Problem Solving

It’s that time of year again!

I’ve had an idea for a blog hop for a while but wasn’t sure that it would gain any traction with how my poor, nearly abandoned blog is doing at this point. I did decide to go ahead and post this and if you don’t feel like responding to this via a post on your blog I’d still love to get a comment which things you problem solve and how.

Short of maybe Jen from Cob Jockey’s barn :) I don’t think that anywhere we board our horses is perfect. Either it’s a long way away, lacks an indoor or outdoor arena, doesn’t have the ideal turnout, or anything else. As I’ve been looking at options for where to go when this barn closes (obviously I’m already looking so that I don’t get caught without a place) I’ve been wondering how others problem solve for this.

One example is that I currently have a barn that isn’t heated. With that, I can’t keep anything that’s temperature sensitive at the barn including most first aid gunk. My problem solve for this was to get a grooming bag and bring it with me home, to work (since I’ve been going to the barn directly from work), and then to the barn. It certainly wasn’t the ideal set up but it did allow me to have those items at the barn with me without the risk of them freezing and becoming unusable.

This brand new alfalfa smells so good!

I’m working on a solution to the problem of the rocky outdoor arenas at this barn since I’ll likely still be here through the summer and most, if not all, of the fall. My goal is to move someplace that has a heated barn/arena by the cold part of winter but who knows if that will happen since wait lists are fickle things. Some options for problem solving the rocky arenas are low profile hoof boots and/or Hoof Armor.

So, the questions I have are;

1. What are the things at your barn that aren’t ideal for you and your horse.
2. How do you problem solve for those items, what workable solutions have you found
3. At your current or past barn are there things that you haven’t been able to find a workable solution for? What deal breakers do you have for a boarding barn?

Catching Up, but first...

The 30 things blog hop! I've really enjoyed reading all of these and feel like they're a great way to get to know all of you. I started typing these up awhile ago but have had so much going on that they just sat in draft. It was amazingly hard to come up with 30 interesting things about myself!

1. I’ve always loved animals and grew up on a farm where we had ducks, dogs, sheep, horses, bunnies, goats, and cats

And my first pony, Prince

2.       Going back to the above, my mom had a huge herd of sheep when I was 5-10 or so that she sheared, spun, and sold the wool

3.       Also related to the above, in 4H I was grand champion dairy goat showman at our state fair so I’m kind of a big deal ;)

4.       I once saved someone who had slashed their leg open with an arrow by carrying them several miles out of the forest/trail system on the back of my horse when I was 13. The resulting blood stain on my horse scared my mom half to death when she picked me up from the barn that day

5.       I was homeschooled

6.       I have three younger siblings (oldests rock!)

7.       Both of my sisters are professional violinists

8.       My brother went to school for aviation and then joined the Marines, then didn’t re-enlist in the Marines and joined the Army instead

9.       I have my MA in HR

10.   I have sadly never traveled outside of the US except for a few road trips to Canada

11.   I have also been on road trips to ME, NY, WA, CA, OR, and of course hit a bunch of states in between.

12.   My favorite books are science fiction/fantasy and my very favorite book is Jaran by Kate Elliott. I’ve read it at least 30 times

13.   I pass out easily if people are discussing injuries or if I even barely hurt myself, in fact I once passed out while leading a new employee orientation at work right in front of a nurse I had hired

14.   I’ve never fallen off Katai and since I trained her she’s never had anyone fall off. Not quite sure how she’ll react if it ever happens…

NDPC 2016

15.   I’d never been on a plane until I was in my late 20s and that was to go to the National Dressage Pony Cup at the KY Horse Park.

16.   My BA is in Music Performance and I’ve played Piano since I was 5 and Cello from when I was 12-23.

I was probably 13 here

17.   I’ve moved basically every year since I moved away from home in 2011, currently I live in downtown Minneapolis, MN

18.   I have very eclectic music tastes and listen primarily to EDM and alternative but Kanye is my favorite for working out/running and pretty much the only thing I don’t listen to is country

19.   In my area people primarily ride western but there are actually a decent number of dressage shows within about an hour drive

20.   I’m a huge rule follower and almost the only time I haven’t followed the rules led to me walking within arm’s reach of Leonardo DiCaprio despite not actually thinking he was that cute

21.   My favorite tv show recently was the OA (it’s SO fantastic!) but I mostly just play NCIS on Netflix in the background while I do other things and rarely watch new tv or movies

22.   I’ve been vegan (or plant based) for just about three years now

23.   I used to be a voracious reader but now I pretty much read blogs and articles online and rarely read books. When I do read books they’re mainly non-fiction such as When Two Spines Align or How Not to Die (a nutrition book that’s FANTASTIC)

24. Veggie (my dog's) name was Wedge Antilles after the Star Wars character. I love Star Wars so I kept it but kept turning it into Wedgie which I didn't love. Then eventually it just became Veggie which stuck.

Veggie is second to the right,
clearly loving the Italian Greyhound meetup we went to last year

25. I'm a huge nerd and have always wanted to play D&D but didn't know anyone that played. Now I'm in a campaign with my bf (who is DM'ing), a couple of his friends, and his dad. It's way less awkward than it sounds

26. I'm not going to have kids

27. Despite REALLY not liking kids, my goal is to one day have a small piece of property and a few really nice ponies so that I can teach young riders to love dressage on appropriately trained and sized equines. 

Concerts like Rock the Garden are different though!

28. I don't like concerts or anything that locks me into sitting in the same place for a long time. I just can't sit still that long and it feels like a waste of time

29. I'm a minimalist and it drives me nuts having more than one thing with the same purpose. However, I have a whole closet, a large chest, a large re-usable bag in my car, and two containers at the barn of horse equipment plus my saddle, bridle, grooming stuff, a pile of saddle pads, and helmet

30. I really dislike spiders

Oh Gingersnap! Blog Hop: Change

I was going to blog about my lesson yesterday but honestly it's pretty boring to blog about. K, my fellow boarder's, horse was having a bad day so she was riding Jane's baby horse that evening which meant that we had a slightly different lesson than is typical. I was actually appreciative since my brain felt like mush and the relatively easy (mental) work was good for both of us. Especially since we just did a LOT of bending and stretching which was really good for Katai after two weeks off.

Anyway, on to the blog hop.

I LOVE this picture!

T asks: Have you at some point moved on to a different horse, trainer, stable, etc with the purpose of advancing your progress? What made you realize the time was right for a change? Or did you opt to adjust your goals in order to stay with what you know is working? How did either choice work out in the long run?

For me the short answer is yes, I've sort of done both. The last time I really needed to make this decision with a horse was with Loki. 

Loki was pretty much the perfect horse. He was a 15.2 hand percheron/arab cross gelding that was probably around 5-6 when I got him and around 14-15 when I eventually sold him. However, for pretty much that entire time we disliked each other. He was a good boy and I tried to make him happy and was really sweet to him but we just never were a good match. 

I was probably 19 or so here

Eventually I ended up selling him to a beginning rider who he was perfect for. I wished that I'd made the decision sooner and now I feel very strongly about having a horse that I really love and connect with as my primary mount. This was based on just never really connecting with him though and not on whether or not I could continue to make progress with him as he was certainly talented enough for me to have made progress on at the time.

There used to be so much sass with this one!

I've also made the decision to change programs (a couple of times). I'd say that the majority of the first couple years with this blog were trying to decide if Katai was the right horse for me or if changing trainers/programs was what I needed to do. Of course you all know where I've ended up now.

How at least 90% of my rides used to look

In this case, with Katai, it was the program (and having one that put the focus on me) that made the difference. J and L were honestly both top notch trainers. J has her gold medal and is a USDF certified instructor with some very successful students. Just because I don't like her methods doesn't mean that she doesn't get results. 

Too bad I don't have more of these pictures because this was Katai's way of going all. the. time. before
Or, of course, she'd just stop and rear or run sideways. Oh boy was that ever fun...

L is also a great instructor and gave Katai and I a great base to work with as well as taking Katai from pretty much unridable to just unreliable. However, I didn't actually start having fun and making progress until I found Jane who, arguably, is the least well known instructor that I've ridden with. 

and she's going even better now!

I'm also a HUGE proponent of owning a horse that you really enjoy because we just spend way too much time and money in this sport for that to not be the case. However, I never really struggled to connect with Katai it was just that she seemed like such a work in progress that I couldn't really see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I would say that these moves and or change in horses were never made specifically so that I could make progress up the levels but were more so that I could have more fun or connect to the horse I was riding. Early on with Katai I also let my doubt nearly get the best of me a few times (it didn't help that J flat out told me that Katai wouldn't ever be worth anything) and really had myself convinced that Katai was going to fail at dressage. However, with some more patience, more work on my position, more consistent riding schedule, more strength for Katai, and a different mindset now that's no longer a concern for me. Of course this is helped by the fact that I don't have lofty competitive goals and don't participate in a sport where a certain level of athleticism is required just to participate at the beginning levels.

I guess I'm not advocating that anyone keep a horse that they aren't enjoying or that isn't meeting their goals. Just sharing that sometimes that journey can take a little longer or be a little bumpier than others.

Relationships

When I read Emma's post and some of the responses to it I knew that I wanted to do a post about this. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot both from the perspective of what I need and how Katai matches that and from the perspective of what I would do differently “next time”.

However, I sat down to type this up and I struggled. I’ve drafted something at least 3-4 times now but it never really captured how I honestly feel about this and that is that Katai is perfect.

Sure I can wish and dream for something “better”, after all the grass is always greener, but ultimately Katai is the perfect horse for me which made this either the longest post or the shortest post. Instead I’ve decided to share a little about how I got here.

 When I chose Katai I was in a very different place. I had found early in life what my limit was and unfortunately ended up with a lot of fear thanks to my first horse. I had conquered maybe 70% of that fear by 2012 when I got my first pony as an adult. Myshla was an incredible pony who was calm, quiet, cute, cuddly, and nearly a perfect kids pony. The only issue is that she was very forward and hadn’t been very well trained so she wasn’t very responsive to halts or half halts which made her feel a bit like a run away. The fact that she was a run away in the body of a small pony/teddy bear made it fun for me to work with her instead of scary.

When I first got her I was finally putting aside peer pressure and getting what I wanted which was a pony. She was the first horse I had after Sora and Sora had taken me on a journey that was way off the beaten path. In many ways Myshla helped me find my way back to riding dressage but even though she did that for me I quickly realized that she wasn’t going to be comfortable as my dressage pony, it just wasn’t her thing and she wasn’t built for it. She was such a perfect kids pony that I decided to find her a home with a kid and find myself a different pony.

 Now (while I wouldn’t change this for the world since it would have meant not finding Katai) I maybe would have done things differently but it felt important to have a dressage pony prospect asap. So with my very tiny budget I started looking. I found Katai’s ad but kept convincing myself to skip over it. I’d had my fill of green horses with Sora and Katai was a bit shorter and possibly not as athletic as I wanted. Now I maybe would have kept Myshla for longer and saved up some additional funds but at that time I decided to go check out Katai.

That’s when something really weird happened, I went to see her and didn’t fall in love with her. I actually felt sort of meh about her and while her size felt better than I thought it would (she was at least a couple inches taller than Myshla) and I liked her brain she was also very resistant, scared, reluctant to be caught or handled, and pretty much feral. Even then I had a pretty good picture of my limits and I just wasn’t confident that I’d be able to successfully train her. I still bought her, or actually traded for her, and after one failure and multiple hours got her on the trailer and home where she proceeded to completely ignore all of the electric fencing and escape to the neighbors.

The first two years where really, really tough and I thought a lot about giving up. Ultimately what made me keep her was that there wasn’t going to be a market for a young, untrained pony and I still saw so much potential in her. My budget was still very low at that point so hiring a professional just wasn’t an option. Eventually I got through the worst of it and was able to move her to a dressage barn (with J) which felt like the right track. Now if I could go back and change anything it would just be to not ever bring her to that barn or take lessons on her with J. I learned from J but it caused issues with Katai that we’re still dealing with to this day. Things went backwards for a bit and then we started to make progress again.

Overall it was another 2 years of struggle before things really started to improve significantly with Jane (plus Katai hit that magical age of 8 which I’m sure helped). However, after 4.5 years of blood, sweat, and tears I can say that my pony is perfect for me.

She’s still tricky, she’s still very forward, still gets tense, still frustrates me, still has meltdowns about things that just shouldn’t be a big deal after 4.5 years but I adore her and she’s good for me. Even though I can think/dream about what’s next and I’m sure Katai won’t be my last pony, I also can’t imagine finding any horse or pony that I would enjoy more than I’m enjoying Katai. Plus, she's still more talented at this dressage thing than I am and I'm still learning from her so it doesn't make sense to look elsewhere even if I weren't completely in love with her.

She’s just the perfect mix of bold, funny, spicy, forward, lazy, powerful, intelligent, cute, naughty for me to have fun and feel challenged but not ever feel scared. She also doesn’t have huge movement that makes me feel like I need to spend tons of hours at the gym. I work out to be a better rider for her, but it’s not another full time job. I never climb on her and wonder if she’s going to be naughty but I’m also not bored when I ride and she always challenges me in a good way. I just can't imagine a better pony for me :)

Summer 10

Rhiannon, of The Horse Is Not Black, put together this great list of questions for an informal blog hop that I decided to join. At the very least it's content while I deal with stress causing my brain to ooze out my ears ;)

1. What are your summer goals? 

 All. of. the. shows! I mostly just want to get Katai exposure to trailering off property so that it's not as stressful for either of us. My main goal with her is for this to be fun for both of us and it certainly wasn't for our last show.

More of this...

Less of this :)

2. Do you have any tips or tricks for fly control? 

No, unfortunately I don't. I will say that the last two facilities I've been at have seemed to manage it pretty well so it hasn't been much of an issue. Well, other than the HORRIBLE horse flies at the last barn but I don't think there's much you can do with them.

3. How often do you bathe your horse? 

Very infrequently, I think I actually only bathed her maybe twice last year. Princess pony is a princess and mostly keeps herself pretty clean despite being white so I only wash her if I have something like a show. This year it will likely be more because, well, more shows :) 

This bathing photo is the most recent I have and it's from 2 years ago

4. Do you have any upcoming travel plans? 

Equine or otherwise? Unfortunately yes, I'm in WA now for a work trip. Other than this I'm not planning any more travel. If I won the lottery I'd go to the National Dressage Pony Cup again and would probably visit some part of Vermont and Portland. 

5. What is your favorite way to beat the heat? 

I love spending time at the beach or in the pool. Otherwise I pretty much hide at home in the air-conditioning. My body doesn't like the heat very much so I have to be pretty careful how much time I spend outside when it's over about 95* for the heat index. With our humidity unfortunately that's fairly often during the summer.

6. Do you do anything to prevent your horse from sunbleaching? 

I'm very lucky that I don't need to. Since she's white and a roany chestnut there's not much fading that can happen.

7. How hot is too hot for you to ride? 

Like I mentioned above it doesn't take much heat for me to get heatstroke/an all day migraine so anything around 90* is too hot for me to ride. Once my body gets used to the heat I can make it work as long as I can take it easy so trail rides are ok but anything that involves really riding is out at least unless I can do so in the shade.

8. How important is sun protection for you riding or just in general? 

Pretty important, however since I typically can't spend much time outside in the sun it's sort of a mute point. I really suspect that it's just because in MN we go through such a drastic change every year that my poor body can't ever get used to a temperature. The temp easily goes through a 110* difference between winter and summer so I'm pretty sure that when I move to a more temperate climate I'll *hopefully* be able to handle warmer temps easier. I do love my KastelDenmark sun shirt though and I got myself an Asmar long sleeve shirt for Christmas that I've been wearing as well.

9. Have you ever gone swimming with your horse? 

Yes! I was lucky to grow up within riding distance of the Mississippi river and a beach. When I was growing up we routinely took our horses to the beach and swam them in the river. It's pretty much the most awesome and adorable thing ever.

10. And because shopping is always on my mind, what’s on your summer wish list? 

So many things! Mainly more B Vertigo breeches because they're my favorite. The other things I've mainly picked up since they're all show things but I'll share a post on those later. I've also still sort of got a trailer on this list. I'm going to see how things go this year with K and if it's easy this will come off the list for the time being.

ASSFS Blog Hop: Location, location, location

I've been fascinated as I'm reading the blogs on this blog hop and decided that I needed to blog this one. What an amazing idea from Sara!

I'm located in St. Paul, MN and Katai is boarded at a barn that's about half an hour north of downtown.

From Rock the Garden this year

I've grown up in MN and lived here my whole life so although I grew up on a farm more than an hour north of the Twin Cities I'm very familiar with the MN horse community. As far as costs it's not bad. I actually think that based on some of the other blogs on this hop our board seems a little pricy in comparison to hay/farrier/vet prices but because it gets so cold here most of the "nice" boarding barns have heated indoor arenas and need to feed a lot of hay and grain to keep weight on horses along with more limited turnout in the middle of winter which means more shavings so I guess it makes sense.

Previous barn but it's a pretty picture

Trim-$35-$50
Shoes-$120+ for all four, the farrier I use would charge $80 for the fronts and $120 for all four
Average cost of a month of full time training- $500-$700 not including board
Average monthly pasture board- $250-$400
Average monthly stall board- $400-$1200 (I pay $350)
Round bale, mixed grass- $30-$60
Square bales, orchard grass- $3.75-$7.00 per bale

Yep, that road is actually glare ice

Weather: Is not good. In the winter we routinely, from about December - March, have sub zero temps. During January and February we can have a wind chills as low as -30* on the regular. Fall and spring are often rainy and stormy and we do get tornados although they are rare (very glad we don't need to deal with more of the big nasty storms). The summers are muggy and still get quite hot. In a normal summer we'll get above 100 for a week or two. Nothing compared to more southern climates but the jump between winter and summer is so large that you never really get a chance to get used to the heat. Plus the humidity makes it dangerous much more quickly than a more dry heat. We can't ride when it's above the mid to upper 80s, for the most part, because of this.

Most horses do pretty well in the cold especially with stalls overnight and smart blanketing. Mostly it's just miserable to get in your car in the dark, after work when it's -10*, drive the half hour to the barn, get groomed, tacked up and ready to ride in the heated barn (heated to 35-40*) and then ride in a heated arena (usually heated to 20-30*). It certainly makes motivation tough when you're basically operating in a freezer for 3 or so hours.

Twins Baseball Stadium from this summer

We don't have any really icky bugs or wildlife. There are rattlesnakes in places but they're rare. Near the barn there are black bears, wolves, coyotes etc but not much that's dangerous to the horses.

The riding demographic is primarily western, as reflected by our horse expo and most big horse shows. With that being said the twin cities has a decent dressage community as well as a eventing and hunter/jumper community. I'm more involved in the dressage community so it seems like more people do dressage than jumping but that might just be based on my slightly skewed perspective.

Large, fancy eventing facility complete with RV

We have several well attended rated shows in the twin cities area and also most people trailer to Mason City Iowa for the rated shows they hold there. We have some fairly big name clinicians that visit such as Janet Foy, and Jen Truett and I'm sure I'm missing some others as well. Our shows are usually well attended but we have a lack of true upper level riders. At most shows I've been to, everyone gathers to watch the 1-2 people showing above 3rd. The bigger rated shows are more well attended but even then, there really aren't many people at 3rd or above.

We have excellent vet care. There are three big vet clinics in the twin cities including the UofM vet clinic which is able to provide many diagnostic and emergency services. We also have several well known smaller clinics and vets that are very horse savvy.

We also have some great tack stores especially compared to some of the states that I've visited. One of my favorites is right near my barn and the other is near H's barn so I make the trek over there when  I want more shopping opportunities.

So much snow!

The most frustrating thing for me is the weather/bugs. In the summer between the sudden intense humid heat waves, horrible mosquitoes/horseflies, rain, storms, etc. it's tough to enjoy riding outside very much of the time. There are brief times in spring and fall when it's nice but otherwise it's tough.

I also wish that english riding styles were more well represented. It's frustrating to go to our horse expo and find maybe 1-2 booths out of over around 100 that actually have nice english type gear or to find more presenters/clinicians that cover english disciplines.

Other than that I like it here! I would say that since I don't deal with the heat well and there isn't such a thing as an air conditioned arena, I'd rather be someplace cold with heated arenas than someplace much further south.

Couples Therapy: Stubborn Together Blog Hop

I’ve had this idea for the past couple of weeks but finally decided that I was curious enough to make it into a blog hop.

Basically, I’m curious what role your trainer/instructor plays in the partnership between you and your horse. I’m not talking about unicorns and the Black Stallion here, just good common sense instruction on how you work with and ride your horse beyond the technical aspects of dressage. Is it something they feel strongly about either way or something that they just don’t work with at all?

My experiences have been very interestingly different. When I started with J (not Jane, past instructor who I dislike) I was surprised at the amount of animosity that she approached riding and coaching with. Anytime the horse wasn’t immediately doing what the rider asked it was “giving them the middle hoof” and was being uncompliant. She used a lot of force and even when I would specifically tell her that I thought something was just physically or mentally tough for Katai or that Katai didn’t understand something she would brush it off and say that my pony did understand and just wasn’t listening.

Then I worked with L who had very similar feelings about that relationship/partnership that I do. At first she made a big impact because I was coming from J’s antagonistic approach but ultimately both L and I were kind and fair but removed from really engaging in that partnership. Both of us have lost animals, and in her case people, that we were very close to and I think it made it tougher for us to really connect and come at this topic from a loving place. Instead it was more of a kind, fair, but casual sort of feeling which is how I’d initially worked with Katai and my past horses.

Now with Jane that’s completely different. She is working a lot with me on the technical pieces but I feel like some of the work she’s doing with me that’s had the biggest impact is on my partnership with Katai and how I function in that partnership. Jane has been doing this for a long time and owned and trained a lot of horses but it doesn’t feel like she treats this like her job. While she’s extremely professional about it, she also acts more like a coach, or as my friend says about her instructor, she’s my Yoda. Everything from the terms that she uses, to the way that she teaches and how she expects me to make changes with Katai is different and I’m learning so much. She uses terms like “hug” when she refers to leg contact, or tells me to take time to get her flexed correctly on the side where it’s tougher for Katai. She also LOVES mares which is nice since I also love them but I’m realizing that I don’t always know the best way to train/ride them.

I can’t believe how much this has all impacted Katai and the way she is to ride. She’s gone from tense and dramatic to loose, stretchy, relaxed and thinking in the time between when I ended with J and now but the biggest change has been in the past month. It’s been an interesting and amazing journey and I can’t wait to see where we are in the next couple of years!

So, how does your current (or past) trainer manage the partnership/relationship between you and your horse(s)?

Blog Hop: Horse Thief

I love this idea for a blog hop!

However, I had a tough time thinking of who I'd steal. I think that based on the rules of this blog hop I'd probably steal my friend H's pony. He's around 14.2 and quite a sassy, sensitive gelding. He's also got amazing gaits and he is fun to ride. I've only had the chance once or twice but I would steal him for a joy ride if I ever have the opportunity ;)

I would also really like to steal my co-student (C's) horse Sasha, for a day. She is a 14(ish) hand Arabian who is showing 3rd level. It would be very, very cool to see what that feels like!

My runner-ups are Ozzie, L's horse, and Jules, Jane's PSG school master but I honestly just don't think I could go back to riding tall horses. I do enjoy riding Ozzie occasionally and it sounds like I may have the opportunity to ride Jules at some point which is so, so exciting!!!

My Daily Routine

I am also stealing this idea for the "unofficial" blog hop.

I work, full time M-F from around 8:00ish - 4:30ish. I have always done better in the morning if I keep my perp to a minimum and then pretty much head straight to work so I get up around 7:30 (I'm lucky enough to have a 10 minute commute) and that leaves me from around 4:45pm-12:00am in the evening so that's when I ride.

Normally my routine is to take a day off riding on Monday and Thursday to just to do other chores at home, spend time with friends, veg out, and/or work out,.

On Tuesday I have my lesson at 6:30pm so I get home from work, eat a quick dinner and then drive the 35 minutes to the barn (45 if rush hour traffic is really bad) which means that sometimes I get there just with enough time to groom and tack up quickly.

The way the barn looks in the evening

Wednesday and Friday I leave the house around 6:00-7:00 after playing with Veggie, eating dinner and changing into my riding clothes.

Weekends are my favorite (really who can say differently) but I sleep in a bit normally until around 8:00-8:30, make myself some coffee, grab breakfast and then head to the barn. I usually get home by noon which includes the extra time that I spend at the barn over the weekend.

Not my pictures but my weekend cold press looks very similar :)

Since Katai is in full board my time at the barn, other than when I have a lesson, normally consists of pulling all of the stuff I need out of the tack room and putting it on hooks/saddle stand near her stall. I  grab my helmet, grooming bag, saddle, saddle pad, saddle shims, girth, pink dressage boots, and bridle. I put my boots on and then get the pony. During the week she's already in her stall so I just lead her the 5 or so feet from her stall to the crossties but on the weekend I pull her out of her paddock. I get her groomed and tacked up, boots, saddle, I put my helmet on, and then put on her bridle and finally put on my gloves. Then we go into the arena where I normally ride for 30-45 minutes but sometimes more if she needs it.

Katai would like everyone to know that she would prefer
to be doing this on the weekends

I usually don't lunge before I ride unless I have reason to believe that she's uncomfortable or going to be especially naughty. For some reason the lunge is both of our happy place and even if she ends up being naughty under saddle it almost never shows up on the lunge so I'd just as soon hop right on since it doesn't seem to make a difference and where if she is naughty or tight I have more tools to correct it.

Part of my current riding playlist

Normally I listen to music on my iPhone speakers while I ride. After we're done I pick up poop and hand walk her for at least 5-10 minutes (thanks to my first instructor when I was 12 and reading Jec Aristotle Ballou) since I believe in walking to cool down and I may as well join her and walk next to her rather than staying on her back.

Then I crosstie her, untack her, and turn her out or put her back in her stall. I love cleaning up after my ride and after putting all of my tack away I sweep, grab any empty supplement baggies, and then head home. On the weekends it's usually around lunch time and I'm hungry so I normally stop at Taco Bell, since that's the only fast food place in the area that has vegan food,  and then head home. On the weekdays I get home right around 9:30-10:00pm so I usually watch a movie and play with Veggie or do some work and then head to bed.

I'm lucky(?) to have very little going on in my life outside of work and Katai. I have friends and we hang out enough for me to get all of the social interaction that I want but most of them are in a different place in their lives (married with kids) so that doesn't happen as often as it did. I have to admit that selfishly I'm happy to be able to spend as much time as I want doing the things that I enjoy most.

July 10

My first header, just to break up the wall of text :) As a side note, I miss Myshla's little face :(

I’m also stealing this from L. Williams!

1. Do you actually always pick the horse’s feet? Always? Really?
I used to be REALLY bad about this so I count it as a huge victory that I nearly always pick hooves now. When I was growing up and we had our horses on our land in a pasture I think I maybe remembered to pick feet every 100 rides or something. I always picked after we rode on gravel but otherwise it was a crap shoot. Now I remember 99% of the time before I ride and about 90% of the time after I ride.

2. What is the biggest obstacle/reason preventing you from becoming a professional or competing full time with ease?
Money, however, I would say that I really don’t want to be a professional or compete full time so drive might be missing as well ;) I’m very happy being an adult amateur with an amazing hobby. I like that it allows me to do other things and I think that I would burn out if I did this as a profession. I like that the barn gets to be my happy place instead of where I work. If I did have more money I would board at a more competitive show barn and have more opportunities to get out there and compete. Also, I would put Katai in training with someone to work on trailer loading and transporting her so that I don’t have to deal with her mare tude as much on my own.

3. Do you think it will ever not be about the money?
I think this depends a little on which sport you’re involved in. I see this more with show jumping and hunters, and sort of with dressage. Not as much with eventing. I also think that top riders aren’t necessarily independently wealthy (like Elisa Wallace) they’ve just worked hard to get there and to find opportunities but the people who own the horses need to have money to own the top horses.

4. Was there ever a horse that you loved and really wanted to have a connection with, but it just never panned out?
Yes, the horse that I’ve owned for the longest so far was a black Perch/Arab named Loki. He was just an amazing horse, really good on trails, not naughty, and had some talent for dressage and jumping. I traded my first horse (who was nasty) for him because Loki was perfect for me. However, he never liked me and wouldn’t let me catch him, didn’t want me to pet him, etc. I tried being firm and I tried being really kind and cuddly with him but he never let me in. I eventually sold him to a women as her first horse and they got along great.

5. What is one weakness in your riding that even your trainer doesn’t pick up on, only you?
My trainer sees all and I’m sure she’s very aware of all of my weaknesses. She doesn’t always address all of them because that wouldn’t actually be helpful but any time I think I’ve discovered something to work on she’s already aware and has a plan for how we’re going to be addressing it and when.

6. What is your biggest doubt/insecurity you ask or tell yourself in your head?
Everything really! I had a rough start in dressage with J who told me that my pony wasn’t worth anything and that I couldn’t ride her because I was too big. I know that both of those things are false but it’s tough to get them out of my head and those just add to previous insecurities.

7. There is a barn fire, You are the first person to discover it and see that the roof is collapsing in slowly, and you can tell it’s going to come down any time. Do you call people first or head straight in to save the horses?
I wouldn’t go in, I’d call and see if there was anything I could do to save the horses from outside the burning building but wouldn’t put myself at risk. It would probably haunt me but that’s what I’d do. My life is just too precious.

8. What is one event in your riding career/horse/anything that you’re still not over, even though you might tell others you are?
J’s comments as mentioned above. Also my first horse instilled a very healthy fear of cantering in me since he was a bolter and a bucker. I’ve pretty much overcome that but every once in a while that fear still crops back up.

9. If you could tell off one person you just don’t like, what would you say?
I would tell the people at J’s barn to really look at how she’s treating their horses. Ask them to think about why all of their backs are tight, tense, and sore and ask why they stay with her when what she does and what she teaches is so far from what they see in “normal” dressage barns. I wouldn’t even talk to J because she is very successful with her “training” methods and that doesn’t tend to elicit change, her students aren’t necessarily all successful with her training methods and yet follow her blindly. I’d like to get them to think critically about why they are there.

10. Have you ever seen questionable riding or training practices, but let it go/ignored it? How do you feel about it in hindsight?
J’s again, there really wasn’t much I could do. I was a little fish in a pond with a very big shark. At any hint of mentioning that she wasn’t doing the right thing I would have been eaten up and she would have made sure that her posse didn’t listen to me. In hindsight I would have just left much earlier or never trained with her in the first place. Live and learn but it’s taken a lot of time and effort to erase all of the negative effects of my time at her barn and I think some of the scars won’t ever go away. I am hoping to beat all of them (her and her students) in the ring by doing much more relaxed and fun dressage with my horse and would hope that it may cause her students to ask some good questions about why they are there.

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.

VCBH: What's in Your Show Tote

I really like this blog hop concept and so although I’ve only showed a handful of times my whole life (and only once in dressage) I thought I’d do a "What’s in your show tote: wish list edition" adaptation to this hop!

I tend to be a very mentally disorganized person, whatever the opposite of type A is (would that be type Z?) would pretty much describe my mental state most of the time. Whatever small ability I have to be mentally organized is used up during my job which leaves me with about nil during the rest of my week. However, I love to be physically organized. While I’ve never been able to keep any type of planner and just rely on my phone to tell me what to do, I do very carefully organize my space at home and that includes my horse equipment storage. I have a large wooden trunk that holds all the misc items that I don’t use on a regular basis that resides at home and my small tack cabinet at the barn is carefully organized with totes and color coordination. I’m especially excited for the tack locker that my dad and I will be building this winter and will share more information about that soon!

So, to start my wish list I would want something that I could carry all of my items in and that would provide me with some space so that I can organize everything inside for easy access. The items that I’d want to bring with would be fairly normal show items such as stain remover, safety pins, NSAIDs (of course), and extra grooming supplies. However the big things that I’ll need before I can show are below.

Braiding supplies (assuming this will be a rated show)

Some sort of braiding supplies and lots of practice will be needed.

 

Helmet (since mine is over 3 years old and is falling apart)

 

I have a small, oval shaped head and Uvex are some of the few helmets that seem to be comfortable for my head shape.

Dressage saddle show pad

 

 

For my small pony I'm thinking that the High Point cut out pad makes a lot of sense. I think I'll get it in Black.

Show Shirt

 

I really like this show shirt by f.o.a.l. and would like one in short sleeve and long sleeve ideally :-)

Jacket

 

I haven't done much shopping for jackets but I do really like this one from f.o.a.l.

Breeches

 

My favorite breeches are from Horze and I'm really liking these sparkles and all!

 

I've updated my Wish List page to include more of the items on my wish list so check that out as well as the updates to my Current Equipment page!

TOABH: Who Trained Your Horse

Last week, we talked about our babies.  This week, let's talk about our greenies.  Who trained your horse?  Is your ponykins still in the process of figuring out this whole monkey-on-my-back thing, did you send off for thirty or sixty or ninety days, or did you buy a horse with all the bells and whistles?  Who has helped your horse become what he or she is today?

That answer is basically me :) I bought Katai completely untrained as a late four year old. She could kind of lead if you could catch her but she had a nasty habit of suddenly rearing, spinning, and bolting backwards away from you whenever you tried to do something she didn't approve of. She certainly didn't know how to tie, was tough to catch, aggressive, had no idea about forward, and had been thoroughly spoiled by her teenage owner. I believe that that girl had sat on her a few times and said that she'd had a saddle on her back but it actually just made things tougher since it had taught her that she didn't need to listen or do what a person wanted since eventually they'd give up. 

This was from before I got her. I can see both fear and some aggression from her in this picture and that's pretty much what I started with. Plus she was extremely obese.

Here she is about five months after I got her. She's standing tied, although there was still a lot of dancing and behaving like an idiot, and wearing a bit for probably the fifth time.

Wearing a blanket like a big girl. It only took me about 15 minutes to get it on. She was still wearing a safety halter since she was tough to catch.

More big girl things, wearing four boots, a surcingle and a bit and this was just before I started ground driving her. She looks so shaggy, undeveloped, and babyish here. I also think it's interesting that at this point her mane fell to the left and now it falls to the right. Apparently it has to do with the development of muscles.

Wearing her first dressage saddle. Such a baby!

First time on her back!!

This was right after one of our first real "rides" up until here we were either in a small enclosed space or mostly just doing mounting practice. At this point we were still just sticking to a walk. You can see though how much different her expression and posture are. She is calm and quiet and there is some trust there.

Working her at the first real boarding barn I kept her at and in her first indoor arena. This is where we went from just walking to doing trot and canter.

First real trail ride outside of any type of fence and down the road.

I don't have many pictures in between because I was always at the barn by myself and it was tough to get any plus I mostly worked on trot and canter over the winter when it was extremely cold and It was tough to have enough motivation to take off my gloves to use my iPhone camera.

And finally from October. I'm hoping to get more pictures soon!

I had such a great ride tonight. She is really starting to understand the lateral work and I'm getting a nice, relaxed, balanced response on a loose rein. Currently I'm focusing on leg yields to the wall and shoulders in. Haunches in used to freak her out and was a great way to get her to rear but she completely didn't understand shoulders in. Now she does well with haunches in and is finally starting to get haunches in along the wall :) Even better she is doing it on a soft feel and maintaining her balance, not sticking her head up in the air and getting hollow. 

I've also been focusing more on the canter. I think I'm going to need to go back to getting the transition nicely on the lunge. She used to pick it up immediately when I gave a specific vocal cue but now she just puts her ears back and races forward at the trot. I'm trying to figure out if it is me or if she just needs a reminder about what the canter cue means. 

Something to work on for next time!