All The Learning

Puppy princess is feeling much better after her spay. She is looking so grown up!

When I decided to move to this barn, which meant no more weekly lessons, I certainly never intended to stop taking advantage of learning opportunities. It was just that I didn't want to continue to do lessons each week every week. That was coming both from a budget perspective and because after all these years of weekly lessons (mostly not riding) I'm just tired of having a weekly commitment every week. On top of that, I learned so much from Jane and then with the winter we had we took a big step back so much of what I'm working on right now is getting her back to where we were.

Of course I booked a couple lessons with S2 right away when I moved and when we decided at the second lesson that I wouldn't be going to the show at the end of May I moved my show budget to lessons and booked three more right away instead. That makes for 5 lessons with S2 in May and 4 of those were within a week. During one of those lessons she told me that Kristi Wysocki was going to be at the barn teaching a clinic and that she'd encourage me to ride with her.

My tack closet at home continues to get more packed.
I can't wait until I can move into a tack locker at the barn!

I'd taken a fair amount of time off work so I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get the time off I needed for the clinic but in the end I was able to leave a bit early and do a late ride and while it was a little tight it all ended up working out. I truly wish I had clinic media but unfortunately there wasn't anyone there taking pictures and in the rush to change into barn clothes I left my phone in my car and just didn't think to see if someone could get any media.

I had been warned that Kristi could be blunt but I do really well with blunt. I like people who tell it like it is even if it's brutal. It's just the way I learn best. However, I never even saw that side of Kristi because she liked both of us and actually had very little feedback about the things we got to during that lesson. Part of that was because Katai was busy being the spookiest pony she's been in a REALLY long time with the sound system on in the arena so Kristi spent too much time helping me work through the spooks and even feeding Katai sugar :)

However, we still did get a lot of riding done including lots of trot, leg yields, canter-trot transitions, half halts work, a bit of work on my position and posting, and on generally slowing down the walk and trot after the canter. I got complements on our leg yields (totally Jane's doing) as well as my geometry which was AWESOME to hear coming from a judge especially since it's going to take good geometry to score really well on an average moving pony.

Off topic but this is maybe Katai's 10 ride ever :)

In all honesty she had very little to say. She wanted me to keep my elbows closer to my sides (yeah I flap when I'm concentrating on things haha), and to pause more at the top of my posting. I also got a couple reminders to look up. When we went to canter it fell a bit more off the rails (other than the spooking which was already solidly off the rails) because once Katai is asked to canter she thinks only canter is a thing. She helped me just slowly work through it but there wasn't anything groundbreaking. Just good solid, patient, riding.

In the end I'm really glad I rode with her and I got some really good feedback but I continue to go back to how incredible Jane is and she charges less than a 7th of that lesson for an hour vs. 45 minutes.

At this point I'm going to take a longer break from lessons. If anything, the lack of anything really ground breaking from that lesson (which again was at least partially caused by Katai's spookiness) really makes me want to continue to push through the things I know we need to work on more before I pay for more lessons. Between the things I learned from Kristi and the things I learned from S2 I have some additional items to work on as well as all of the work that Jane instilled in me so I'm really confident that we can get a ways now ourselves and then hopefully get S2 involved again as we get a bit closer to my next potential show!

Milestone: Lesson Recap 7/9

No new pony pictures so you get some more pictures from Kentucky

As mentioned in my previous post the plan was for me to have a lesson once I got back on Sunday to make up for the past Tuesday when we canceled due to the holiday. Jane's amazingly nice and flexible as she didn't expect me to set a time on Sunday and just watched for me to get there so that I didn't need to feel stressed about making it at a specific time after my flight. I ended up getting there right around 5 I think so it was hot but not unbearable.

We warmed up using the full ring again and getting Katai cruising before we asked for anything else. She was moving nicely to start (especially after a few days off) and so after a bit we did some leg yields and we NAILED them! We've still been struggling but on Sunday we really got them. I think it was a combination of getting her off my leg better in warmup and that I'm finally starting to put the pieces together to be able to ride them appropriately even as her balance changes throughout the movement.

After a walk break we did some shoulder in and just worked on sitting trot in general. It's already improved from how it was at my last lesson but I'm still struggling with losing my stirrups and maintaining consistency in my position. Even with that we got some really good should in. Jane had me do an exercise where we'd do half the long side, do a 10 meter circle and then go straight for the rest of the long side just to make it so that Katai didn't need to do SI the whole distance. I struggled enough with getting her shoulder off the wall and making the 10 meter circles appropriately that Jane set up cones and that ended up being as much a focus of the exercise as the SI was. Ah well, I have to keep reminding myself that this sitting trot thing is really new for both of us.

Overall Jane was really happy with our SI and with our progress in sitting trot as well.

Downtown Lexington

After another walk break we started our canter work and did some counter canter through shallow serpentines. To the right we did quite well but (maybe because she was tired after all the canter to the right and SI) to the left she struggled and wanted to use speed to cheat. However, her canter is still much improved and she's mostly letting me slow her down and control the rhythm and tempo better than she was.

At our final walk break Jane brought up that she thinks we're going to be ready for 1st level at our next show!!! I may make that goal after all. First level test 1 basically has the addition of leg yield and if we can keep going the way we have recently we'll be ready for that by the end of August for that show. Then I'll probably also enter Training 2. It will still be opportunity classes for both and then next year I'll join all of the things so that we have more test options.

The horse park is such a beautiful place

We also decided that instead of doing any other schooling shows I'm going to do two clinic rides with Susanne likely in November. She teaches the clinic at my old barn which is just a few miles away and we'll trailer there and back both days so it will be a great experience for Katai. It shouldn't be too intimidating since she lived there for awhile and it's a nice short journey so it shouldn't be overly stressful. It will also be good for me since I'm sure I'll learn even more than I would at a show.

It was such a great lesson and felt like a great payoff after a few tougher rides :)

QuietRide

Close enough...

This has been a bit of a quiet week for rides. A couple of weeks ago it was the heat, then we had a 5 ride (or 4 ride one lunge) week and now this week it's probably going to end up at 4. This week it's more because I've been focused on other things.

I've needed to do this for awhile but I was sort of stuck in my winter routine of work/home/barn and didn't feel like doing more than that. I've pushed myself to do more outside of the barn this week though and it was a good break. On Monday I just took the evening off riding and then on Wednesday after work I went out to check out a vegan donut shop.

A small sample of their vegan menu.
Not shown, my maple donut or the Sriracha/peanut butter donut 

Unfortunately I didn't think to get pictures but my vegan maple donut was spectacular. Then on Thursday after work I went to the Mall of America with my sister. We got drinks, food, and did some shopping.

Mini story break here. I've had and consistently worn the same sandals for the last 19 years. Very sadly they gave up finally last week leaving me walking home with on bare foot. I wisely decided it was time to get another pair of sandals especially since I wanted something to wear for pony cup next week.

If you want the most comfortable sandals in the world
that will last forever try Speedo

I did manage to find a very comfortable pair of sandals but they just aren't the same as my favorite pair so my heart is still a bit broken ;)

Both days are typically Katai's days off so it was just the fact that I felt a bit burnt out on Monday and took that day off that will mean I have fewer rides this week. At any rate, it was needed and I'm feeling more motivated again after my mini break. Luckily it's just in time for the holiday weekend!

This weekend is going to be awesome because I'm going to watch H ride in a Janet Foy clinic. She's riding her pony cup pony in the morning and then her pony in the afternoon. I'll probably only be able to make one of her rides but I'm hoping to see a few other people ride as well. I may also check out my favorite tack shop (which is over in that area) because it looks like they're having a great Independence Day sale.

On Monday I'm "working" from home. Even my boss has said that there's unlikely to be anything happening so I'm going to be pretty free beyond checking my email periodically for emergent issues. Then of course I have Tuesday off so it will be almost a 4 day weekend. I'm back in the office for Wednesday and Thursday and then off on Friday when I'll be flying to Pony Cup.

I'm so excited!! 

2016 Goals Review

I think the only consistent thing about my goals in 2016 is that I struggled with them. I've never been good at setting goals and although I tried in 2016 they left a lot to be desired. I think part of what's tough is that shows/clinics/horse events are easy things to build goals around and I just haven't been able to do many of those. With that being said I'm going to recap my favorite things that happened this past year!

Increased my Blogging

I was happy both with the fact that I posted over 140 times (up from the 90 times I posted in 2015) but also that I just had more interesting content and more pictures. I still struggled to get good riding photos but at least there were some good pictures and lots more pictures of Katai and myself.

I think we got extra points because my pony stuck her tongue out at the clinican

Attended my First and Second Dressage Clinic

Yep, I've been riding for a long time (over 19 years) but in that time I've never ridden in a clinic before this year. Plus, of course, it was my first clinic with Katai and my first Dressage clinic. Even though it was at the facility I was boarding at it still felt like a really big deal.

The picture look better than the show felt but it still felt like a big win!

Attended a Schooling Show

This might not seem like a big deal but this was only the 2nd real dressage show I've ever ridden in and only the 5th horse show I've ever ridden in and it was Katai's first real show experience. It was tough on Katai and she was quite stressed but that wasn't unexpected and it felt like a really big deal that we got it done. I would have really liked to have done more shows since I know that what we both need is to just do lots of shows but it's so tough when I don't have my own transportation to shows.

My only satin for the year but it is sort of enough satin for a full year :) 

Attended a Hunter Pace

Even more than the show this felt like a big accomplishment. Katai trailered well and was only minority nervous to handle and then she handled the pace like a champion. The amazingly large ribbon we won just felt like a really big deal and like the work we've been putting in and the strength of our relationship was finally being recognized. It wasn't needed but it was so, so nice.

Sort of a picture of the new facility?

Moved to a barn that I LOVE with an upper level instructor

Let's be honest, I've loved pretty much all of the barns I've boarded at and I still miss L but none has felt as much like home as this one does. It's just so cozy and quiet and having Jane as both an instructor and as the barn owner/manager is just so nice. Because there are so few horses and so few boarders she does really nice things like turning the horses out in the indoor arena on cold days and really customizing the care for each horse.

I don't have any pictures of Katai being ridable
but will be doing more with that this year!

Ending the Year With a Ridable Pony

This is the best thing that happened in 2016 and it didn't really happen until the last few months in 2016. For most of the time that I've had Katai she's had so much tension, so much forward, so much pony sass, and so much attitude that she's been a really tough ride. As soon as I'd start to get good forward and connection she'd lose it and I'd have to work for another 5-10 minutes to get it back. It normally meant that I only had a ridable pony for about 10-20 minutes during my 45 minute lesson and that made progress tough. For multiple reasons, I think, it's gotten SO MUCH BETTER in the last few months and Katai has been so consistent that I can not only make progress with her but I've been able to really work on myself.

Improvement - With a Video

First of all I wanted to post my previous improvement video

Secondly I have this video from my ride (early this year or late last year?) in the dressage clinic that I participated in as well as footage from one of my recent rides.

A few things to note:

- while I feel like my upper body has gotten way better, as has my posting (oh boy), my leg has gotten worse haha. It's extremely difficult for me to round my back and still keep my leg back. I'm doing hip flexor stretches but honestly I'm not sure if that's the issue since I need to do contortions to actually feel a stretch and tend to be a fairly flexible person.

- The most recent footage was taken after I finished cantering, gave Katai a walk break, and went back to trot. She's being very good but there's definitely more tension than normal and she's not nearly as through as she gets in my rides with Jane.

- because Katai is so tense I'm riding a bit defensively so I don't think my leg is normally quite that bad and I'm posting ahead more than I have been recently

- I'm not quite sure what happened to my posting diagonals. It's a huge pet peeve of mine and I'm normally correct about 95% of the time. However, we've been using this as a tool for the leg yields so that it's easier for me to effect the correct hind leg and as soon as we started doing that I started messing them up.

- OMG we look so much better. Katai is so much more consistent in the contact, her rhythm has slowed down enough that I can actually ask her for things and I don't feel like she's just running away all the time. I'm improving too but I'm disappointed to see how badly my chair seat is back. It's also tough to see some of the improvements in my posture since I chose to wear the puffiest vest I own during this ride and didn't think to take it off for the video

- Also, this isn't cutting out bad moments. What you are seeing here was the worst part of the ride since before we cantered Katai was much more relaxed and through. The cuts are just to keep this a decent length and to cut out the time we spent off camera.

Finally, I'm so proud of us! We've been making good changes since that clinic ride in the video but the majority of this improvement has happened over the past month or two. I can't wait to see where we are this next spring!

Some Days are Tougher Than Others

Especially when you have a pony mare.

As mentioned the plan was to have a lesson with L's instructor who I'll call Jane. I had it scheduled on Friday for 7:00 but, totally my fault, never confirmed with the BM since I knew she planned on bringing horses over on Friday morning. However, when I got to the barn at 6:00pm on Friday night Katai was happily eating hay in her stall.

Worse, it was still extremely hot so I wasn't quite sure if anyone would be willing to help me move her. I texted my BM and called Jane to let her know that we either needed to cancel, and hopefully reschedule, or that I would at least be late. My amazing BM came through and lent one of the women who works at the barn her trailer so that she could haul us. Since there were other horses to go over we decided to take Katai and her paddock buddy to keep them both happy and get two horses over  rather than just one.

We loaded the other horse first and then went to load Katai. She hopped on so easily last time after my reminder about how to load that I figured she'd just hop right on. However, she decided that she didn't feel like it. We tried bribery, we tried using a dressage whip to tap her until she moved forward, we tried a stud chain (for the first time), I tried having someone else load her, and finally one of the other people who works at the barn (there were four of us working on this at this point and it was in the mid 90s) suggested that we just drug her (for the first time).

I agreed.

It really couldn't make it much worse and it's not something I've tried before. Since Katai was already upset the trainer gave her a cocktail of Dorm and Ace. She gave her a really small dose but Katai went to a very drunken happy place pretty quick and didn't seem to remember how to move her feet. Luckily she's an 800 pound horse and not a 1200+ pound horse so we were able physically push her up the ramp (thank goodness it was a ramp) and get her in the trailer.

When we got to Jane's barn I was happy to see that Katai was calm and happy and trying to nibble on a piece of hay that she'd found. Ponies...

She unloaded well with only a little bit of funnily stumbling down the ramp that may have made me giggle just a little. At that point, with my extreme level of embarrassment at the lengths that everyone had gone to just to get my pony in the trailer and near heat stroke, it was either laugh or cry. We got her settled in her temporary stall with some water and a fan on her since she was a little sweaty and then waited around for her drugs to wear off a bit so that we could make sure she was ok and get her some hay. She recovered quickly, dug right in to her hay and her whinny-er was working (it was only a little funny sounding) so she was drunkenly talking to her friends.

Clearly I didn't have my lesson that night so we rescheduled for this morning. Jane was at a schooling show with a different student so we scheduled it for when she planned to be home. So this morning I got to my barn early and watched some of the clinic on my way to my lesson. I have to say that I was expecting very little since in my experience, some big name clinicians seem to be more about shock and awe than installing good basics or working on things like straightness and getting the horses working through the back. Of course I think Janet Foy and plenty of other clinicians are amazing! But this particular clinician seemed more like someone that might focus on tricks.

However, I was extremely impressed to see that every single horse was working on filling in gaps and every single horse looked happier, more relaxed and was moving more freely by the time he was done. It was really educational to watch! He was also really amazing with the auditors and was the first clinician that I've audited that kept asking if any of us had any questions and giving us his full attention while the horse and rider took their walk breaks. He was a very good teacher and had a great way of explaining concepts. I'm hoping to go back tomorrow!

I headed out to Jane's barn and stopped for some Taco Bell (they have certified vegan fast food!) quickly before my lesson. We had been receiving weather warnings but they were pushed up from the afternoon to the morning which meant that they looked likely to hit during my lesson. I got to the barn a bit before Jane and made sure I knew where the light switches were and got my boots and helmet and everything inside so that I wouldn't need to carry it in if it started raining. Jane got there and let me know that she's not good with storms so that if started storming we'd have to call it. I agreed, it's not my idea of a fun (or safe) time to ride my horse in a new place during a severe thunderstorm.

Then it started storming. The clouds were scary and coming in fast and when the lightening started and the hail started falling we called it. I left pretty quick so that I could get home and we decided to reschedule for tomorrow morning. I can't wait and will share a recap!

Bittersweet Return

Kentucky in the early morning on the flight home.

First off my trip back home was really long. I got to the airport at 3:00am CST and didn't get back home until 1:30pm CST. There were delays due to weather, delays due to a plane needing repair, then after already taking longer than it should have I got to the airport in MN and needed to take the light rail home. Normally this is really, really easy with just one transfer from the "blue line" to the "green line" but both were shut down towards downtown Minneapolis so I needed to take the blue line for awhile, then climb on a blue line shuttle bus, then switch to a green line shuttle bus, then get on the green line and then get home. All while toting a rather large suitcase and computer bag.

Only probably was that the green line shuttle bus driver got lost, really lost. We were lost for nearly 45 minutes. It was horrible especially since we kept getting stopped at lights so the air conditioning on the bus wasn't working very well and it was hot. At any rate I made it home safe with all of my personal belongs so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I LOVE Kentucky and already miss being there. I'm making it a goal to get to Rolex next year so I'm hoping to be back soon :)

Gorgeous bronze nearly life sized horse outside of an antique store.

I'm also really happy to be home! The trip to Kentucky was a great beginning to my long 10 day total vacation that I've been needing so badly. I can't believe how much I got done just today on Monday and that's on the beginning. My plans for this week go something like this.

Monday and Tuesday is the Suzanne Winslade clinic at my barn. I'm not riding this time, mainly budget but also because of the KY trip, but on Sunday L raved about how well Katai did for her ride and also mentioned that her young horse was slightly lame (after being a goofball and getting a couple of big cuts on his rear fetlocks) so she asked if she could ride Katai at her lesson with Suzanne. Katai was sort of on hold since she was hoping that her horse would be sound enough for the lesson.

I had planned to audit for awhile and to watch L ride but with the chance that she might ride Katai meant riding I definitely wanted to be there. I got some grocery shopping done in the morning and did some cleaning (my roommates are pretty good for guys, but still young guys) and laundry.

I got to the barn around 2:00 and L was riding at 4:00. I watched both earlier lessons and talked to the BM and some of the other boarders. L showed up about 40 minutes early but they'd been running early so she asked for my help to get her horse tacked up while she went to talk to Suzanne to see how she wanted to handle the lesson. They decided that L would ride her horse for 30 minutes and then Katai for 30 minutes. I watched a bit of her lesson and then got Katai ready so that I could walk her and warm her up for a bit before she needed to switch to Katai.

An exciting picture of Katai's back that I need to send out for saddle fit help. I think she's looking pretty good here

I got her all tacked up and warmed up but L's horse was doing so well that she stuck with him for the full lesson and I was happy for her that she was able to ride her own horse. However, I'd handed her off and took her horse to cool him out before we realized that the hour was up so L offer to just put a ride on her. I certainly couldn't argue with a free trainer ride and although I had wanted to ride it was 75% humidity and I was dripping sweat just getting Katai tacked up and so I'd lost some of my motivation.

I quickly got L's horse untacked and cleaned up and then put him back in his stall and went back to watch Katai. Despite not being very enthused about working in the heat and still being a little tired from the previous day's ride with L Kati was really good. She listened well and only had a few minor resistant moments. Mainly she was really, really, really good! She was soft and through and was really doing a great job. L started off, after a brief trot to really warm her up, by working on transitions within the trot. She was getting some really nice lengthening and, the tough one, some really nice collected work AND she was getting it by sitting. Normally Katai loses her mind when you sit the trot because she's waiting for the canter cue (that's the only time I sit right now) but she was doing really well with it today.

Then they did counter canter!! So, so cool and she did really well especially for a second time. L was playing with that, half steps, and shoulder in yesterday during her ride and just wanted to practice it with her since she normally doesn't get to ride Katai twice in a row. I did end up hearing from a couple of people at the barn how L was raving about Katai and how she did yesterday. My little superstar :-)

Now I'm even more motivated to ride even if Katai is going to get a few days outside of the sandbox and a well earned day off before I get to do a dressage ride.

Clinic Recap 5/9

I’ve had a weird couple of weeks. Just personal stuff going on (#datingproblems) but I’ve felt a little out of touch with riding and I’ve had less direction and motivation to ride and blog. However, the clinic with Susanne Winslade went really well!

However, we did have an interesting start since there had been a driving horse (combined driving Haflinger) scheduled before Katai and I started so not only did Katai get a little nervous in the crossties trying to figure out what was going on in the ring but when they drove out they left the door at the end of the arena open. When I was at J’s place open arena doors always led to a mini Katai meltdown and the doors on this area have never been open so I was curious how she would be. I took the time to walk her down there before I mounted up and she was up and curious but not losing her mind so I wasn’t that worried. However, as soon as I mounted up she lost her mind a little.

Thankfully Susanne was of the same opinion that I am and expressed that Katai was just going to need to get over it. We worked on getting and keeping at least one ear on me for the first several minutes and after a few great, forward, connected, directed 20 meter circles in each direction Katai was doing quite well. Susanne wanted me to get her head and neck a little lower than I’ve been getting it. Luckily after all our homework since the last clinic we were able to get there easily and I could immediately feel her start swinging better over her back.

After a few circles and straights with lower ears and a nice connection, Susanne had us start another exercise where we were supposed to spiral in and then leg yield out. Neither Katai or I are good at leg yielding so after a couple times in each direction, as Susanne saw how stuck we were on the struggle bus, she changed it to a "head to the wall" leg yield.

That’s when I started to get a little frustrated with myself. I’ve never learned how to properly do a leg yield and always struggled plus Katai hasn’t ever really learned to do them correctly. She actually used to rear as soon as you put her head to the wall so it wasn’t an effective way to teach this to her previously. During the clinic I was extremely proud that she not only didn’t rear but didn’t lose her mind with the amount of pressure we were putting on her. However, it didn’t mean that we were able to get anywhere ourselves. Poor Susanne had to watch us drunkenly and incorrectly try to accomplish this for a full arena before I let her know that I really didn’t know what I was doing and needed help.

Susanne came over and assisted on the ground and after almost another full arena Katai got it! She really is a smart cookie  After that we did it in the other direction and it was a little rough but we got it, she got the concept of moving her haunches without blowing through her shoulder and I was able to start to understand how to keep her neck straight, not let her blow through her shoulder, and keep her haunches at the correct angle.

What was really interesting is that there is this bodyworker lady (she works more with musculature, not so much chiro) that has attended the last couple of clinics with Susanne and she made an observation, along with Susanne, once we got back that Katai is built like a little body builder but that it’s her "external musculature" and not her internal. She said that the "Internal Musculature" will be strengthened more by stretching and that the occasional slight shortness that I had mentioned (left hind) previously would likely be helped by this stretchy work of getting Katai to cross over properly behind. She also mentioned that she thinks the shortness is coming from Katai’s stifle and maybe fetlock which at least helps me know a little more about where to watch. She didn’t think that it was time to call the vet but suggested that if it goes on for much longer despite doing additional/different work it might be good to get Katai a massage and maybe some body work.

This lady is doing some specific work with horses and riders on Monday and I’m going to do everything I can to get there and have a "lesson" since I think it would be SOO helpful!

Finally, right at the end of our lesson, we went to canter. Susanne wanted me to do three circles and do our best. Unfortunately as I cued for it, Katai actually bucked again which was disappointing since she hasn’t in a while and then half way around the second circle had a big, random spook. Because of that I never really got her on the bit and straight so we didn’t get to show our best work. After our disastrous canter Susanne wanted us to work on straightness and I think that we’ve been over bending the pony. Susanne was having me keep her neck straighter and wanted her haunches out more on the circle. She said that Katai has been throwing her haunches in on the transitions which is likely caused by us trying to keep her bent for the transitions. I’m sure I’m the culprit since I tend to exaggerate and if a little is good, more will be better right? Oops!

I’m going to chat about this with L so that she can help me understand what Susanne was seeing. Last time I thought, for example, that Susanne wanted me to turn my upper body out on the circle (confusing since that’s not what I thought I was supposed to be doing) but after talking to L realized that I was turning and collapsing in so bad that Susanne was just using it as a tool. Indeed, this time it didn’t come up at all since I’ve been working on being straighter myself.

Unfortunately H wasn’t able to make it since I rode right in the middle of the day so I didn’t get pictures. I’ll have to find someone to take some at one of my next rides so that I have some more content since this blog is getting boring without it!

Spring Schedule and Ride Recap

I have so many fun horse things coming up over the next 1-2 months!

To start off, this weekend I ride on Saturday, lesson on Sunday and then I’ll be going to see H ride in a dressage schooling show at a gorgeous facility on the west side of the twin cities!

The following weekend I don’t have any current horse related plans but then after that (sort of the following weekend) I’ll be riding in another Suzanne Winslade clinic on May 9^th! So excited for that one.

Then, next weekend I have vacation Thursday and Friday with Friday being the start of the MN Horse Expo!! I LOVE going to the horse expo and usually take a day off so that I can spend a ton of time there. In the past it’s been an hour drive for me but now it’s actually within walking distance of where I live (I’ll be driving so that I can do more shopping but it will be a short drive) so that will mean that I can literally spend the whole day there on Friday. On Saturday I’ll be watching H ride in a Janet Foy clinic (!!!) and then we’re going to the expo after and finally I have my lesson on Sunday.

Then there will be another couple of quiet (maybe) weekends and finally on May 29^th Katai and I will basically be doing our first real show. We did do one previous schooling show but I rode in the ring that I was used to having lessons in, with my instructor as my judge, and before the show actually started since I was able to be there then so that doesn’t really count.

To prepare for the clinic and show I’m working hard to make sure that Katai and I are both prepared even though I know the wheels will come off at the show. At least I won’t feel like I didn’t prepare her which will mean that I can be more relaxed.

Speaking of that, I’m so proud of both Katai and myself for our ride last night. To start off I really was thinking about not going. I know, I know, I’ve been trying to actually get 5 rides in for a few weeks now but it was gorgeous out and the plan for riding was to ride indoors. Plus, the next day was supposed to be nice as well and I was going to spend the afternoon/evening at the barn again getting Katai’s feet trimmed.

However, I did make myself go and was so happy that I did. It was very quiet at the barn, probably because everyone else was outside enjoying the gorgeous weather, so that meant that I got the arena to myself and we used all of it. To start off Katai was a little bit short and seemed stiff. I’m sure it was because she tore around on the lunge line yesterday in deeper footing but it did make me wonder how productive our ride was going to be. I ended up being surprised and pleased with her behavior since after our warm up she went right into work mode.

We did a lot of our ride using the whole ring including working on some leg yield. I definitely need to get my body in the right place but right now part of the problem is that when we start going straight down the quarter line Katai knows what’s up and gets fussy. That then makes it hard for me to concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing and just doesn’t set us up for success. The focus last night was to get rid of that fussiness and make this just part of the routine so that Katai continues in the same balance and remains on contact. Then L can help me focus on myself. 

After we did several of those in each direction, playing with staying on the quarter line or sometimes doing a leg yield in either direction, and Katai was calmer and less fussy and took a brief walk break we did some walk/trot/walk transitions. This has always been a struggle for Katai but last night they were better than they’ve ever been. She was staying on the contact and not flinging her head in the air and I could really feel the power coming up and through from behind rather than feeling like we were falling apart on the forehand. She was also really responsive to my leg and going right into the trot when I cued rather than making me beg for it. Even better, she didn’t lose her mind the third or fourth time that I cued for it which is a huge improvement since these normally make her pretty hot.

Finally I decided to ask for a small amount of canter in each direction. Instead of asking her to do it from a slower trot I sort of let her run into in but I was concentrating on myself and making sure that I wasn’t hindering her forward movement by grabbing. Probably because of this, she did a really nice transition without throwing her head in the air and she remained calm and cool through the circle or two that we did. Going to the left, my tough direction from Sunday, I was focusing really hard on my left hand and keeping it forward (again I didn’t have enough contact but that’s better than jerking back as she makes the transition) and we had a lovely transition. She really sat and pushed forward and again remained calmer than she has.

The wheels fell off a little when we came back to trot. Katai was bulging her left shoulder into the circle really bad and didn’t want to bend. Plus she was like a runaway freight train and not listening to my cues to slow down. I got a semi decent half circle and then called it. I really didn’t want to work her into the ground especially after the rest of our ride was so nice and she normally has been doing really well in her trot after canter.

First Quarter Goal Review

Goals for Katai:

 

Speaking of goals, so proud of how we both look here.

Master our canter transitions

  - Nope, still on the struggle bus with this and I haven't been breaking these out and practicing them the way that I should. Of course it hasn't helped that Katai has had a few health issues already this year and we've lost over a month of riding. Not making excuses, it's just made it tough to make consistent progress. This is one of my main goals for the next couple of months.

Perfect Leg Yield

 - Not enough progress on this either but we have been practicing them more despite them not being perfect and that's a big deal for me. More practice needed!

            

Practice riding through at least two Intro tests and at least two Training Level tests

 - Nope, I have memorized Training 1 so that I can practice riding through it but now that I have an idea of what I'm going to do for the first show in May I'm going to focus on doing Intro A and Intro C to see where we have holes.

Sign up for at least two clinics

 - Done! I've ridden in one with Susanne Winslade and have signed up for a second in May. I have a feeling that I'll add at least one more later in the year so we should knock this one out of the park.

           

Go for a trail ride off farm property

 - Nope but that's the MN weather for you. This will happen multiple times this Summer and I have found someone to trailer me and go on trail rides with so that is some progress on this goal.

            

Attend at least two dressage shows

- Great progress on this one! I'm planning on at least 3 schooling shows and possibly a rated or two. I've got my entry form filled out for one at the end of May and am turning in payment for my stall this weekend.

Goals for Katlyn:

Continue with my own self improvement

- Yep! Great progress here and I've continued to experiment with vegan recipes as well as loosing some more weight and getting out more. 

Gain Strength

 - Another yep! I've continued with my work out at home and now I'm going to focus on getting a gym membership and doing more strength training. I'm also planning to do more running this year.   

     

Blog more often

- Meh - My goal is to average 15 posts per month and I just squeaked in 15 in March with way fewer in January and February. I'm going to keep working on this and hopefully do better for the rest of the year.

Better pictures and video both for blog posts and just for myself!

 - I think this is getting a little better. Still no high quality photos but we've also been stuck in the indoor so far with poor lighting. I'm pleased that I got some photos of the clinic and with more posts I've also been able to share more photos. This is another big goal for the rest of the year though. 

Purchase a set of show clothes and tack

- Almost complete! I've got a decent set of schooling show/clinic appropriate attire now. I'd like to add another pair of white breeches but that's not needed for schooling shows so it's not a big deal. 

Finish building tack locker with my dad

- Made great progress so far. Unfortunately my dad's been unavailable on weekends because my poor grandma feel and hurt her knee. He and my family are working on moving her to an apartment nearer to where my parents live so our next few weekends will be focused on that rather than tack trunk building. Priority on family always.

           

The Clinic

I really enjoyed my clinic ride with Susanne Winslade! I had previously been unsure about her as a clinician but I feel much different after riding with her and I had FUN. What I started to realize is that at a lot of the clinics I’ve been to the clinician has created huge changes through a new technique, or something. This is amazing to watch as an auditor and I’m sure that it feels to the rider like they’re really getting something out of the clinic, however, I wonder how sustainable it is.

In the clinic with Susanne she’s teaching basic concepts and biomechanics. She doesn’t have any quick fixes and, in my case, she’s teaching horses and riders in their native environment. Because of that I think you don’t see intense changes but there is more that is actionable on a daily basis, at least that’s what I found with my ride with her.

To start off she asked me a little about my background and my pony’s background. I briefly summarized for her my riding and dressage background and Katai’s training background. She asked a couple of questions about Katai and had some comments about her feet (more about that later) and then told me to go ahead and warm up like I would if she weren’t there. I started off with what’s been successful recently which is lots of small figures making Katai listen rather than barging through my aids and bending and flexing her body in both directions both at the walk and trot.

She complemented my riding (which truly surprised me) and asked some questions, assessing my understanding of concepts such as flexion, and then asked how much I’d been able to get Katai on the bit during warmup. I let her know that I felt that Katai was really on the bit only for a few seconds here and there. She was pleased that I understood that and then went through information about why she should be there right away. I told her we normally get her there but it takes a good 20 minutes into the ride most of the time.

I have an adorable pony

For me the problem, I think, is that I read and watch a lot of videos on theory. The theory of how to get a horse on the bit is to ride them forward into light and giving contact. The problem is that Katai can go very forward very well with her head in the air and a tight back. At that point enforcing forward is useless so I’ve been "letting" her go around with her head in the air until she loosens up enough to go on the bit. The problem, as Susanne pointed out, is that this means that during a normal training ride Katai has traveled correctly for maybe 10-15 minutes and incorrectly for 20-30. This will, of course, build the incorrect muscles and not the correct ones.

Katai looks like she's enjoying Susanne as well

I do actually understand how to get her connected but to me it wasn’t the correct way. Susanne disagreed with that and was actually happy with my ability to get her on the bit after we talked about it. Susanne had me do walk and then trot but our walk-trot transition was bad enough that we started there. Again, I understood what to do to get the trot transition result that she was looking for but I haven’t been doing it that way because I haven’t felt it’s correct. Once I was actually riding and not just allowing things to happen the rest of the ride went better. I was able to fairly consistently get and keep her on the bit and although, from looking at the pictures and video, I can see that she’s still not quite where she needs to be she is in a much better place than she was.

Overall I think that the biggest take away’s for me are that (again) I need to just ride my horse. I’m a fairly intuitive rider and although that can cause mistakes I mainly need to stop waiting for someone to tell me that I’m doing something correctly or to change something. L and I have been here before but since I never got confirmation specifically that I was doing this correctly I assumed I was "cheating" and needed to learn to do it the right way. For that reason I think that this ride with Susanne not only taught me way more about the concepts that I’m working on but also confirmed for me that we’re heading in the right direction.

Look at her back! Now there's a good suspension bridge

Also, Susanne gave me some amazing compliments which was actually really nice. I really don’t care much for compliments most of the time since they make me uncomfortable and I feel like someone is ignoring something that could be improved or being false. I feel like with something this complex, or with music when I was growing up, there is just so much to learn and improve that true compliments should be rare. However, I’m also learning to accept and when I can tell that they are more genuine I think that they, along with constructive feedback, are helpful in putting together the puzzle. The most surprising comment was that I was a graceful rider. Seriously I’m not a graceful anything, I’m clumsy to the point of running into walls and dropping things on a regular basis and everyone I’m around knows it. However, when I went back and watched the video I could see what she meant, I am actually kind of putting myself together as a rider which makes me feel really good!

 

Well, I look like a T-Rex but Katai looks good

My favorite compliment though is that she said I was doing a really good job with Katai. She said that we were a good partnership and I was a very effective rider for her and she complimented Katai’s movement! Of course she also called Katai adorable several times because, let’s face it, I have one of the cutest ponies in the entire world.

Training Ride and Clinic Update

Lately I've been taking both Monday and Tuesday off and riding four days per week. I keep meaning to add a fifth ride but honestly she's going so well right now that I hate to change things up and am going to stick with what works.

That means that today was my first ride after my lesson on Sunday and for the first time I was struggling a little with what to work on. I decided to start working on lateral stuff which is something I haven't done on my own much. It's definitely something that I've worried about breaking but I also know that it will never get better without practice so it's time to start working on it.

I still feel like I have to get more help with how to connect the different parts of my body together but I was getting some really decent leg yields. It just never really felt like it clicked. I also ended up realizing after doing a leg yield in each direction that she was running from my leg so I slowed it down to walk and kept my leg on, appropriately, through a couple of small tantrums until she wasn't over reacting again and then went back to the leg yields and made more progress. I feel like slowly I'm starting to figure out how and when to stop why I'm trying, fix something with my tools, and then go back to it rather than just doing the same thing over and over and getting frustrated. It feels great!

While I was cooling out one of the resident trainers was just warming up and asked me if I would be interested in riding in a clinic with Susanne Winslade at the beginning of March. I said absolutely and signed up for two rides. I've written about her clinic that I audited where I was a little lukewarm but I think that between L's support of her and the fact that everyone at the barn rides with here when she's here and I'm thinking I missed something or was just feeling a little negative those days when I was auditing. At any rate, I'm extremely excited and I think the timing will be great for us this year and help with prep for our first show season!!!

Clinic Recap

As previously mentioned, Susanne Winslade http://susannewinslade.com/ was at my barn for a clinic from Friday last week through Tuesday this week. I was lucky enough to be able to audit (free so I took as much advantage of it as I could!) on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. On Saturday and Monday I only saw a rider or two but on Sunday I was able to stay and watch four riders including P who recently moved to this barn but who I boarded with at J’s barn.

 

She worked on very similar things to Jennifer Truett and there was a lot of consistency there. She worked a lot on stretching the horse and helping them carry themselves properly as well as working a lot on rider biomechanics. She did use some gadgets which surprised me a little since I think she was the first clinician that I’ve ever seen used them. She did use them “properly” in my mind which was to show the horse/rider a different way of going and then remove them. I also liked that she does lunge lessons since that’s also not something I see with a lot of clincians. She was very kindly and had a great sense of humor. She also asked people to share how they were feeling a lot which I think was helpful since sometimes you can’t tell if the rider has the same understanding as the clinician. I was especially excited to watch this clinic since L wants me to take a lesson with her next time she is at my barn which I think will be early next year.

 

Honestly I wasn’t as impressed as I hoped I’d be. It’s really odd for me to feel this way and normally I’m impressed by every clinician I’ve seen. It’s not that she wasn’t making changes in horses she worked with but I guess the information just seemed so similar to what I get from L that I’m not sure how I feel about paying x5 the amount for even a small amount of additional improvement. I was also surprised by a few things that left me feeling a little negative. The gadgets was one, I’d be comfortable using something with her there but not sure I could replicate it appropriately once she left. I also felt like sometimes she did too much of one thing and not enough of another. For example she had one rider “nose to the wall” leg yield around the entire, regulation size, arena twice in each direction at a walk which just seems like a lot of repetition of something that is new, difficult, and taxing to the horse.  She also had a rider use a wall to stop a horse from a walk, trot, and canter and did this several times in a row at each gait in each direction . I can see teaching the concept but the drilling seemed like a lot in a clinic setting. I’m really not trying to be critical, just slightly surprised at my own reaction to the clinic and trying to understand why I feel the way I do.

 

I do think that I will take at least one lesson next time she is there since I think it would be good to ride with someone else and since we are in a much different place than the other people who I saw ride so will likely get very different advice that may feel more valuable when it is customized to what we need. Again, not saying that she’s not an amazing clinician just that I felt like I wasn’t surprised by anything she said. Ultimately probably a good thing but a very different clinic experience.

The Move

Went very well :-)

I got to the barn early so that I could get everything packed in my car and spend some time with my pony before her world changed again. She was sleepy because it was so much warmer than it has been and she had been standing in the sun.

J, the barn owner, got there soon after and I got Katai out of the pasture after having to track down the property owner to unlock the gate. She oddly enough marched straight to the trailer and climbed halfway on before I had myself organized. Then she caught herself, heard the trailer making clanking noises and jumped back out. She was a little wound up then and it took another 20 minutes or so to get her on but she still did well and was listening and not getting too wound up.

I followed the trailer back to the barn and she rode very well, not bouncing around at all, and J said that she couldn't even feel her back there. She was quite sweaty and stressed when we got there and I pulled her off and turned her out into the round pen to bounce around for a little and work off some of that stress. I stayed with her for awhile and then went to unload my tack and get settled in.

I realized as I was unloading and finding places for my tack that she has never been at a normal boarding barn before. In fact, the largest herd of horses that I think she has ever been in was with 3 others. She was calling and basically pretty wound up. It didn't take her too long to calm down considerably though and after a couple good rolls she was relaxed and walking instead of running.

She was really a perfect lady despite all of the big changes and walked right over to her isolation pen nicely even past some scary things like tarp covered hay bales and a dog that is almost as large as she is. I walked her around the pasture to show her where the fence was and left her to call to the other horses and make friends.

Last night Gordan and I had been given free tickets to the Minnesota Roller Girls roller derby. It was my first time watching roller derby and it was awesome! The ending was extremely close and I almost lost my voice yelling for our friend's favorite team.

Then this morning I went to a Dressage Clinic with Amy Larson. A whole bunch of D's student's rode including Lisa and I was there mainly to help groom for Lisa and keep her nerves to a minimum. Everyone rode very well and I really enjoyed Amy's teaching style. D told me that there will be another clinic in March and I'm going to make it my goal to get Katai ready for that clinic. Amy concentrated a lot on getting things right at the walk including rider position and the getting horses moving well and using the correct muscles. She had people trot very little which was a big change compared to the other clinics I've been to where the clinician can't get the rider and horse into the trot fast enough.

 Unfortunately this is the only picture I took that turned out at all but this rider was the most advanced I saw and her horse was excellent. They were both very fun to watch!

This evening I went out to the barn to see how things were going and to start to acclimate Katai to the coverall arena. Another thing I had realized is that my little pony has never been in an indoor arena so I knew it would take a little getting used to.

When I got there I noticed that her halter and lead rope were missing and when I went out towards the pen I had left her in she wasn't there. I saw J in the distance and walked over to see what was going on. As I walked I was looking around and finally did see her out in a large pasture and guessed, correctly it turned out, that she had escaped her isolation pen. Mostly Katai isn't much of an escape artist but the huge change in her routine and all of the new horses had her pretty worked up. J told me where to find my halter and I went to catch her and check on her.

She actually walked right up to me, which is a huge change from how she used to react, and let me catch her easily. She also walked calmly with me back to the arena and even walked in pretty well. As we walked I noticed that she was pretty gouged up. I have no idea where she went or what she ran into but she has deep scrapes on both sides of her barrel up towards her back and a very deep nasty looking scratch right in her flank. I tied her and then went to get medicine to put on them and she lost it a bit. Luckily J has some of the Blocker Tie Rings and she just pulled back a ways and then stopped. I got her sorted out and got her lunging to work off some of the stress. She was obviously sore, tired and stressy and I'm sure the fact that she is in raging heat isn't helping her feel any better. Moving around a little wasn't going to hurt her at any rate and I walked around the whole arena lunging her close to all of the trail obstacles that had been set up. She didn't bat an eye at anything, not even the bridge covered in tarps. Once she started to drop her head and blow I tied her again, cleaned out her feet (which continue to look better and better) and got her all doctored up. She danced a little whenever I left her but was really a lady all things considered. By the time I had her all set she was getting herself a little worked up again so I got her out and moving again. More stress release and then she got her grain.

Finally, as it was getting dark, I put her rain sheet on since the weather is taking a turn for the worse again and put her back out in her pen. J had pulled in the herd that she is going to be a part of (and the herd she got loose to try to join) so they are right along her fence. Hopefully she will stay where she is supposed to and not be any worse for the wear tomorrow.