Doozy made it back to her first horse show since April this weekend, yay!!! Tho don’t get too crazy haha, it was a very modest affair for us. Tranquillity was hosting the July running of their summer Mill Series hunter jumper shows, a super fun and popular local show opportunity that’s got a little something for everybody.
this pic makes it look like we’re alone in the field, but actually there’s trailers on either side and all down the driveway in front of my truck too
Lots of classes, three rings running, absolutely minimal rules re: dress, tack, equipment etc. And from what I can tell, basically anybody can enter any class for whatever reason. Really truly, it’s just a super inviting horse show for everybody.
And you might actually remember I brought Doozy here in June of last year, after we sorta bombed out of our first intended horse trial of the year. Basically, I learned the hard way that maybe both Doozy and I benefit from lots of little opportunities to “dip our toes in” vs “jumping straight into the deep end.”
can literally not emphasize enough HOW NICE 64*F is for showing in JULY omg
So ya know. When the forecast looked **legit perfect holy mother of god after all the awfulness this is absolutely lovely**, ahem, I decided to more or less repeat our experiences from last year. Except without the jumper class, obviously, since Doozy isn’t jumping yet.
One of the rings starts with a couple sets of hack classes, so I figured I’d catch a couple of those and see how we felt.
you’re nice too, doozy <3 <3
So we arrived about 45min before the show started — enough time to check in at the office and tack up at an unhurried pace before heading over to the ring for pre-show schooling, natch pausing every few trailers to chitchat with random friends and acquaintances.
Doozy was, not to put too fine a point on it, the epitome of civilized. Perfect princess. Relaxed, patient, alert but unbothered, and happy to go wherever I pointed her, or pause as needed, whatever. Perfect. Good girl!
she looks like she’s being tall or up in this pic but she was honestly just taking in the sights
Which ya know… lol… She should be civilized at this point haha, she’s 8 and has been haunting show grounds for three years now. But ya know. This was literally the whole point of us being here: reestablishing that, “Yep, this seems normal!”
Ymmv but from my perspective, so much happens on a show day long before the bell rings or the announcer calls out, “you are now being judged at the walk!” And with Doozy, so much of that “so much” was often **extremely** challenging for us, that we were kinda just clinging to the edge of some semblance of composure by the time we were actually doing the thing.
i’m pretty sure she’d chill at the in gate forever
Anyway, she continued to keep her shit together once we started schooling in the ring too. For those unfamiliar with the local hunter circuits, basically riders can show up early to warm up and jump all the jumps before the show starts. So it can be a little chaotic, especially in this particular ring bc the jumps are all kinda snug against each other, making options for cutting across the ring somewhat limited.
There’s basically open areas on either short end of the ring, a way to get across the middle, the gap you see in the picture below, and that’s it lol. Especially with a horse like Doozy, I’m not trying to crash into anybody in a tight spot, ya know? But it was all good, she kept a lid on anyway.
was overall a very solid citizen in our classes
Still, tho, I’m pleased with myself too bc we were here for a reason: pressure test the buttons in public. I didn’t want to just sorta delicately jog my firecracker around, handling her with kid gloves etc. I wanted to ride as if we were at home, building on some of the concepts and findings I’ve been writing about.
Specifically, my pivo-induced ‘aha!’ breakthrough about how I’ve been trying to fix rideability problems by taking away speed, when really I need to just get my leg on and ride more forward into contact. So that’s what we did!!
zero photographic proof of us doing any of that, so here’s a recent shot from a trail ride instead lol
And spoiler, it totally worked out for us!! Not like, in the sense that we won our classes or anything haha. No no god no lol. We did the pleasure hunter W-T and W-T-C hack classes, each with about 6 other riders, and placed 6th and 4th respectively lol.
Apparently the pleasure class judging is along the lines of, “Would you want your grandma to ride that horse?” and… ha, yea, no. Doozy is not that type! Again tho, she honestly was great about all the things (except canter). Tho I sometimes got stuck on a circle — Doozy covered twice as much ground as any other horse in the class so it was hard to stick to the rail.
But I felt good about our contact and bend, and was able to keep my legs on and ride the mare forward the whole time. Canter was… eh, far too wild. Mostly just fast, but there admittedly were a couple steps of that quintessential racehorse “flattening” which turned into a bit of careening around corners oops.
or alternatively this AI slop thumbnail suggestion from youtube for last week’s video hahahahahaha
But. Eh. All things in time, right? We only just recently started cantering on purpose again. And it’s taken this long in the rehab to just get the trot back to “normal.” Our canter was never that good anyway, so it’s no surprise that it’ll take more time and practice there too.
Notably, tho, even after the somewhat chaotic canters, Doozy was able to return to her trot and walk to finish the class nicely. So it’s not that she unspooled or was getting worse or more tense as we went… Nope. Just normal run-of-the-mill sketchy flatwork LOL. I’ll take it!
back home + unloaded by 10:15am
Honestly I couldn’t be more pleased with the horse after those two classes. Canter needs work, sure, tell me something I don’t already know LOL, but actually the rest of the day went a bit better than I expected. And best of all, the “rest of the day” was still like, morning haha. Who doesn’t love an early show day??
Feels exciting to look forward again. Obvi I’m still paranoid about Doozy’s leg and recovery, but every day she proves her resilience. And days like this, she’s proving to be actually the “go everywhere, do everything” horse I hoped for! One step at a time!
One of the many reasons I love competing at Loch Moy is their show photogs are always super fast* at posting pics! Erin Gilmore Photography often has same-day uploads, which naturally means I’ve got my favorites selected & added to cart asap!
(*Tho of course nothing can compare to the GRC Photography days when they had a trailer legit onsite and you could buy a thumb drive of every single photo taken of you right then and there for $99…)
boss mare doozy blazin’ around like we didn’t just watch three horses in a row get eliminated on refusals
It’s so funny, tho, how our feelings about and relationship to riding images can shift over time… Or, as the case may be, in no time at all. These photo prints arrived the day after Doozy got hurt and… Ya know. Idk. There are kinda a lot of emotions wrapped up in all that.
we match the jump!
On one hand, gratitude, obviously. Gratitude for the physical and literal recorded memories of what was, again, a very fulfilling experience a long time in the making with this sweet and sensitive little mare.
On the other hand, tho, naturally it felt pretty bittersweet. Like, yea, it’s taken us a long time to get to this point in our partnership, where finally it feels like we’re clicking along, doing the fun stuff, not too too terribly unreliable or rough around the edges…
ok ok so when it’s late and i’m tired and i’m browsing show pics on my phone and can’t decide between two close shots? eh, what the hell, at $5 each i get ‘em both!
But there’s still so much more to do, improve upon, learn, grow into, all the things. And that had kinda been my initial feeling right after the show, when I first browsed pictures. Like, oh yea — Doozy is jumping better, and I can see signs that this new bit is helping me commit to a more forward posture, altho there’s still more to do there.
just clockin right on around!
And I was happy with how things were looking with riding around in Charlie’s saddle too — recall I’d been experimenting with it, with the idea of maybe replacing the panels to better fit Doozy.
real talk, if i didn’t buy pics with awkward expressions, i’d have no pics at all!! LOL
Plus, none of the pictures look truly sketchy (if you ignore the weird emoji grimaces I make while huffing and puffing my way around cross country LOL!). Like, if anything, it all looks pretty ho hum and easy for Doozy, with perhaps some areas to improve upon for the rider, right?
look at us, jumpin the blue thing!
That’s obviously a perfectly normal feeling, and maybe even quite a good feeling when the next event is just another 3 or 4 weeks away. With Doozy’s uncertain prognosis, tho, there are maybe slightly less encouraging feelings like, “sheesh if it took us both this long just to look like that, where will a possibly long layup and rehab leave us?”
not the world’s most exciting photo, but proof we did better over the boat house this time around!
That’s horses, tho, amirite? Siiiiigh.
As it is, tho, we remain cautiously optimistic about both the nature of the injury itself, and Doozy’s chances of making a full recovery in hopefully fairly decent time.
not me, drifting right over a fence instead of left!
We had our follow up appointment with the vet last week, during which the vet actually recommended skipping the ultrasound. As you saw from the pictures, the leg was looking quite good as the swelling came down. Plus the mare was not reactive to palpations, AND — more importantly — jogged sound even after flexions. These are all very strong signs that the underlying injury is generally mild.
**not** stepping inside the ditch, thankyouverymuch!
Recommended next steps were to start peeling back layers of treatment — stopping NSAIDs and cold therapies (hosing / boots / etc), and weaning from wraps — and introducing more intentional hand walking. We’re monitoring the leg carefully obviously, but if we can get up to about 20min hand walking without seeing any meaningful negative changes, the hope is to get the mare back into regular turnout.
hopefully not the last time!
I’m not exactly sure what will come after that — I’m honestly just trying not to overthink or over-plan anything at the moment, bc I basically have zero experience with soft tissue injuries. And let’s be real, with who Doozy is as a person, I can’t just plan ‘nice, low key, quiet rides.’
Like, if it doesn’t feel wise to let the horse run or leap around on the leg, then it’s probably not wise to ride at all. Bc… Ya know. She is who she is LOL.
The vet is optimistic that if we can check off these boxes with carefully returning to normal, all without seeing any negative changes in the leg, then it’s possible the injury was primarily superficial vs structural. We’ll see, right? One step at a time!! Tho, I can assure you, EVERYBODY will be happier when Doozy is back out again lol!
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?
Happy Tuesday, y’all! I’ve been fighting off some nasty weird little head cold for the last week, and still feel like my head is plugged full of cotton stuffing…. Foggy fuzzy and fatigued. It’s lovely, lemme tell ya…
loving the fiery mane here <3
Life goes on, tho! We made it out for another jump lesson with Sally, and I spent a lovely day this past weekend volunteering at Morven Park. Plus Doozy has been working hard and well in our schooling rides!
opinionated but #dointhething!
Maybe I’ll write about all of that! Maybe not! We’ll see!! In the meantime I’m about to head out of town for a quick work trip (blergh), so instead of trying to arrange any sort of deep thoughts, let’s just look at the pretty pictures that arrived this week from our season opener at MDHT!
halt, salute
Purchasing the prints care of Erin Gilmore Photography continues to be the best deal, and not gonna lie — I kinda not-so-secretly love having an ever growing collection of actual physical images that I can rotate thru my albums or stick on the fridge or give to my mom.
aaaaaand they’re OFF!!
And the photographers caught some nice ones, too!! Unlike Doozy’s and my first foray at BN, wherein I endeavored to manifest cool calm collected vibes via an extremely causal outfit, we actually wore our full normal show gear this time. Including one of our pretty blue coats for dressage!
a little launch-y at the first
For whatever reason, I usually don’t bother… But also for whatever reason, I felt like it this time. Go figure. Makes for nice pictures tho!
fully into the zone by seven!
We got some decent shots from the jumping too!! Especially compared to last time! I don’t always feel fantastic about Doozy’s and my combined technique in the jumping, not gonna lie.
so nice i liked it twice lol
But ya know. We did a lot of gymnastic practice this winter, and we’ve been getting more serious about jumping lessons in general too…
pretty mare <3
And a funny thing about practicing more is that… ya know, it usually helps LOL.
stepping just on the edge of the ditch rather than inside…. #progress
The photographers also caught most of the action from the second half of the xc course too — out in the big main field.
ping!
There was that lovely little series from the ditch thru to the water and then to the finish line, although sadly none of us actually going thru the water.
we admittedly did not get the best shot at this boat, but it was nbd
And also slightly sadly, this was the place on course where we had our little miscommunication — we jumped the boat out of the water a little awkwardly and landed way off the line to the next jump, had to do a circle to get back on track, but then had a stupid runout bc I apparently lacked sufficient conviction lol.
i love her expression here — this is right after our oopsie runout
Nbd, tho, Doozy obvi jumped it just fine on second attempt — with this picture being a good reminder for me to not take anything for granted!
easy peasy thru the finish!
What a sweet expression she always has in the jumping tho <3 <3 <3
Obvi the pictures, like the scoreboard, only ever tell part of the story, but it’s a part I’m grateful to have captured!
