feeding frenzy

Happy Monday, friends! It’s been a bit of a whirlwind around these parts for… hm, basically the last full month. I actually straight up cancelled all my plans this weekend to just chill out and slow down. It was super nice, not gonna lie!

doozy is obsessed with these specific leaves and legit drags me to them
srsly tho, look at those flared nostrils!

And gave me the perfect opportunity to get a whoooole bunch of random photos off my phone and recorded here in ye olde blogge for posterity, if not exactly for some sort of cohesive story line lol. So, uh, brace yo’self for the randomness!

new tailgate spot this year!! 
(purple dot)

First up, obviously my friends and I had our big annual To-Do at the Maryland 5*!! I always love making a whole big thing of it — with volunteering Thursday and Friday at the YEH Championships, then tailgating Saturday, and then show jumping / shopping on Sunday.

Allison Springer & HTS Jenson in the 3* at our prior tailgate location

And this year did not disappoint! Every year is a little different, It’s still a very young event and they tweak and change things with each running. For example, our tailgate spot of the last 2 years was absorbed into another area, so we relocated up the hill to the Sunken Road complex. 

Monica Spencer & Artist in the 5* at the new spot. not bad!

And guys, it was a fantastic spot! A super cool (and influential) combination to watch, plus a big screen to follow along with the action. AND a liquor store literally directly across the street — convenient when I realized we needed more ice + coolers. Plus, this tailgate section is on the opposite side of the ropes from the normal spectator paths, so we never had to deal with crowds. 

It was a great day with a wonderful melting pot of so many horsey friends over the years, including our core original group, friends from the last boarding barn, Charlie’s barn, Doozy’s current barn, and even some folks from the Isabel days. So fun, I’m already excited for next year!

and meanwhile, doozy <3 <3

Per usual, I did all my shopping on show jump day too. Unfortunately didn’t get pictures of everything yet, but am pretty pleased with my haul. Biggest priority was a shimmable half pad, since Doozy and I continue to be frustrated by weird fit issues related to our combined crooked mechanics.

new shimmable half pad from shopping at the 5*

Like, both saddles fit the horse. But they also both shift in exactly the same way over the course of a ride bc Doozy and I are both dynamic and moving beings who apparently don’t adhere rigorously enough to postural ideals. Womp. 

brand is ErrePlus, comparable to the Mattes pads

This particular half pad appealed to me bc it’s predominantly natural fibers — with the sheepskin lining and wool shims. But it’s also extremely non-bulky. So it can be as “barely there” as you want it to be, with a nice progressive set of shims for precision adjustments. So far, so good, I’ll keep you posted. 

also got a few new pairs of breeches at the 5* — finally, purple pants!! and green!!

Other shopping items were maybe less exciting — I got a couple pairs of Romfh breeches from the same booth I always pick up a pair or two. For whatever reason they always have the inside line on Romfh deals, legit maybe the only good “deal” to be had in the entire vendor village!

equine artist Darlene Ivey had the most incredible prints, you should follow her on insta if you’re into that sort of thing!

Tho independent small business Sona Equestrian definitely won the award for best prints used across the most inspired selection of products! I picked up a pair of socks, but was also completely smitten with her charming shower curtains, notebooks and notecards, tumblers, totes, and so many other items, definitely check her out!

all the better for our low key schooling practice on terrain in random paddocks lol

I’m also working on getting Doozy back onto the cross ties reliably in our grooming bays at home, and picked up some really really cool rapid release devices from our friends at Nunn Finer. I’ll get actual pictures + thoughts when I’ve got them properly set up.

pictured:: mare who ignored the nets when they were full….

Ok. Whew. So yea the 5* took up a lot of time and energy (and miles driving LOL), but life goes on and Doozy naturally requires her due as well! Obvi we had our big Windurra outing a couple days later, and I was slightly miffed to observe that… Doozy wasn’t really touching her hay nets in the trailer.

musical chairs hay piles!

I’d noticed the same at the Area Championships, but thought maybe it was just a funny weedy bale or something, so I filled another couple nets for the trip. Obvi the idea of a 3 hour round trip without palatable hay doesn’t sound great to me, so when she left basically all those nets untouched after Windurra, I opted to dump them all out in her paddock and start from scratch.

apparently much more palatable when not in a net…

My very first riding instructor (at whose barn I first learned chores) always said to leave a hay pile for the “invisible horse.” As in, enough piles for however many horses are in the group, plus one. Her rationale being that the dominant horses will always push around the meeker horses, and you want an obvious open spot for them to go.

good girl, eat your vegetables!

Doozy is such a tyrant with her ponies, tho, that I opted to leave enough piles for **two** invisible horses LOL. And somehow, go figure, the hay was much tastier when she didn’t have to fight a net for it. Ugh, horses. 

so you can grow big and strong for our adventures!

In the meantime, I picked up a bale of timothy / orchard mix from the local feed store. At ~$14 a bale, it’s more expensive than just buying a regular bale from my barn as I’d been doing… But, eh, peace of mind, right? It’s hard to ride an unhappy belly.

i might be biased, but i think she’s extremely handsome <3

So that brings us up mostly to real time. Doozy and I had a bit of an uneven few schooling sessions post-Windurra. Not ‘bad’ rides, per se, but probably the ‘least good’ since we started using our recorded ride guides. I think my most recent version is just a little too long, making it more likely that I’ll deviate from the plan and possibly tune it out a bit. 

and so is our hacking buddy Dante! 

Plus, obvi, it seems reasonable that we might both be a little tight after such a big cross country schooling session! Fortunately it worked out that we were scheduled for another body work / chiro / acupuncture session. 

Doozy still doesn’t love these sessions as much as Charlie did, but she’s getting better. And the practitioner seems really pleased with the mare’s development and condition, so that’s always super reassuring!

good mare, always marching eagerly ahead haha

Anyway. We closed out the weekend with a lovely hack through the fields and woods. Our foliage is finally peaking and daytime temps are still super mild in the 60s, what’s not to love, right?

as a reward for making it thru all those pics, here’s my cat,
as he discovers the radiators are on for the season!

Not gonna lie, it felt super nice to have a relatively quiet weekend. This time of year I’m always so tempted to get swept up into a whirlwind of trying to do all the things bc “winter is coming!” But ya know. There’s still plenty of the fall season ahead of us!!

friday foto finish: tack + trees

Happy Friday, folks! It’s been a nice quiet week around these parts, but per usual I still managed to take an inordinate amount of pictures….

why yes, we do occasionally hack about in fly boots lol, why do you ask?

I’ll start with the “trees” half bc honestly, what is there really to say about another jaunt out thru the hayfields and woods surrounding our home barn? We’ve got a good “normal” circuit routine at this point, and try to get out as close to weekly as possible. Tho, realistically, it’s usually more like 2-3x a month.

you can almost see the start of changing seasons

We go with friends whenever possible, but often we’re solo. Which is nice in its own way. Doozy is a lot like Isabel was to hack: she is **marching, ma’am!** — and any attempts at slowing her roll are met with anything from mild annoyance to straight up indignation lol.

dropping down the valley to enter the low side of the woods

So ya know. Sometimes it’s nice to just hit the hills at our own speed lol.

hints of yellow already in the brush!

There’s been a log down by the creek bed for a couple weeks now, but actually we’ve been enjoying the “new” trail that’s cut into the high side of the woods. It’s still got a decent grade, but no straight up-or-down paths, plus the footing is loamy soil vs creekside rocks.

suspicious cabbage finally dying off for the season, much to doozy’s immense relief!

Anyway. After a couple days off post horse trial, we got going again with a relaxing evening hack, and then straight back to the salt mines while testing fun new consignment tack!

a strange purple-y pelt coming up thru the hay fields gives greater contour to the hillsides

Long story short, I finalized purchase of the Veritas Eximo. I like it and Doozy has gone well in it (especially compared to our various disastrous attempts at prior dressage saddle trials). I’ve wanted to get us into black tack for a while now, so. Here we go!

anyway. tack. imo this bridle looks more or less ok from the left side

Next stop was naturally to Maryland Saddlery to browse for appropriate accessories and accoutrements to complete the kit. Namely: Bridle, reins, bit, and saddle pad. And…. idk. I was happy walking out of the store, but am less sure now.

buckles and straps ‘n shit seem jankier from the right tho?

The bit is a very similar Myler to what we’ve been going in, tho it’s slightly longer (which I like) and actually has a very very small port (to which I’m more or less indifferent). The length factor, tho, really kinda puts me in a bind with bridle sizing. Doozy is technically a full / horse size — but could probably do better with cob cheek pieces. 

i like the sorta luxe flat black look of this noseband tho

I also don’t really like the crown piece on this bridle. For some reason, Doozy has kinda a weirdly large poll and I’ve ultimately preferred almost aggressively anatomic cutout / flexible crowns for her. Oh and the straight browband kinda bugs me too.

somewhat amazingly the consignment shop had almost the same spec myler we’ve been going in!

So idk. I like the simplicity of this bridle, and the leather is lovely… But it’s probably getting returned to the shop. Let me know in the comments if you think that’s a mistake tho!

oooh and a super nice pair of squishy soft Thinline reins that are a tad short but good ‘nuff!

I’ll probably keep the reins I picked up, tho. They’re technically the wrong length but that’s also probably why they were such a good price. They’re in great shape and feel lovely in the hand, so that’s good enough for me.

vote in the comments: is this color “ugly” or “elegant”????
(pls to ignore the brown stirrup leathers, thx!)
((am i the only one seeing uteri??))

The last bit of kit I picked up in this particular shopping trip was a schooling dressage pad. And I dunno guys… I like the fluffy quilting, and I think I like the color? Less sold on the gold trim, tho, ngl — esp paired with the white boots. Basically my goal is to be more or less understated.

she puts up with so much <3 <3

What do you think — should it all go back to the shop? Or would you keep some of it? 

And let’s not forget, I still need to think about leathers, irons, and maybe a different girth so those billets stop popping loose….

quiet on the set, please!

Happy New Year, y'all! Hope it's been a good one so far. The last few years have been so unpredictable, so much has changed... It's hard to even really know what to expect or even what I want to happen in 2025. 

sweet mare walkin up to the ring

I've got a few ideas bumping around in my head tho -- not really necessarily specifically "goals" or "intentions" for the year, or whatever... but maybe not that far off either. So maybe more to come on that later. For today, tho, more shopping!

finally pulled the trigger on testing out a Sprenger nathe

You might recall we marked Doozy's one year anniversary with an updated post on her day to day management,** including her current tack / equipment setup. In particular, I wasn't super satisfied with our bitting situation, and y'all encouraged me to try other styles of mouth and/or cheek piece bits. So I finally did it -- and acquired this lovely and simple Sprenger nathe!

(**Assuming I ever do get around to writing a post about setting goals / intentions / whatever for the coming year, one key evolution in my brain right now revolves around being better about self assessments versus self judgements. In that linked post, I wrote "I've never had good hands," which is squarely a judgement on myself, right? Perhaps a better way to think about it is, "Doozy has difficulty settling into contact when my hands are busy." This is more of an assessment of a situation or action, and therefore more actionable... or something LOL)

not to confuse you -- these two pics are from an earlier ride, from the last dressage saddle test ride

I've actually had the bit for a little while already, but with all the saddle trials and lessons and whatnot, it never seemed like quite the right time to make a big change like that. 

I suspected that Doozy would like it, but... Well, to be perfectly honest, I also suspected it was entirely possible that I'd have zero brakes dear lord jesus take the wheel. Ahem. So I didn't wanna introduce the change at a time when she was maybe already a little tense or frazzled like she'd been during the saddle test rides. 

the footage was not great bc a) it was not a great ride, and also b) that giant over-exposed sunspot front and center made it hard to see any details farther away

After our lovely relaxed ride earlier in the week, tho, the time seemed right. And it was! 

Well. Ok, actually it was kinda a difficult set of circumstances. The wind was absolutely howling all day. Not particularly cold, but constant and noisy. The indoor ring was occupied by a large group when we arrived, at which time they all exited almost immediately. Doozy is used to horses coming and going since we often time our rides to coincide with the changes of lesson groups... But it was still a lot.

she's still a cutie tho!

I had the trusty metronome going, tho, and just tried to stay laser focused on being stable and strong and quiet in my position. And if it felt like the wheels were coming off and I needed to abandon my position to do crazy things with my hands... Just shorten the reins and reset my position and focus on that steady tick-tock-tick-tock. 

the tack evolution continues

I'm not going to say that the contact was like... perfectly fixed or whatever... But Doozy had way more moments of finding it and staying on it, vs bouncing and chattering around at the end of the reins. Especially at canter, she seemed really at home.

It's a very quiet riding bit -- there really is not a lot of movement in the mouth piece, even tho it's still got the loose ring cheeks. It didn't feel like Doozy was running through it at all either, too. 

powdered up like a bebe's butt before getting blanketed to the gills for the impending polar vortex

I've never really had a horse who seemed to care one way or another about the finer points of bitting. Isabel was always lovely in her Sprenger KK, and with Charlie it was always about whether I'd be able to stop him or get him up off from leaning on the bit. 

Doozy is... obviously an entirely different animal haha, that's for sure. But I'm happy when she's happy, and guys.... she might just be happy with this nathe, omg! Obvi more testing is needed, and we'll wear it in our next lesson to get Trainer C's thoughts... but I'm optimistic!  

In any case, we'll see what happens. It's about to get pretty chilly around these parts so who knows how much riding will actually get done. And ya know. Limbo week is over, it's time to get back to real life and regular working hours LOL. C'est la vie, amirite.

fun times @ Fair Hill

You may have heard that the Maryland 5*, one of only two such rated competitions in North America (and the penultimate international 5* of the year) was this weekend at Fair Hill!

early morning view from the YEH volunteer's tent

Obvi being locals, my friends and I always like to make a big to do of the event. My typical habit is to spend the leading Thursday and Friday volunteering as jump crew for the associated event, the Young Event Horse Championships. 

Anna Jones making easy work of the **triple bar** set as Jump 1 for the 4 and 5 year olds

The event holds classes for qualified 4 and 5 year old horses, with conformation, dressage, and jumping phases. The horses are judged on their potential as future upper level superstars and most entries are piloted by professional riders (tho not all!). 

omgosh look at this Doozy Doppleganger in the 5yo class <3 <3
her name is Nausicaa, owned and ridden by Daphne Soares (jc Look Up to Heaven)

The jumping phase is my favorite -- it's set up a bit like a derby, starting with a mini show jumping course, then transitioning to a short xc course with limited technicality. The 4yos compete over novice (0.9m) sized fences and the 5yos over training (1.0m) level. 

Each entry gets 3 minutes of ring familiarization (including being allowed to walk up to all the fences and through the water etc) and then complete the course -- with each individual jumping effort receiving a score, plus overall scores on rideability, gallop, way of going, and potential.  

pictured: #goals for Doozy LOL

For my purposes, I just like watching the class! It's really cool seeing the Big Name Riders out there with their greenies and then watching those same horses develop over the coming years. One of the most impressive this go-round was Blacklist, ridden by Allie Knowles. They didn't win, but he's one to watch out for in the future!

If you're curious about the format, here's a video of Caroline Pamukcu & HSH Afterglow winning the 4yo class last year. This same pair finished 3rd in the 5yos this year too!

onto the main event --- XC day tailgating tent, all set up and ready for the party to arrive!

Anyway, the other benefit of volunteering in the lead up days is that I get a free general admission pass for the rest of the weekend, including the feature event -- Cross Country Day! This is the third year my friends and I have hosted a tailgate and it's just so much fun. 

We've got our system down, we like our location (Timber field for the curious), and it's a great opportunity to meet up with all our horsey friends that we don't regularly see otherwise!

friends from Charlie's barn joined the party too <3

This year was particularly special bc obvi a lot of my horse friend group scattered into the four winds this past summer, with the mass exodus transitions from the last boarding barn. Obvi we all try to keep in touch and talk regularly, but this was a really fun reunion party! PLUS -- changes in everyone's boarding situations meant there are a lot of NEW faces in the friends group!!

legit the only video i took from XC day, this is the 5* course

Having the tailgate location is particularly useful at a venue like the Maryland 5* too, bc it's VERY spread out. Like the distance from the main arena to Sawmill Field is very very far. It's nice to have a meetup space replete with food and water for the weary! 

We typically hang out and mingle during the 3* competition, with folks wandering around to nearby jump complexes and the shopping zone... But once the 5* starts, we're on the move! There weren't many entries in the 5* this year, and even fewer finishers... But we saw a lot of great action -- including Tamie Smith and Mai Baum making tidy work of the tricky angled tables in Hay Field before opting to call it a day after climbing the big hill into Sawmill.

Sally Cousins & Wizard in the 3*

Finally, tho, after all the xc is finished, we usually gravitate back to the tailgate for a little rest / snacking / drinking before packing it up for the day. Bc there's still more to do! Final day of the weekend is yet another whole new flavor -- show jumping day!!

Sharon White & Jaguars Duende WINNING the 3*

The nice thing about the last day of the event is that all the action is much more centralized, for anybody who may have been a bit weary (or blistered and/or sunburnt) from a lot of walking on Saturday. 

Show jumping obviously happens in the main arena, surrounded by grandstands (pro tip: definitely splurge for the covered ringside stands bc you never know what the weather will be!). And all the shopping encircles the whole area. We like to arrive early to shop, then catch the 3* show jumping in full, then shop* some more, and then obvi watch the 5* jump. 

(*I was super boring this year for shopping, tho, and only just got a pair of Kerrits paddock boots to replace my falling-apart Blundstones).

Buck Davidson & Sorocaima, the highest place US pair in the 5*

Again, being local means a lot of the riders are familiar to us -- like Sally in the 3*!! -- so it's really fun cheering everybody on. Plus, lots of cheering for the top placed American in the 5* -- another local, Buck Davidson!! 

Obvi it would have been even cooler to see the title go to an American, but overall it was an awesome event from start to finish! Every year gets better and better as the organizers fine tune and tweak the set up and arrangements, esp including logistics like shuttles and parking etc. It's still a relatively "new" event (it's organized by a different group from Fair Hill's former Fall International 4* and 3* events), so still working out some kinks, but overall a really fun time. 

We'll definitely be back at it again next year ;) Have you been? Or are you planning to go? 

friday foto finish

Happy Friday, y'all!! It's been kinda interesting around these parts lately, but in like.... a really familiar and comfortable way that almost feels like.... settling in. 

barn mate snapped this epic misty morning shot!

It has probably been YEARS since I've ridden 5-6 days a week so consistently. But Doozy seems to absolutely flourish in this routine. And for reasons beyond my comprehension, it's been easier to stick to the schedule at the new place.

finally, new tall boots! Mondoni Whitehaven, ordered from Divoza

The daily riding, plus re-introducing my favorite riding apps (a metronome + interval timer that dings every 2min), have helped us rapidly develop a standard "package" for our sessions. 

Instead of just trying to keep a lid on things while existing through all three gaits in a more or less balanced posture.... Well, we're actually working on refining stuff now! Practicing transitions! Trotting figures for literal minutes on end. Cantering only when asked. **Half halting omg**

finally, a decent zipper too haha

And like. Don't get me wrong. Doozy still comes out a little wild sometimes. Esp on Ride 1 after a day off. But it feels like we've got mutually agreed upon parameters -- more of a shared vocabulary. 

ok ok so they're kinda knockoffs of the mountain horse boots... just ya know. $200 less lol, nbd

For months, the overwhelming feeling of riding this horse was just that.... everything felt so hard. And I do mean everything. But suddenly.... Idk, we're starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel LOL!

spectating lauren nicholson casually hopping around the P course at Hunt Club
good lord, tho, that grass looks thirsty!

Which, obvi, is a very welcome and reassuring feeling. Esp considering, we still aren't exactly doing anything truly ground breaking at the moment. But I honestly just get such a strong sense from the mare that, once she understands the game, once she knows the rules etc... all the rest will come fairly easily to her. So we keep plugging away!

doozy hackin about with her new friends <3

And almost without me quite realizing it, we hit kinda a big milestone this past week. For the first time probably since 2015 or 2016, I actually had three lessons omg in the span of about a week, give or take!!

our grass is getting a little desperate for rain, not gonna lie

I wrote about our clinic ride with Dom Schramm last week, and then this Sunday we made it over to dressage trainer C!! We've actually seen her a few times in recent memory, but I haven't written about it bc... ya know. It's still just the basics and without any videos or photos, ehh... It's all been said already haha, now we're just out doin it.

ooooh --- dooz out in the wild for a dressage lesson!

Still, tho, it's worth it for my obsessive documentarian self to at least capture that the lessons are happening. And this was a good one in that, there really aren't any big notes or takeaways other than "keep going!" 

legit such a pro at the trailer these days

Doozy was able to strut around showing off her new and metronome-improved trot rhythm, while politely acquiescing to small adjustments in bend and posture. Then the wheels fell off a little bit in canter --- but in that perfect "this is the work" kind of way where nobody (including the horse) got flustered or undone.

drive-by charles!!! whose grass has somehow managed to get more rain??

We just worked through it, and focused on helping Doozy find her balance. Trainer C wanted me to ride a little more off my thighs in canter -- which at first kinda worried Doozy, she didn't quite know what to do with that. But so long as I could stay soft (vs. rigid), it ended up helping. 

he's already cultivating new minions <3 <3 <3

Overall, Trainer C wants to see me get more weight into my lower legs and heel ("Feel as tho you could stand up at any moment"), and maybe move my seat far enough to the left that I feel off center --- since I actually trend toward sitting too far on the right side. This jives well with Dom's observation that I tip too much off the right side too. Not news, but still needs work!

meanwhile. what is it with cats wanting to stand on top of our feet lol

So that posture work continues to be my main focus in our solo rides, even as we keep up with all the same gymnastic and footwork practice. Tho -- big news! Our most recent practice session was actually in eager anticipation of the last of the 3 recent lessons --- the return of trainer Kelly!

oh hey look, it's **another** picture of poles on the floor!! WOW!

I rode with her somewhat consistently throughout 2022, before Charlie's hoof injury. She has an impressive resume in both upper level eventing and grand prix show jumping, all with the same horse who remains (I believe to this day) hale hearty and sound. My hope with her had been to get good coaching that was also empathetic to my protectiveness around Charlie, and she definitely fit the bill.

 

ha i tried a new arrangement too. turns out we aren't quite ready for straight lines tho

So ya know. Everything is different now... But the new place lets us bring in outside trainers, and she bases nearby! Perfect!! It's too early to get my hopes up, bc the logistics of "regular lessons" always prove more complicated than anybody expects... Plus ya know. Humans are humans and sustainable coaching relationships require good cultivation (on both sides). 

we love the big X's tho!

But Kelly's first session with us felt promising. We spent a lot of time catching up, and talking about what Doozy's done so far, etc, and then she basically observed while I put the mare through a typical flatwork session. I'd set up our standard exercises the night before as a practice run, since Doozy does so well with repetition, and everything was still in place the next day so we kinda just repeated all of it for Kelly.

and getting to be nonchalant about all the fill too

And guys, Doozy was on her A-Game for sure. Like, was lovely on the flat, still obvi green, but very game and pleasant in her pacing. And she was perfect to our little jumps!! 

Kelly made a few adjustments to my standard setup -- she encouraged me to set my takeoff pole at 7' instead of 9' if I'm planning to trot it, just to help Doozy not have to make a big move at the last minute if she does actually trot all the way in. To make this set up realistic for me when I'm on my own, she suggested using one of the jumps more toward the middle of the ring so that I could approach the jump from both the right and the left while always jumping it the same direction -- so the takeoff can be 7' and the landing can be 9'.

I will definitely adopt this method, tho also think the 9' takeoff was what we needed to first introduce this gymnastic, given how frantic and launch-y Doozy was post-Jenny Camp. The extra space gave us a little more room for forgiveness when she predictably rushed. She's over that, now, tho. So we can refine!

good girl, dooz <3 maybe one day i'll get video of our rides again!

It was a great session tho bc we got to the point where I'd usually call it -- after a couple nice reproducible efforts -- and Kelly said, yea ok but let's do a little more. And while Doozy remained lovely and game, she did make a couple little mistakes, which obvi meant that we had to keep repeating the exercise. 

But it was just like with the canter in our last dressage lesson with Trainer C. It wasn't a big deal. Nobody got flustered, including the horse. It was just one of those, "gotta work through it" educational moments. Doozy just had to figure out how to be patient to this shorter distance takeoff pole in order to have a comfortable clean pass over the vertical. That's.... literally the lesson lol. And she figured it out, good girl!

days are getting shorter tho!!

Also was a good reminder to me that, this is legit what the lessons are for. Having that ground person guide me (and reset the jumps when we clobber them lol) and push me for that extra effort needed for the breakthroughs. 

Here's hoping we can keep it up lol. Happy weekend, y'all!