Second Day at the Barn

I had another great day at the new barn! I am still incredibly impressed by the facilities and it is nice to finally have some of the things that I’ve always wanted in a boarding facility. The cross ties and space to groom are wonderful, they have expectations that things will be swept after so everything is always neat and tidy, unlike my last barn, and the arena is just so wonderful and large. Most of all though, it is just so nice and warm!!! It’s just so incredible to be able to spend time with my horse and not be miserably cold. The grooming area is probably around 50 degrees and the arena is closer to 45-40 which is perfect since when you’re moving around it’s so much easier to stay toasty warm and then the horses are less likely to overheat.

Katai was not as amazingly wonderful on Wednesday but I think she was a little stiff and sore from the two, fairly intense, rides on Saturday and Monday and just didn’t feel like working. I also found out that one of the horses in her pen was picking on her a bit and chasing her around. He’s been moved now but I’m sure that just made her more tired and ready to just not work very hard. She was less speedy and nervous about the arena but didn’t want to use her haunches for anything, just pull herself around by her front legs and was very on the forehand. She was also crazy about canter again and wanted to just skip the trot entirely.

I worked her through it and got a few nice moments with lots of walk breaks. She got yesterday off and got today off as well. I think it might be good to give her two days in a row off but then I plan on working her Saturday and know that I’ll ride on Sunday so I need to figure out my plan. When I was working with her consistently this summer I was riding Tue, Wed, Thu, Sun. That gave her four rides per week with a couple of breaks in between and seemed to work well. I was thinking about going back to that plan since it works best with my schedule but with the drive time doubled I may give her Wednesdays off as well, for now, and plan on riding three days per week.

On Wednesday I also met a few more people and was happy to be able to meet two other boarders that just got to the barn the day before I moved Katai. They both also have pasture boarded horses and are both dressage riders. They are also around my age which is cool because normally I haven't found fellow riders that meet that description. I also received another recommendation for both Y and another trainer that I'll call L. After hearing a few recommendations for her I decided to set up a lesson and am having my first lesson with her on Sunday! I'm so, so excited to be able to take lessons again. I'm really hoping to find an instructor that understands why I enjoy my pony and encourages me to improve and show, at least occasionally. I hope L is that person :-)