Not gonna lie, it feels so great lately to get to write about not just riding my horse, but actually going out and doing activities again too!! Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure I’d still be out every day riding and grooming and spending time with my animal even if for whatever crazy reason we could never do another off property field trip ever again…
“behold! i’m on a horse!!” — emma, 100% cheesin
But for me? This is where it’s at, this is my jam. Going out for lessons, little schooling shows, bigger rated shows, glorified trail rides… whatever, that’s the good stuff, ya know? And I’m so grateful to have this unique but special little mare back in action for it!
there is video from dressage!! but i don’t have a good resolution copy yet
And she was the absolute most perfect little Biscuit for our CT at Thornridge this weekend!! I won’t go into all the nitty gritty details about warm up and test riding and all that bc it’s basically exactly the same stuff I’ve been droning on about for the last couple weeks.
click for full size — it was one of our best!
Tho, maybe all that writing and studying and pivo-produced feedback is working its magic on us, bc Doozy put in what might have been her best ever dressage test! Or at least, close to it. Not perfect, obvi, and the scoring is 100% inflated, and probably by a lot, compared to what we’d see at a rated show.
and the jompies were fun too!!
But I was over the moon with the horse, and will hopefully be able to get some higher resolution video + screenshots to share soon.
we were a touch skittery on some of the distances but big mare don’t care!
And in the meantime, it was very gratifying to basically immediately meet the new goal I laid out in a post two weeks ago about Harmony, with the judge’s overall collective marks and commentary indicating: “6.5 — Very fancy pair! Some tension today.” Hell yes, we’ll take that!
our most, uh, skitteriest lol… wherein we’re juussssst barely making that 7th stride fit, drifting exactly the opposite direction of ideal considering our next fence…
It was a relatively quiet wait for the jumping phase — we’d been forecast to get slammed with torrential rain literally right up until the storm somehow swung south and missed us completely. So the weather and ground ended up being literally perfect, but probably a lot of people had already decided based on the forecast the night before to scratch. Unfortunate but them’s the breaks sometimes!
the end jumps always come up tight but it was fine!
So Doozy and I were first down to the jumping area, first to go for the day. And honestly I kinda like just getting straight to it, ya know? We reestablished a little connection on the flat then jumped maybe two warm up jumps and went in for our round!
a little more composed into the final line!
They’d clearly planned the course with the weather in mind. There was nothing too too crazy out there, beyond the normal “it’s kinda a tight space with turns planned by dressage riders not jumpers” LOL — and the jumps all looked small for BN.
left a stride out tho LOL
But the ground was perfect and Doozy was ready to go!!
video of the round here <3
It wasn’t our tidiest round ever — kinda slightly funny distances to the first couple. And while the two related distance lines walked in an uphill full length seven, Doozy barely squeezed in the 7th in the first line and left it out entirely in the last…
so fun to be doing activities again <3 <3
Plus naturally I did my own usual rider shenanigans like straight up letting go **completely** of my right rein over jump 2, for… reasons????… and almost forgetting about the end jump at 5 until the last possible second… So yea. Not exactly textbook tidy LOL… but FUN, and also somehow CLEAR!!
proud biscuit won herself a very pretty little red ribbon <3 as much as i love getting big brown ribbons for this Big Brown daughter… a new run of Big Reds could be nice too LOL!
Whatever Doozy’s thoughts about some of the skittery distances, she had no trouble just popping up and over and getting on with it! What a mare! I literally do not remember the last time we show jumped on grass, it’s always such a different feeling from totally flat and level arenas, ya know? But Doozy seems to like it!
all in a day’s morning’s work, amirite??
So another fun day in the books, and still all in all a pretty low-impact activity all things considered, with maybe 25minutes of flatwork and 10 jumps on perfect ground. Not much different from a normal every day ride, it just so happened to be out at one of our favorite places full of a lot of our favorite people. Not bad!!
We had another eventful weekend around these parts — with Doozy’s second horse trial of the year, and third go at BN!!
“are we running and jumping today??” — Doozy
For a variety of reasons, I opted to go to Loch Moy again even tho there were actually a few different Area II events running this weekend… What can I say but that we just love the Maryland Horse Trials??
overlooking xc without a care in the world #trailerpro
And anyway, I’m still basically entirely focused on establishing confidence and relaxation in both of us. Not that we need an excuse to keep returning to the same venue, obvi, esp such an awesome venue, but there’s something to be said for familiarity. Ooooh and volunteer credits haha, this event was almost entirely paid for, ka-ching!
still not sure where that gorgeous full tail came from!
Doozy was an absolute superstar, too. Like, even in the dressage. Sure, our warm up was not even close to our best work. But it was just ‘run-of-the-mill’ not good, vs being “that horse” level of not good.
for as frustrating as our reliably terrible dressage is, i’m not-so-secretly loving our growing collection of Big Brown ribbons!
The test was a bit the same too. Just… Ya know. Not great. And not as good as last time (presumably in part bc I didn’t have Dan yelling at me to get my shit together this time…). Definitely not a competitive test, tho the 2.0 for cantering our final center line (oops) and 5.0 on the harmony collective x2 coefficient really crushed final score, womp.
anyway. who cares about dressage when we could be JOMPING!
In the spirit of full disclosure, I admit to feeling significantly frustrated and demoralized when I saw the score too… Not so much for being in last place, bc… obvi lol. But the spread was so extreme — we were more than 20pts off the leader. Which, real talk, is ALSO not a first for us haha (at MCTA two years ago we were, ahem, 40pts off)… But like. Damn, lol. Sigh.
jump 1 claimed many victims, including at least two horses right before us. not doozy tho!
Luckily the pity party didn’t last, tho, and eventually it was time to jump.
This sport is hard for so many different reasons. The rider at the next trailer over said how she just started eventing last year and already discovered all manner of frustrating ways to get eliminated. I could also see the show jumping ring and most of xc from our trailer too — and witnessed some obnoxious refusals, rider falls, and horses straight up noping out, kthxbai.
this line along the ivy wall caused issues too. we had the rail at 3 but were ok
Neither Doozy nor I are particularly good at the flatwork, and it shows… But damn. The jumping part?? Well ok haha, we aren’t exactly perfect at that either — but we LIKE it and IT’S FUN. And at this point, that is reward enough, amirite??
nice shot at the big blue oxer!
So anyway, onto the show jumping warm up, where Doozy was again extremely civilized. They didn’t have a steward bc of volunteer shortages, so we basically made quick work of it (including jumping a couple warm up fences that clearly had not been reset from N) before heading down to the in gate to wait our turn.
helmet cam video of the round!
Wherein, no joke, each of the three horses ahead of us at the gate were one after the other eliminated on refusals. Two at the first jump, and the other after cumulative issues on course. So… yea. Turns out, this sport is just plain hard!
Doozy and I went in ready to go, tho, with my biggest focus just keeping her in front of the leg, letting her travel, and trying to find opportunities to let the new bit do the work for me, instead of me constantly hanging on. And? It was good!
the xc course was a little short but had plenty to do!
Not perfect, but totally good!! We got good shots to mostly everything, stayed mostly in front of the leg, and I definitely like the new bit a LOT! Tho I obviously need a little more time calibrating myself to it, since once or twice I whoa’ed WAY more than I needed to — like into the in-and-out*, where we added — But Doozy never got offended or rattled by it, and stayed positive the whole way around! And felt like she was jumping well too!
(*Which apparently IS a thing at BN now — they had one at Morven’s recognized event last weekend too!)
past experiences have taught me that turning away from warm up to 3, and then the long downhill pull to 4 (dead ahead) can ride really behind the leg if you aren’t ready for it
The level definitely feels easy for her, which is reassuring especially after it took us so long to move up while we sorted out how to survive all the rest of a busy show day haha… And also reassuring bc basically by the time we get to cross country, it definitely feels like all the hardest work is behind us, and now we just get to enjoy the good stuff!
we were ready for it tho, and it went fine!
Obvi I’d never celebrate my fellow competitors having a bad day, but it was kinda nice arriving to xc warm up with the whole place to ourselves, and the start box ready and open, since the three riders before me had been eliminated in sj. Doozy and I made a quick pass over a single roll top, headed for the box, and took off!
first time jumping this table, it’s a good one!
This month’s course had a clockwise configuration that imho seems to flow very nicely after the first few. Those first few, tho, they will absolutely break your heart — 2 and 3 turned us away from warm up, then a straight downhill run to 4. I’m notoriously terrible at riding downhill, but the new bit really helped me rate Doozy without getting totally up in her face, and she stayed nicely in front of the leg.
opted for the blue house at the option
They gave us a cute little bending line to turn back toward the water, catching a nice big table on the way and then an option between a left corner and a blue house. Doozy has jumped the corner before just fine, but after last month’s funny little run out to the left at a different blue house, I was inclined this time to 1) protect the left side and not repeat the same mistake; and 2) jump the blue thing. So that’s what we did!
we rode this in reverse last month, did a slightly better job this time around!
Then a lovely cruise to the boat house into the water, which Doozy naturally smoked like the natural xc machine she is. Then downhill again to a little roll top that I was again intentional about not getting too fussy and backwards with the downhill approach.
quite a nice little line for BN — ditch to that little hanging pole dead ahead
It was a short-ish course, idk how many meters but probably not more than 1,500, so we were just about finished at this point — just a quick line from the ditch to a small hanging pole that I slightly biffed bc I forgot what it walked in (6, not 5, Emma!), but it was nbd.
easy over the finish!
Then an easy cruise up the hill to the finish line!! And Doozy was so good!! Barely breathing hard, and not nearly as sweaty or tired as last month. Sure it was a little cooler this weekend, but it’s also just amazing to me how quickly thoroughbreds put on condition LOL.
short course means it’s a short-ish video too!
Anyway, tho, it was an immensely fun little romp around. And also clear that Doozy is starting to recognize the game too. Like she knew it was over, knew we were done, and was relaxed and calm right away, good girl!
such a fun horse on cross country <3 <3
There really isn’t anything quite like the feeling of finishing a good cross country round too. A timely reminder for me, especially after feeling a bit dejected about the dressage. Obvi we’ll keep working on the flatwork, it’s not like we aren’t trying, ya know?
cheesin’ after our rounds!
But in the meantime, we’ll work with what we got, and get on with the running and jumping lol.
snacks before heading home again
There are certainly worse ways to spend a day, amirite?
I’ve been a member of the Delaware Valley Combined Training Association for a few years now, but this was the first year I managed to fulfill the volunteer requirements needed for year end award eligibility!
handsome doozy, looking quite at ease with all her accoutrements!
Honestly, it’s a great club just in general and I’ve been proud to be a member regardless. And naturally I’m slightly evangelical about encouraging literally anybody I meet to join their local riding clubs and associations. For me, that’s the MCTA and DVCTA and perhaps I’ll rejoin the MDA this year too.
“please refer to me by my proper title, Empress of the Universe, Knower of Everything” — Doozy, 100%
But. To be perfectly honest, a big part of why I joined DVCTA in the first place is bc literally everyone I knew who had a membership straight up RAVED about the quality of their year end awards program.
let’s see that from another angle pls, bc obvi we had a full press bay for these glamour shots <3 (also, no, your eyes do not deceive you — she is in fact absolutely caked in mud lol)
So finally I made it my business this year to log the needed volunteer hours at qualifying events and shows. And holy smokes, guys, it was so worth it!
if we look like we’re straight up cheesin for the camera lol… well…
I’ve never seen a year end submissions process quite like theirs… So many different categories, so many different ways to earn points…
lol @ my face haha
First of all, literally everything counts in one way or another. Recognized events, schooling events, CTs, all jump heights (including poles on the ground)… Everything. PLUS. Points were awarded for final placings, obvi, but also just for like… doing the thing.
check out this sweet swag too! friggin plates omg - including a nameplate! forgot to include the lovely DVCTA mug in this pic bc i was drinking tea from it while writing this post LOL
Did you show up to the event? Good job, here’s a point! Did you finish the event? Even better, here’s another point! Clear jumping? Inside the time? Yep - you guessed it, more points!!
never in my life have i gotten a ribbon with a tassel on it omg obvi hung some of that satin up on Doozy’s stall wall for a couple days <3
That, combined with the club membership base being predominantly dressage riders, meant Doozy and I made nearly clean sweeps of our jumping categories!!
Which… is fairly insane if you consider, uh, our actual record LOL. We aren’t exactly what you’d consider a ‘competitive’ bunch. But ya know. That’s not gonna stop me from being tickled beyond belief by this incredible swag, omg.
nbd, just sittin on my champion mare <3
Talk about indulgent year end awards, omg… Like, sure sure, we can all pretty much appreciate that Doozy and I might not necessarily be destined for topping the leaderboards at any prestigious events or anything like that…
But if you go by the maxim, ‘90% of Life is Showing Up,’ then yea. We do that haha! Still gotta participate to get that trophy, amirite?
Happy Monday, y’all!! Who is ready for this month’s episode of “Emma and Doozy Go Eventing!!”?? I know it ain’t exactly Burghley around these parts (lol) but we’re having fun so it’s all good!
got to hitch a ride to the show for once, given my truck’s current power steering predicament!! so doozy got a friend <3 <3
Tho we had a slight switch up in plans at kinda the last minute. My truck has been doing …ok with keeping the fluids topped up while we awaited our appointment (it’s finally in the shop now tho, whew) but idk. The leak is definitely getting worse and I had visions of a full blown power steering failure.
So ya know. It just so happened that a barn mate and I were going to the same show on the same day, and she had an unexpected open trailer spot. What a luxury!
they were very good traveling partners but also didn’t get overly attached. love it!
And idk what it was about this show, but there was a definite sorta vibe going on. We called it the “tan pants” vibe. Maybe it’s bc the weather turned cool and damp (at least in the morning, the afternoon was lovely breezy sunshine!), and horses were frisky, but by my unofficial count at least half the competitors were in tan (vs white) breeches — including both me and my barn mate, without any prior discussion lol.
slightly dicey start to the day when an early rider had a very scary accident in trailer parking — possibly while putting studs in her horse’s shoe? she was wearing a helmet tho, which by some accounts maybe saved her life — and EMS decided to airlift her out. obviously hoping the rider is doing ok, and also grateful to the level of professionalism at loch moy that made it possible for her to get such immediate attention without delay while also somehow not really impacting the show schedule at all
It is an unrecognized schooling event, after all — you can wear basically whatever you want. But also, it seemed like everybody on the grounds was determined to enjoy themselves while not taking it too seriously.
Which was maybe the right call given there was a little bit of drama and carnage throughout the day — with a very scary early morning accident and then periodic rider falls / loose horses throughout the day. If ever there was a day to keep things in perspective, this was it.
anyway. nicer pics. no media from dressage but here is a representative photo of the princess herself from our lovely school the night before
Anyway, as it was, my barn mate and I had pretty great times. Not too early of a morning, not too late of a day. Times close enough to see almost all of each other’s rides, but not a long drawn out affair. Perfect!
And, my barn mate went first so Doozy got plenty of time for hand walkies and familiarization. Tho no hand grazing sadly, as there have been a few reported bugs going around and bio security is one of those things you usually don’t regret minding.
focusing on relaxation seems to be paying off!
We also got to walk over together when it was our dressage turn / their sj turn, as we were in adjacent rings. I think Doozy appreciated the friendly company! She was honestly very good in warm up. I stuck to my guns about prioritizing relaxation, and not fussing with the mare.
We walked for a long time. Then when I went to trot, she immediately wanted to canter. NBD, we just went straight into canter and did some work there. Then Doozy was able to come back to trot and find a nice balance. Rinse repeat — walk break, canter, nice trot work again — then it was our turn.
click for full size
The test itself was a little less good. Doozy was still clearly very tense, plus there were like 4 back to back porta potty doors that slammed behind us right as we were circling the ring. That’s obvi just an excuse, but it didn’t help Doozy find her zen. We cantered a couple circles before trotting in at A, and the test proceeded in some ways similarly to past tests.
We still had significant loss of rhythm in various movements that at a rated show would be called “canter” lol. But in between all that, I tried really really hard to look for opportunities to let go and ask Doozy to lengthen her neck. And Doozy did, omg!
next up: show jumping!
Like. Not perfect, far from it. And from the outside looking in, it’s maybe still the same bad test. Tho I will say, this judge seemed willing and able to look past the tension and see the good moments. Compared to tests where we’re kinda fighting the whole way around with a tight constricting rider and short-necked inverted horse, there’s really no silver lining there for even the most generous judge, ya know?
So I’m feeling like, for at least our own personal purposes, this slight change in tactics might be our best path forward for now.
it wasn’t our best ever course, but i’m actually really happy with how doozy went
Anyway! We watched our barn mate jump sj and xc after our test, then had about an hour before our own turn — having already walked the courses earlier upon first arriving. Doozy was super relaxed in the break, eating hay and drinking water and basically just being chill with her barn buddy. #LovedIt
she was honestly super chill — to the point where i probably needed to actually participate slightly more LOL
Then we were fairly chill for the sj warm up, given that SJ was about 20min behind schedule. Probably we were too chill in my tactics, but I had my reasons and kinda was in more ‘science experiment’ mode vs ‘competitor’ mode.
we got around no muss, no fuss, tho two silly rails
There were literally a ZILLION horses ahead of us when we arrived, so I stood around for a LONG time at the in gate just chillin and watching the course. Then when we were about 10 out, I started walking around, then eventually picked up to start work, and then jumped some fences.
All of that went reasonably well, and I was satisfied with our jumping efforts. So considering the ring kept filling and filling with more horses and riders, I opted to call it good and spent the last 5-7min waiting at the gate. When Doozy better understands the game and the pattern, I probably will prefer to not spend quite so long standing, but on a day when I wanted to maximize relaxation? Eh, fiiiiiiine.
who cares, tho, look at me actually letting the mare travel forward! and look at the mare doing so in an almost relaxed manner lol
took forever to get around the course, tho, lots of weird long turns
Tho she did sorta wake up as we went along, and did have a few moments of running. But all in all, it was the kind of ride with a slight lack of rhythm that you’d typically attribute to the rider not enforcing a good balance in front of the leg. Which like. HELL YES, normal technique problems!! Kinda a vastly different question than just getting dragged careening around the course, amirite?
eventually tho we made it all the way around!
Obvi it would have been cooler to ride better and not have the two rails, but like, hey, that’s the type of problem I WANT to have. So honestly even tho it was kinda an uneven effort with a few “bleh” jumps… Eh, I’ll take it! It was a MUCH better feeling for both of us than Waredaca.
finally a proper sj video, not just helmet cam!
Anyway. We took that feeling on over to cross country. My goals for the day were basically to try to make it as smooth and flow-y as possible. We’ve had time penalties at both our rated events this year, for what I believe were good and intentional reasons — trotting and cantering specific areas etc — but ya know. We’ve certainly been doing this level long enough, maybe let’s try to make a smooth go of it.
doozy was excited to leave the xc start box lol — those nostrils OMG
It was a nice course too — the first three jumps were a little funny, wrapping around the warm up space in a down hill loop that we opted to sorta take with patience. In fact, Doozy came back for a little jiggity jog over both of them, which felt like a useful and timely reminder for her to be patient.
started to get into a nice rhythm around jump 4
After which we settled into a quite pleasant rhythm for the rest of the (very short, ~850m) course. We had a nice little sweep through the midfield with fun semi close together jumps, and I worked very hard to focus on not snatching back or throttling down the mare, and instead let her carry a forward balance.
then just cruised around the short course!
Next was the water — a quite nice little option, too! There was a dry route riders could take that had an extra jump, which imo it would have been cooler if you could manage to get the extra jump AND get the water, but alas it looked a little awkward so I just went for the water.
imho this is quite a nice water option for the level!!
Doozy’s clearly been ready to proceed at speed thru the water for some time now, but I’ve just been a little hesitant. This would be our day, tho, and Doozy boldly cantered thru — straight ahead to her little cutout roll top! Good mare!
and doozy cantered through like a pro <3
Next was a ditch option, which obvi we chose the ditch. It’s a super friendly obstacle — properly dug out, but slightly filled in the middle, with a very easy to read approach for the horses.
**finally** got to jump this sweet little ditch!
Doozy was obviously aces, obviously. Then nothing left to do but gallop up the hillside toward the finish line!
very short course but very fun!
Again, I did my best to allow her to carry on for a bit before carefully and gently reorganizing. And she jumped the last great!
what we’ve all been waiting for:: XC!!
So pleased with this mare. Nothing can ever be quite easy with her, it seems, but the moments that are good are great. And on this day, imo we had some exciting moments in all three phases.
chowing down at the trailer before packing up for home
What I really want at this moment in time are smooth reliable experiences where I can focus on riding proactively and Doozy can work on recognizing the “game” itself (especially re: dressage). I want it to feel easy enough that we can just nitpick the details, ya know?
Or, uh, perhaps finally move up a level without worrying about blasting a hole in the bottom of our fragile little DoozCanoe if she has a frantic moment and things are a little harder.
lol she apparently resented that i didn’t want to wait around for our own pretty pink 5th place ribbon too <3 but hey — after a season of shaky scores, we’re finally into the points for year end awards!
All in good time, tho. On this day, we enjoyed our fun carefree outing (and first actual points scored for the year with our 5th place finish, yay!) — and Future Emma can appreciate the relatively easy laundry load lol.
