Four Days

Consistency has always been hard for me when training. I blame it on the artistic mindset that got me through college with a music degree and although I enjoy jumping around and working on different things all the time it's not very helpful when working with horses. Especially young horses...

That is why I decided to work with Katai every single day this week and hopefully this month. That doesn't mean training every day. In fact, on Monday I just groomed her in her pen and fed her an apple core :) yesterday though went really well. She's getting used to coming into the barn and being tied like a big girl and she behaved excellently while being ground driven. I also took her out hand grazing which didn't go so well but it did need to happen.

Today now it was cold and raining so all I did was put her in her stall and give her a nice large armful of hay. I would have groomed her too but she was all wet and shivery so that wouldn't work.

I'm hoping that tomorrow will be nice enough to work with her a little but I'm expecting it probably won't be. Based on how well she did with ground driving I'm planning on riding her on the next warm, tiring :), day. Hopefully that's sooner rather than later.

One Horse Girl

It's so nice to just have one again and I feel like I need to record this so I'm not tempted to purchase another anytime soon. I'm just not in a place in my life right now to be comfortable with having more than one horse. Between renting month to month and not having a ton of disposable income it's just not comfortable having two.

Now if I need to move and start boarding I'll be able to afford to take Katai. I can absolutely afford a pony and a dog even if I have to move or have an emergency but I can't afford to board two.

The best part is that now I have more time to work with my problem child. Katai is really a very good pony and has made a lot of progress just over this winter which impresses me because I didn't have that many days where I could work with her because of the weather. However, with Myshla here it was easy to make excuses and just take Meesh out. She rode so nice and listened well and was easy to trailer so instead of working to train Katai it was all about Meesh. Finally, Katai won't be "easy" for a long time. She is fairly hot for a pony and can be a handful. What she needs is miles, lots of exercise and regular firm but fair handling.

With that said, she is going to be fun and an excellent little dressage pony. I was seeing that even more today now that her feet are feeling better and she was really striding out nice. She has a wonderful, rhythmic relaxed stride that will do wonderful things in a dressage arena. Now I just have to bring her to her full potential :)

All Kinds of Change

Weather: we finally had our first day over 50 degrees since October. It's been sunny and most of our snow is gone. The arena is dry enough that we can do some riding although it does need to be raked and de-rocked again.

Myshla: She found a new home! It's right in the area and they are going to keep me updated on her progress. It is a 4-H home where two teenagers are going to get her tuned up and ready for a kid. She is an awesome pony but they do have their work cut out for them if they want her to be kid ready which I did mention to them. Luckily they do have a couple of small adult friends who may be interested as well. She just left today and was a good girl hopping right on the trailer even if she was very up with the windy day.

Katai: is learning to be a big girl. I decided to work with her every single day for a month as long as the weather cooperates. She's been pretty much left alone all winter and has gotten kinda wild again so regular handling would be good for both of us.

Today after she'd had a chance to calm down I took her out to lunge her. She wore her saddle and bridle and was a really good girl on the lunge despite the windy weather. We have a storm coming in tonight supposedly and all the horses are on edge so I was very proud. Other than dancing a bit when she was tied after I worked her she was excellent. I worked with her a lot on the lunge on her stiff side getting her to flex and bend in the direction she was going. She was more flexible and moving better today than she has in a long time and her feet were doing well too. Proof that the proper trimming does make a huge difference :)

Quiet

This is why I've been quiet recently. That was late last week and now just as it was melting we're getting another snow storm tonight.

The new job has been taking some of my time as well.