beaver moon

Whelp it finally happened. The clocks finally changed, and we’re officially into post-season territory. 

it’s so pretty at dusk — almost makes up for the early nightfall!

As much as I’d like to complain tho… Well, eh, it’s actually been a pretty mild and pleasant week, all things considered. Still practically t-shirt weather (maybe with a light layer), and obvi a pretty relaxed vibe this week given our last big outing of the season is over.

pic from our last lesson before the show, but also representative of what we’ll be doing today too

Or at least, last big ‘competitive’ outing. Realistically speaking, I’ll probably stay on the books with Woodge until she heads south for the winter. And I’m also looking to more proactively front load the winter season calendar with educational activities like clinics and things.

last lesson before the show focused on the small footwork grid in top left corner

Last winter I put together a calendar of epic proportions, with all manner of dressage and gymnastic sessions with some very exciting clinicians (like an old favorite, Martin Douzant!). 

But we only made it to the first big to-do  — an xc clinic on the Loch Moy derby course with Sharon White. The rest of our plans fell apart when winter hit us with two big back to back storms, and then Doozy got that suspected hoof bruise and spent the next four months NQR….

set myself a grid at home with more, er, *height* to finish show prep. naturally it poured buckets the day before so we had to be inside, but made it work anyway

Naturally that could happen again this year. Somehow, despite being such a manic control freak, I still haven’t figured out how to bend mother nature to my will, le sigh. 

pretty mare + pretty moon

But ya know. Hope springs eternal. Or something like that. November is my birthday month, and I always like to treat myself to something horsey. There are two clinic opportunities this month on my radar that look super exciting, too. And I also have a Loch Moy schooling pass set to expire by the end of the year burning a hole in my pocket. Hopefully will find a use for that too!

she’s trying to figure out why i’m so late in arriving

But ya know. Scheming aside, we’re mostly kinda just easing into the season. Our outdoor ring at home isn’t lighted, so we’ve been mostly relegated to the indoors since the time change. It’s not my favorite for a few reasons — 1) it can be pretty spooky to Doozy when we’re alone; but then 2) it’s hard to do much more than loose figures and circles when sharing with lessons. 

“where have you been????” — doozy, eager for her #afterdinnersnacks

So the nature of our rides naturally has to shift a little bit. Less of a focus on immersing completely into one of our Brit-bot ride guides, bc realistically it’s just not practical to go deep on specific exercises, gaits or figures when you’re sharing a 30x40m space with lesson ponies who may or may not cut every corner. 

who could resist that sweet face???

Instead, it’s a much more relaxed vibe. Riding Doozy as long and low as she’s willing to go, loose floaty forward gaits, sweeping figures, changes of directions, transitions, riding our footsteps intentionally and smoothly off minimalistic seat and leg aids, as we thread the needle amidst the lesson kiddos. 

For now, that’s good enough to still be a lovely way to unwind and unplug after yet another day spent working in spreadsheets or on zoom calls lol. Tho maybe as the season wears on I’ll get more ambitious and try to spice it up with grid nights or something. 

Who knows, we’ll see! And in the meantime, we’ll enjoy our lowkey casual rides <3

summer fun

Ya know. There are a LOT of reasons why I still keep this blog active. 

Number 1: it’s glorified storage for all my photos and videos, with easy-to-search index and archive. 

Number 2: I’ve always been into journaling and documenting all the memories, adventures, and travels, however humble they may be.

and just like that, summer is HERE

But Number 3 is maybe the real unsung hero: it serves as a (relatively) accurate and faithful record of my general emotional state about all the above. 

And that’s…. important…. bc to be totally honest with you, virtually ALL of my general anxieties, neuroses and various personality quirks charms have almost nothing to do with whatever horse I’m riding (successfully or otherwise) and **everything** to do with just…. Who I am as a person.

look who regained tying privileges at the trailer!!

So after a schooling outing like our trip to Shawan last week, when it might have been easy to feel anxious about an apparent lack of progress, or frustrated with myself for not being better or whatever… Well. It takes no time at all to look back at last year’s post about the same outing — reviewing the footage, objectively assessing the Doozy of then to the Doozy of today. 

Or, to take it a step further, it’s just as easy to go back to outings with Charlie where we were quite easily bopping around N stuff with the occasional T jump thrown in. And. Go figure, my attitudes and anxieties and neuroses are almost always exactly the same lol. 

good girl, Dooz. just behave pls!

Which I’m choosing to see as… a good thing LOL. At least when it comes to feeling satisfaction and fulfillment with this particular chapter in the journey with Ms. Mondeuse. It’s not that we actually suck, it’s just that I’m generally inclined to believe so! 

Which, fortunately, is a mental habit I can sorta ‘name+shame’ and put out of mind while I go out and enjoy myself on more horsey adventures lol.

getting back aboard the cross tie train too…. i just wish the ceilings were a little lot higher in these grooming bays!

Like this week! When we went back to another lesson on remedial trotting (and sometimes remedial walking, and occasionally a little canter too!) with new local 5* coach. 

As much as I wish we’d get around to doing some jumping in these lessons, and as firmly as I believe the coach might be a little more inclined to think Doozy CAN be civilized if she sees us doing more than just flat work.. Well. Let’s be real, there’s plenty of work to be done on the fundamentals. So we persist. 

photos not from our lesson, but more or less maybe representative. a barn mate snagged some random footage from our ride the other night <3 <3

Right now we’re basically entirely focused on establishing key rules of the ride: 

1) I have to get my legs onto the horse right away, and keep them on — even and especially when Doozy might have unfavorable opinions. 

2) Shoulder control. Forever. Proactively, and responsive to Doozy’s tendencies to fall in or out relative to wherever the gate is. 

3) True bend. Not just the neck. And not always to the inside, maybe a little counter bend here and there to spice things up. But bend. In response to the aids. 

PROOF that she CAN trot poles haha

Woodge’s philosophy and approach to the training is, in some ways, very similar to my coach of a decade ago, Dan: She believes that establishing and maintaining these rules gets harder with increased speed, and that if we’re having trouble with any of it, to slow down and reorganize again at a lower gait. 

nbd just trying to figure out how to walk and chew gum at the same time…
(me, not the mare)

And in this manner, we essentially did a lesson of transitions. Which, frankly, is very different from my standard sort of ‘ride package,’ which any of you who watched any of those wall-mounted camera videos from this winter will know: I kinda tend to just get into gear and trot around continuously for 4-5 minutes at a time. 

Woodge didn’t necessarily think that was a bad or wrong thing… But she’s not sure it’s really helping me achieve what I want in Doozy’s responsiveness to the aids. Especially if I’m letting her kinda just blow me off (aka ‘settle onto the aids’) for the first few minutes. 

omg doozy it’s reeeeeeally not that exciting girlfriend!

She doesn’t think every single ride needs to be a military drill on precision and promptness or whatever… But, she also thinks that practicing these fundamentals is likelier to get us more bang for our buck at this moment in our journey. 

The lesson was almost entirely focused on small circles — occasionally yielding in or out, not a true spiral but just little feelings of it here and there — with relatively frequent changes of direction. Sometimes by traveling over a line of trot poles in the center of our figure of 8, sometimes not. And when Doozy had trouble with rushing the poles, nbd, just walk before we get to them, pass through, then trot again.

this is why we get demerits in our actual lessons, whoops

In a way, the ride reminded me a fair amount of allllll those ground pole sessions we did last summer. Remember the endless pictures of arrays of ground poles and little X’s with poles on takeoff and landing? And remember how we just rinsed and repeated again and again until it was boring? 

Yea, this ride was in some ways a lot like that. Which was a maybe timely reminder that… Ya know. Maybe I should do more of that again in my rides at home LOL. Hey, it’s worked for us before, right??

houston, we have achieved full** cross ties!!
(**post-ride (when tensions are lower) and still not in The Bay Where it Happened)

Anyway. Lessons like this can feel tedious and tiring and like we don’t have much to show for it… Except honestly I’m *HERE* for it. Doozy can be such a good girl, she WANTS to color inside the lines. The more clear and consistent and disciplined I can be with myself and my approach, the better she will go. 

It’s like how lessons with Dan ten years ago were frequently tagged with my “fail” label lol bc they often felt messy and hard. But that was literally by design, literally the point: these training sessions are supposed to expose the weak spots so that we can work on them, ya know?

perks of frequent volunteerism: at least my ill-conceived plans don’t always have to cost a lot!

And anyway, Doozy proved (yet again) that she benefits from consistent clear direction when she finally just walked onto the trailer like her normal easy self after the lesson, for the first time since our meltdown at Thornridge. 

Not that she’s been bad since then, per se. Obvi, if I’m still able to ship out on schedule and by myself lol… But she has recently required a little more convincing than previously, in a way I don’t love. But after this ride she was completely perfect and just walked right on, good girl!

So ya know. Cool. I can work with those parameters. Hopefully still with the context of getting out and about for fun adventures — of the more ‘bite sized’ variety. Next up: a suuuuuuuper low key trip to Loch Moy this weekend for another one of those “pick your test / clear rounds jumpers” days like we did last summer. This time maybe with some coaching, woohoo! And all for the bargain price of <$20 bc Loch Moy treats their volunteers like royalty. Yes Pls!

Whatever it takes, amirite? 

cursed chaos

If for some weird reason, archeologists from the future examined my credit card statements to analyze what Doozy and I got up to this past month, they might reasonably believe our January was… Epic.

winter: not as epic as advertised

Like all well-intentioned plans, ours was slated to be awesome. We’d capitalize on the momentum from the December clinic with Sharon White by starting the month with an entry in Loch Moy’s January XC Derby.  

“Reading the News Feed”

Then, straight back to basics with another clinic — this time with Martin Douzant, with whom I lessoned a few times with Charlie to excellent effect and have been very eager to try again. 

Derailment #1 of 2025

Then the next week, another cavaletti clinic with our favorite dressage trainer C (one of the last real activities Charlie did before retiring), and the week after - another dressage clinic but this time with a different local professional who has long been on my list. And ya know, a few other options for shuffling things around should need be. Gotta have options!

It was a worthy experiment i guess, but the bit wrap had to go

Except. Well. Options or no options, literally NONE of that happened. Wompppp lol.

Somebody has been a bit wild. Must be the other red one tho…

It all started innocently enough — Doozy got a nasty bruise from ice accumulations jammed up in her shoe that already had me doubting if we’d be ok for the derby anyway. But Lo! The polar vortex arose and they rescheduled once, before ultimately cancelling entirely.

Trying to persist and persevere thru the cold weather

Meanwhile, Doozy was slow to recover from the bruise while somewhat less slowly descending into winter-induced Cabin Fever with a Capital F (the “U” is implied).

But wait, something’s not quite right here!

Eye I warned Trainer C that Doozy was likely to be a certifiable lunatic for the cavalleti clinic since we’d missed so much saddle time. But ya know. Joke’s on me anyway, as usual.

Ugh, derailment #2 of 2025

Doozy must have been watching me hook up the trailer from her field, bc once I brought her in, it was easy to see (puns, I have them) she was in no shape for a schooling session: her eye was swollen weepy and sore, poor nugget!

Luckily resolved without prescription intervention

Technically I could have waited to see what the eye would look like the next morning before calling it on the clinic… Except…. Ehhhh I really don’t love cancelling at the last minute when it can be avoided. Plus. Real talk. The mare needed ridden in order to be prepared for the clinic. And she couldn’t be ridden with her eye like that. So she wouldn’t be prepared. So we wouldn’t go. End of story. 

Barn cats are getting more use out of my trailer than me :(

Naturally her eye WAS totally fine the next day (tho I’d consulted with my vet anyway and treated with some OTC flushing solutions), but them’s the breaks sometimes. 

You’d never know there’d been a problem!

Oh, and I skipped the part about the Martin Clinic. Ugh, that got eaten by the polar vortex too — and rescheduled for a date when I’m not available. Curses, yo. 

she’s trying to look civilized lol

And yet, we persist! Bc we love it and are fulfilled by the process etc etc etc, right?? So I finally was able to get some semblance of a routine under saddle going again, with a deep focus on just getting our work done while overlooking / ignoring all the ‘noise.’

Pretty biscuit

Engaging the tension and ignoring the drama, right?

Looking suspiciously serene in the snow

And I will say, even tho Doozy and I have decidedly gone a bit backwards in our work this month (for example, this ride feels almost unattainable at the moment) — the quality of the brief moments we do accomplish gives me a lot of satisfaction. 

It’s no secret this horse thrives on routine and consistent work. It’ll naturally be harder for us when that routine gets blown up. I’m sure we’ll get right back up to it once conditions improve.

Nooooo!!!!

So obviously Doozy got herself another new ding in the meantime LOL(sob).

Ugh mare, pls just be pretty :(

This one is (fortunately) just cosmetic, at least, tho she was a little ginger on it at first. 

So many things we could be doing

Oh and then I had to leave town for a work retreat, and picked up one of the many nasty bugs going around on the way home and have been basically flatlined for a few days — thus spelling doom for our final clinic scheduled for this past weekend with the other local dressage trainer. Siiiiiigh.

It’s all ahead of us, tho, i guess

So ya know. As they say, the ‘best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.’ But, the silver lining is that, as far as Doozy is concerned, not only does none of that even matter — it might as well never have even happened! (Well, ok, it legitimately didn’t happen, but you know what I mean).

From Doozy’s perspective, January was basically one big vacation with the occasional silly schooling session. She’s looking great and feeling fiiiine, so eh. Bring it on, February!!*

(*But like, maybe less chaos pls!)

coming into focus

This 'new horse' journey with Doozy has honestly been full of surprises. It's not at all what I expected, and at times it's still really really hard. But she's also been an incredibly rewarding horse to work with, and consistently steps up to the plate -- seems to want to step up. 

farm walkies with Mondeuse!

We are 8 months into this journey together now, believe it or not. And it's interesting to compare with the first 8 months with Charlie. He was farther along at this point, but the contours of our early days also looked a LOT different. 

Recall, Charlie came home to what was basically a new-to-me boarding barn. I'd lessoned there on and off over the years (particularly, pre-Isabel), but we were essentially still new to the community. New horse, new barn family, new everything, had me feeling a lot of urgency to get things moving along enough with Charlie where we could get to shipping out to our normal lesson haunts and start riding with friends again.

nature walkies too --- remember when crossing that little stream ahead of us was a big deal? me neither!

That, combined with Charlie's general laid back disposition, meant that his under-saddle work progressed pretty quickly. And let's be real, here. I was also a bit impatient.

getting acquainted with the fish bowl / water trough

Maybe I felt like I had something to prove? The way things ended with Isabel left me feeling a bit defeated. We had done so much together, had so many adventures. She was such an incredible horse and gave me so much, that when I was ultimately unable to resolve her stopping issue... it was hard not to feel responsible. 

But I didn't own the horse, and ultimately did not have permission to pursue potential veterinary interventions... so, c'est la vie, right? And by the time Charlie entered the picture, I felt bound and determined to "get back" to where Isabel and I had been.

i thought i'd get video of cute splish-splashies,
but instead she just tried to scratch my nice bridle lol

The picture is a bit different now with Doozy, tho. On one hand, we're safely ensconced in an established and wonderful barn family -- with plenty of friends who have happily been good vibe-y riding buddies for a very fresh green OTTB. With so many resources at home, Doozy has spent far less time on the trailer shipping out to lessons etc. 

Meanwhile, I'm intentionally trying to be a little less 'urgent' about things. Originally the idea was that Charlie would keep me occupied enough to protect against impatience, although that has yet to prove true (he's still not particularly sound, sigh). 

can't stand still / won't stand still lol

But Doozy has made her own impressions anyway. She's not really a horse that can be rushed or squished into things or "gotten around" by hook or by crook. Quite a few times now with this mare, my lofty aspirations have crashed down to basic reality. Often in kinda... deflating ways. 

Like a couple days ago, on a gusty windy day after what felt like endless rain... I thought maybe Doozy and I would amble up to the jump ring for a little solo school. Which, eh, we did technically "make it" to the jump ring -- tho "amble" isn't quite the right way to describe how we got there. And I only stayed long enough to do a little courtesy circle by the gate before exiting to immediately head for the safety of the indoor. Where we proceeded to have a slightly wild and wooly session more reminiscent of her earliest rides. 

oooh i bought a pro photo from Hunt Club!! not bc like, we make a nice picture at the moment (hint: if you took away the boards in the background you'd never guess we're mid dressage test by either of our postures!)... but bc hey, we did it! and also grateful for the photogs who stuck around all day lol

The thing is --- there were so many silver linings to that ride, right? Like, first of all, we rode up from the barn, actually hacking successfully to and from the jump ring along the way. Which... remember when Doozy could barely hand walk around the farm?

Secondly, Doozy actually was able to stand for me to open and close the sliding doors from the saddle both to enter and exit the indoor -- a first for her. And then rode back down to the barn post-ride in a very civilized fashion.  

can ride in the rain!

So yea. On one hand, the riding still isn't 'good,' per se, but it isn't bc Doozy isn't learning, right? Like, actually, it feels like she's learning so much. 

Remember when she wouldn't stand still for the dismount? Or when she'd drag me around the ring while I tried to run up the stirrups and loosen the girth after a ride? Not bc she was being bad, but just bc... that's how they did it at the track, right? ALL of that has improved, and not bc I'm some sort of ground work guru LOL, but just bc she's figuring it out.

and we've had LOTS of rain

It's easy to get frustrated and demoralized about the actual under saddle work not being further along... mostly bc, wow sometimes it's just plain hard to work up the mental fortitude for yet another frenzied flurry of attempted trot circles lol.... No joke, I'm grateful every day for how 'easy' Charlie was in many, many ways!

But, eh, then there are the rides where Doozy just knocks me over with a feather, when she proves that, "Actually I'm really trying to listen and give correct answers -- I just need to understand the question!" Like when I finally clearly communicate, Yes we do actually want a slow trot, and then she does it. 

more farm walkies... bc guys, getting proficient at strolling around the farm is a BIG DEAL for us!

Doozy can trot around like a maniac, often breaking into canter at the least provocation. But when she knows I want to walk, I can literally chuck the reins at her and she still transitions down. So... It's clearly just a training issue of her not understanding what we want in the trot (maybe she's a bit philosophical about it lol -- "what's the point of doing it if you don't do it FAST?").

In recent weeks, tho, we've had a breakthrough. She seems to learn the best, go the best, balance the best, when I can push my reins forward to her. Which like, duh haha. But on a horse who wants to get racey and inverted and on the muscle, it's hard to find those moments, right? 

So I dug into the archives to an old Dan C lesson with Isabel where we worked on stretchy trot, and his instruction was basically to sit the trot deeply and slowwwww it down until the horse comes over her back and wants to stretch -- then push the contact forward and post and praise. Rinse repeat forever. And it's working!! Doozy seems to understand!

basically every riding area on the farm requires some level of commute from the barn

Which ya know. Is such a good feeling. Also a feeling made possible by all the other little skills Doozy has learned over the past months -- like how to accept leg aids, how to bend, how to balance, all the things. Just very very slowly introducing her to all the various micro-skills, then putting them together into something that might eventually look like a proper trot.

pretty magnolias!!

The best way I can describe Doozy is that, 'she colors inside the lines.' She wants to be good, wants to learn, and often seems quite interested in the job -- esp if it involves jompies! And she's actually learning some things quite quickly --- it just doesn't exactly look like the Syllabus of Under Saddle Skills that I maybe expected after Charlie. 

So we carry on and keep working on it. With some stuff on the schedule for April that will hopefully address some of the gaps in her rider's ability to establish good under saddle work (hint: lessons, lol). 

It's always useful and exciting to have stuff on the calendar to look forward to, tho I'm working very hard to not fall into the stress trap of zillions of interdependencies, dominoes that have to fall in exactly the right way in order for my plans to work. Just wanna be here to enjoy the ride lol! So we'll see. Anybody else getting excited about the spring season?

woodland creatures

Happy Friday, everybody! We are finally getting a break from the heatwave, just in time for the weekend! And even better -- I don't have any major plans keeping me busy either. Yay!

barn cat-mouflage

Not that it makes much of a difference, since of course Charlie is still healing.... It's just gonna take the time it takes, ya know? But maybe we'll get out for some wanderings anyway? We'll see. 

lol be scared, Bess!

In the meantime, I'm getting excited looking into fall, and even winter! Situations being changeable, as always, a new and kinda major opportunity just opened up at our barn, with a very experienced and very credentialed resource suddenly becoming available. 

And said resource turns out to be really eager to share her knowledge and expertise with the rest of us mere mortals, specifically in the form of bi-weekly or monthly in-barn activities!!!!!

i know these are kinda dinky ribbons... but aren't they fun?

We organized the first activity for this past week, an in-house twilight fix-a-test dressage clinic (taking advantage of the dressage court set up from last week's recognized horse trials). 

Obviously I was disappointed to give up my entry after Charlie went through his second high tensile wire fence in as many weeks.... But a major silver lining was that my spot was taken by, omg, Amy and Punky!!! They've been rarer than hen's teeth here on ye olde blogge... and for reasons and stuff... But omg they did a thing and it was good!

ready to rock 'n roll at this fix-a-test clinic!

It was overall a super fun day, too. The forecast was slightly violent, but we managed to get through our schedule before the storms hit. My bootleg (shh don't tell anybody) dressage scoring sheets were easy to use, as was the quick scoring form I whipped up in google sheets. 

Plus we got everybody's cell phone set up right on the judge's table (see photo) to record their test from the judge's perspective, complete with comments and scores in real time. There were special ribbons for "High Score" and "Most Improved," and much fun was had by all!  

meanwhile, in charlieland.....

We'll hopefully get another couple of these types of activities on the schedule, but I'm also trying to brainstorm other formats for when it's dark out and we can't monopolize an entire lighted ring for one horse at a time. 

clearly living his best life, minus the tussles with tensile obvi

This judge also specializes in gymnastics and cavaletti type activities too, so maybe we'll do some sort of group night type thing? Anybody know of any way to game-ify grids or ground pole exercises? A way to sorta get scores and ribbons and stuff, while also focusing on educational outcomes? Hit me up, lol.

SIR! these choices that you are making!! stahhp! 

Charlie, for his part, seems to be feeling better and better. While the leg blew up enormously for a day or two after his most recent incident, it's actually looking quite good. We're still using the schmoo daily, tho it doesn't seem to have as much long-term stick as Swat. I'll compare notes after a few more days.

why can't he be agile like this in the dressage ring? LOL

at least he can't be feeling too too sore!

The horse is happy, tho, and that's what matters haha. He's such a goon -- this particular pasture from the photos is definitely his favorite bc he likes to get allll the way into the stream to find the deepest pools to drink from -- which naturally necessitates scampering and skittering across all those gigantic boulders etc. Not exactly something you'd think he'd be any good at. 

literally a different picture from a different day, sent to me by a barn mate. this goofy horse, i swear

But he seems to love it haha, leaping around like a friggin 1,400lb mountain goat LOL.... 

And I know, I know... letting horses loose into streams is ecologically devastating... Just remember, tho, this ain't my stream, and it's various branches have had decades of loose horses wandering through it on this farm. So we can enjoy Charlie's little slice of cuteness, yes? Yes :)

Anyway. Hope y'all are leaping into the weekend with as much enthusiasm as Charlie!