#mareproblems Continues

My poor mare is really having a tough time. I got out there tonight hoping that she would be feeling better but she was a bit worse. The ointment did what it's supposed to and is keeping her from chaffing but it is making the mess on her back legs even worse.

I got her cleaned up and then went to groom her but she was so sensitive around her lower back that she was tossing her head and pinning her ears with just me lightly brushing her. I gave her some bute and cleaned her stall and gave her another night off.

Her stall had clearly been soaked but my BM had added a bunch of extra bedding and done a late night cleaning which isn't typical. It's so frustrating knowing that she's uncomfortable and that there isn't anything I can do. If this didn't happen each spring I'd already have called the vet and I certainly will be if she doesn't seem better over the next day or two. Unfortunately this is just pretty typical for her and when I've talked to vets they haven't had any ideas beyond what I'm doing for her already.

Our weird weather this year certainly isn't helping. Fingers crossed that she's feeling way better tomorrow!

Full Moon Mares

You'll never guess what Katai did, first thing.

Well T might.

I led Katai 5 feet from the front of her stall, put her in cross ties, and she pinned her ears and bumped me with her nose. Yep, she and B are very clearly on the same wavelength. Good thing we live pretty far apart or I would seriously be concerned about the impending pony apocalypse.

The pony psychic force is strong in this one

She got in trouble and then I went back to grooming and wondering if she'd try it again, she didn't. I was honestly laughing the rest of the time as I groomed and got her tacked up. She'd even made herself especially muddy, normally she's a very clean princess pony, just to mess with me.

However, despite the fact that I'd planned to just lunge her at the first sign of sass she was actually very, very good. She was a little tight during our trot work but she never lost it and only threatened to rear once. Then we easily had the BEST canter transitions and canter work that we've ever had!! I was just focusing on doing the right thing with my body and it's amazing how that means that she can do the right thing herself. Then she was nice and relaxed and stretchy, and balanced, and her canter rhythm even slowed down considerably and her stride opened up.

I've never gotten her to that point before and it was magical. She got all of the pats and was clearly proud of herself once I hopped off. Even more impressive, the rest of the horses were fed partway through my ride, before we started our canter work, and she stayed with me and kept right on listening.

I decided after our ride that really she just wanted to confuse me. Well mare you won, I didn't expect that.

Changes

Unfortunately not of the canter lead kind but still good. I found out that the horses are being put on night turnout which means they'll be going from getting around 6 hours outside to closer to 12 hours!!  I'm extremely excited, even though it means an increase in barn drama, and am really happy for my pony who I know will benefit from that extra time out.

On the other hand I had sort of a rough week this week. On Sunday I was able to get to the barn but I just lunged Katai at a walk since I was still under strict directions to allow her to walk only and not ride until Thursday. Katai was great and I was just sad that I didn't get to do more with her.

She had gained some weight and had a bit of belly after a full week off from when I was in WA for work. Ponies will be ponies :-)

The belly

Then I got to ride this guy!

Pretty good for a 4 year old

What was weird though is that I actually really enjoyed the ride. He's young and very tall and hasn't quite figured out his sea legs yet. He's sort of wobbly on his big long legs and even picking his feet is interesting sometimes. He's also a really good boy with huge movement except that's not necessarily something that I enjoy. It also took me awhile to figure him out because he's just not my sports car pony. I needed to give him more time to re-balance and I struggle enough with that with my pony. With a big leggy warmblood baby it was tough not riding him into the wall.

So lucky that I got to ride this talented guy

Poor guy was extremely tolerant though and is very amateur friendly despite only having been ridden by professionals prior to my rides on him.

Riding him though and enjoying the ride made me wonder what it would be like to own a horse rather than a pony. It was fun to think about "fitting in" and it was cool to see myself riding a large horse. I think part of it is that I've had some demoralizing rides with Katai recently. The show was tough and we really haven't had a good ride since then. First she was sassy, I think because she was stiff, sore, and out, and now she's on layup while she rests and recovers. In the end I can't even imagine having a second horse and of course Katai isn't going anywhere. I just think I needed to dream a little and take a break from thinking about my recent bad rides on my mare.

Also, big baby horse is a gelding and geldings are quiet and well behaved and have fewer opinions then mares, especially mare ponies, and especially chestnut mare ponies. He was simple and, to be completely honest, that was nice after some of Katai's recent moods.

Then I went home and promptly got really sick. I spent Monday and Tuesday resting and trying to fend off a really bad cold. While I was on my own layup I logged on to Facebook again, something I rarely do anymore, and realized that I hadn't checked in on my post on the Adult Pony Owning Support Group where I had shared my show photos. The post had blown up with over 200 likes and many amazing and supportive comments. That group is so extremely supportive and the comments were extraordinarily nice and complimentary of both myself and Katai. It was nice to see and was one great reminder of why I adore my girl. My motivation increased to ride and I was starting to get excited to get back on track with her again.

Wednesday I told myself I was going to get to the barn no matter what and then had to leave work early because I suddenly got really nauseous and lightheaded and spent the rest of the evening in my bathroom throwing up. Such is life.

Then Thursday started off rough but by the afternoon I was feeling really great and so I headed to the barn to ride my girl!! It was really hot and humid so I rode in the indoor where there was some shade. She did really well, she didn't want to walk and was a little sassy about it but by the end of the ride I got some amazing transitions within the trot and canter (which are normally really tough for her) and then called it since I didn't want to push her too hard after her time off. At first I was a little frustrated with her sassing at the walk but then I realized that after a week and a half off if the only attitude I get from my horse (and mare) is that she doesn't want to walk I'm way ahead of the curve.

I was really looking forward to another day at the barn today to do some more work but then ended up getting rescheduled on with a date I was looking forward to. Unfortunately said date went very wrong and I seriously think that I'm going to spend the rest of 2016 happily single. The worst part is that I would have really LOVED to have gone to the barn but I rescheduled to fit this in and then regretted it. Sometimes it's tough to juggle things in my personal life with ponies especially since I'd like to not be single for the rest of my life. At any rate, next time I prioritize the pony.

So, it's time to get back on track. I'm feeling motivated to ride and motivated to ride my girl not some other horse. I love her, no I adore her, and a few bad rides aren't going to throw us off track. This week I'm getting back on a 5 ride schedule and we're going to make things happen, specifically the things on our list of goals ;)

Redheadlins Blog Hop

Redheadlins started this amazing blog hop and I HAD to join.

After all I work in HR so I've heard all kinds of crazy things. I can certainly imagine a few concerns that people might bring to HR about Katai.

1. She gave me the stink eye

Like all mares Katai has really perfected the mare face. One example is;

Look at that glare

2. She's always talking

Katai is a big talker, she's loud and shrill and likes to express her opinion about how late her dinner is, even when she's still got leftovers from her last meal.

3. She put my stapler in jello

Yes, Katai would totally be a prankster. She loves to antagonize her paddock pal and would be exactly the type of coworker that would put your stapler right in a big bowl of jello.

No Treat April

We'll get to that in a minute.

In about a month I'll hopefully have new clinic footage!

First of all, I had an EXCELLENT ride tonight. Katai seemed a little crabby when I was tacking up but wasn't sensitive anywhere and wasn't fussed about me tightening her girth. I'm guessing that she's maybe just as sick of the cold rain as I am. At any rate once I climbed up she was amazing.

She was really listening, other than one resistant moment at the beginning, and I was able to get her to go forward or come back as I asked. She was working through fairly well from the beginning and got very connected by the end. I had made it a goal to really use the whole arena so I started off riding her around the outside. A risky endeavor since Katai usually get's quite hot on the long straight lines however, tonight she was great and I was having so much fun that I must have had a big smile on my face for the whole ride.

After a couple of times around in both directions I gave her a walk break. Then when I picked her back up she actually listened and was calm and not rushing. I walked for a bit and then went back to a trot and did some shallow serpentines. I'll be honest, they were more for me than her. She was actually doing really well at changing the bend but I knew that I needed to get my body under control. I'm happy to say that I was already able to do better.

I've been doing stretches and some Yoga since my lesson on Sunday morning and I can tell that my lower back was all tied up. I'm not completely back to myself but I was able to control my left hip better and wasn't collapsing (at least not that I could catch) when I was going to the right. I'm going to keep working on it and see what L thinks on Sunday.

Hopefully both Katai and I can continue in this direction!

In other news Katai has been getting very opinionated about treats. I've always used treats with her for training and as rewards for specific things but every once in a while I go a little overboard and then usually catch myself and cut back for awhile. Earlier in the year I cut her down to about four treats per ride. One to catch her, one to put her bridle on, one after a good ride, and one when I put her back out. However, this time that hasn't seemed to make a difference and she's still giving me nasty pinned ear expressions and being pushy in little ways where she thinks she won't get caught.

I'm done with her having her ears pinned every time I look at her so I'm cutting her off entirely for April. My hope is that I can then reintroduce a treat after a good ride but honestly if this works I might just say no more treats for the pony mare.

I honestly think it stresses her out too because she's trying to figure out how to boss me so that I'll give her treats. Take that way and she doesn't need to try to control that anymore.

Lest anyone think I'm being mean, I'm cutting my snacking volume way down for April as well ;-)

Timeline

2012

Boarding Katai where I was renting in Northern WI.

 

 

Baby's first ride

2013

Moved Katai to her first boarding facility which was a pasture share with one other aged gelding.

Driving the trailer all by myself for the second time!

 

 

Fall 2013

Moved Katai to a facility with a covered arena so that I could ride during the winter. This is where she really became broke to ride. Any previous rides I had done lasted about 5 minutes at the longest and only consisted of walk.

 

 

Spring 2014

I moved Katai to a barn with a dressage instructor and a nicer indoor with MUCH better footing. Plus I was worried because Katai had lost a lot of weight at the previous barn which you can see from one of the photos. If it hadn't been for J I would have continued to board here and still really miss most of the people.

 

 

 

 

The above video is not indicative of how Katai had been going in lessons. This was after 1.5 months off lessons where all I did was ride her long and low. She was doing well unless I put any pressure on her and then she would go into full on panic/fight/flight mode.

 

Winter 2014

I moved Katai to a temporary barn because I had started to realize how brutal J's training techniques were and wasn't having fun anymore. Plus, Katai had started rearing and was moving worse and worse.

 

 

Spring 2015

I moved Katai to an amazing facility with at least three good dressage instructors and found L who has been the best for both Katai and I. Starting here I feel like we actually started to make progress!

 

Fall 2015

Unfortunately the owners turned out to be crazy so when I found that L's regular barn had an opening I jumped a it and moved for our final time.

 

Blair Witch Project pony doesn't like to have her fugly clip photographed. More photos soon!