Layers

What an appropriate name for this blog post. First, we’ve got the layers of snow. Snow that JUST KEEPS FREAKING FALLING and won’t give me a long enough break to get to the barn.

Seriously guys, not sure what I did but pretty sure I’m in some sort of 3 year run of bad luck. 2018 concluded with the illness from hell and I was encouraged that it would all be up from there but alas all that’s happened is extreme cold (windchills down to -50*s), and lots and lots of snow. I’ve barely been leaving the house at all and have only made it in to work about 7 days out of the past three weeks.

That’s bad.

Luckily I can work from home, unluckily I hate it and even worse, the same snow that has me working from home also means I haven’t been able to make it out to the barn much at all. At least my boss, who is an eventer, lives 5 minutes from her barn so even if she’s working from home she can still go to the barn. I’m very jealous lol.

I was going to wait to blog until I had more positive news to share but we’re into March at this point and there’s a lot more snow in the forecast and the days where we aren’t getting snow are really cold. Grrrrrrrrrrr

 Luckily I live with a really amazing person now and have an awesome puppy so time at home hasn’t been awful but I am just absolutely dying for some consistent, productive time at the barn and am feeling really motivated to make progress so it just sucks that the weather isn’t cooperating. Second, while I don’t have much really positive riding stuff to share I do have some updates that I wanted to share so I figured it made sense to post at this point.

The first update is that I actually did get a bit done at the barn over the last 10 days or so. I was able to make it out late not last week but the one before, on Saturday, and then again on Monday and I had my lesson last Tuesday! The bad news is that I forgot to bring riding clothes with me to work on Tuesday so I didn’t ride and instead K put a ride on Katai. However, it went really well and despite not riding much she was really impressed with the progress I’d made on my homework. T

he second update is that I audited a lesson two Thursdays ago for a fantastic, upper level, local trainer. I’m still figuring out what I’m going to do with K moving. For the short term I plan to stay and will try to make e/o week weekend lessons work. If they were weekdays it would be fine and I wouldn’t be that worried but I have a REALLY tough time fitting things in on the weekend so I’m worried about that. I’ve also been planning to increase my lessons this spring and either take weekly lessons, get more clinic time, or at least take more as needed so that we can officially progress up to second level.

Long term not only am I really sad to be losing my trainer but the farm I am at will also need to close at some point, likely, in the next few years. I don’t know (or understand) all of the details but the land was re-zoned as commercial so I signed on knowing that they had approx. 3 years at that point. The city may allow them to extend but if not, there will be a TON of displaced riders and horses all looking for space at the same time and I don’t want to deal with that. The two things together are causing me to look at new places despite wanting to be doing just about anything other than move Katai again.

She can't resist grabbing a bite of Alfalfa as we walk past

The good part of it? I really enjoyed the lessons I got to see. This person is very easy going but still firm, has their Gold medal so would be the most accomplished dressage show rider that I’ve had the chance to ride with, and is just fun and has a good sense of humor. Unfortunately she had a cold when I audited so was a little less chipper but still fun. The riders at that barn are very talented and I saw more upper level riders and horses there than I have at any other barn in a LONG time. The arena was also really nice, big, and had fantastic rubber mix footing. It was also really busy the entire time I was there from around 6-8:15 with at least 3-4 dressage riders in the arena at all times. I would ADORE being part of a community like that.

The less good? I’m on a waiting list with a few people ahead of me and it’s a tough place to get into since even if a sale horse there sells the new owners often keep it there. I’m also slightly nervous about the intensity. I feel like over the past few years I’ve discovered that there is a sweet spot for me where I can work, make progress, and be motivated but not shut down and still have fun. As I’ve had more things happen in my life outside of horses that balance has shifted slightly so while I REALLY want to ride consistently, make progress, blog more, and for heaven’s sakes finally show more!!! I’m also really conscious of the fact that if I swing too far into that sort of environment I may burn out and it might stop being fun. I’m doing a TON of thinking about the last point and still figuring out where/what type of barn I’d fit at best in the long run.

One big thing I’m considering is that J’s farm (not Jane although Jane’s was a close second) was my absolute favorite environment to be in. If J hadn’t been such a heavy handed person I would have stayed in a heartbeat. Part of me thinks that ever since being there I’m really looking for something similar and this place is so similar it’s eerie. Everything from the set-up of having a heated grooming area but unheated grooming area, to having more trails, to there being primarily dressage riders, to the level of the instructor (J had her silver medal when I was there but shortly after I left she got her gold), tack lockers, pasture board for most horses etc. It’s so similar. That is really encouraging. Add to that the fact that I had the most fun riding and made the most progress/was most motivated when I rode with J and Jane and I think this could be a fit. I've also asked my bf and he thinks I should go for it and I put a lot of stock in his opinion.

But I did get these cool socks. Consolation prize?

In other updates I also went to a tack sale at a great, local tack shop last night with K and another barn friend. That was awesome! Lots of horse talk and shopping. It's been a long time since I got to do something like that and I had so much fun. Again, making me even more sad that K is leaving :(

Cold

Cold is the reason I haven't been posting recently. At first we just had a temperature dip down to more normal temps for January into the single digits and low teens. I was still making it out to the barn but not riding a ton since staying warm while taking up is tough for me. 

Then I went and invested in some warmer gloves and figured out warmer clothes and the bottom fell out.

Yeah, it feels about 50* below zero right now. That's not only way too cold to spend time outside, unless you absolutely have to, the road conditions are also awful with lots of black ice. Even worse, we got dumped on with snow on Monday and still aren't fully dug out.

Many businesses are closed as well as schools. I worked from home Monday because of the snow storm and then worked from home again today because of the cold. Tomorrow is going to be even worse since it's continuing to drop overnight so I'll be working from home again. 

Thursday the high is supposed to be a much more reasonable -2* and then it's swinging right back up and we're supposed to have 39 and 38 over the weekend. Of course we're also getting precipitation those days so I still don't know if I'll make it out to the barn but maybe I can grab a couple minutes between the cold and the snow and make it out.

In the meantime I'll just be over here surviving, watching Olivia Towers vlogs, and dreaming of when I can ride again.

Stubbornly Surviving

Saturday night, this poor person just gave up and sort of drove into an alley

This past week or so has been tough. We had a blizzard last weekend that started on Friday evening and didn't stop until late on Sunday. I also wasn't hearing from the amazing person who's willing to trailer my pony, probably because of the snow but it's stressful enough moving her without adding the stress of not knowing when. I've also been struggling with motivation which has been made that much tougher with all of this snow and crummy weather.

But we're still here! Luckily I lunged early last Friday prior to Katai's vet appointment since I already had that time off work. I was glad I did when the snow started earlier than planned on Friday evening. Then I was stuck at home on Saturday and Sunday. Luckily the bf and I got to spend some time hanging out with the puppies, playing Zelda, online shopping, and occasionally heading out into the snow to help rescue people.

From Sunday

Monday I worked from home because there was still significant ice on the roads and several huge snow drifts between my car and work. After a nice sunny day of melting though the roads were clear enough for me to get to the barn that evening. Unfortunately pony was still stiff from her shots and in no mood to play along. She was also extraordinarily reactive.

I took some time to think through it and realized that I'm learning (for the umpteenth time) that pony NEEDS to be on a fairly significant dose of magnesium or she goes out of her mind. Tiny things that would never phase her had her flying backwards or sideways and trying to lunge her only ended in her bolting around with absolutely no sense in her eyes. I had reduced her recently as mentioned based on the FeedXL suggestions but clearly her magnesium needs are slightly outside of what FeedXL is accounting for.  I realized that's what was going on Tuesday and ordered some through Amazon with 2 day shipping so it will be here Thursday in enough time for me to give her a couple of loading doses before she travels to the new barn.

Tough to tell from this angle but it was at his withers on Saturday

I did end up having my lesson on Tuesday but she was stiff and sore still through her neck so we  kept it pretty short and sweet. Unfortunately that will likely be my last lesson with Jane unless I'm lucky enough to cross paths with her in the future but the tools she's given me are things I'll be able to use for the rest of my life. It's continued to be bittersweet to think about leaving and I'm excited about the new opportunity.

In other news I've continued to try to focus on what I can accomplish vs. what I can't and have made more progress on my list. I also took care of a few things that weren't even on the list such as picking up the new hay net (a nibble net) and purchasing new brush wash packet so that I can get my brushes cleaned again prior to the move

Early on Saturday, almost to the top of my boots.

Plans for last week were to;
-clean all my tack including Katai’s leather turnout halter - partially done ahead of schedule
-post an update on the farrier/feet situation
-re-subscribe to feedxl since there’s a new ration balancer at the new barn that I need to figure out - Done
-ride at least 4 times - almost made it
-make sure I get at least one lesson in - Done
-try to wash Katai’s legs (which should have happened when it was warmer but oh well, at least this way she won’t go back out to mud since it’s all ice again) - May not happen with the state of the wash rack. If not, I'll take care of this at the new barn.
-wash blankets and make sure that all of Katai’s clothes are clean and ready to be used (moving to a more heated barn so we’re going to need different blankets than we do now) - Almost Done

 Plans for moving week (Week of April 15th):
-move pony to the new barn - Scheduled for Friday
-move stuff to the new barn
-confirm show plans for the summer/at least the next few months so that I can request PTO
-ride at least 3 times and make use of the move to practice for riding in a new space - rode/lunged twice so far this week. I plan to be out there Thursday, move Friday, and ride this Saturday
-schedule lesson(s) with S2

Another Update

Crabby looking sleepy puppies.
Their answer to dealing with the blizzard we're having is to sleep and cuddle

I'd like to be able post things other than just update posts but after taking such big breaks between posts it seems like it makes sense. Updates first and then I'm hopefully going to spend some time today writing more posts so that I have some prepared content for the next couple of weeks.

Plans for this week are to;
-schedule travel to new barn for Katai Doneish, I've received confirmation that travel will happen this next week, just not exactly when...
-make sure the vet visit for shots and coggins gets scheduled for before we leave  Scheduled and completed as of Friday
-drop off extra tack at the local tack swap this Friday - did not do
-finish “pulling” her mane 
-trim her beard and ear hairs as well as cleaning up her feather  I didn't get her ear floof trimmed but that's less important to me than the other stuff.
-bring home all the extra stuff I have at the barn and get it cleaned and organized for the move 
-ride at least 3 times  Yay!!
-try to reschedule several lesson make ups (at this point I’m certainly not going to get all of these made up but having a few more lessons before I leave would be great!) 
-make sure I get a new drawer from Smartpak since I tossed the other one and the new barn uses them

Plans for next week are to;
-clean all my tack including Katai’s leather turnout halter - partially done ahead of schedule
-post an update on the farrier/feet situation
-re-subscribe to feedxl since there’s a new ration balancer at the new barn that I need to figure out
-ride at least 4 times
-make sure I get at least one lesson in
-try to wash Katai’s legs (which should have happened when it was warmer but oh well, at least this way she won’t go back out to mud since it’s all ice again)
-wash blankets and make sure that all of Katai’s clothes are clean and ready to be used (moving to a more heated barn so we’re going to need different blankets than we do now)

 Plans for moving week (Week of April 15th):
-move pony to the new barn
-move stuff to the new barn
-confirm show plans for the summer/at least the next few months so that I can request PTO
-ride at least 3 times and make use of the move to practice for riding in a new space
-schedule lesson(s) with S2

So Done

With winter this year. I know that it’s not just us in MN that are struggling with a really rough winter this year but I live here and it’s been bad so I’m going to complain about it! 

Tiny car looks even cuter with the wipers up to prepare for ice

We’re on something like third winter right now and after a couple of warmer weeks of 40s with one day in the 50s we’re back to the 20s and 30s. This past weekend we had a day with wind chills of 0 and today and tomorrow we are getting ANOTHER snow storm (7-8” this time). This past weekend I didn’t get out to the barn because of cold and Easter. I didn’t realize there was going to be a snow storm until Sunday after Easter plans had already started or I would have prioritized barn when I could. Now I’m stuck not being able to get to the barn likely until Thursday this week since after the snow storm I have plans on Wednesday that I can’t change. This is so so so so so so so so so so so so frustrating especially with moving to the new barn and trying to coordinate vet visit, pony travel, and getting caught up after a winter of this crap so that we can manage to not make fools of ourselves at this show.

We’ll be ok, I know we will and sooner rather than later the weather will change and we’ll have at least a month or so of really solid rides and solid work. I’m also absolutely planning to use this show as a training opportunity and am not worried about what scores we get. This is all for fun but I don’t want to get there and completely bomb either since that won’t exactly be fun haha. Mostly though I'm soooo excited to move and have all of these amazing opportunities and just in time for spring!

Everything is melting at the moment but it'll turn into ice overnight.
You can't really tell in these pictures but the snow has been really
coming down and visibility was rough on the way home from work

For the short term I'm going to go with lists instead of goals since that feels less overwhelming and more useful.

Plans for this week are to;

-schedule travel to new barn for Katai
-make sure the vet visit for shots and coggins gets scheduled for before we leave

-drop off extra tack at the local tack swap this Friday

-finish “pulling” her mane

-trim her beard and ear hairs as well as cleaning up her feather

-bring home all the extra stuff I have at the barn and get it cleaned and organized for the move

-ride at least 3 times

-try to reschedule several lesson make ups (at this point I’m certainly not going to get all of these made up but having a few more lessons before I leave would be great!)

-make sure I get a new drawer from Smartpak since I tossed the other one and the new barn uses them - Done

More snow

Plans for next week are to;

-clean all my tack including Katai’s leather turnout halter 

-post an update on the farrier/feet situation

-re-subscribe to feedxl since there’s a new ration balancer at the new barn that I need to figure out

-ride at least 4 times

-make sure I get at least one lesson in
-try to wash Katai’s legs (which should have happened when it was warmer but oh well, at least this way she won’t go back out to mud since it’s all ice again)

-wash blankets and make sure that all of Katai’s clothes are clean and ready to be used (moving to a more heated barn so we’re going to need different blankets than we do now)

Plans for moving week (Week of April 15th):
-move pony to the new barn
-move stuff to the new barn

-confirm show plans for the summer/at least the next few months so that I can request PTO
-ride at least 3 times and make use of the move to practice for riding in a new space
-schedule lesson(s) with S2

Not So Super

My parent's road after one of the recent snow storms

Whelp, the Super Bowl is happening in Minneapolis today and me and all of my friends have been whining about it for at least a month now. It's not only causing there to be crazy traffic and limiting the places that I want to, or am able to, go this weekend it's also caused my boyfriend to leave town for the weekend and it's delaying my move to my new apartment which is right in downtown Minneapolis not that far from the new stadium.

I'm going to try to go to the barn later but with the traffic, the snow that got dumped on us last night, and the worry about more drunk drivers on the roads I'm still feeling a little hesitant. Plus the high today is only 6* if you don't count the windchill.

Saddle on the way to VTO, I just want it back!!

I've been spending the weekend cleaning and packing for my move which will start on Tuesday. I've also been enjoying spending lots of time with Moshy who's gotten the short end of the stick recently as far as my time goes.

Riding wise I'm still failing at making any progress. My saddle did finally get to VTO last week but I haven't heard anything about paying to ship it back which means that it likely won't be on it's way back until mid week next week. In the meantime I've been doing my absolute best to get to the barn to do spa days and lunge Katai but it's just been one thing after another including spending time with Jame's family since his grandfather is dying, crazy snowy/cold weather (we have gotten SO MUCH SNOW recently), still dealing with some SAD emotional things (although thankfully it's been better for this past week or so), and apartment things. I'm also still doing puppy class with Moshy on Wednesday evenings which makes that night tough.

My little squirrel trying to hide her bone in her pile of toys.
Also, yes that is a huge avocado toy, we're true millennials over here.

I'm going to do better with that and with blogging soon I promise! It's February so the worst month of the year is over and now we just have one more really cold month but it's a short one :) I'll get my saddle back soon too and that will be really helpful and much more motivation to get to the barn. Our weather/personal situation enforced break is almost over and I'm getting so pumped to get back to this again!

Snowmageddon

Not the snow falling outside, which is happening, but this particular 13.2 hands of snowy white fluff.

Don't let her cute looks fool you

She was a PILL yesterday for my ride. I had really low expectations for that ride and just wanted to do about 15-20 minutes of stretchy, bendy, walk and trot work and just a simple canter each direction of the arena. Basically the only reason I was going to ride was to stretch her out and help her feel better after the hard work of the lesson on Tuesday.

Unfortunately all Katai had planned was to do the exact opposite of what I wanted. I asked for a trot and got a canter, asked for a leg yield (again with the trying to help her work out the stiffness) and got a lengthening, I asked for a canter and got a halt and so on and so forth.

Supremely frustrating but I'm proud of how I rode it which was to just keep trying to find a mutual solution to the disagreement and yet I wasn't coddling her.

I think the main reason for the fussiness was that she's using different muscles and likely a little sore. Combine that with a pony that likes to get the right answer but now is being asked to change what the right answer is and she was both physically and mentally locked up and crabby.

Therefore our ride turned from a 15 minute easy prance to a nearly 60 minute tough, mental, sweaty workout. However, we did get somewhere. Recently especially I've really been a diplomat. I know we're changing things so if I can get even 75% of what I'm asking I'm going with it, probably to the detriment of our riding goals, but it has helped to mitigate our riding related meltdowns. Yesterday was no different except I wasn't even getting 25% and through pushing to get at least that much I ended up getting closer to 100% by the end on certain things.

I did end up letting a lot of things go, she was still VERY tense but was letting me at least bend her and help her try to loosen up. I also had to let go of the stride length because about the only thing she seemed capable of was tiny itty bitty strides. Instead I made those strides fall at the tempo I wanted even if it meant that it took us forever to make our way around the ring. The real victory was that she actually was letting me put my leg on and was accepting it in both directions and was moving away from it equally in both directions. She also was taking contact on the right rein which was what initially started the meltdown (although I started out asking for about 25-50% of what I needed and at the end after all that fuss I ended up with closer to 100% of what I need).

I was good for the ride and after I was still pleased with how I'd handled but also emotional at how far back this step is. I dealt with this pony (or a slightly worse version to be honest) for over 2 years and she's been SOOO good recently that it's painful to be back here. We're still along for the ride and I know this is just a blip but it's a really painful blip right now.

In other snowy news, the weather man was actually pretty accurate.

I took the picture above a couple of hours ago and a lot more has fallen since then. It's still 33* and the ground is still warm enough that it's melting on the roads and just wet for driving but it's really sticking around more than I expected on the grass.

Also, here's a picture of my new little snowball!!!!!!!!!!

Already practicing the side eye

I'm dying over here wanting to just snuggle her so bad.

                          

Alas, I have just over a month to wait. It sounds like the breeder is aiming for the last week in November/First week in December and is working with the airline right now to arrange travel.

As to the details, she is a long haired Chihuahua. One part of my decision is that I really have wanted a dog I can bring to the barn and, while Veggie is the perfect dog in every other respect, he's just too keyed up by visual stimuli to be safe there. However, because I love his personally so much (he's an Italian greyhound/chi cross) I've really been wanting a Chi. Add to that the fact that a LOT of my horse friends have Chihuahuas all of whom are really nice little barn dogs and I decided to go with it.

I looked around for a long time for a breeder I liked that was producing happy, well adjusted dogs (especially important for toy dog breeders in my opinion) and finally found this one. I got first pick of litter, however, one thing I was inflexible on was that I wanted a girl and, wouldn't you know, this litter only had one girl. However, she is exactly what I wanted so all those positive thoughts I sent to her mom must have worked :)

Now I just have to somehow make it through the next 4-5 weeks and I'll get to finally welcome her home!!

That Four Letter Word

Soooo yeah.....

That is snow on the forecast. Also a snapshot of the storms that gave me a migraine this past weekend. I was really hoping we could hold out until December for snow but I guess Mother Nature has other things in mind.

Baby It's Really F'ing Cold Outside

So, after my last post on how motivated I'm feeling I was all excited to ride every day this weekend. I took Monday off, to celebrate my birthday, and was looking forward to a good three rides in a row. Then I woke up on Saturday, put on my riding clothes, looked at my watch and realized that it was 2* out. I looked at the forecast and the high was around 6* with a windchill of -2* all day.

I just about cried. I could probably suck it up, put on my warmest clothes, and with the help of the "hopefully" heated arena I could possibly stay warm enough during my ride haha. However, I just don't think it's fair to Katai to ask her to work in the cold like that. It's not easy on tendons and ligaments or her respiratory system. At the very least since this was our very first really cold day and it was a major drop from the 30s that we were getting just about a week ago I felt like I really needed to at least give her some time to adjust. Then at the very least I could just do a lot of walking. In the end I stayed home and made myself a vegan birthday feast instead.

I was excited because Sunday had a forecast high of 23* so I figured I'd ride then. There was some snow forecast but the weathermen rarely get that right so I figured I'd be ok. However, We ended up getting at least 6" and since it was still quite cold (it never made it up to 23*) the chemicals they put on the road weren't working very well and it was extremely slippery. I made a trip to Target in the afternoon and felt like I was taking a risk with my life. I love my tiny, itty bitty car, until we get weather like this. So, I stayed home. The snow finally stopped around 9:00pm and after shoveling our driveway at least 3-4 times we still ended up with more snow overnight.

This was part way through the day, we ended up with at least another inch.
At least it's pretty!

Then, I was all excited to ride on Monday, my day off. It had been forecast to be 18* (remember that thing about the weathermen always being wrong?) but it was 3* when I woke up and the high today is still in the single digits with a wind chill around 2* as a high. Plus we're supposed to get more snow later.

Even for MN this is usually cold and snowy which is what the Farmer's Almanac told us it would be like this year. I honestly don't quite know what I'll do if the whole winter is like this and since historically January and February are our really cold months I'm really starting to wonder how much worse it will get.

This was last year on my birthday.
Not a bit of snow and I'm wearing a sweatshirt

I am still planning to head to the barn this afternoon as long as the snow doesn't start until the late afternoon/evening like they're forecasting (remember that thing about weathermen) but I likely will stick to walk and possibly a little trot depending on how stiff she is and how warm the arena is.

Cold Weather Boogie

I give anyone who rides through the winter, or by that matter that extreme summer heat in those areas where that is the toughest time to be outside, a lot of credit. Whether your winters get down to 40 degrees or -40 degrees the extreme difference makes it difficult to want to be outside much less try to handle a horse that wants to bounce off the walls to stay warm. With that being said I do live in an area with extreme cold and after my ride tonight I thought it might be interesting to share some of what I do to make riding through the winter work for me.

I live somewhere in the general vicinity of where the arrow is pointing above. Yes, it's pretty far north and yes it gets extremely cold. At the beginning of November I was really happy that we were still having 40 degree days but last week that changed. Last Monday I was dressing Katai up in her 100 gram blanket and wondering if that was too much but by the end of the week she was in her 300 gram and I was hoping that was enough. Tonight when I rode it was 7 degrees with a windchill below zero.

At the place I am boarding currently there are two extremes. The tacking/grooming area/viewing area (since it's all one room) which is kept at about 60 degrees and outside. The arena is not heated at all so other that being out of the wind it can be quite frigid. To keep Katai heathy and try to keep her from getting injured with the temperature change I bring her in, pull her blanket immediately and groom quickly. I use a quarter sheet and once I get her out to the arena I start getting her moving as quickly as possible. 

To keep myself warm I layer.

I'm wearing two shirts under the hoody. You can't tell from this picture but the breeches are these really thick polar fleece breeches that a friend gave me when she stopped riding and I'm wearing my Under Armor long underwear underneath. The Under Armor is 3/4 length so that it doesn't get too bulky with the socks. 

Don't I look awesome. This is, minus that heavy duty mittens, how I go get my horse. With the jacket I'm wearing four layers, five with the sports bra, on top and two - three on the bottom. I have winter riding boots but tend to do better with thinner socks that give me room to move my toes than if I wear too many sock layers. I pull off the hat, mittens, and sometimes even the jacket while I groom and then put the jacket back on along with riding gloves. My ears do ok while I ride as long as I keep moving and I can ride in summer riding gloves also as long as I keep moving. Then it's back to the warm grooming area as soon as possible and back off with some of the crazy bundled up layers.

All the clothing sucks but it does keep me warm and I always feel so much better after a ride even if I do dread going out in the cold.

Katai also gets bundled up and so far her layers are working. The sheet and 100 gram combo came off to be replaced by the 300 gram early last week after a snow and drop in temperatures so it was covered in icicles and after being consistently worn for a few weeks was ready to be washed. Both the sheet and liner got washed in the machine on cold and hung up to dry. The liner had a small rip in the top right near the tail where I'm sure one of Katai's new and bossier paddock mates got a little over zealous about getting her to mind. I patched it up since I'd rather keep up on these things rather than let them get to the point where they NEED to be patched. The sheet also had a small L shaped tear in the tail flap and other minor signs of war games. 

Mares...

I also brought all my leather tack home for a good cleaning and was admiring my new girth.

Isn't it gorgeous! I actually like that it doesn't match and with the extremely worn saddle seat it actually sort of fits in. H was slightly horrified that I didn't get black to match my saddle but I've never been that into matching things like that. I'd rather have things that complement each other and I think this color girth with this saddle looks incredible. I'm going to try to do a review of the girth and how it works but Katai is SOOO fuzzy that the girth just sort of dissapears so you won't really be able to see how it fits. I'll still see what I can do though because it is awesome and what a difference it is to not have her saddle pulled forward and, most importantly for my little monster, to finally have her elbows clear.

More to come on our amazing progress!

Burried

This is me trying to get to work yesterday.

On Thursday afternoon it started snowing here and didn't stop until early Friday morning. In all we got almost 12" but the bonus was the frozen rain (ice) under the pile of snow. I had a rough enough time getting home on Thursday and to work and back home on Friday without adding a trip to the barn. Today though, I couldn't take it any more and decided to brave the drive.

 

 

That's not snow on the road, that's a solid inch of glare ice. The drive that normally takes about 30 minutes took over an hour today and they really weren't any better on the way home. It was really good to see Katai though since I was having serious pony withdrawals.

 

I got some great work done with her today. I had to dig out the gate and none of the paths were plowed which meant wading through 12-15" of snow with drifting. I hadn't really planned on riding and after that I really didn't feel any more encouraged to tack her up. She was covered in ice crystals on all of her long hair and had a few that were hitting her right in the eye. I got her all groomed up and did some snow removal and then turned her loose to do some free lunging.

 

OMG pony is seriously uphill all of a sudden! It looks like she had another mini growth spurt and added more height to her withers but she was enjoying the freedom to move out without snow and ice so I was getting some beautiful extensions out of her too.

 

Finally, to add to everything else wonderful about seeing her today, her hooves look gads better!!! I've seriously made more progress on getting rid of this thrush in the last four applications than in two months of the other treatments. It was so encouraging!

Oh Well

I missed three days now because of the weather. Things were going so well too.

and then we got this....

Quiet

This is why I've been quiet recently. That was late last week and now just as it was melting we're getting another snow storm tonight.

The new job has been taking some of my time as well.