NDPC Recap Part: 1

I have so much to write about! For now I'll start with a recap of my NDPC Friday :)

I had an amazing weekend and this was easily the most fun I've had at Pony Cup so far. I also realized later that it was their 10 year anniversary and I've been there for three of those 10 years. Not bad! Now I just want to actually ride there at some point :)

This year my flight to Lexington was scheduled for early morning on Friday with a 1:30ish arrival. I was going to check into my AirBnB and then go straight to the KY Horse Park and planned to get there around 2:30ish. I knew I was going to miss Jen and Emilie's rides since they were earlier in the day but I had hoped to make it to H's ride since it was scheduled for 2:37. I was so close but ended up being just slightly too late. I wasn't worried though since I knew I'd be able to see everyone ride on Saturday.

Don't let Katai see this...

This pony cup was slightly different for me than the ones I've gone to previously. Since I had three people I knew I ended up spending more time with them and their ponies in the stable area and less time watching other people's rides. That's also part of what made this year so much fun!

This is the driveway to the garage at the AirBnB that I stayed at
Reaaaaally doesn't feel like it's going to fit in person either.

When I got to the horse park I had a brief fan girl moment when I looked up and saw a big name pony breeder/rider/trainer and said hi. I'm sure she wondered who this weird person was who recognized her when we've never met. After that I went and found H right away to see how her ride had gone. Turns out that the mare she was riding (a young GRP belonging to her trainer) had an issue with a bug. Overall H was happy with the test but disappointed about that part of it. The pony was also quite young and green and hasn't shown much so she really was fantastic for the most part.

I spent some time with H and the other two women from her barn chatting and figuring out their schedule and then decided to go meet some blogging friends! Emilie was closest so I went to say hi to her and Crumble first. OMG is Crumble ever adorable!! He was going to work on his hay and probably not impressed with another admirer but it was great to get to see him. Emilie was also trying to get her tack ready for the next day so I kept my visit pretty brief.

Getting Connor kisses :) So jealous of that forelock!

Then I headed over to meet Jen. I went straight to Connor's stall first. He was pretty sure I had food for him and spent some time licking my hand while I texted Jen to see where she wanted to meet up. We figured out a good spot and I headed over. It was SO GREAT to get to meet Jen! I've felt from reading her blog that I'd get along with her really well and I was so right. We sat and chatted for awhile and I got to meet her mom and Connor's breeder as well!

We spent most of the rest of the afternoon chatting, trying a bridle on Connor and doing some low key shopping (seriously tough to resist getting some things!) and then Jen headed out and I went to say goodnight to H.

Later that night I ended up going out for drinks with Jen, her mom, and Connor's breeder and I had so much fun!! It seriously felt like we'd known each other for a long time and it was great to try out some new craft beers and learn more about everyone. I really want to visit Jen and Connor and am definitely planning on Rolex next year!

Next up, a recap of my NDPC Saturday :)

Misc.

I don't have media very often so I'm SLOWLY spreading
these out over my next few posts :)

Apparently it get's to be summer and I become a horrible blogger. It's only because I'm doing all the things instead of writing about all the things but I really need to try to make time to post so here goes.

The other reason that this post has taken me awhile is that I've been trying to figure out how to make a couple of concise posts that cover everything that I want to talk about but I haven't figured out how to do that yet. Instead you get this one slightly messy post but some of this stuff I really want to document so I wanted to find it some sort of place.

First off, Katai was MUCH better about the trailer for Spring Party (the second show) but there was still some drama. She loaded the way a horse is supposed to (after a decent amount of rearing and drama) by walking into the two horse straight load all the way so that we could get the butt bar up. In the morning she ran back into the butt bar twice but then stood without further incident. On the way home once we got her into the trailer (after a similar amount of drama) she let us put the butt bar up and didn't run back into it. Hopefully it was a good learning experience for her and she won't try running into the butt bar again as she certainly gave her butt muscles (at the top of her haunches since she's short) a good beating. Sometimes HULK PONY smashing doesn't actually work.

I'm right back to practicing and I really want to get her self loading. I actually think this will take some of the fear out of it for her by turning it into more of a game. I started working on it last night and she was already walking 3/4 of the way in on her own. Of course that last 1/4 is the tough part but I'm really impressed that I got that far already!

Second, I really need to figure out braiding. I had her really adorably braided that morning (she seriously looked like a cute little European sport pony haha) but by the first class they were starting to get floppy and I had to pull them before the second. I'm going to try a few things including knotting them in better and/or using waxed thread instead of yarn. She has a tricky stiff and thick mane that doesn't have a lot of grip (even though I used copious amounts of hair jell) so I'm just going to need to experiment with what works.

Still not quite sure why I forgot to
take my hoodie off for this show 

Third, I've started to put some thoughts into what I want to do for shows for the rest of the year. It hasn't come up with Jane yet but I'm going to run this past her at some point and then it may change. However, my tentative plans include at least a couple of the following;

- 8/19 - NRF Schooling Show
- and/or 8/26 Northern Lights Rated Show
- 9/2 - Dog Days Schooling Show
- 9/16 - NRF Schooling Show
- 10/1 - Rocking R Farms Schooling Show

I chose these for several reasons including location since I'm relying on someone else (probably Jane) to trailer me. The other main reason is that I've decided not to invest in joining all of the organizations this year (for a couple of reasons) which leaves me with opportunity classes and schooling shows. Since opportunity classes don't "count towards" anything and are still more expensive, schooling shows are a great option for this year.

The main reason I don't have anything planned for the next couple of months is that I don't want to deal with the heat. Also, I'd like to really work on some of the things that I know I need to improve and since I'm not chasing awards it makes more sense to take a break and establish some of that first.

Also, at the beginning of the year I had planned a lot of rated shows since that's what my barn mate (who was going to trailer me) was doing. However, we haven't been able to get Katai in her trailer so Jane has been trailering me. Yep, we've had two trailers at both of these shows...

From last year's NDPC. Look at that sky!

Since schooling shows are at least $60-$70 cheaper than opportunity classes at rated shows and since I've found out that I have THREE friends/acquaintances going to National Dressage Pony Cup including Jen from Cob Jocky, Emilie from BecausePony, and my friend H with one of her instructor's baby GRPs I'm planning (at this point) to go as well! As a spectator of course :) My plan to not go originally was more because I wanted to do more shows this year but this way I can sort of have my cake and eat it too, plus I just can't miss watching three of my friends ride at NDPC!!

*The first two pictures are by my amazing friend M :) I still don't know how she got such amazing pictures in the indoor although her camera lens is at least a foot long lol

Equestrian Blogging Community FTW

I LOVE this community. I feel like it's a rare thing on the internet to find such an amazing group of positive, helpful, and welcoming people. I'm hoping to meet more of you at some point but even through electronic communication it's been great getting to know everyone. How amazing this community is was really emphasized to me over the past couple of weeks!

After I posted my TSF girth review for the Stretchtec girth I bought, I received a message from Emilie over at BecausePony. She was wondering if I was going to put my 24" Havana girth up for sale. I let her know that I'd thought about it but hadn't listed it or done anything about it yet and that if she wanted it I'd be happy to arrange something. Then she came up with the amazing idea of a partial trade for a piece of her artwork.

I jumped on it since I've been wanting to get more photos/artwork of Katai. It's amazing to have such an incredible pony that I love in every way. I still can't quite believe that I'm in this place with her and where I feel like I have such an amazing riding partner that I want to own for the rest of her life.

I talked about a few options with Emilie but eventually decided on a more cartoonish full body drawing of Katai from one of my favorite pictures of her. This is the result :)

I LOVE it!!! It so perfectly captures her pony attitude and I can't believe how well Emily captured her expression in cartoon version and her coloring. I'm going to get a copy printed for my wall and of course it's going to get posted more on this blog.

If any of you would like an amazing drawing of your horse or pony you should check out Emilie's art at http://becausepony.com.