Not Rolex

Like really not Rolex. As usual the MN horse expo fell on Rolex LRK3DE weekend and while it’s nowhere near as fun as LRK3DE would have been it is still a big horse event with lots of good shopping. I didn’t go last year and wasn’t sure this year but I ended up with an appointment in the morning and rather than taking just the first half of a Friday off I took the whole day. With that it would have been silly not to go really.

Moshy has a slightly sore hind leg, probably from getting tired on a walk, so she's taking extra naps.
If it's not better by Monday there will be a vet visit. Despite being able to prance around on it she's being pretty pathetic about it, poor baby :(

I had two goals, talk with the Shadow trailer dealer and do some shopping. Having checked out Jen at CobJockey’s Shadow trailer I’m pretty sure that’s the trailer I want to buy. For the last few years the Shadow dealer has been at the Expo. Not only do they offer deals (not that I’m necessarily in a place to get something but still!) but I also wanted to talk with them about some of the items I’d want installed on my trailer to see what it would take and if they could do it. Unfortunately one of the main buildings that trailer vendors utilize had a roof collapse during one of our recent snow falls. In the end it seemed to mean that many of the normal trailer distributers decided not to go. Oh well, I’ll be in a better place spring of next year to consider buying something and hopefully they’ll be back then!

My other goal was shopping, particularly at the going-out-of-business local tack store's booth. Based on how much they had left to get rid of when I was there a few weekends ago I figured they’d have some really good deals since this was the last weekend they were open. When I finally found their booth I walked around looking at the racks of clothing and strap goods they had and was sort of disappointed. Still great deals but again, 50% off of items that are $100-$400+ is still a lot of money.

Katai got mane training braids :) Her poor, rubbed out mane :(

Then I saw a few bins on the ground and realize they were full of show shirts and there was a sign that said $5 per shirt in those bins. That was more like it! I did some digging and found two Pikeur show shirts and scored the deal of the century. One fits me perfect now which means it will be slightly big when I finish losing this extra weight but the other, which is slightly too small now, will be perfect. Both shirts were over $100 list price so this was a fantastic deal.

$220 worth of Pikeur show shirts for $10 makes my budget very happy

I stopped and picked up a coffee at a food truck, pretty much the only vegan thing I could find :), then I walked back out towards the entrance to leave. On the way out I discovered that there was another vendor building that they typically don’t have open for the expo. It was at the opposite end of the grounds but I decided to go check it out and walked all the way back. I didn’t find anything but I’m pretty sure it was the universe fixing my timing because when I headed back out to leave I ran into someone that I haven’t seen in a while back at the entrance and found out some AMAZING info. I don’t have anything to share now but will as soon as I can!

Horse Expo Haul and Video

I had a great time this weekend! 

First, the horse expo on Friday was fun. Last year I had high expectations and was disappointed with how little there was to do or shop for now that I have more specialized tack and the expo is at least 80% western focused. This year I had lower expectations and therefore more fun. I also ran into a friend (my landlord from back when I first got Katai), ate some kettle corn, and bought some great stuff at the tack swap.

Other than the kettle corn this is the extent of my shopping this year
 $16 for the whole pile of books :)

I believe I've mentioned that I've been trying to collect the library books that I read as a kid. Unfortunately most of them are out of print so even if I knew the names of the books or the authors it still may be tough to find them but since I don't even know that my best bet has been searching through used book stores or (especially) picking up books at this tack swap.

A few years ago at this swap I found my "holly grail".

Complete with dust cover, I have SOOO many amazing memories
of reading through this book as a kid and dreaming of having my own horse some day

Plus it's got a couple really old photos of George Morris!! Pretty cool :)

This time I found the other book I'd been looking for. This was my other favorite when I was growing up. It's back in print but I really wanted the old hard cover version and even better, this was once a library book which makes it even sweeter!

I loved all of the Billy and Blaze books but this is my favorite.

I also had great rides on Friday and Saturday and today Katai got an easier work out on the lunge. She's been very slightly short on her right front. Both Jane and I think it's more muscle soreness (and possibly a bit of Thrush) and nothing more serious and you can see here that it comes and goes a bit but she did pick up the incorrect (left) lead twice and she NEVER does that. Because of that she might get a quiet day or a day off tomorrow rather than another ride.

Otherwise I've been doing a great job with riding at least 4 times a week and have been to the barn 5-6 times a week :)

This video is of Katai lunging and our trailer loading improvement from a couple of weeks ago. This is just a small clip and she was in an out a bunch more times that day. We've practiced once since that day and I'm hoping to put in some more practice this next week as well.

A Rolex(ish) Weekend

My last visit to the KY Horse Park featured slightly smaller equines 

I had really wanted to go to Rolex this year but when I had the opportunity to pay off some credit cards (and save some money to do some more dressage shows this year) I decided to do that instead. However, I didn't give up completely and decided to plan a fun weekend at home.

Rolex weekend happens to occur during the same weekend of our local horse expo so I'd taken Friday off at the beginning of the year and have had fun planning some other fun things over the past few weeks.

For Friday I'm planning to go to the horse expo and shop the tack swap. It may not be Rolex shopping but it is cheap! I found my Baker show sheet there for $15 and a pair of pony sized no-bows for $3. Mostly it's just sort of fun to dig through piles and piles of tack for pony sized deals. I'm also getting my tack locker dropped off here by my dad which means that I'll be able to work on that this weekend!

This could be fun to watch at the expo

Some of the other things I'm planning to do are;

• buy vegan versions of my favorite fair foods and make them at home
• shop for some of the things that I need to finish my tack locker
• shop at my favorite local tack shop which won't be at the expo but will be having a 20% off expo sale
• ride and spend a lot of time at the barn :)
• watch as much expo footage as possible
• work on memorizing my dressage tests for the show at the end of May
• possibly do some online shopping for a few things I need 

It may not be Rolex but it's going to be a really fun weekend!

Vacation and Development

First, thank you all for your comments on my last post. It was very helpful and also made me feel better. I think my goal is to just take my worrying down a notch and push myself to ride her at least a little even when I think she might be sore since I honestly know that it will help and it isn't anything more than I'd expect for myself.

I've been really enjoying my vacation but it's been a busy few days. On Thursday I went to the barn and then threw a party for my roommate's birthday. Then Friday was MN Horse Expo day!! Honestly, it was fun but the vendors have been worse and worse for the past few years. The expo was always dominated by western tack vendors but this year it was particularly bad.

How Guy's horses started out. You can also tell that this wasn't very well attended although the bleachers I was sitting in were much more full

I did go for a few hours and saw Guy McClean and did a little shopping at the used tack sale but that's it. I didn't have any reason to stay after that so I didn't. The expo is always on the same weekend as Rolex and next year I'd really like to try to do Rolex instead.

Guy and two horses at liberty side passing over a horse that's laying down. The trust that the horses have in him is amazing.

After the expo I went to the barn with the goal of getting Katai in the outdoor arena again. She started off nice and calm but then something got to her and she went tearing around for awhile again. Finally she slowed herself down and we did a nice walk around the arena. I discovered when she slowed down that she'd put a massive hole in one the left rear leg wrap. One of those moments where I'm glad I put them on her because who knows what she might have done to her leg without it. Then, since she was calm, I climbed up and walked her around for a little while and finally did a short bit of trot and then canter. She remained calm but very up and forward.

Then Saturday, since she wore herself out Friday, I just wanted to take her out for a trail ride. I'll admit that I've become a bit of a DQ recently when it comes to riding out of the safe confines of the indoor arena but my goal for the next month is to get her outside at least a little every day. I know that she's going to melt down for the show next month but at least if she's really comfortable outside it will make things a little better. So, Saturday I braved up and rode her around the paddocks outside. I started at 12 riding at my parents by doing trail rides so I'm comfortable out there once I'm up and know how to safely diffuse situations, it's just that last time I rode her extensively outside was when she was a green baby and now, even though she's a trained horse, I have flash backs to that untrained baby horse. Plus, then she was unpredictable (my least favorite thing) but now she is far more athletic and able to do things that really could unseat me which she really wasn't up to before.

Random picture of the vegan sushi I made for dinner to break up the wall of text

At any rate she was pretty good on her baby trail ride. She started off not listening at all and thought a couple of times about doing something naughty. In the end though we had a very reasonable and calm walk around and then went out at a trot again. I just did a long trot along one side of the pens and then turned around and walked her back. She didn't want to go back and neither did I but the footing is still pretty iffy and she was still prepared to be naughty so before I pushed it that far today I wanted to just end on a good note.

Once I climbed off she didn't want to stand still so we schooled that a little and once I had a decent stand we went back, untacked, and then she got hand grazed for a little before I left for the Janet Foy clinic.

Janet was great to watch again and H rode really well. Last time her horse was being naughty (he's a pony and it's normal for him) but this time he was really chill and focused so they were able to accomplish a lot. Mainly she worked on getting him more even in the bend since, just like most horses, he's still pretty one sided. He is also strong on the same side that Katai is so it was really helpful to watch.

H and Janet talking about lengthening the upper part of her pony's neck

I saw part of the horse before H rode and he was an amazing Welsh/German Riding Pony that was probably right around 14 hands and extremely athletic. He was only 5 so they were just working on consistent rhythm and contact but oh my gosh was he ever amazing. I wish I had gotten there a little earlier so that I could have seen his whole ride! After H rode I watched part of a Friesian's ride but he and his rider were working on such different things than I am that I decided to talk to H instead while she untacked and cooled her horse out. Then I went back in to see this big grey Holsteiner that was training 3rd. He was a great horse, very balanced and extremely well trained. His trainer was up and seemed like a very accomplished rider. She and Janet were having fun with him and working on all of his buttons. It was fun to watch them improving his changes because even though it's way above my head, it's interesting to see how the same concepts are still used as at the lower levels.

Such a gorgeous horse even if he's about 3 hands too tall for me ;)

Working on Half Pass

We're making plans for the National Dressage Pony Cup this year and talking about our show seasons. H and her horse went to their first schooling show already and she said that he was a handful. She was also reassuring though that he was WAY better at the end of the show than the beginning and I'm hoping that Katai will be the same. He is 13 and she's 7 but still hopefully something from the show will stick and she'll retain it for the next one. H is also planning a whole bunch of shows this year so I think I'm going to try to add some to my schedule as well, I just have to figure out which ones!

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.

The Expo

I swear this is my favorite event that I get to go to on a regular basis. I usually put the Friday of the expo on my calendar almost a year in advance and go at least two days out of the three that it is held. This event is held at our state fairgrounds and the turnout is amazing! They have great fair food, the first opportunity of the year to get a corndog, and so many vendor booths as well as presentations. They also have the parade of breeds and there is usually a pretty good representation of some fairly rare breeds so that makes it really fun to watch. 

This year I got there right around noon on Friday and after grabbing something to eat I did some shopping! Anymore I have such specialized tack that I rarely need things (or find things) like bridles, bits, girths etc. This event also tends to cater to more western riders so there is just less English tack in general however, they do have a huge used tack sale and that was the first place I headed. I did have a few things on my list including a Micklem bridle, Havana reins, hoof boots, nice brushes, saddle cover (I’d like a nice zip up one to protect my new saddle), and boot bag plus I always love looking at the used books.

 

I figured out pretty quickly that there wasn’t any chance I was going to find a Micklem, especially not in the correct size, so I moved on to looking at saddle covers. There were a few options but most were pretty worn and/or they were just priced too high for me to not want to get a nice embroidered one at our local tack shop instead. However, they were located right next to the horse blankets and when I saw a Baker poking out of the pile I had to look. It’s not that Katai needs another sheet since she’s got two already but Baker blankets are just so amazing that every time I see one at one of these sales I have to look. Unfortunately they are usually too large and/or too expensive but this time I hit the jackpot and the one I pulled out was a 66” and only $30! I checked to make sure it would fit later when I was at the barn and it is nearly perfect :-)

                  I found this picture to demonstrate but now I really want to get mine monogrammed!

 

After snatching that up I was in such a good shopping mood that I looked around at everything else but other than three used fiction horse books I didn’t find anything else to spend money on so I moved on to the vendors (after buying a delicious bag of kettle corn). I was again looking for items on my list but I knew they would be tough to find since this even is so western focused. I did find some lovely brushes and got a soft rubber brush like this for her face,

 I also bought one of these.

 

I got this one since it was cute and the bristle stiffness seemed nice and it is amazing!!!

 And a really, really soft larger brush that isn’t a specific brand. I also tried this one with Katai at the barn on Sunday and it was amazing as well and really made her shine. After that I dropped my purchases off at my car and then went to see some demonstrations. First I watched some of the Parelli demonstration and was again impressed with his horsemanship but his salesmanship annoys the heck out of me so I didn’t stay for the whole thing.

 I also watched some of the parade of breeds and saw the donkeys, American Warmbloods, Miniatures, Dakota horses, Appaloosas, and Arabian crosses. I’m always impressed at how well some of these horses, who I know just got pulled out of a field after winter, handle our huge stadium and loud crowds.

 Finally I went to see the only presenter that I really planned to watch and it was easily the highlight of my day. Jec Aristotle Ballou

I LOVED her presentation, in fact I loved it so much that I paid to get back in again on Sunday so that I could watch another one.

She did a few things so well. One was that she had three very different horse and rider combinations. In the above photo you can see an Icelandic in the background and he happened to be very much like Katai. She also gave a scientific explanation for everything and yet kept it simple enough that it didn't go over anyone's head.

I could rave on and on about her but since this post is long enough already I'll do a review on her book in an upcoming post and share more about what I learned and have tried so far!

Travel Restrictions Have Ended!!!!!!

Which means three very important things.

1. I can stop wearing separate clothing, boots, jacket, gloves etc. to each barn and washing them right away when I get home.

2. I can go to the MN Horse Expo on Friday and not have to worry, feel guilty that I may expose my pony to something.

3. I get to move Katai!!!!!

Our plan is proceeding as is at this point to move Katai early on Saturday morning. I feel like I've been waiting soooo long and it has been almost exactly a month since I planned on moving her. We've made good progress during that time and it makes me feel even more ready to get started with lessons on my little horse. Finally :)