Fair Hill Starter Trial

Doozy officially made her eventing debut at the Fair Hill Starter Trials this weekend, contesting the open elementary division -- 18" fences + Intro C dressage test!! 

It was a long day full of challenges, self doubt, and lots and lots of hand walking...., but ultimately a deeply rewarding experience. So let's dig into the details!

got to ride our dressage test in the big international ring on the Gallaher side!! 

We brought along another favorite young rider from our barn, with her sweet spicy little nugget of a lease pony Austin. You might remember this pony from many past adventures over the years -- both with this YR, and lessons and adventures with his owner** from even longer ago. 

Austin is just generally a good-vibey type pony to be around, with the advantage of being not a mare, so Doozy didn't get attached. Plus, our ride times were essentially perfectly shuffled such that they did their dressage, then we did ours, then they jumped, then we jumped, with enough time for everything that we could always accompany each other to each phase. Perfect!

(**Fun fact: his owner (who is about to go into her senior year of college, omg, time flies!), came along too so we all got to spend the day together!!)

for a horse who won't reliably just... trot, Doozy sure can pull out a walk when called for!

This meant Doozy got to hand walk in each of the riding spaces before her actual rides. She was a serious handful our first time through the tunnel while Austin did dressage... But I discovered tactics to keep her earthbound: She strongly preferred strolling up and down all the various pathways -- marching boldly toward the unknown -- vs walking in circles in a relatively fixed position. Noted. 

Regardless, she was much more self contained by the time we returned under saddle for our own test. Tho, not gonna lie. I didn't do a whole heckuva lot in warm up. Realistically she'd already hand walked for close to an hour, so physically she was loose. It was just a question of getting her as much onto the aids as she can be right now. Which... Isn't saying much. 

And ya know. Our test wasn't much, either. We walked. We cantered. And very occasionally, we also trotted, lol... The mare was lit up and leaping around and not particularly inclined toward introspection... But we did the movements in the correct order and stayed a little less crooked most of the time. That.... about sums it up LOL!

good girl <3

Again tho, I'm gonna be honest with you guys. Everything felt really really hard. And, as is my habit, I seriously considered whether we should just scratch the rest of the day. Fortunately tho, my friends are supportive but firm: "You can stop at any time, but you must start, first."

Also, realistically, jumping comes a LOT more easily to the mare. Plus, she was much more manageable in hand while we accompanied Austin and his YR first to show jumping (on the Gallaher side), and then over to xc in the Sawmill field. She's had enough experience now being around running and jumping horses that she doesn't pay them much attention.

walked Doozy past the crowded bleachers (positioned right at Fence 1, natch) before the whistle

All the same, we were a little late to our own show jumping round so I was fairly expeditious in the warm up. Again, we'd been walking almost continuously for hours at this point, so it was just a question of tuning her into, "Ok it's jumping time!"

Our first trip over the warm up X was a bit wild... but she settled for the second attempt, and then was very good over the vertical. I figured that was good enough, and we strolled over to the in gate to patiently wait our turn. Which, incidentally, she stood beautifully at the in gate -- a habit I will happily aim to normalize!

Fence 1 also featured major league standards lol

And guys!! She was so good for our round!! So so so so good! There were bleachers full of spectators and judges on a trailer and kubotas driving around and a generator buzzing and a PA system and horses in warm up and all the extra jump poles and standards they'd needed for the FEI classes stacked up outside the ring... So much stuff, but she just sucked it up and proceeded!!!

was kinda fun getting to ride around the 'fancy' equipment generally reserved for the major classes!

We are kinda in a tricky place in our training right now where we are on the verge of being able to carry a canter around to all the fences --- except she still rushes at times. So I'm in this constant head space of, "Do I pull her back down to trot? Or let her keep rolling?"

And you can kinda tell in the video that in some places I intend to trot... but then we end up in an ok canter and I let her just go on along. It's easy to watch a video like this too, and think, "Hm I really should be more allowing!"

look who just clocked right on around!

And maybe that's true... But it's also true that the horse just doesn't have a lot of experience yet. And when we arrived in canter to Fence 6 at a slightly funny distance, Doozy just doesn't really have an answer for that yet. Like, she has an exceptionally good eye -- but she's going to make mistakes too. Especially in a distracting and intense atmosphere. 

So we basically clobbered thru the fence, and then were a little funny to the out jump of that line. Nbd, tho. In retrospect, maybe I should have brought her back down to trot knowing that we were going into a line. But, eh, the mistakes are going to get made one way or another eventually. We're just learning as we go here!

ok we did have a little 'oopsie' going into this related line... eh, nbh

Tho lol... I do try not to make the same mistake twice in one class haha, and determined we'd trot into our last fence just to reinforce that slow 'n steady often produces a good experience.

Doozy was honestly great, tho. The jumps were small and easy -- it was 100% apparent that she felt like she understood the actual task, even despite all the other stuff -- the distraction of significant external stimulus. She's a brave bold horse and felt super confident around the course. 

And actually, I felt reassured watching the video too. Sure, any of us can pick ourselves apart mercilessly... But, eh, this video looks basically exactly as it felt, and it felt good. 

link to full show jumping round here!

So ya know. There wasn't much left to do except hack over to the Sawmill field for our cross country phase. Doozy seemed a little confused when I didn't immediately dismount after the show jumping... Like, "Wait, there's more??" But eventually fell back into her power walk mode and marched right on out past the trailers. 

She was super funny in this field -- both while hand walking during Austin's xc, and while out there under saddle. For some reason, she was SURE that we were supposed to just... keep going once out into the field. That -- quite possibly -- the Promise Land Itself must be just on the other side of the hill!

Which... Actually worked quite well for my purposes bc I had two main concerns with our course:

1) Getting out of the start box and away from "home," historically a big issue with Charlie; 

2) Not getting run away with on the downhill turn toward "home."

first time leaving the start box!

Considering Doozy's internal GPS seemed to not be registering that "home" was technically behind us, and that she was, in fact, strongly inclined toward heading out up the hill and away... Well, that worked great for me!

Again we kept the warm up to a bare minimum -- two trips over the little log -- then went over to the start box to wait patiently for our turn. She stood like a pro while the starter gave us a 3min buffer to the horse ahead of us (since we could hear over the radio that there were some refusals and I didn't want to go blasting up somebody's butt when they were already in trouble, if Doozy took off on me). 

obvi a lot of the xc pics are hella zoomed, you're better off just watching the videos!

Doozy did not take off on me, tho!! She walked politely out of the box, picked up a trot, carried it nicely to 1, cantered away.... then came back to balance for 2... and on and on just like that all the way around the course!

Again, it felt like she understood all the jumps -- felt like she was looking at them and measuring them up, but not thinking too too deeply about them and definitely not questioning them. Just enough attention to not be careless!

stitched together clips from various friends positioned around the course!

We made it around all the funny little turns in the course (and there were a couple lol), and made it around the turn toward home without drama. We did kinda get cooking down the line from 6 to 7, a fairly straight downhill line... 

But it was nbd. I opted to bring her back to walk afterward anyway, tho, to approach what was kinda the funniest little part of the course: a somewhat significant terrain question for the level, imho haha, with a tiny little log. It also felt nice to take the little walk intermission just to help Doozy understand that it's not actually a race. 

Either way, she walked just fine, and once we got closer to the little downhill log, we picked up an easy trot and just proceeded!

helmet camera of full trip (all 3:30min of it lol) woot woot!!

From there it was an even steeper descent into the lowest part of the 'bowl' that makes up Sawmill field (where they have all the ditches and whatnot), and I was a little defensive to Fence 9 down there... But then we finished with a perfect uphill cruise to 10 and the finish line, and Doozy absolutely aced it!

clear over the last and thru the finish!

Plus she came back down to walk almost immediately -- at which point I *did* finally dismount and lavish praise on her.... What a good girl!!

It's crazy to say it, but that little trip around the cross country course was probably the easiest part of the day --- followed closely by the show jumping course itself. It's just everything else that is such a challenge with this horse haha. 

Tho, obvi, I mean "challenge" in the most endearing way. She's a handful, but she's not naughty, mean or bad. In fact, she's honestly really really good. And she's so brave, so full of herself, so entirely sure that She Knows Everything, and We Should All Just Listen.

And, eh, maybe she's right haha! So it was a good day. I'm glad we did it, and honestly it all went probably a bit better than I had any reason to expect. We definitely need to work on the flatwork, but all in good time!

Big Brown

Guys!! I'm officially an eventer again!!! Woot Woot!! And Doozy too!!

holy moly i'm at another horse show --- this time with iconic landmarks like the tunnel lol

I mean, I guess only if you count the itty bitties to be "eventing." Which, well, I do. 

And while it might not be a recognized level (or show), our classes were actually integrated into Fair Hill's Spring International wherein they hosted FEI classes, recognized national divisions, AND a starter trial!

stewarded the FEI dressage warm up rings on friday as a pre-game :)

A few details made this show particularly attractive for us. First up - I was already signed up to volunteer on Friday for the FEI dressage (as I do every year), which meant I could get the lay of the land and walk my courses well in advance.

who recognizes our spicy little pony trailer mate?! doozy has good taste, she immediately recognized him as Good Company <3

The format would also be a bit different bc of the confluence of integrating the starter with the international. Namely -- we'd park in the stabling on the Gallaher entrance (vs the fairgrounds... if you know, you know). And! We'd get to dressage and show jump on the Gallaher side too ---- fancy!!

passed through this tunnel no fewer than 8x throughout the day....

Sure sure, it meant passing through the tunnel underneath the road a whole bunch of times... But, eh, we had our spicy little chili pepper of a pony compatriot with us -- entered in the level above, which meant they rode earlier. 

So I spent legit ages hand walking Doozy around (in a chain shank while wearing gloves bc we are both #learningfromexperiences), meaning we got to familiarize with basically every single riding zone in hand first before having to ride there.

dressage judge commentary summed up as... "disobedient" lol, but actually the mare was a star who just doesn't understand the game yet

I'd like to say it was "worth it" to be able to ride dressage in the iconic international ring from all the 3* & 4* events predating the 5* (which now uses the arenas inside the racecourse on the fairgrounds). Buuuuut, y'all already know. Our dressage is marginally better than "disorderly" at present. Meh. We'll get there. 

First step is to 'get thru.' Which, Doozy did quite well, actually! Like, she definitely knows to stay inside the boards. I count that as a HUGE win!

this game, however... she gets this <3 <3 <3

Another huge win?? My friends at this show. I'm always so full of self doubt, so quick to say, "Ehhh maybe we shouldn't, maybe it's too soon, maybe it'll over-face her...." 

But everyone was so quick to remind me that all the jumping phases are ultimately just one jump at a time. And ya know, at any show, but especially at a starter show, you can stop at any time. 

tanking up after a #JobWellDone

At any moment, if I felt like we were spooling out or melting down... I could just... stop. Which, obvi we all know sorta academically. But it's always nice to have that gentle prod forward from trusted friends. 

So we went forth and jumped our jumps, one jump at a time. And it was good! 

so excited to be a participating member of the squad again!!

I'll have more to share later, obvi, complete with so many pictures and videos lol... But in the meantime, I'm just so pleased with this handsome red mare! 

And for her efforts, we earned a lovely and large brown 8th place ribbon --- suitable for this sweet mare, progeny of the great Big Brown. Feels kinda like a win, not gonna lie! Stay tuned for more soon <3

better is good

Happy Friday, everybody! It's promising to possibly be a busy weekend around these parts so I'm trying to clear the backlog off my phone while there's still time...

another day, another trial saddle. this is a county solution. wool flocked, stamped narrow, monoflap. 

Plus, ya know, we're still in the thick of saddle trials. Basically the same day I put the Custom in a box to return to the seller, another possible candidate got ready for shipping -- this time a County Solution. 

looks worthy of a proper test!

So naturally, I was eager to put the saddle immediately to work!! My barn mate and I headed up to the jump ring, wherein I actually set up a a slightly larger selection of jumps for us to play with --- 3 singles with one along the outside and the other two on diagonals, and a diagonal line measured for four strides that I figured we'd trot into for five.

actually set myself FIVE fences for this ride -- including a related distance!

And everything was set to verticals with some amount of fill, except for the related line of Xs. One of the jumps was even the set of random boxes that have been hanging out around the edge of the ring for the last few months!

learning patience, one step at a time!

I tried to channel our recent dressage lesson with C in our warm up, just focusing on slow and steady and never really letting Doozy get on much of a roll. It's hard to tell if it really worked or not, except that honestly the mare was generally quite good. 

plenty of fill + panels and stuff too!

Like she still wants to make a bid for all the fences, but seems increasingly willing to resign herself to trotting into things. I think we can and will get back to consistently cantering fences soon enough, but she just needs to learn that speed isn't the solution to everything.

we introduced the boxes too!! 

She's so brave, tho. It's honestly pretty wild. There's all sorts of clutter around the ring these days, plus various random poles strewn about on the floor... But she just doesn't care. Didn't even look at the boxes when I presented her to them --- just, ya know, proceeded!

tried to jump everything both ways, so every jump was 'new'

I think it actually kinda helped trying to string a few things together and build more toward 'course work,' too. Like, she didn't always know where we were going, but would tune in and balance up a lot more easily when she realized we might be making a turn into the unknown.

switched it up to a bending line!

Like when I was going to come back up the related distance the opposite direction, and Katie suggested to actually bend from the first jump over to the boxes to catch them from the other direction too. And it worked great!

was fine!

Like Doozy kinda made a bid at the first jump, to the point where Katie (who was videoing) actually just assumed I'd pull out of the line... Except that as soon as we made the turn, Doozy was like, "OH!" and settled into her stride to the boxes! Good mare!

starting to learn to work together a bit

I honestly didn't really spend all too much time jumping everything a million times either. Like, we got everything from both directions, tested out some skills... and then moved on. Bc I had another agenda item on the list --- catching a few xc jumps!

and ermagherd we snuck out to the fields for a couple quick efforts!

There are still loose horses turned out in all the xc fields, which is kinda a bummer... Normally the rough board horses get brought into sacrifice paddocks on round bales for the winter, leaving the xc fields open to easy hacking... 

But for some reason they stayed out this year. And naturally one of the herds was right in the field I'd hoped to play around in -- the field that contains the entire loop course for the itsy bitsies, plus the first, second, and final jumps for all the rest of the courses. There would have been a lot for us to try, but, eh, not with the loose horses.

this line of fences is technically the warm up ring for our events, but there were two good fences for us so it was perfect

Luckily, tho, the warm up area was free and clear of distractions, and had a nice natural log, plus a hanging telephone pole type thing. Doozy hasn't ridden out in this field in months, and certainly not since she started jumping. So this was basically all brand new to her, and she just clocked around like a pro. Good girl!

link to quick clips from the ring and xc field!

Time will tell on the saddle, but I'm honestly feeling pretty optimistic about the big picture right now. Doozy is still pretty hard for me to ride... But at the same time, it feels like she grows up more and more after every off property trip we take.

mare managed to damn near scalp herself in turnout somehow... ugh poor thing, it looks super sore :( 
pls honey, just be pretty!

One step at a time, just making things a tiny bit better slowly, so slowly... but surely. And as they say, 'better' is good!! 

TGIF, y'all. Hope everyone is looking forward to a great weekend!

squircles in new + exciting places

At long last, Doozy met long time dressage trainer C!!!! Longtime readers will remember :D

virtual cookies to folks who immediately know where we are!

One of the hardest things about being basically a "privateer" (ie, a rider independent from any established program) is building up the team, developing the tribe necessary to be successful in any meaningful way. 

And not just because it's hard to find coaching that "meshes," but bc of all the other details... The scheduling, the logistics, the reality that right now my horse is a two-person load job so I can only really ship out to lessons when ideally there are two of us going. Which obvi doubles the logistical challenges!

passive familiarization during punky's lesson was a 100% win

I dunno tho, maybe I also thought we should be 'farther along' before we were 'ready' for fancy pants dressage lessons. But eh, the months have continued ticking on, and we still can't really consistently trot circles.... so, eh, maybe actually this is exactly what we need!

another day, another new ring!

Tho, let's be real. Doozy from two or three months ago might not have been able to do this lesson. We ended up in the outdoor ring (no walls) bc the indoor was occupied already. And it was a non-issue!! Even tho they were bringing in horses from the paddocks during our ride! Good girl, Dooz!

doozy's hind legs are constantly considering their options lol

Trainer C is honestly such a favorite. There are so many ways to ride a horse, so many styles of teaching. But she is just so pragmatic. She just wants to see the horse move in the direction toward better. And wants the rider to be tactical and realistic. 

every now and again, tho, we can just... trot

She has a very stream-of-consciousness style of teaching that honestly feels a bit like 'puppet mastery' when you're in the moment (or at least, in deeper moments of more exciting proper dressage stuff like both Charlie and Isabel did in their time with C...). But she also has a super plain spoken and accessible way of describing things that it's easy to keep her words in mind even long after a lesson. 

"my people, they call to me!" --- doozy, 1,000%

This was honestly a very simple lesson. But it was wonderful. We are undoubtedly well into the 'plateau phase' of kinda sucking while reliably walk-trot-canter-jumping little things. Like, it might be like this for a long time. We might suck at trotting circles for a long time. 

Except actually, there's pretty distinct, tangible improvements happening. Like, obvi not in the trotting circles. Except YES in the trotting circles --- we only accidentally broke to canter like 2 or 3 times in the entire lesson! And ya know. We didn't bolt or attempt to exit the ring despite there being no real actual proper 'boundaries.'

can walk past a gazebo, check!

Trainer C directed us in a fashion very similar in some ways to the Sprieser clinic we went to a few months ago, but perhaps in a bit more of a nuanced sort of way. 

The gist was, as soon as you feel the tempo/pace getting away from you, down shift, Nbd, just bring it back. Don't let the horse get ahead of herself, too big for her britches. Just bring it back right away. Keep it so that the horse doesn't even have the chance to escalate and continue on in the 'wrong' way of going.

honestly walking is a win anyway! i swear we cantered too, but you'll have to watch the video

She quickly put us on a figure 8 of two 20m circles, with a pattern of walking portions of the figure, trotting portions of the figure, but focusing on softness and success. 

And as we progressed, instead of walking every time the horse got over tempo, we worked on the same sort of approach I wrote about last week --- bringing the horse back to almost walk, relaxing into it, then carrying on. Rinse, repeat.

more civilized trotting, just to prove we can

Last part of the lesson was showing C our canter. Which went well enough. I got to sheepishly explain to her how... when Doozy breaks into canter on her own, she never misses a lead. But when I *ask* for canter, we misfire most of the time LOL. Horses will be humbling, amirite?

video to clips from most of our lesson, actually

Overall, tho, honestly, it was a super refreshing ride. So much of it felt familiar with what I've already been doing... Which like, duh, C has been one of my most constant coaches over the last few years, hopefully I've absorbed at least some of it, right?

It was also useful, tho, in settling on specific exercises -- like that figure 8 with many many low-key transitions along the way. And getting the reminder to be more intentional about the squareness of Doozy's shoulders as we go. 

atta girl, dooz!

Essentially, C's instruction was to "never give her the chance to not be good." Make it easy, ride her straight and square, transition as needed strategically. Rinse, repeat forever. 

Except that C doesn't think it'll take that long, she was impressed with Doozy's general choices in life throughout this ride, and agreed that she's generally a well-to-do lady who 'colors inside the lines.' 

It still feels like Doozy is sometimes waiting for.... something, for the other shoe to drop, or whatever. But she'll learn, right? And in the meantime, we'll give her every opportunity to realize, 'it really can be easy, hon!'

another contender

Days go by and I continue to dink around with various trial saddles. Tho, sadly, we've kinda exhausted the available stock within driving distance... and are now tiptoeing into the painful territory of paying shipping for each trial.

oh that innocent (but ultimately naïve) feeling when you first unbox a beautiful saddle!

It's pretty far from ideal, but... eh, so is the current selection of saddles in my tack locker. Charlie's fancy french monoflap helps me feel super secure and up for any dance move Doozy might be inclined to pull.... But it's just all wrong for her and she's making her feelings known. 

My predicament is that... I don't really want to downgrade from Charlie's saddle, but finding the same quality in a fit for Doozy is proving challenging. Especially bc I'm trying to be a little more 'by the book' about the process these days. Meaning: using a fitter. 

just your typical tb back

Long time readers might remember.... Ugh I am kinda a huge skeptic of that whole little cottage industry. Not bc I don't believe that there's a true art and science to fitting saddles to horses... 

But rather bc there's so much subjectivity in the field (I've had two fitters confidently tell me basically exactly opposite things about the same horse), plus a fair amount of dogma. Not to mention how even conceivably 'independent' fitters tend to steer clients toward the same saddle makers. Like, I always think it's funny when a fitter will say, "Oh yea I'm brand agnostic. Here is the universal search criteria for your horse!" and yet somehow only one or two saddleries will pop up in the search results lol....

placement ain't perfect in this shot but, eh, onward!

So ya know. I find myself in an uncomfortable position of paying (out the nose) for counsel that doesn't always feel entirely disinterested. 

But again. I have a good budget for the right saddle, and I want it to be a good fit for this sensitive special horse whose job is to carry me safely through various new life lessons and experiences, whatever may come. Thus, the enlistment of professional help.

My criteria? Monoflap pls!! Bc I like it and I want it, and ain't that enough??? Seat size not too particular, probably 17" to 17.5" -- mayyybe 18" but that might be pushing the boundaries for this shorter-coupled red rockette. 

My fitter's criteria? Wool flocked, narrow tree. 

the stupid faces i make when sitting in a saddle for the first time LOL

Turns out, it's shockingly difficult to find all those criteria in one saddle. I really hoped this lovely old Custom Monte Carlo would be 'close enough,' tho. It's a medium/med-narrow, with gigantic front gussets. 

she's working on her sainthood application

In fact, I found myself quite willing to fall in love with it! Sure, it didn't quite have that "at home" feeling of Charlie's l'Apogee... But I actually quite liked it! And felt quite comfortable. 

So I felt hopeful that any of the little imperfections in fit for Dooz could be resolved with adjusting the flocking. Alas, my fitter felt differently. 

just trotting my bebe wild child around the barn yard in a halter. like one does...

And ya know. Cool. That's fine. If it's not going to work, it's not going to work. I'll send it back, eat the cost of shipping. Eat the (three-figure-wtf) cost of getting the fitter out to do nothing more than say, "No." And resign myself to another evening spent scouring the web for yet another contender to waste $150 and a week of my time on.... (do I sound bitter LOL??).

looks nice, tho, eh?

Tho, don't get me wrong. My fitter was definitely right on this one. I actually knew it before our appointment --- but was just willing myself into hoping for an easy end to the saddle shopping torture. I want to be like water haha -- show me the easiest path of least resistance, and I will happily agree!

But. Eh. My barn mate Amy and I managed to sneak in a quick jump school on a shockingly windy, but otherwise pleasant, Saturday morning --- with the explicit intention of getting as much footage of me in the saddle as possible. 

next up: actual riding!

It was actually a good school too. Useful in a lot of ways. Our first time jumping since Windurra. I wanted to give Doozy a little more freedom to go forward after all the squirreling around on cross country --- but she quickly proved that, no no, she still doesn't know what she doesn't know. 

So after we bolted a couple fences, and she experienced a few distances that were going to be either "dear lord jesus that's long! / or / eeesh that's a crispy chip!" -- including one unpleasantly pulled rail... I kinda got my shit together and tried to, ya know, ride the horse as if my input mattered and made a difference. 

and jompies!!! sorry guys, we had a video malfunction so only my last little course was captured

And you'll never guess. The input *did* make a difference, and Doozy managed to (more or less) trot two fences, and then carried a decent canter to our final little vertical. Tho obvi keen eyed observers will still note that she made a bit of a bid for it in the last stride or two. Eh, one step at a time!

video of our last few jumps 

wherein we practice "simmering down now" after rushing a few 

It's hard to really evaluate a saddle in these conditions --- a rusty rider who... maybe wasn't ever particularly sharp to begin with (lol, sigh..), a horse who kinda takes a fair amount of riding at the moment, and tiny jumps. 

But even so, things didn't look super duper promising for this pretty little Custom. Turns out, there are some things even flocking can't fix! 

So. Back in the box it went, with yet another already on the way in.... Remind me the definition of insanity again??? Lol.....