down the rabbit hole

So! Anybody who was foolish enough to check in on my incessantly prolific musings over the weekend will already know: I made a thing, and am kiiiinda excited about the concept.

Like, literally can’t shut up about it. I’m going off about these little recordings to anybody polite enough to pay me any attention, even my farrier had to hear about it LOL. Sorry dude. 

pics today are from volunteering at Plantation Field’s big international event!!

But! Early feedback is positive, and a couple barn mates have either already done trial rides (and provided feedback) or have indicated they plan to soon. 

A couple aspects of that first recording kinda obviously needed tweaking. I already wrote about my early impressions (ex: the warm up is too long), but the other big take away was that, overall, I hadn’t accounted accurately enough for the time spent talking. 

That first recording was designed to walk you through gaits and exercises, with frequent coaching prompts (like “chest up!”) tossed in at least every 5 to 10 seconds, with pauses in between. My measurement on the timing of the various exercises and time-in-gait etc was based off the length of those pauses plus a guesstimate on time spent talking.

i signed up too late for my normal favorite roles like stewarding warm up rings, where i get to interact with riders. instead, i ended up as timer in the show jumping judge’s booth, where i got to interact with legends like Peter Gray, Marilyn Payne, and Hellen Brettell instead. it was actually pretty cool!

Except, in the end product, the pauses felt a little awkward, and meanwhile the time spent talking actually exceeded the time of silent pauses.

So I ditched the pauses entirely (aside from walk breaks), reconfiguring the script to be constant talk. It turns out, especially with a text-to-voice AI app, the average words/minute is extremely consistent. So you can reliably time a script cadence on word count alone. 

If you want to spend 2.5 minutes in a trot segment? Put 312 words into that script block. Boom!

All that to say, I made another set of recordings that I’m sharing with you:

- Schooling Plan - Short Session (about 17min)

- Schooling Plan - Long Session (about 24min)

These two plans are identical, except the ‘Long Session’ has an added block of work inserted into the middle. After riding the short session, it felt… a little too short, like a few pieces of work needed a little more time and attention. YMMV.

not gonna lie, this bell + timer device was a bit more intimidating than i expected — i’ve only ever timed at national events with just like, a stop watch… but the course designer gave me a very clear orientation and fortunately none of the riders tested me with any unplanned stoppages etc.

So let’s talk through those ride guides and their components!

Both start with free walk into working walk, including gathering contact and organizing walk onto a 20m circle in both directions. In the second circle, the rider is prompted to find moments of true bend and counter bend in the walk circle. 

Trot work starts on a circle after about 2.5min. Again the rider is prompted to find feelings of true bend and counter bend before progressing into a trot spiral exercise. 

I’ll be first to admit — these feelings are a bit *aspirational* for us, we’re mostly just trying to survive on a steady rhythm and circular circle. But the proactive coaching reminds me to activate all of my rider aids, even if we aren’t technically executing a “spiral” etc. 

Anyway, the spiral then transitions into trot leg yields down the long side, which feels like a progressive use of aids. After this, the rider changes direction in trot, with a trot-walk-trot transition across the diagonal. Then the whole trot pattern repeats in the new direction. It’s about 2.5min of trot each way.

The guide picks up the canter from the leg yield exercise in the second direction, then instructs the rider to spiral the canter in and out. Again, this is a little aspirational for us, but helped to get my aids on. From the canter circle, we go into canter leg yields from rail to quarterline — so again, activating the outside aids. Then another canter circle that includes canter-trot-canter transitions before a walk break. All in all about ~2min of canter.

didn’t get much video bc my fingers were on the buttons all day,
but here’s Boyd in the 3* with Mo Chroi!

The ‘Long Session’ deviates from the ‘Short’ at this point, as I inserted another block of work after feeling like we needed more. I really liked the ‘Short’ tho — even tho it felt like we probably could have / should have done more work… Well, the mare was finishing the ride very well and on the aids, and…. isn’t that the whole fucking point?? As it is, I have not personally ridden to this next block myself, take that for what you will. 

Anyway. It picks the rider up from free walk into working walk before preparing to trot. This block is all about downward transitions and building the half halt. It starts on a trot circle, then a change of direction with a trot-walk-trot transition, then back to trot circle. 

From there, you pick up the canter, ride a circle, then execute the canter-trot transition down the long side just like in the Starter test. Ride another trot circle, then, **pay attention,** bc on the open side of the circle, you change bend and canter off on the other lead. My intent with this is to 1) square the horse up in that change of bend, and 2) not put all the canter transitions in true bend on a circle bc we already have enough of a problem with accidental transitions. 

Anyway. In this new canter circle, you repeat the pattern: ride a circle, then trot transition down the long side, ride a trot circle, then change bend/direction on open side of circle and strike off on new lead. Rinse repeat a couple times. 

Like I said, I haven’t personally ridden this pattern yet, but you can hopefully pretty easily see why I set it up this way for me and Doozy at this point in our life. It’s essentially a variation of the ‘snowman’ exercise, for those familiar.

it was super cool to be a fly on the wall for all the banter in the judge’s booth, esp bc these same folks had judged the riders in dressage too and had (obviously) higher level perspectives on all the rounds, horses and riders.

After all that is another 90sec walk break, before switching back to the ‘Short Session’ plan to finish the ride. 

The rider is guided from free walk into working walk (ymmv but Doozy and I need this help!) into trotting a circle. It again instructs the rider to find feelings of true and counter bend on a circle, then change directions using a trot-walk-trot transition, then another circle with alternating bend. Next into a spiral feeling to activate outside aids, then push off the inside into a canter transition. 

The canter exercise mirrors the first block exactly, with both spiral and bend/counter bend feelings on a circle, followed by a canter leg yield from rail to quarterline (off outside aids), then back to a circle with canter-trot-canter transitions. 

Finally, you transition to trot to ride serpentines / figures of 8 / changes of bend with trot-walk-trot transitions, again reinforcing the “full halt— to—half halt” development. After a few moments of this, you trot long and low to finish.

i didn’t stick around for xc, sadly, but here’s a quick shot of Ema Klugman in the 3*

Obviously this is a very new (and shiny) toy in my riding toolkit, so my utilization experiences are… limited. But the two rides I’ve logged to date have been overwhelmingly positive, to the point where I’m clearly bought in enough to keep refining and making more recordings. 

It’s not that we’re accurately (or even effectively) executing all these exercises. Instead, I think it’s a lot simpler than that: A constant voice in my ear guiding me to ride Doozy *proactively* means I’m NOT getting baited into riding *reactively.* 

In other words, instead of getting mired down in an argument telling Doozy not to go so fast, or whatever, instead I’m focusing on a specific pattern that, surprise surprise, just so happens to be easier to execute from a slower more self contained balance. 

And so far, Doozy is responding very well to this change in style. Again, it may be too early to tell, and I PROMISE to let y’all know if we start going the opposite direction or frazzling the mare… But for now, I’m all aboard, and even created a hyper-personalized guide for us to use when practicing the Starter dressage test.

anyway. thanks for humoring me while i go a little micro down this ‘guided ride’ recording rabbit hole. as a reward, here’s a little goblin who looks ready to catch any bunnies that come out of it!

Ultimately, if this concept continues to consistently produce good rides, my idea is to develop a ‘library’ of sorts. 

One barn mate suggested that instead of full start-to-finish ride guides, I could create ‘modules’ that can be interspersed for a more mix-and-match experience. For example, there might be a ‘warm up’ module, and then individual recordings for various gaits and degrees of difficulty. 

I’m also imagining modules that are just pure coaching prompts (like, “chest up!” or “long legs, level shoulders!”) with no specific movements, gaits or patterns included — something like that could be useful during a jump school, for instance. 

So perhaps there’s more to come. In the meantime, I’m definitely interested in hearing from you all if you have a chance to try riding along to one of these recordings!

riding with technology: CoachGPT

Happy Saturday, friends! Hopefully you’ll forgive me for the off-day post, or perhaps just the diehards will read this, in which case — excellent, you are **exactly** my target audience today. Bc I have a favor to ask of you!

ooooh who’s the new roan in the herd?? 

Obvi it’s somewhat inescapable these days to make it longer than 5 seconds without somebody extolling the virtues (or perhaps impending doom) wrought upon society by the burgeoning field of AI in general, ChatGPT in particular. 

I won’t bore you with the details, but I’m actually a fairly heavy ChatGPT user in my professional world — mostly for writing code and all that, and also a bit of copy editing for reports etc. 

oh wait haha, nvm it’s just a Dooz of a Different Color!

For some time now, tho, I’ve had this idea of utilizing the generative and multiplying effect of GPTs to support the creation of some sort of real-time pocket coach app. Not like, an actual app that you could download from the app store, and certainly not something I’m trying to monetize or whatever. 

But basically, just another tool to add to my existing kit of helpful technologies to improve my rides. Recall, I’ve been evangelizing for literal years now on the benefits of riding with a metronome app (mine is set to trot tempo) and an interval timer (mine dings every 2min). 

chatgpt helpfully suggested three distinct ride plans to be interspersed in our weekly routine

So finally I got serious about the idea. 

I started by feeding ChatGPT background info about me and Doozy, specifically relating to our current goals of relaxation and transitions. It spat out some ride plans and helpfully offered to craft a weekly scheduling guide that could be printed and left in my tack locker. Thanks, Chad!

But I pushed it for more — I took what I liked from these different ride plans, and asked it to create a moment-by-moment coaching script that could be turned into a recorded ride guide. 

my prompt for generating coaching cues throughout the ride

It took a fair amount of iteration and refinement, especially relating to timing. In fact, idk about you all but imho gpts can’t be trusted to math for shit, so once we had the bones of a script put together with time stamps for each exercise, I moved things over into excel to fine tune and create symmetry. 

From there, we plopped the script into an AI text-to-voice app (also recommended by ChatGPT), created an audio file (in a British accent, you’re welcome), and uploaded the resulting Recorded Ride Guide session to Google Drive. 

If I set things up correctly, that recording is now available to anybody (like you!) with the link.*

(*There are no trackers / pixels / counters / cookies / **whatever** associated with that link either, it’s legit just a link to a file saved into my google drive that you can either access directly online, or download / save locally as you see fit.) 

for those of you absolutely bored to tears by all things AI, however, there’s also new tack!! this time with exactly the type of aggressively anatomic v-shaped crown piece that i know works on Doozy

So. Back to me asking you all for a favor — I want you to try it out, let this recording play along in one of your next flat schools, and then provide critical / constructive feedback on what worked, what didn’t. What you’d change or adjust in any future iterations.

it’s a used Montar Normandie, from ebay — isn’t it elegant?

First, some details on what, exactly the ride entails + my preliminary thoughts after riding to it once (last night). It’s a 25min session, starting off with about 2ish minutes of walk before embarking on a trot warm up exercise of riding sweeping 3 loop serpentines, transitioning to walk for crossing over center line / changing bend, then trotting off again. 

This warm up stage lasts about 7 minutes, and includes changing directions about halfway through so you can serpentine off both reins. My impression was that it’s a fair bit too long for this specific exercise, tho an appropriate time frame for general trot warm up. 

well. ok. the rolled leather snap-on browband is clearly not a fit, womp, it’s so pretty and understated tho!
($50neg. including shipping if you think it’ll fit your creature! fraidycat {dot} eventing at gmail!)

For Doozy, getting straight into serpentines and transitions was a bit premature, so the next time I ride it, I’ll probably ease into that exercise a little slower, since there’s plenty of time. More advanced horses might also intersperse other common warm up exercises into this time, and you could add a brief walk break to reduce overall ride intensity too. 

Next up comes a block of trot spirals. Again it’s fairly generously timed, so the intrepid rider probably has enough time to spiral in and out, then back in and out again before the change of direction to rinse / repeat.

everything else works nicely, tho, the straps all lay nicely against each other vs layering weirdly like the last bridle i tried. we have a new (used) browband arriving next week to try too.

From the spiral, you step into your first canter. Starting with canter on a 20m circle, then beginning to intermix shallow one-loop serpentines of counter canter in between 20m circles of canter-trot-canter circles. This whole block of work from warm up serpentines, to spirals to canter lasts about 16min.

After the first bit of canter, the recorded guide brings you back down to trot and then walk, for about a one minute break, then finishes with another roughly 8min working session — taking you first back up to trot for another (shorter) spiral cycle to lead into the second canter. 

That canter follows the same pattern as before — circles with trot transitions and shallow counter canter loops — before transitioning you back to the very first exercise: three loop trot serpentines with steps of walk over center line, before finishing with stretchy trot.

the full picture is coming together! finished the kit with Wintec webber leathers, and some black Royal Rider irons that i already had on hand

Some real talk: Our experience did not start out…. great. Doozy was super tense and distracted and rushing. And I actually paused the recording for a bit during the first warm up trot segment to kinda regroup and get my bearings (and shorten my stirrups). 

But then… Actually, as we progressed through the exercises after restarting the recording, it felt extremely helpful. My experience may be different from yours in that it’s hard for me not to get kinda baited into the tension, to kinda devolve into an almost survival-mode “just get through the paces” kinda attitude. 

Having this recording tho, especially with the consistent gentle coaching prompts, really really helped keep me centered, AND — most importantly — kept me proactively giving instructions to Doozy. Instead of just being like, “omg dear lord slow down!” I could actually stay focused on an exercise and just help Doozy find her balance within those steps. 

we’re clearly going for that muted palette bc obvi doozy has no trouble drawing attention to herself already!

And gooooo figure, the ride ended much more successfully than it had started. Like finishing with another stint of trot serpentines with trot-walk-trot exercises might be a bit remedial for some horses, but it was just the ticket for Doozy and she was able to execute them much more smoothly at the end vs the beginning. Which, ya know, is the whole point of schooling. 

So yea. I made a thing. I’m excited about it. I’d like to create more things like it — with variations in exercises, timing, intensity, etc., presumably with progressive complexity to continue skill development.

You know how it is, tho. Grand ideas crashing into mundane reality, this stuff takes time to do and is so far of untested / unclear utility. Will it be one of those tools that, over time, I stop using bc it’s not helpful? Or will it be like the interval timer or metronome (which, personally, I played simultaneously with the recording and may possibly integrate into future recordings pending interest) and turn into something that I use for virtually every ride? 

It’s to be determined, I suppose. In the meantime tho, I’m interested in hearing from other folks. Do you plan to try this recorded ride guide out? And if so, would you please consider leaving feedback?

pocket coach (with media!)

I virtually always low-key wish my rides were being recorded. I'm just that obsessed with studying riding media, ya know? Since moving barns, tho, most of my serious schooling is done alone, where the best bet for video is a camera set up on the wall. Which works... but means far away, unfocused shots that may or may not be framed super nicely. 

With all the recent trial saddles, tho, I got more desperate determined and hauled out ye olde helmet cam, and was actually pleasantly surprised with how decently it worked! It's very sensitive to sun spots in the indoor rings (as you can see from the over exposed blobs in all these screen shots), but otherwise is #BetterThanNothing!

media is media, guys LOL -- we'll take our blurry screenshots and we'll LIKE IT

So I brought it out for our ride yesterday --- and am so glad I did! I wanted to keep working on the postural details Trainer C focused on during our lesson the day prior, AND I wanted to play with jompies yay! 

look who can trot ground poles with only minimal disruptions to rhythm!!

I also fired up the ol' metronome app again! It's been a hot minute since we used it, for whatever reason, but guys --- it is such a valuable tool for us right now. 

One of my biggest weaknesses on the flat is that I get pretty easily baited into fiddle-fucking around with the horse's face. And Doozy is such a slippery noodle that it almost feels like I'm kinda chasing her around with my aids as she bounces and contorts every which way. 

turns out, she goes better when i stop fucking around so much LOL

But with the metronome, idk... It's like, there's just this steady drum beat (literally) that I'm either matching, or not matching. It's just one single thing to think about -- but in focusing on that tempo, everything else seems to click into place. To hold a steady tempo with my posting requires that I be very solid, stable, and deliberate in my position and balance. 

And the result is that.... Basically all my aids stay in one place, giving Doozy the stability she needs to settle onto them. 

very progressive set of exercises:
3 ground poles, spaced 9'
pole-X-pole, spaced 9'
3 big X's (far side), spaced 21'

The key for me is being more patient. Waiting it out. Giving Doozy time (and the actual peace and quiet from my noisy way of riding) to kinda ease into it. Rather than feeling like, "I need to make a difference," or "She needs to listen now." For Doozy, those feelings are direct nonstop tickets to Tension Land, and she's more than happy to go there at the least provocation. 

plus single jumps on the diagonals. everything can be jumped from both directions

So. Anyway. It's all in the video, if you want to see what I mean. 

ALSO in the video --- the jompies, yay! Our first jump school since the clinic with Sharon White last week! I swear I have all these good intentions of doing jumping style exercises twice a week... But it always ends up feeling like I'm lucky if it's once every 1.5wks. C'est la vie, I guess. 

look how good she's getting at grids!

There were already two nice singles set up on the diagonals, and I added a series of progressive gymnastic exercises. And Doozy was so good!

off both leads! actual video is higher resolution, i promise

I'm not sure Sharon would have totally agreed with ALL my choices lol... But I did trot into the singles just to keep reinforcing her lessons. 

i let her canter the singles to finish up too <3

Doozy was great, tho, jumped everything super well -- and only knocked one rail! The grid obvi rode a little short for her (bc duh it was set short at 21') but that's honestly the point. To help her get a little more patient and compressed. The one single going into the far corner kept riding a little funny for us, but eh I think it was a little 'bottom heavy' (with the lattice gate practically on the floor) and going into the corner tends to inspire the chip vs the gap anyway, so I didn't dwell. 

we are learning a lot from each other, i think

On one hand, these sessions can seem kinda basic or elementary... But on the other hand.... that's also entirely the point lol. It was only just this summer where even just cantering a ground pole was Very Exciting OMG lol. And now the mare is powering cleanly thru grids on short distances. We'll take it!

link to video here

The video is less edited than normal -- and is almost our entire ride. I cut the first 4ish minutes of trot, where we were just warming up and settling in, and the walk breaks. So it's basically the full meat of our session. But for those of you who maybe don't want to watch 10min of wide-angle footage taken from a fixed position on the wall.... here are the key moments:

- First ~3min are our proper trot work, including passing through the ground poles

- Around 3:30 we start canter work, including passing through ground poles

- At 6:00 we start jumping, which lasts the remainder of the video

cookies and face scritches for a job well done <3

And idk about you guys, but for me? Rides like this are the stuff. It is so satisfying to just have a simple, pleasant school. Especially compared to some of our recent rides in the trial saddles -- where it felt like Doozy's tension only increased as the ride went on and nothing I did seemed to make a difference. 

I'm thinking the metronome is going to make more regular appearances in our rides again. Who cares if the lesson kids we ride with think it's weird LOL bc it clearly is working for us right now! 

Maybe that'll be my New Year resolution haha... Anyway. Happy almost 2025, y'all!

reset the clock, pls!

Doozy and I are slowly but steadily creeping up on one year of ownership, if you can believe it. In some ways, progress has felt slow. So slow. Esp if you compare to how lightning fast things went with Charlie's introduction to eventing. 

But, eh. Charlie was older and I was still in a very productive weekly lesson routine at that point. Plus, let's be real. Charlie was a lot more straight forward to get going than Doozy has been, at least as it relates to alignment with my particular skill set. 

some random pics today guys bc, whew, i've been trying to tone down the constant picture taking, lest my new barn mates think i'm a total creep!! so here we have my cats in my 9th floor apt when pigeons flock on the window sill LOL

I dunno, tho, guys. I honestly feel good about the pace of our progress right now. I'm still constantly learning so much about (and from) this mare. Which.... Ya know, was kinda the whole point anyway, let's be real. 

It also seems to me that so much of our progress to date, so much of what we work on, can't really be measured in jump height or movement score... But also absolutely cannot be skipped if I have any aspirations for success against those other metrics later on in our journey. 

and an unexpected blossom on a poor potted plant the cats tried to murder! i'd given this plant to my green-thumbed grandfather, with whom i shared a beloved tradition of weekly visits where we'd drink exactly two glasses of wine and relentlessly dissect the current state of US politics. after he passed, the plant came back to me (along with a few others from his collection), and its unexpected bloom after so much cat damage feels.... hopeful.

For example, Doozy is teaching me a LOT about what "relaxation" means, and why it matters. Charlie could more or less work through his tension. At times, actually, a little extra tension could bring out more sparkle in him. That's.... not the case with Doozy lol. She sizzles and whistles like a cartoon bomb about to blow haha, and ain't nobody wanna see that!

I had an important breakthrough this month, tho: Whatever or however Doozy was yesterday, she is... moreso that way today. 

In other words, if Doozy's ride yesterday was, "ok, I guess, in that it happened and nobody died...", then today she might actually be pretty good. And tomorrow? Very like to be: Wow, what a mare, great job!!

It goes both ways, tho. Bc if she had off yesterday, and did nothing but eat and chill and enjoy her turnout.... Well. Today, she might be one step closer to feral. And god save your soul if you give her a third day in a row of that, bc she gone be..... untamed when you next try to ride!

source: xkcd

It's helpful to think of our rides in this construction, tho. It helps reinforce that if I need Doozy to be at her best on any given day, there's probably a multi-day lead up to prepare her. 

It also reinforces that.... I can't just come into Ride 1 after a day (or more) off with expectations appropriate for the Ride 5 horse of our last ride. That's an instant recipe for stress, frustration, and disappointment. 

So. "Warming Up" for Doozy is a multi-day affair at this moment in time, and Day 3 seems to be a very sweet spot, with 4 and 5 similarly pleasant --- esp if we can splice in some enjoyable and pressure-free hacking in there somewhere!

anyway, onto the main point: apps for riding!!! this is a screencap from Soundbrenner, a very basic metronome app that's suited just fine for the task. i prefer to use it for a trot tempo.

Approaching our rides with this mindset is already starting to pay huge dividends, too. On one hand, it helps me stay disciplined and consistent in keeping the horse ridden. And on the other hand, it keeps me realistic about expectations vs getting baited into the weeds of micromanaging the horse or fucking with her face when she's not fully ready. 

As a result.... Holy shit, guys, the horse is becoming schooled! In our most recent "Ride 1" after a day off, I was legit about 10min into the ride, had already done 5min of trot... and was like, "Well shit, that was straight up fine work... Should I just canter and be done? Or like..... Keep going??"

So often, it's so much work to just like.... Trot a circle.... that the ride time consumes itself and we're both properly puffed by the time it feels as if we accomplished anything at all.... So to be 5min in to trotting and feeling like, "Ok, now what?" was legit a Brand New Feeling for us hahahaha. 

screencap from IntervalTimer, your standard issue running / workout timer app that lets you configure different routines.

Thankfully, after years of Saint Charles, I had a technology answer for the next step of structure to our flat schools!!! This will not be news to long time readers, since both of these apps had been in regular usage for Charlie.... But this is legit the first time they felt productive to use with Doozy, so I'm going to reintroduce them. 

First is Soundbrenner, a metronome app. It just... sounds time. Tick Tock Tick Tock, at a tempo of your choosing. But don't be fooled --- the first time I used this with Charlie, it shocked me how much strength it took (from both of us) to actually hold the rhythm. Like, true story, I tried the metronome with Doozy a few months ago and was instantly like, NOPE NOT YET lol....

It's honestly a great tool, tho. I came to consider it something like a "pocket coach" with Charlie, would legit keep it tick-tock-ing away in my pocket during competition warm up. It's the perfect thing to focus on, rather than getting drawn into nitpicky fussy tiffs with the horse. There's a reason rhythm is the first step in the training pyramid! 

more unrelated --- i went to the Maryland Thoroughbred Horse Breeders Yearling Show this weekend and took ONE ZILLION PHOTOS, more to come

Second app is also quite basic, but also quite revolutionizing for me: IntervalTimer. Literally just your basic interval timer that you can preprogram different routines into, based on your plans. 

There are legit infinite ways to program this type of tool.... But I quite like my "Charlie Flats" program. After a 5ish minute warm up (which was about the time it took to walk from our barn to the ring at the last place), the program shifts into 2min intervals. You could get creative with high vs low intensity intervals, like 3:00min on, 0:30sec off, etc... 

But I actually really like the 2min marker. Basically, for about half an hour, this thing just rings a bell every 2min. I don't always react to the bell, but it helps me attune to the nature of our rides. Are we staying symmetric in our exercises? How many intervals does it take for the horse to feel soft and engaged? Can we do 2 or 4min sessions of leg yielding exercises, followed by 2 or 4min sessions of serpentines or spirals? How long did we actually canter??

twas fun looking at all the sweet TB bebes! stay tuned (hopefully... eventually...) for a dedicated post!

This week was my first time using both of these apps with Doozy, and it feels like the opening of a new chapter! Sure, she got a little wobbly when I started the metronome app, bc it changed a bit how I was focusing on riding her (ultimately, I think, for the better). 

But overall, the introduction felt like exactly the next level of structure I need to keep guiding her, whether it be her Ride 1 or Ride 5, into productive and balanced sessions. 

Think you'll use either of these apps? Maybe you do already? Or maybe you have other apps or tools that help passively guide your rides??? If so, do tell!

routine charles

It's been so so nice to get back into a habit with riding Charlie now that his epic heel grab wound is all better. Obvi bc he's my favorite and most bestest horse haha, but also bc he's such a nice counterpoint to Doozy -- they are on opposite ends of the spectrum for sure lol.

charlie and royal never miss a meal

So many things that are complicated, hard, scary or even impossible feeling with Doozy are just... old hat for Chuck. Like strolling around the farm on the buckle, visiting random areas to see friends of both the two- and four-legged varieties.

"tell me it's round bale season without telling me it's round bale season...."
(yes those are all little nips and bites, poor guy!)

Or ya know. Things like trotting in a steady rhythm LOL.... I gotta say, spending all those years riding Charlie with a metronome app tick-tocking away in my pocket really paid off. He just.... trit-trots pleasantly around in a way I decidedly under-appreciated in my pre-Doozy life haha.

spirit + flynn demonstrating exactly how these silly boys chew each other up

Bc... Well. Right now, Doozy ain't got no rhythm. And, in fact, is in a really special new phase of training that, ya know, now that she's a big bad cross country horse who boldly goes wherever pointed, trotting is boring and for the birds and she'd really rather not, thanks.

ooooooh --- in the woods with charlie, for the first time in forever!

Never a dull moment in the green horse journey, I guess! 

with a pony parade, too!

For real, tho, it's really helpful and reassuring for me to spend time riding Charlie right now. Our rides are very much focused on rehabilitation and therapy, helping him use his body and stretch his muscles in gentle low-impact movements. 

some of the mares were very curious when we cruised by, esp considering our group included two of their herd members. doozy (second from top left) was notably disinterested. apparently seeing Candee Kisses outside of the field only blows her mind when they are BOTH out lol

We're up to about 9min total of trotting, with 2-3min of cantering -- spread out obviously over the course of a ride. And all along the way, my biggest goal is to just really focus on my own posture, position, and balance. 

so fun to wander the grounds on this guy

To be honest, it's actually been a little eye opening. Charlie's consistency has helped me understand that... actually, some of Doozy's jittery skittery inconsistency is kinda my fault (big surprise, right?). Bc ya know, spending the better part of a year not riding in any serious sort of way means I'm a little less balanced than the sensitive creature would like. 

charlie is 100% a pony at heart <3 <3 <3 

I also cultivated (through a lot of really hard and intentional work) a somewhat looser leg and style of riding for Charlie, to counteract his occasional dullness and my tendency to nag with leg aids. So ya know. Nbd, just need to master an entirely different style for each horse.

"please come closer to pet me! i promise to only bite a little bit" -- Icee, probably

A barn friend recently picked up an Equi Cube, this weighted block thingy designed to be held while riding. I've always wanted to try one, and figured these early easy rides with Charlie would be perfect test environments. So we gave it our first shot this weekend!

tried one of these for the first time -- has anybody else used one regularly?

I opted to warm Charlie up a bit first, then carry it once we were really going, in case I found it really fatiguing really quickly. But actually, it wasn't quite as hard to carry it around as I expected, at least in terms of exhausting the core muscle groups.

oh charles, so sweet, expressive, and more than a little neurotic lol

The hard part was actually managing my reins and contact. Thankfully Charlie steers like a champ off my seat and legs, but he definitely relies a bit on the contact to help with his longitudinal balance (esp given the state of his hind end**). But I'll definitely need a little more practice to get proficient.

(**Cross your fingers -- he should be getting his hocks done at maybe the exact moment you are reading this!!!!)

you really are the goodest boy

Feels like maybe a cool tool to help tighten me up a bit. It's interesting with Charlie bc over the years I've utilized all these various external gizmos and gadgets to help passively instruct us in our rides --- like the metronome, the interval timer app (which I still use almost every ride with him) and maybe now this equi-cube. And some of them really make a difference! 

So things seem to be in a good place with Charlie. I'll be interested to hear the vet's thoughts on his overall condition and soundness at his appointment today, esp as it relates to his short and long term prospects as a riding horse. Cross your fingers for us!!

modern problems? modern solutions

Maryland has had so much precipitation this winter... It's honestly kinda unreal. It's not unusual to have one or two big snowstorms and a couple bitterly cold snaps. But... So far we've had something like 4-5 distinct snowstorms, plus a couple absolute rain deluges. 

jump ring still under snow....

Everything is sodden and waterlogged, with patches of snow still covering a lot of ground. Tho I guess I'm grateful that it's muddy bc it's relatively warm? Rather than frozen solid? Lol... Idk. 

bridle paths are a combination of snow and mud

There's not a lot of good riding ground, tho. Mostly just the indoor --- and the dressage court is pretty ok too since it gets good sun and has dark footing. 

or just... ugh, mud. everything is SO SOGGY

So things have been fairly quiet around here. Altho the coming week looks prettty niiiice weather-wise.... Maybe things will dry out?

i kinda love how the snow almost looks like an intentional ground line! still much much too wet to even think of jumping these guys at home any time soon tho

In the meantime, tho, we're getting excited about opportunities elsewhere. Like, at Loch Moy's epic wintertime cross derbies!! And in fact, I actually signed up to volunteer at the first of the season!!!

It was unfortunately postponed a couple times for weather reasons, and ended up finally happening in absolute downpour conditions. Jump judges could luckily stay inside our cars... but I honestly felt badly for the riders. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes!

oooooh but i know the perfect place with acres upon acres of all weather footing!!

This wasn't my first time volunteering in the new #CovidEra, but interestingly things are still developing there. This year, Loch Moy (and presumably other venues?) is rolling out new technologies to accommodate "touchless" scoring and therefore reduce contact and interactions between individuals.

just jump judging things!

The organizers told us to download two apps in advance: CompeteEasy and Nominate Jumping. Apparently Australia events have been using these apps for years, and Loch Moy is looking to adopt the system for all unrecognized events moving forward. (I'm assuming for recognized the USEA will need to make that decision on how scoring works?)

all my various equine-related apps. the bottom two are new, with the "Jumping" app is the new contact-free scoring tool

Jump judges received orders of go, maps, and scrap paper for any notes.... But otherwise all scoring was done on our smartphones using the app. 

The organizers had us log on to the venue wifi and gave us the login credentials for the app. Then we selected the event and phase from a menu of choices. We were obviously using the "jumping" scoring mechanism for the derby, but I believe there's other options too -- and a timing function.  

the judging screen. note the circled "settings" icon, the magnifying lens "search" icon, and the "more" button. on the left side, i was judging fences 13 and 14; on the right side I was judging 15 thru 18B

All the riders and divisions were preloaded in the app. You could either type the rider number into the search bar and hit the magnifying button to load that rider and division --- or you could search for the rider number using the magnifying lens to open up all the divisions. 

various setting and search options

It was easy to select my assigned fences (I had a few for each division, since everything is so close together in derbies -- I had a whole little corner of the course). You can see in the above screen shot that each individual fence can be highlighted (red) and scored. Just tapping the "clear" button was enough to register that score. 

judging my jumps from the dry safety of my car

Common outcomes like "refusals" were also right there on the main screen, but using the "more" button had all the other potential outcomes too -- points for rails, missed flags, falls, etc, all the various penalties. None of my fences had a penalty all day, tho, so I never had to use anything other than, "Clear!"

out my driver's side window were my other jumps -- the little alleyway connecting arenas. intro thru modified jumped the ditch, tho intro and BN could option the log instead, while training and modified had the vertical set up a (very short) two strides out.

The app also had a section for notes per rider, and the camera / video icons that make it look like you could record and assign footage to each individual rider as needed (like maybe if you're judging a skinny and need the footage to determine if the horse passed within the flags?). I didn't use any of those functions tho.

this horse was sooooo fancy -- Esprit de Jaguar, remember him from the 2019 4yo champs??

Obviously we also all had radios and were calling in the riders' progressions around the course anyway, and scorers in the office confirmed all the penalties etc. There were a couple times throughout the day where they had to double check on something, or maybe a couple instances of the app not updating. But by and large, it seemed like everybody had a reasonable enough time using it. 

this mare is so cool too -- i've done clinics with them before

From a volunteer perspective, tho, these derbies are pretty low key and low stress anyway. You might remember from my having ridden in a couple that the days are organized so that there are roughly ~45min schooling breaks between each level. So all riders have an opportunity to get into the rings and jump around everything first before their times. 

Meant for a LOT of time just sitting around idling in my car, tho, haha! And actually, virtually all these pictures and gifs are from the schooling sessions -- not the actual timed rounds. 

omg the ponies were so so so SO cute tho!! even if everyone was a little sad about the rain

While at times it felt a little boring to just be sitting there waiting for the next division to start.... It was totally worth it. Not least bc Loch Moy is now offering a menu of choices for volunteer swag!! In past years I've always just received schooling passes (most of which expire unused). But apparently now you can choose to receive a gift certificate instead!

lol i thought somebody stole my horse at first

I guess there's a limit of 3 certificates per volunteer per year, presumably since they're so freakin valuable. Idk if the value of the certificate is tied to the amount of time spent at the event, but I was there for 6hrs and got a $60 certificate --- redeemable for all sorts of MDHT activities including starter trial entries omg. 

so so so much water, the retaining pond washed over the driveway out

So, uh, yea. Obviously that's a no-brainer haha! I love volunteering in general anyway -- but especially love volunteering at Loch Moy. These low key schooling events and derbies are so fun and such great opportunities for riders of all levels and backgrounds. I'm always happy to be out there supporting that -- and esp happy to also get what basically amounts to a 50% discount at our next starter trial lol. Yes plz!

C'mon, spring, we're ready for ya! I'm hoping it'll be Charlie's turn to get out and about sooon! Maybe he wants to go to a derby too?? Anybody going to the March derby???