Honestly I’m not sure what Katai thinks of the new barn but I’m extremely happy. I’m mainly happy because of how easily and quickly Katai adjusted. Prior to this move it would take her a week or more to be easy to handle in a new environment. I’m sure it was a lack of consistency with handling and being a green baby but it was really disheartening to think of showing her like that since it’s tough to have a week to adjust at a show. This time she got to the barn and instantly made it her own. She was calm right from the first moment she was there and, although still a bit tense at times, she has pretty much maintained all of the things we worked on at the previous barn. This is a huge win for both of us and I’m relieved.
I’m also really comfortable in the new environment. There are a lot of people there all the time so I never feel like I’m being watched or singled out like I did at the previous barn. Katai is more accepted as a mount and actually when I rode on Tuesday, more on that later, she was the average height in the ring with the largest horse being a 14.3 hand Morgan!
I also really do like the stall set up. Her feet have been excellent, clean and dry, and I am incredibly impressed with how clean her stall has been kept. Of course she’s only been there for just over a week but I’m still happy with how things are going so far. It is also so incredibly wonderful that she is consistently getting supplements. Twice a day, every day someone is giving her DMG, Magnesium, and soon the coat and joint supplement. It is so good for my peace of mind and of course for her health.
So far I’ve spent all four days, that I worked in an arena, in the larger but not heated arena that is part of the barn she is kept in. This is where the Eventing instructor teaches her lessons so it tends to either have jumping lessons or people riding English. The other heated barn has an attached heated arena that I have not ridden in yet. It is smaller, looks like it tends to have more beginner lessons and/or western lessons and is more crowded since who wouldn’t want to be warm when they ride. I’m hoping to ride down there soon but figured I’d let Katai adjust to this arena first since it’s where we’ll be for lessons.
On Tuesday I rode for the first time at the new facility and it was amazing! She behaved almost exactly like she did last time I rode her at the previous barn. No spooking even when one of the horses that was jumping knocked down a rail and she’s never been around during a jumping lesson before. This is of course how I would expect her to behave but it’s not what’s been the case in the past. She was a TOTAL nervous wreck when I first started brought her into the last indoor arena and that wasn’t her first indoor arena so she shouldn’t have had an excuse. It was so bad that I spent two months doing lunging and ground work before I felt confident climbing on to ride so having her so comfortable on her second time in the this arena EVER and first time riding made me extremely proud. Sometimes it’s the little things :-)
Friday I also rode and since I only worked a half day that day I got there around noon. I felt bad because she was freaked out with the change in routine. She kept trying to tell me that she wasn't supposed to be in the barn alone and was a little terror to tack up and handle on the ground. As per usual though she was a little angel under saddle and other than having to ride around two people having a jumping lesson things went really well.
On Sunday I rode again and was so, so happy. She was struggling to stretch down more than she has been but she was very balanced and I finally got her to move off my leg calmly. I also worked her through a minor meltdown when the only other horse in the arena left. It was a great day and I was so proud of her.
Also, in completely random and unimportant to most people news, I’ve decided to change her color to grey. It’s cute buying bright colors and I’m going to continue to use what I have for saddle pads, boots, bridle, quarter sheets, etc. but since I already have a flashy mostly white pony and she’s already small and is now very brightly outfitted it’s just getting to be a bit much. It’s time to professional up a little so I’m going to start buying things in grey. I think it will complement her, be modern and cute, and still more professional than pink and the other pastel colors that she’s wearing now. I’ll still include some pink like on her bridle but I don’t want it to be the main color anymore. I always figured that grey would be her show color, at least for schooling shows, because white will either cause her to look dirty or cause the pad to look dirty. Black would be too much I think so grey was the plan showing but now also for schooling.
I am also starting to work on my goals for 2015. For the first time I'm starting to feel like I can be more serious about developing my little athlete and that means goals so that progress can be measured. Because I'm a big picture thinker I've decided to do a list of goals for the year with monthly checkins. Then if things are going really well I can always add to it. Otherwise I find that I set simple goals that I know I'll be able to achieve in a month. This way I'm hoping to push myself more. Hopefully I'll be posting that list soon!
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