upset. 

Sometimes it takes a good long while (like when I hand walked her for 60min at Kealani for her first Sally lesson)... But knowing that a meltdown doesn't necessarily mean game over for her helps give me confidence to be patient and let her work through the new experiences.

she's real sweet, guys <3 <3 <3

So ya know. Yea, my heart kinda sank when we realized the lesson was happening and we maybe wouldn't get the ride we planned... But maybe it turned into an exercise of getting what we needed instead of what we wanted. And we got to do all our little jompies eventually anyway! 

Feels like a win, in the grand scheme of things. And another solid experience for Doozy lol bc that ring was 100% as chaotic (or more, let's be real) as a warm up ring. And we lived and eventually performed! We'll take it lol... 

tragi-mare

Ugh. This mare, guys. This fucking mare. 

I'm gonna sell her to the Amish for a dollar, I swear to god. 

She just, ugh, she's just so busy with her pitiful little wisp of a tail.... Her worst toxic trait is constantly swishing into everything and literally ripping out gigantic chunks. UGH!

whyyyyyyy

I about snapped yesterday when I walked into her stall and saw.... this. 

Oh my god, Doozy. OH MY GOD.

looks like maybe pulled out of the left side?? also, yea, that's a quarter-sized BALD SPOT on the top right from some other incident oof

Like. I am at my wits' end here, not even exaggerating lol.... True story:: I may or may not have bought Charlie bc he's down with face hugs and HAS GOOD HAIR. 

Doozy?? Not so much, ugh. Like, the color is nice, and it looks like she could theoretically eventually develop some thickness.... 

BUT NOT IF SHE KEEPS RIPPING IT OUT OMG!! Ugh lol...

just be beautiful pls :(

I mean. I guessss she has other redeeming qualities or whatever. Like being super cute and cuddly, and also kinda fancy and fun to jump... 

But c'mon mare! Ugh.... Tragic.

So I dunno. I guess lmk what products you swear by for tails, esp anything for conditioning, growth, or possibly to keep the skin happy (/not itchy)....  Sigh.