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!!
Doozy and I trekked out to the midweek Twilight Schooling Event at Loch Moy this week — a fantastic summer series they’ve offered for years but that I almost never make it to.
biscuit out in public!!!!!
Mostly bc… Well. The events run midweek usually from late afternoon to early evening. Which… Tbh is not the best traffic situation. Tho, turns out, getting a 6pm ride time actually worked almost perfectly from a traffic perspective, even if I was practically begging for sleep by the time we were driving home again…
looking like a sweet little snack <3
These events are quasi starter trials, in that you can do all three phases. But it’s suuuuuper low key. Minimal rules (as you can see, Doozy wore her boots for our dressage tests), no final placings, and no ribbons. And xc is run almost like a derby — jumps for all the levels are all flagged as one, you can jump literally whatever height you want. Actually, you can jump literally whatever anything you want.
was such a good girl and let me plop the pivo onto the fenceline right before our test
Want to jump a low option first then circle around to try the bigger one? Totes cool! Want to skip a jump? Or add in something that isn’t even flagged? All good! Literally the chillest lol. Literally just schooling.
Which… not gonna lie, made me feel slightly sheepish once I got there having only entered to ride two dressage tests with zero jumping rounds in either show jump or xc.
and pivo nailed the test, hell yes!!
But honestly, I think my instincts were right — it was a good plan, and it was a productive outing for us. Being in that type atmosphere, but being exclusively focused on dressage and doing multiple tests, with no worry or distraction about any later phases, really helped me stay intentional about my riding.
and then we were off!!! note: the xc warm up is right on the other side of the shrubs left side of frame, and show jumping is basically directly behind the camera. plenty of atmosphere!
Doozy has been such a star lately, it really feels like things are clicking for us. So I was curious to see what might still be accessible “out in the wild,” vs what would revert back to chaos.
i tried to level out the pictures where i could bc omg so many pictures snapped from the video!!!
And? Well, guys, I think our new focus on forward, first and foremost and forever, might actually be a winning ticket for Doozy!! Goooooo figure LOL.
alas tho the pivo was on a somewhat rakish angle and kept putting us in the bottom corner of the frame
I’ve been super intentional in our warm up rides at home lately to develop a recognizable, repeatable pattern that could be replicated wholesale in the warm up at a show. Riding forward, covering ground, fluid steps — and incrementally introducing a lively but inviting feel on the reins. Starting with just the inside rein at walk, but eventually working up to normal contact just trotting around. Still riding forward tho. Always.
it’s still worth a watch tho <3
It’s my impression that I get into the most trouble with Doozy when I have in my head this idea of a long loose free stretchy connection. It’s a nice idea, but in actual practice the result is essentially ‘disconnection.’ Which, with Doozy, is a one-way ticket to the chaotic doom loop of racing bracing and going inside out.
judge actually literally said ‘the quality is there’ omfg
Instead, if I can try to keep the contact alive and active — but with a forward feeling, always with the forward!! — Doozy feels a lot more secure and balanced and, in the right circumstances, even soft.
it’s just. ya know. buried under the tension haha
Obviously a show atmosphere made all this a lot more challenging, but overall I was happy with the warm up. It felt like I got what I asked for, it felt representative of how we’ve been going. Tho, obvi, Doozy was definitely wayyyyyyy more tense.
for real tho doozy showed some very nice moments in her second test!!!
The tension really REALLY flared when we got into the big arena for our turn. Doozy just got completely uptight and worried. Tho, being full of surprises, as she is, was still a docile little lamb while I hastily situated the pivo on the fenceline from her back on my way to circle the ring.
i’m mostly happy with how i rode the whole thing too — second test moreso than the first obvs
Our first test was basically just… Exactly par for the course for us. With added benefits of me going off course a couple times bc whoops I’m rusty too!
downward transitions #SlowToDevelop
She was tight and running and braced and just sorta all over the place and it’s so hard to ride her like that. As it was, tho, I tried to stay really present and really treat the test like a schooling round. For example, I did a few extra down transitions (including some steps into walk) between the first canter and trot diagonal, just trying to keep Doozy with me vs just whipping her through the movements.
“don’t mind if i do!” — doozy, the second she’s invited to free walk
It was overall not a good test, but perhaps productive in some ways? Idk. Perhaps even more productive was the roughly 7 minutes we spent just standing in the back corner of the large arena while another horse went, before coming back to do our second test.
our center line turns did NOT do justice to the practice we literally just did with trainer C, sigh
Doozy maybe wasn’t thrilled to be going again, but also was sorta just like, “This again? Ugh, ok fine!” And just like… did it.
halt was ok enough tho! perhaps a smidge late LOL
Now I’ll be the first to admit that I always tend to ride a second test better than the first. It’s like I have to make all the mistakes or forget all my intentions or whatever, get that all out of my system. And then come back and be like, “ok this is what I MEANT to do the first time!”
But it’s also just plain true that Doozy WAS more relaxed the second test.
judge offered some nice constructive feedback afterward
Not perfect, obvi. But more rideable. More “with me,” more connected. Like she understood a little bit better the rules of this weird little game.
click for full size
And the judge was super complimentary! Overall comment was “Big improvement from first test, keep using turns and transitions to help big horse balance big gaits.” And a harmony score of 6.5!!!!
this level of relaxation immediately before and after the test gives me hope that the horse will eventually understand that the test itself… honestly really is not a big deal
Compared to our first test, with a comment “Patient ride on tense/distracted horse. Keep working for more relaxation / length of frame and stride” with Harmony score 5.0…
lots of pets for the big girl!
Obviously in an ideal world, I shouldn’t need to do a first test badly in order to ride a second test well. Ideally I’d just… ya know… ride better from the very beginning haha. But I’m a realist and an amateur sooooo. Ya know. It’s all good.
smooshy biscuit <3
Bc I think we both learned a few things from this experience. It felt really productive. Felt like we got some proof that the work we’re doing at home is actually sustainable and accessible even in higher stress situations. Compared to, say, Waredaca last year when it felt like everything we’d been working on in lessons and at home basically just disappeared entirely in the warm up ring.
very pleased with this critter!
It also felt like doubling up the tests — but with a brief intermission between while another rider went — worked really well for Doozy.
She’s so funny — it’s not like she’s in an actual panic when we do our tests. Obvi she can just stand there while I fuss around with the pivo from her back before the test… and free walk like a slinky slithery panther in the test, and then be at ease immediately after… It’s not like she’s just trying to bolt away entirely, right? Rather, it’s like she’s just expecting… ~~something~~ to happen, but she’s not totally sure what.
Which gives me hope that she’ll eventually learn the pattern, figure out the rules, realize that it’s all just a game. A girl can dream, right? Just more reasons to keep on getting out on adventures!!
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!
