Blogger Meet Up Trip!

Those of you who follow me on Instagram probably already know why I was wearing riding boots at the airport in my last post. For anyone who doesn't, I was visiting Jen from CobJockey!

Jen and I first met in person at the National Dressage Pony Cup a couple of years ago. I really felt like I clicked with her and we had a great time hanging out. We started making plans then to get together so that I could see Connor again, maybe have the chance to ride him :), meet her spouse, and visit her amazing house. Since then we've talked about it but finding a time that worked for both of us with our busy work schedules and horsey stuff was tough.

Finally, over this winter we started talking about doing something this spring. I was aiming for April/May timeframe to hopefully have decent weather but not intrude into show season too much. In the end my bf ended up picking the weekend that we were hosting the Final Four so that we could escape the craziness.

I fail at taking photos of architecture
but trust me, this church is  beautiful

It worked out great! The weather in IN was gorgeous and sunny in the 60s and 70s which was a nice break from our 40s-50s and grey skies. We left MN on Friday afternoon and got back Tuesday afternoon and we had so much fun!!

Getting the Equisense going

Before I get to the pony things I just have to say that Jen and her spouse were amazing hosts. Their home is gorgeous and it was great to be able to explore their hometown and visit some of the awesome places including a really adorable coffee shop that I wanted to take home with me. Also, my one worry about the trip was whether my bf would enjoy himself since he is not much of an outdoor person and definitely doesn't like to spend time at the barn. That meant that he and Jen's spouse would likely be hanging out a lot. I hoped that they would enjoy each other's company and that's exactly what happened. My bf has already been talking about when we can visit again and that he wishes that we lived closer :)

On to pony things! We had three full days at Jen's gorgeous barn and we took full advantage of our time. On Saturday we went to the barn early in the day and got to hang out and talk ponies for awhile while Jen's trainer and her husband got packed up and headed out to a clinic. Then we got Connor ready and headed to the outdoor where Jen rode first and then handed him off to me and, guys, he was SO MUCH FUN! The cues I know and use seemed to mostly transfer and the few things that didn't, and let's be honest I'm probably doing wrong, were fun to play around with to see where our understanding varied.

After we rode we gave Connor a bath and tried a new product on his mane, tail, and feather.

Connor wasn't pleased about being a punk rock unicorn.

The next day was forecast to be rainy so we planned to ride in the indoor. It was icky enough out that the horses were inside, avoiding a fairly cold downpour when we got there. Like the previous day Jen rode first and then let me climb on again. I feel so lucky to have had a couple of chances to ride her amazing pony. I was able to build on what I had figured out the previous day and it felt like we were speaking the same language on more things. I was also playing with the half halts that K's trainer wants me to do with Katai. It was so nice to be able to play with that on a more educated horse vs. trying to figure them out as Katai was figuring them out.

My phone is not good in low light so everything turned out super blurry but I had to
share this photo of Connor's amazing tail.
At any rate Jen had Connor looking awesome before I hopped up

Unfortunately I realized when I looked at these photos that I'd completely forgotten to close up my helmet strap. Oops! Quite bad on my part but luckily Connor was a good boy.

Since Jen has a show next weekend and a lesson on Tuesday we knew that Monday would need to be a quiet day. We talked about a few options but ended up going to a tack shop and then Jen giving me a lesson and some practice braiding Connor! The tack shop was awesome and I was sorely tempted by some of the clothes and brushes but I stuck to my budget and didn't get anything. Sad day for tack haul photos. With the braiding I definitely picked up some things including that braiding up is really truly important and quick braid is definitely nicer to work with than the gel that I've been using.

It was an amazing trip! I had so much fun with Jen and her spouse and Connor was just as amazing as I remember. My bf and I definitely want to visit again and would love to host here as well although maybe not during blizzard season.

Meanwhile in MN...

Updates and Where I've Been

It's been a quiet week and a week of pre-written posts because, as I think I may have mentioned, I was out of town to see my sister in Rochester, NY during my week off. Of course while I was out there I needed to visit Bobby at Poor Woman Showing but we'll get back to that in a minute.

First, my week started out with a couple of short, easy rides for Katai. She had Sunday off after the show and I may have just lunged or given her an extra day off typically but since I was going to be gone for three full days I wanted to make sure she didn't sit for too long either. I rode on both Monday and Tuesday and for both rides she was sort of tired and stiff not so much from the act of riding the test but from dealing with all the muck and also just from being so tense while we were there. She has shown marked improvement with her stress but we've got a ways to go.

Flying in my riding boots since they wouldn't fit in my carry on

Tuesday evening I flew out and spent Wednesday and Thursday with my sister and brother in-law exploring Rochester. I really enjoyed looking around and getting to play tourist. My sister has an amazing loft apartment downtown that's really pretty and it was a nice place to get to crash for awhile. It's also funny how much more of an "adult" she is with real furniture and matching dishes and silverware.

I should have taken more photos but I'm always horrible at remembering to take pictures so I don't have any of our adventures.

Friday morning I went to meet Carly and Bobby!

I LOVED Carly's barn, it was cozy, airy, and bright. It was so much fun to meet Bobby and see how much he clearly loves Carly. I don't think he took his eyes off her the whole time I was there.

I didn't get pictures in the snaffle

Carly got him tacked up while I cuddled with him and then after Carly warmed him up a bit I got a chance to ride him.

Photos of me riding were taken from Carly's Facebook post

It was sooooo weird to ride a more normal sized horse! Everything just feels so different and so much longer. It's always weird to ride a different horse with slightly different buttons but then for that horse to be so much larger means making a big adjustment. Bobby was so patient with me figuring it out though as was Carly. I know how much it takes to let someone else ride your horse so I'm so thankful that she gave me the chance(s) to try him out! He really moves so well and it was so much fun to play around with stuff with him including his changes. I buffed them at least once but he just calmly let me go back and try again.

After I finished up with him Carly went and got the double to play with a bit. She started out riding him in it and then handed him back to me to try. I'm so horrible at remembering to take pictures and I was busy talking with Carly so I didn't get much. Sorry for being a bad photographer Carly!

Sorry I kept cutting off most of Carly! I kept forgetting to zoom out

Again, Bobby was fantastic!

I finished up and poor abused (filled with cookies and pets and not too much work) Bobby got to be done and get untacked :)

So jealous of Bobby's skills. He just stood without tack
 like this while he was groomed and doctored and didn't move a foot

After Bobby was put away we went out for lunch and then came back and I met more of the horses and got a barn tour. Unfortunately I spent so much time petting the resident ponies that Carly was still there when the grain showed up so she ended up sticking around to unload. Oops!

I had so much fun and hope to be invited out to give Bobby more pets next time I'm in Rochester to visit my sister :)