Review of 2016

I've been having so much fun reading everyone's review of 2016 so even though I'm way behind with blogging this year I wanted to make sure I get this one out before 2017 starts.

2016 has been a great year for me overall and while some tough things happened there has also been a lot of good. It's also been a year of less change, overall, than what I've experienced in past years so I think the stability has allowed me to really put my focus on riding and riding related things such as blogging. It shows since I've reached a new high of over 140 posts this year compared with my previous record of 90. I think it's also shown with the improvement that Katai and I have made both in our rides and our relationship.

Without further ado...

January

Started with a bang as I was invited to ride in my first ever clinic, a Dressage clinic with Susanne Winslade.  I also had a rough saddle fitting experience, posted an update on the tack locker I was (still am) working on with my dad, and reviewed my fall favorites.

February

Was a a tough month and was my lowest posting month until November. It started off with an unsound pony who needed a week off and then I spent some time reflecting while Katai was off work. February then progressed with a more unsound pony who needed additional time off. It ended with more reflection on my relationship with Katai and mindset when riding her.

March

Wasn't much better than February for me and the pony. I had a few great lessons and an amazing clinic with Susanne. Then I "broke up" with my trimmer (still one of the best things that happened this year but tough at the time) and had an interesting lesson when Katai was extremely reactive as I mounted. I posted my winter favorites  and then Katai was an unsound pony again.

April

Was a little better and I started off with a tough lesson where I learned some position things to work on. There were some great rides and then another tough lesson where L focused on my position. I also posted about my new farrier and went to the MN Horse Expo and audited a Janet Foy clinic.  

May

I mentioned that I was shopping for a new saddle and posted about a second clinic with Susanne. I posted my spring favorites and then had a great post about a trainer ride for Katai where I finally got some more pictures. Finally, after attending my first show with Katai I posted recaps here and here

June

I was still recovering from our interesting show experience and posted about getting Chiro done for Katai. Then Katai was unsound again  and I posted about lunging and riding L's baby horse. Finally I tried to ride outside more but was thwarted by horseflies. 

July

Tied for my highest posting month with 16 posts. I mainly posted about saddle trialing and going to the National Dressage Pony Cup. I wished I had taken more "bad" pictures of Katai as a baby. I gained more confidence in Katai, finally started looking for a more affordable barn, had my first trial lesson with Jane and decided to move Katai to Jane's barn.

August

Started off with a trailering adventure and then felt a bit odd as I "waited" to move to Jane's barn. I also had SO MUCH FUN at a Hunter Pace and got further in my saddle fitting adventures. I shared a post that really sort of recaps how I felt about the whole first half of the year from a riding perspective. Finally I got moved to my new barn!  

September

Felt like the first month where things really started to fall into place for me and Katai. It started with some fun with friends at an amazing eventing facility and then Katai tried to start the pony apocalypse with Bridget from Oh Gingersnap! I posted about my breeches collection  and I continued to improve by leaps and bounds with Jane as an instructor.

October

Started off with me and Katai's four year anniversary! Then I had a great lesson and a not so nice relationship thing.

November

In November my blogging, and other things, fell apart a bit with some seasonal depression and a tough change of season. In fact in November I only posted twice including this really cool improvement video of me and Katai.

Roommate and friends (from AZ) playing Croquet in the -10*
temps we had the weekend before Christmas

December

This is where things really started to fall into place for me riding wise. I'd been having great lessons throughout November (despite my seasonal depression and not posting much) plus some other personal things fell into place later in the month. To start off I posted this recap of what I'd been doing since I last posted and then I joined the blog hop that was all about location. I complained about the weather and then got into a car accident :( I ended the month with some reviews on my Christmas presents to myself, namely the Stretchtec Girth from TSF and the Flying Change Bridle from PS of Sweden!

I have enough to post about goals that I'm going to do that in a separate post and that will be up soon!

Total Saddle Fit StretchTech Girth Review

This time with a black and orange hat
I've already got the grey and pink which are Katai's colors

Yep! I ended up getting it :)

This was at the bottom of the invoice and made me smile :)

I'm also in the process of getting a PS of Sweden bridle and although they are ergonomic and meant to be very comfortable for the horse that is really for me. This was for Katai and since I know her girth is gapping I just couldn't wait any longer to do something about it.

Attachment piece that I probably won't end up using

Prior to this girth I've used TSF girths for the past couple of years. They're the only girths that work with Katai's conformation and don't pull her saddle too far forward or run too badly into her elbows.

I really went back and forth on whether to get the Neoprene or the Leather. I think that both have really great benefits and likely both have some negatives as well. In the end I went with the leather option just because that's what I've been using with Katai for the past couple of years and it's worked really well for us with no chafing or soreness. Why mess with a good thing!

So cushy!

As mentioned previously I already have two PS of Sweden girths. One is a Havana 18" and the other is a Havana 24". The 24" has the older leather that has almost a plastic feel to it and I can only imagine that it's because there isn't a huge market for brown dressage girths, or wasn't when I got it. The leather on this one is nicer than either of the other TSF girths that I own. I'm not sure if it's because it's black or if it's just that they are perfecting the design but I really, really like this girth and the quality is very good.

Not an angle I'd seen online so the gap surprised me a bit.
You can see the strong elastic in the girth vs. the
lighter elastic in the separate padded pieces.
The white thing is the tag with the girth measurement that I couldn't get out of the picture

I know it's odd that Katai needs a 22" girth as a 13.2 hand pony but because of where her elbows fit next to her very well sprung little rib cage if I use an 18" girth her elbows run right into the buckles with every stride and I can't get a girth short enough to not interfere that way. The other way to fix that is to get a longer girth. I had the 24" because of the short billets on my Heritage Monoflap but it is a bit long for this saddle and the ends of it run into her saddle pad. I played with different lengths and decided to order a 22" as I figured it would solve the length issue while still being long enough to avoid interfering with her elbows. Besides, with TSF's amazing customer service I figured I could always exchange it for a different size if needed.

The 22" is exactly the right length as it no longer runs into the saddle pad on either side but the buckles are far enough up on the sides to avoid Katai's elbows.

This was before I tightened it. It ended up going up to the 5th hole where it was
further away from her elbows but I didn't think to get a picture of that.

18" original in havana, my first TSF
22" Stretchtec girth in black

24" original girth in havana
22" Stretchtec girth in black

I've ridden Katai in it twice now and haven't really felt a difference but with this pony that's a good thing. She's never really been girthy and I knew that if she disliked it, or even felt like it was different, she'd buck going into the canter or would just refuse to canter completely. I was happy to find that her canter transition felt that same that it has recently.

I'm really curious to see if over the next few rides she feels any different but at this point I'm really happy with it! I was going to wait longer to review it but I figured that if it goes well (which I'm sure it will) it will likely end up in one of my favorite things posts in a few months.