I got my first pony, named Prince, when I was seven but because my mom knew nothing about horses he terrorized both of us and was rarely ridden so she sold him after a couple of years. Then when I was nine my mom gave me riding lessons for my birthday :) They were group lessons and probably would have been considered hunter since we rode English and went over a few short jumps. After that I went a few years without horses and finally got my first at 12. He was a sixteen hand quarter horse and was incredibly naughty. He knew every trick in the book to remove people including backing up to a tree and rearing to crush his rider. I eventually had him riding nicely after I had enlisted a friend to help. He was traded for a large black Arab/Percheron gelding that was much sweeter and who I had for several years. We never really got along all that well though so once I finished college I sold him and bought Sora who you can learn more about in my other blog, little Sora Story.
Sora was gorgeous, wonderful and taught me so much but over the last year I started to realize how far I had come from my original riding goals and after I had been begged by the woman I bought her from to have her back I finally gave in.
So, now I have two gorgeous ponies! I have always been passionate about ponies and really always wanted something shorter. I like the ease of dealing with smaller horses, the smaller feed bill and the way it looks esthetically between rider and horse but most importantly I love riding ponies! The are so much like driving a little sports car, the handling is fun :) I hadn't previously pursued purchasing a pony because of too much peer pressure ;-) Finally though I gave up on trying to make others happy and bought Myshla in April of this year.
Myshla and I did a show and a clinic this year and it was the most incredible feeling being able to take MY pony to a show and have her behave and do well! We placed 5th in a large class at intro level with a score of 78! It was the first Dressage show for both of us since Myshla had just done trails before that and I had never had a trailer.
Things were so wonderful and fun with Meesh that when Sora was gone and I was still feeling a huge hole I found Katai for sale and traded couldn't say no. I learned to jump on a small, 13.2, paint pony named Flash. I ADORED him and would have done anything to make him mine but he was listed for sale at 18,000 which was WAYYYYYYYYYY too much for a teenager! Ever since Flash I have coveted small paint ponies and had looked for one off and on. Katai was too much to pass up especially since her previous owner was willing to let me trade tack for her :)
Myshla will take part in this blog but it is really mainly about Katai. Due to some hard riding and conformational issues Meesh won't ever be comfortable with tough dressage work and she is such a saint for a pony that I feel she has earned a nice peaceful life. She will be lightly ridden and possibly shown a couple of times this coming summer but nothing too tough.
Katai on the other hand is going to help me achieve my goals :)
I have always been extremely realistic about everything. I hate setting tough goals because I don't want to fail but this time I'm going to shoot for the moon and try my heart out to get there. Therefore I am going to share with you all that my goal is to get my bronze medal on Katai. I will always consider her health and happiness first and even if I'm able to get a couple of my scores on her I will be happy. However, I truly believe, and have been told by my coach and friends, that she has it in her to get at least to that level.
In future posts I will do more to journal where Katai and Myshla are in their training but for now I think I've gone on long enough for now.
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