Starting 2022 out with a Bang

It has been a long time since I’ve blogged formally. While I have tried to keep up with updates on Instagram sometimes it’s tough to share the amount of detail that I would have previously on this blog. Without belaboring this, and to move quickly to the topic that I know everyone is interested in, I was working through a great deal of internal conflict about whether to blog again. While I enjoy writing, it seems like this community has substantially reduced in size and I’ve enjoyed the more active dialog on Instagram. However, as mentioned there are some details that require a longer format and so I’ve decided to blog on a more reduced basis and only when I feel like it rather than trying to achieve a greater number of blog posts like I did previously. With that out of the way let’s move on to the more interesting updates. 

The last time I posted a blog was in March of 2021. I had ended 2020 on a high with Katai’s training as we were working on third level, high quality (at least to me) trot work. I had never imagined that I could get to that point with the lama like pony with the sewing machine trot that Katai embodied when I first brought her home. We had a ways to go with the canter work but even that wasn’t looking too shabby. However, while we had made such significant gains in our home arena I had my doubts about my ability to be comfortable showing Katai.

 

 In the horse/owner relationships there are obviously two beings each with their own needs. While I have always wanted to show and have adventures, any sort of change stressed Katai out in a big way. Trailering was something that caused her be soaked in sweat and she would climb off the trailer shaking. I have no doubt that there are people out there that could work with her to a point where she would be more comfortable with those things but it was becoming apparent to me, after 8 years of ownership at that point, that the person who could do that was probably not me. Still, I wanted to give it one more good try. 

 Here we need to go back a bit. 2018 and 2019 were tough years for me and Katai. It felt like there wasn’t progress and I didn’t have the time to work with her as other things in my personal life were pulling my attention. There was also a lot of strain between the two of us with me trying to come to terms with what I wanted in an equine partner vs. what Katai wanted to give. During the end of 2019 I significantly changed how I approached training with her and started to see a bit more progress. Based on that I set myself a goal, or mission, to spend one full year working with Katai in that way and if at the end of it I still couldn’t see enough progress in our partnership I would find her a new home. 

Of course, 2020 ended up being the year of a pandemic but in some ways that meant I had more dedicated time at the barn which helped a lot. Overall 2020 was actually an awesome year for us. I started working with Megan from A Enter Spooking and had several remote lessons. I tackled getting Katai out of just the indoor ring and saw a ton of success with riding outdoors, and with Megan's help we made tons of progress in dressage. As mentioned, we ended the year on a high and I had decided to keep going with the work and not rehome her. 

Then 2021 hit and everything horse related for me went to hell in a handbasket starting with an extreme cold snap, off and on unsoundness for Katai (vets have believed it to be muscle related), then the decision to move based on not getting any ride time with how busy the arenas were. From January on nothing went the way I’d hope and it felt like 2 steps forward and 5 big steps back for the whole year. After a few barn moves I ended up at an amazing barn where I still am today. The community was supportive, I had the opportunity to trailer with a group to shows, and I had access to a lovely outdoor arena and trails. While I was pumped and loved the barn community Katai did not handle the transition well. Despite everyone being lovely and treating her like a princess and not having any real change to amount of turnout or diet she was spooky, herd bound, and anxious. She was also starting to act up a bit when riding in the arena. Nothing big, but it just didn’t feel like her heart was in it. Vets had been consulted earlier in the year, she was getting monthly massage, her feet were looking better than they ever had, her diet was the same and I couldn’t find anything physical. 

In September I was watching a video on youtube that randomly helped clarify everything in my head that I’d been fighting for so long and right then and there I made the decision to rehome Katai. I’m someone that acts immediately once my mind is made up so that weekend I reached out to a contact who I know and trust that I thought might be interested. Within the next few days it was official, Katai was going to go to a new home. 

It’s absolutely the perfect situation for her. She’s been stepped back in workload and her new person is much more zen and doesn’t have any intent to show. She is hoping to trailer Katai off property to trail rides at some point but I was very blunt with her that it may not ever be something that Katai is comfortable with and she’s fine with that and taking it slow. 

 To some, it may look like this was easy or casual and that may lead people to think that I didn’t love or care for Katai and that couldn’t be further from the truth. She and I had an amazing 9 years together (I rode with her to her new home just one week prior to our 9 year anniversary) and I love her dearly. While we didn’t always see eye to eye and we definitely antagonized each other sometimes, we had a long and complex relationship. She was with me through so many changes in my life and she was always my primary focus through all of that. It still hurts to not be riding her and I miss our routines and how I knew her like the back of my hand. What I can say is that I’m happy, content and haven’t looked back because I made this decision not just for me but for her and she is thriving in her new environment. 

That makes my heart happy. 

That decision, putting her first and finding her a different home, meant that I was in a tough place horse-wise. I had not expected to be at the point of looking for a new horse so didn’t have anything saved for a horse purchase. Of course I have emergency money but didn’t want to spend that money on something that, while it may have felt that way to me at the time, wasn’t an emergency. While I hadn't taken any budgetary action, because I had longer term concerns about me and Katai’s ability to be successful at fulfilling my goals I had considered a lot of options over the past 3-4 years. So, while I was suddenly at the point of being in the market for a new equine partner, I wasn't starting my search from scratch.

I'll always have a soft spot for the underdog, in this case off breeds. I'm also a passionate fan of the smaller horse or pony and I was prioritizing a good brain over everything else. While GRPs are amazing, I'm not confident that I would enjoy riding an extremely athletic pony on a day to day basis and to me it seemed that going with anything more purpose bred, and therefore likely more spicy, would end up similarly to how things went with Katai. While I always enjoyed riding "my little sports car" as I liked to call her, I was hoping for something that was easier, less anxious, and that could take more "mistakes" on my part. 

I had a few breeds on my short list which included stock horses such as a Quarter horse or Paint horse, quiet, native pony breeds such as Fjords, Gypsy Vanners, Fells, and potentially a Welsh or Welsh cross, and also Mustangs which I had fallen in love with based on Elisa Wallace's journey with her horses. Ideally I was looking for something that was of riding age (4-5+), that hadn't been started as a 2-3 year old (or was very lightly started), was between 13.2-15 hands, preferably a mare, with at least decent confirmation, clear gaits, and mostly with a good brain. Ideally I would have taken something a bit older (8-12) that was closer in training to Katai but I knew my budget wasn't big enough for that so I was happy to settle for something unstarted or green.

My budget pretty much meant that unless I found a needle in a haystack, the purebred pony breeds I was interested in wouldn't work at this point so I started with stock horses and mustangs. There were plenty of stock horses on the market but it was tough to find candidates that had decent dressage confirmation that hadn't been ridden into the ground from 2 on. I'm all about doing what's best for each individual horse and, for me personally, don't have anything wrong with lightly starting horses at 3 but I prefer to start them closer to 4-5 and was definitely not looking for a horse that's been working on a sliding stop as a 2 year old.

My search for mustangs was more fruitful. I knew I wasn't in a place to gentle a wild one so I looked at TIP trained mustangs. TIP or the Trainer Incentive Program pays trainers $1000 to get a wild horse trained in typical, domestic handling skills including catching, leading, tying, getting their feet handled, and trailer loading. Most mustangs were in my height range and it was easy to find them in my age range, both for the budget I had. I put my energy into finding a mustang with a solid brain and temperament which is, perhaps, easier than you'd think. I joined a bunch of Facebook groups and ended up reaching out to a trainer about a mustang she had available. She was incredible and honestly told me that the horse she had probably wasn't a good fit for what I wanted but she gave me some leads on where to look. 

Based on her suggestion I joined the Georgia TIP Challenge Facebook group which, in a kismet like turn of events, had just wrapped up that weekend. The horses were all listed on the Facebook page and I was absolutely smitten with a photo of this gorgeous chestnut mare with a wide blaze and two tall hind socks. She had absolutely lovely confirmation and was within, if towards the bottom end, of my height range (13.3ish). The description of her seemed to match what I was looking for so I messaged her trainer that I doubted it but was this horse available, and magically she still was.  We ended up calling each other right then and there. 

The trainer's description of Niall, as this mare was named, was spot on perfect for what I was looking for. She said she was sweet, intelligent, and quiet but with a sensitive side. She had also won the youth portion of that Georgia TIP challenge with a perfect score in handling/horsemanship. Again, it felt like the universe was opening doors for this to happen when the trainer let me know that she was originally from WI, where my current boarding barn is, and that she was home frequently and could trailer the mare at least most of the way to me from TN where she was currently located. The price was right, I did some additional digging into the trainer's background and with that confidence I filled out the paperwork with the Bureau of Land Management to make this official. Then it was time to cross my fingers and wait. 

The Bureau of Land Management, for all that some people don't like the way they manage the mustangs, has lots of protections in place for these horses. Technically, new mustang "owners" are just caring for them for the first year, if they get approved, and don't take ownership until a vet signs off on the animal's care at the conclusion of that year. There are requirements for fencing, paddock size, and housing and I needed to fill out two separate forms with all sorts of information about where she would be kept and how I would feed her etc. Government paperwork is always stressful and slow and it felt way worse while waiting for approval to bring my new horse home but eventually I got the official approval and we made the final plans to transport Niall (yes, I decided to keep her name) up here to my barn. 

Everything was finalized just over a month after Katai went to her new home and then came the long wait for Niall to get here. It was a stressful time as I worried about whether I had made the right decision buying a horse sight unseen off of the word of a trainer, photos, and a short video clip and whether it would work to have a new mustang at a boarding facility. Then there was a one day delay in trailering which added to my stress but eventually they were on the way with a good report that Niall had loaded in the trailer perfectly in the dark at 4am (which feels like a foretelling but that's a story for another day). 

After an 18 hour trailer ride Niall climbed off quickly but nicely at my barn, again in the dark, and walked quietly and calmly, if tiredly, into her new stall. I was thrilled and still am with my decision. She is exactly as her trainer described and exactly what I was looking for in every way. While she is still on the smaller side of what I was looking for, she sticked right at 13.3, she is still perfect for me. Mostly though, I love her brain and her personality. She has this larger than life, goofy personality that I never sought out but absolutely love with her. She's also more on the masculine side of the spectrum in some ways and is mouthy and kind of a punk in a way that I just love. She's also absolutely brilliant and has picked up the routine and expectations at the barn incredibly quickly. 

As anyone that's followed me on Instagram knows there is a lot more to our story together already but this is already long enough so I'll post about that at some point in the future. For now, I'll leave this with a happy heart with Katai in the right place for her and with my heart horse in her stall waiting for me to hand walk her tonight.