Spinning: Lesson Recap? 1/6

Shopping for mirrors for my new apartment.
More on that soon!

Today I had a make up lessons scheduled from last Tuesday. On Tuesday I had decided to reschedule, if possible, since it was extremely cold and was snowing. In addition because of our crazy cold weather and the New Year holiday I hadn't ridden for about 5 days prior so I figured that it would be more productive if I pushed it out a bit.

I rode this week Wednesday and Thursday and then had something scheduled yesterday so I wasn't able to make it to the barn. Both Wednesdays and Thursdays rides were "energetic" but Katai was listening, I felt like I rode well, and we got some things accomplished.

Today though we did not. This is the first day of a nice warm up and starting tomorrow through the end of the 10 day forecast most days will been the 30s which is almost a 50* swing from where we have been. I am THRILLED and was hoping that today, since they highs were actually in the low double digits, would feel warmer. When I got in the car to head to the barn though it was only -11.

Blurry but an accurately adorable representation of their current relationship

When I got to the barn Katai was quite fresh and spooky. She was really crabby for tacking up and then had a big spook as Jane and I walked her into the arena. She was really sassy when I climbed on and kept threatening to rear or buck but after a minute or so she calmed down and just went forward.

We spent a long time at the walk and were really focused on bending. She was doing well and walking nicely so we went to trot. I got all of 6 extremely crabby, humpy, tight, angry steps before I hopped off and called out that I was going to lunge. I almost NEVER feel the need to do that since normally I can more effectively work through it under saddle but I felt like Katai was going to bolt and I am not about trying to ride her through that.

Indeed, once we got the lunge on her and I got her out on the circle she lost it. I have never seen her run so fast. I did what I could to manage it and was glad that Jane was there to help with suggestions. Mainly though we just let her run it out and I just tried to slowly get some control back. There was a lot of running before I was able to get some semblance of her listening to my cues to change gaits.

We changed to the other side and had a minor repeat performance before we found the hamsters again. At that point I was able to cue for and get the gait I wanted and have her mostly maintain it. I swapped back to the starting side just to make sure I could get the same reaction and then we went back to riding.

Old media
More new pictures soon I promise! Right now my phone's been
dying if I take it out my pocket for pictures because of the extreme cold.

Jane mainly had me work in trot and we just focused on getting her loosened up and listening. After that performance the hump in her back was gone and while she was still stressy she was at least listening to me and allowing me to help her stretch and work over her back.

We ended on that note without ever touching the canter under saddle. Honestly it wasn't even frustrating really, just telling of how much energy she has since I haven't been able to ride. I completely accept responsibility for that excess energy and I'm just glad that I'm back to my routine of rides. Jane and I also talked a bit about her current diet. We've just added some more fats and a bit of grain to her ration since she was having a tough time maintaining her weight with the cold weather and increased workload. Jane is wondering if that has something to do with her mental state today and it certainly could. I also just don't think that she's getting enough (a couple of handfuls at each meal if that) to so drastically change her attitude. At this point we're going to assume it was the weather change and the lack of rides and go from there but are ready to make adjustments if needed if this doesn't improve.

Third Day at World Cup: Freestyle!

First, before I post any updates on the World Cup I need to brag about my girl for a minute. If you follow me on Instagram you've already seen this but I wanted to post it here too because I'm so proud.

I was going through some video footage from Monday that I got of Katai free lunging after our work outside and got this!

I think that she has her own pony World Cup dreams ;) The best part was that this wasn't just one isolated moment. She trotted like this for a bit and then cantered like this.

I am glad though that she practices this particular movement without me...

Katai's own version of a freestyle

Annnnyyywaaayy, back to the World Cup Freestyle!

I had a great time on Saturday for my third day of the event. I believe I got there around 11:00 or so. My mom and I had picked up some salads and brought them with us to eat there since they didn’t have many vegan friendly food options. We watched some of the warmups while we ate and then my mom brought her knitting to a coffee shop while I met up with a few people.

 First I went back to see Stephanie (Hand Gallop) at her booth! We had more of a chance to talk and I tried on some amazing breeches including the pink ones. I really liked the pink but ultimately it was just a little too bright for me :) I also realized later that I’m not sure if I ever really said goodbye to you Stephanie so I’m sorry if I didn’t!! It got a little chaotic since H came and found me while we were talking and then I found out that H and Stephanie know each other. Such a small world!!



via GIPHY

H was there with a few people from her barn and they had been doing a lot of shopping. She and I talked while some of her group did some shopping and then they separated to drop off their purchases at the car and I went to do some shopping of my own. I have to say that I’m really proud of myself because I only ended up with one purchase and it was something I needed. The one thing I really wanted to shop for was a show shirt. I have a nice polo for schooling shows (and will probably pick up a couple more $5 polos from Old Navy because that’s tough to beat!) but my only show shirt isn’t my favorite and it’s starting to get a bit big on me. I had tried on and loved the HorseWare Ireland shirt but wanted to check out my options and probably get a shirt that wasn’t also navy blue.

I hadn’t tried anything on yet at that point because I was only finding shirts that were $200+ and I’m just not willing to spend that on a show shirt. A jacket or boots yes, but not a show shirt especially since at that price point I feel like you’re really just paying for the name and I just don’t care enough. However, H had bought a show shirt that I really liked and while she hadn’t told me the price I decided to go check it out. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to the booth that the shirts were marked at $89 which was totally doable for me for such a nice show shirt. My favorite thing was that the fabric was a little thicker so, while still breathable, it didn’t show every single bump or bulge of my torso. I was able to try the shirt on in black but I wanted this really gorgeous light grey/cream color that they had and they didn’t have it in my size so I ended up ordering it from them. Because of that, even though I did buy something I didn’t have anything to carry which was sort of nice.

The only proof of my shopping.
I wanted a picture of what they were because I really liked
them but since they were priced at $349 I doubt I'd even buy a pair.

I had forgotten that clothes are taxed though (since they aren’t in MN) so that stinks but, oh well, I’m really happy with my shirt and can’t wait to get it!

 By the time I’d done that it was pretty much time for the show. I had planned to meet up with another friend (one of L’s students) but she was running a little late (due to the long walk at the zoo lol) so we planned to meet up during the break. I headed up to get my seat and met my mom there and then watched the Freestyle!


via GIPHY - Isabell Werth!!!

I LOVED seeing all of the tests but I have to admit that I actually liked watching the Grand Prix better. I didn’t expect that but for some reason it was just more fun for me to watch. With that being said the freestyle was AMAZING and it was so great to see Isabell Werth win! I still think I loved Laura Grave’s freestyle just a bit more but Isabell’s was truly spectacular. Since we had a long drive ahead of us we left right after Isabell’s ride and didn’t hang around but I did see the footage of the awards ceremony and it would have been fun to be there to see Isabell share her champagne!

After getting to my parents and picking up Veggie I ended up getting home around 12:30am and went straight to bed. It’s good to be home since it was a pretty intense three days with a couple of late nights and long drives. I’m really hoping to do either Rolex or WEG next year! I also have to say that while it was AMAZING to be there and definitely something that I’ve always wanted to do, I think I enjoy the Pony Cup just a little bit more. I enjoy that there isn’t much separation between the spectators and the competitors there and that it’s more pony specific so it’s something that I can actually see myself doing some day. While it’s an expensive event to go to for the level (not exactly seeing Olympians there for the most part) since I fly rather than drive, it’s something that I’m hoping to do again next year if not this year.

Makeup: Lesson Recap 3/27 and Weekend Updates

I had a great makeup lesson on Saturday. Katai was really a good little pumpkin but wasn't completely sure she wanted to work on the canter. It's gone from a gait that we never do and therefore exciting to a gait that's a lot of work so the first time I asked her to canter in each direction I got some pretty good ponytechnics with lots of bucking.

To get the canter we cued for it out of leg yield once we hit the wall at the end of the arena and she did pretty well in one direction but was pretty stiff to the other side and didn't want to flex to the left at all.

 We did a bit of lateral work and also got the alignment better than we have. Overall though, while Katai was trying she was just unwilling to flex to the left and wanted to retract her neck.

Jane and I also had a great time talking about the FEI World Cup and I'm getting even more excited to be there!

Also baked some amazing banana bread!!

After my lesson I went to my parent's farm and worked with my dad on my tack locker. He's made some progress this spring with some of the smaller things that needed time between (for the glue to dry) since it was just slowing our process down too much but we made a bunch more progress on Saturday when I was there.

Door with polo wrap shelves

The main part of the cabinet

These drawers go in the right side of the cabinet. 

I can't wait to get the building part done now so that I can start to decorate it haha.

Strength: Lesson Recap 1/31 + Ride Recap 2/4

Old picture but I figured some media was needed

To preface this I have a couple of posts that I was going to split up but I've got a bunch more posts I want to get up including a February Goals post so I decided to just combine these. Sorry if it gets long!

Lesson Recap:

Earlier this month I ended up with a sore back. I'm not sure why, I hadn't lifted anything heavy or done anything that hurt so all I can imagine is that it happened when I was sick. I'm guessing that I either pulled something when I was sneezing explosively throughout the time I was sick or that laying on the very unsupportive couch for three days did something to me. It's weird in that it seems to vary day to day how bad it hurts and that it's behind my ribs on the right side rather than my lower back. Right now on the worst day a couple of Advil kill any soreness so I haven't felt the need to get it checked out but if it continues I will.

For whatever reason on the day of my lesson it was the worst that it's been. I'd been popping Advil all day but hadn't got the timing right so when I showed up for my lesson I was pretty sore. I went to pick up my saddle and had to freeze and just breath for a moment. I was trying to decide if a lunge lesson made more sense but I decided to just let Jane know and see if we could arrange my lesson a bit differently. Because of that we stuck to walk and trot and focused on lateral work instead.

We started with walk warm up to a nice trot warm up. Katai was moving well so we didn't need to focus too long on getting her loosened up. Instead we went to lateral work pretty quickly and started with leg yields at the trot. They were really working for me (for whatever reason) at my lesson and so after a few in each direction we switched to doing shoulder in at the walk. 

At first I wasn't doing enough to keep her flexed the correct way but after some coaching for Jane about catching her quicker without pulling I was able to get a couple of successful tries in each direction. Then Jane had me switch to doing haunches in for the first time! We did it at the walk and Katai very naturally just understood so after doing it a couple of times in each direction we went to the trot.

At the trot Jane had me do a new exercise where I would start the shoulder in the way we have been with a 10 meter circle in the corner but then at the center of the long side I would do another 10 meter circle and as I came back towards the wall I would start haunches in and do that to the short side. Other than some very slight fussiness about what I was asking for Katai was brilliant and really thinking and listening instead of just reacting. 

After we had the just of it Jane had me do it again and this time she actively coached me to actually ride and keep the bend and flexion and lower/forward/reaching feeling with the bit instead of just letting Katai fling her head in the air. Wouldn't you know it, with her reminders I was able to very successfully RIDE it correctly.

I'm a very visual person so this sort of thing is so helpful!

Both Jane and I were so happy with that as well as being cognizant of my poor back that we ended at that point and did lots of praising of my amazing pony :)

Ride Recap:

I've been playing around with my riding schedule a bit and trying to find something that works for both me and Katai. When I had Sunday lessons I gave her Monday off and then either Thursday or Friday (or sometimes both haha) and that worked really well. I've been struggling with Tuesday lessons because Mondays off work really well for me but not well for Katai and that sort of throws off my whole schedule. This past week I tried riding Saturday-Wednesday and then giving Katai Thursday and Friday off. 

Because of that my ride today fell after two days off for Katai and so I guessed she'd be full of energy. Oh boy, was I right.

It was interesting because when I was walking her around in the arena she seemed about the same as she normally is (ie. walking around quickly and sometimes with her head in the air) and normally even if she's a bit amped on the ground she goes right to work once I mount up. Today though my adrenaline started amping up right away which is unusual and I couldn't figure out why. Now I think I was picking something up from her. 

I mounted up and she was certainly tense and threatening to rear but never did. She's often better if I go straight to trot which I did and had a gorgeous trot. She was in full suspension bridge mode and on her toes but stretching down in to the contact, if a bit light in the contact, and forward. She wasn't relaxed but she was mostly listening to my leg and other than ensuring she didn't come above the contact I was just focusing on riding her forward and letting her dispel some energy.

Often when she's like this I'll let her decide to canter out of a forward trot and just go with it. Usually she'll canter for awhile, snort a bunch and then when I ask for trot again she's feeling better about life and we continue in a more relaxed and productive way. So when she made the executive decision to canter I went with it. However, a couple seconds in I was having to do a  lot more riding than normal and she was alternating head flinging with bolty steps and some slight leaping. I was just concentrating on keeping her forward when suddenly in the center of the arena she bolted straight up. The only thing I really remember was seeing her withers directly in front of me, that's how bad she bronc-ed up into the air. When she came down I yell/growled at her and asked for forward but she was so frozen up that she didn't move and I could tell she was prepared for battle so I did the wise thing and got off and lunged. 

She could have taught this horse a thing or two today of course I stayed on
This may be an option as a second career path when I get tired of HR ;)

I needed to go retrieve my lunge line, pull the reins off the bridle, and pull off the stirrups since I knew there would be acrobatics (spoiler I was right). When we got back to the arena I pretty much immediately made her go to canter and oh my gosh was she full of herself. Katai has NEVER been one for bucking, kicking, bronc-ing, or bolting on the lunge so I'm used to climbing off a crazy horse and then having a quiet lunge session and being done.

She was kicking out at her tail, bucking because there was a dark spot in the arena, bolting because she had boots on her back legs (like EVERY time I've ever worked her for the past three years) and frankly just being a bit of an ass. Honestly she didn't get in any trouble she just needed to stay forward and out on the line and basically listen to which gait I wanted. I didn't punish her for the antics because it was so clear to me that she just had excess energy and that's my fault. After all we're trying to create a stronger pony so it's not her fault that she is now stronger and has more energy and then after a break needed to express some of it.

After a few "quiet" canter circles on the lunge I did a few transitions and when she was listening we switched directions. She was mostly good the other way other than acting goosed a couple of times when I asked for a transition. Same thing to this side, lots of canter and eventually some transitions and we ended with a few circles at the walk.

Katai's innocent face

Normally I would have been done but I knew I was feeling a little squigged out about the canter transitions (I used to have major canter anxiety issues before Katai fixed them :) so instead I got her put back together (reins, stirrups, and all) and then mounted back up. We started at the walk but she was still slightly tense so before she got to make an issue of it I went into trot. Almost immediately she remembered that she was very tired pony and just went nicely forward, stretching, and also did lots of snorting. She was also more receptive to my cues to bend her and I wasn't have to RIDE as much as I had before. Before I let it drag out too long I cued for canter in her harder direction and other than a slight head toss she did it and was very rideable in canter. In fact she felt so loose and forward, and had such a nice open stride that I'd say it was some of our best canter to date. Again, I didn't wait too long before I brought her back to trot and after a loop to change directions cued for canter in the other way. This time (easier side) she didn't even toss her head just went straight into it and again I had the nicest canter I've had.

I was so proud of both of us that even with a very challenging and scary start we ended in a good place. Adrenaline and having scary moments usually really brings out my frustration so I was especially proud of how I handled this the whole time and that my thought process remained that it was my fault for not working her consistently and was focused on helping her be my partner again rather than getting angry at her for "doing something wrong". After all we're trying to be stubborn together ;)

When the Well Runs Dry

I wanted to post a ride recap from last week just because it was an interesting ride but for some media I'll share some screenshots from this most recent lesson video and some comparison shots from the last couple of years.

I'm so, so happy with this (blurry) picture!!
I feel like you can really see both of our progress and I actually can't believe that's me

As mentioned in several blogs so far, my pony is a saint. Throughout all of this recent down time when she's been stuck in her stall from the cold or unable to move much in her pen because it's icy or when I've been out of town and unable to work with her, or my car was at the shop...

Photo from spring 2014

Photo from spring 2015

Photo from Spring 2016
I can't believe the changes we've both made recently!!

This past Saturday though, the pony's patience ran out. She was actually really good in the cross ties which is unusual when she's full of energy so I didn't really think anything of it. Then when I led her to the arena I started to notice that she was spooky and since that's really odd I realized that she might be feeling pretty tight and full of energy.

Indeed she was, in fact when I climbed on she had such a hump in her back that I actually wondered if I was going to come off. Knock on wood she's never gotten me off so I was really hoping that Saturday wouldn't be the first day. Especially since it was -1 and I was so cold that I was almost in tears at one point when I just couldn't even bend my fingers and couldn't get them to warm up.

Really happy with that hind leg and the bend

I just focused on forward but she was so locked up that she kicked out at my leg and was making lots of sassy pony faces. She did calm down a bit though and eventually got her moving forward and stretching down and out into contact a bit. With Katai it's not even helpful to try to lunge when she's like this because she just tightens up her back and moves her legs even with side reins but on her back I was able to get her bending and stretching a bit.

Then she volunteered canter so I just went with it and that finally really helped relax her and I got lots of snorts. After getting some really nice work at the canter I got her going in the other direction and we did some trot and canter. This was her tougher side at the canter but she still worked really well. Finally we finished things up with some leg yields and I'm so proud at how they went! She's starting to understand her job and I'm starting to be more coordinated so we're finally working as a team.

The theme of the day, once she relaxed her back a bit and I didn't think she was going to flail/kick out/buck/rear was trying to get her to take the forward and down. She was getting pretty consistent in the contact but between the tension today, the lack of consistent work, and probably the change in bridles, she's having a little tougher time and has reverted to giraffing a bit but it won't take long and we'll be back.

I'm exciting to be able to ride more consistently again!

The Best Teacher: Lesson Recap 4/10

Her tail is finally growing back out after rubbing it out last year.

Not saying that L isn't an amazing teacher but both of us learn so much from Katai. I'm lucky in how honest she is, even when that means bucking, kicking out, not taking the correct lead, bouncing, balking etc. I learn something every time and I love that L takes the time to figure out what she's trying to say rather than just encouraging me to scold her when she's doing something that could be considered naughty.

My lesson started out really nice, Katai was forward but relaxed and listening. After my first walk break though she got really hot when I went back to the trot and I had a run away freight train on my hands. All she wanted to do was canter and she really wasn't listening, L said she looked great but that she also understood what I was feeling. We talked a lot about adding forward but keeping submission but Katai really just didn't want to play today. All she wanted to do was rush.

Then when we started working on a transitioning to a canter on a spiral Katai started bucking, and cross cantering, and doing flying lead changes. At my last lesson I had reason to believe that she was just being naughty when she was bucking and that she had too much energy but when she was only bucking to the left on the spiral out (which was what she was doing last time during my lesson) I asked L about it specifically. Katai literally hadn't bucked once this whole week and now as we're doing the same exercise she starts throwing in the bucks again.

L watched me and said that I was pulling on my inside rein, the left rein. She asked me to cue for the canter again going out on the spiral and again even though I was aware I pulled back on that left rein just as she was going into the transition. After a couple more transitions I finally was able to keep my hand forward (not enough contact but better than pulling back) but it was tough.

As soon as I figured it out though I got a lovely, soft, relaxed transition from Katai and I could almost feel her sigh, like "finally, someone fixed my rider and I can do what I'm supposed to. I actually was wondering if she was waiting to be resistant until I was riding in front of L because she knew that L would help her fix me.

Twisted: Lesson Recap 4/3

This week was tough for trying to schedule rides so I ended up with a Tuesday evening, Thursday evening, and Saturday evening. Every other day isn't good for me or for Katai since she always has too much energy when we start our ride and then never really settles in. This week the plan is for five rides (again) and I should be able to stick to it so that should make everything better!

At any rate none of my rides ended up being stellar and Saturday was no exception. Pony was hot and didn't want to settle. She was using any excuse to become extremely offended and then letting off a huge buck. She must have bucked seven times that evening, sometimes little ones, and it just makes me giggle every time. It's frustrating but just not really her fault, she just has energy to burn because I'm not riding enough days in a row and we're both bored of being stuck in the indoor doing circles.

Apparently Myshla taught her a lot about bucking

It actually wasn't a bad ride, I stuck with it long enough to get some great work, unfortunately that meant that Katai was tired for my lesson today and certainly wasn't all there. We did have some great moments and Katai was really through for most of the ride after we convinced her that she did actually need to work. We did get more bucks when I cued for the canter but otherwise we were just trying to take it easy on her.

After lesson tack cleaning with The OC

I think that's why L was paying more attention to me and noticed how horribly I've been twisting my body around. I felt like every time she correct me I could almost feel Katai sigh with relief, no wonder she's been having trouble falling in to the right.

Because no post, including a mention of The OC, when my name is Katlyn and I own a pony is complete without

After I finished riding L and I were talking about how I can work on un-twisting out of the saddle and she mentioned that I haven't been doing this for very long. I guess at first I thought that she was just noticing it for the first time but she thinks that it started right before the Suzanne clinic and after the month break. That does make sense that I lost strength and time in the saddle and then started to compensate.

My Bestie

Easter Coffee, yes this is actually coffee that I bought on Saturday from my local, vegan coffee shop

I went out to see Katai on Easter Sunday morning. It wasn’t necessary because I was that dedicated, more because I hadn’t been able to make it on Saturday and wanted to make sure to check on her owie. However, the barn time turned out to be the best part of my day. It was quiet at the barn and Katai was her new normal, sensible self in the barn even though she was in there by herself.

Her wound is looking almost completely healed. The compresses hopefully helped with expelling whatever was stuck under her skin there and now all that’s left is a small pink spot with a clear small hole in the center. On Sunday it was still covered in crystalized gunk and had clearly been trying to expel something and since the swelling is completely gone and it doesn’t seem tender anymore I think it succeeded J I put a little antibiotic gunk on it just to be sure there’s no infection and that it’s able to heal up cleanly and then I got her boots and bridle on so that I could lunge.

The barn I board at is so beautiful and my pony has one of the nicest spots

I had been planning to hop on bareback but when I pulled her out of the pasture she was bucking and racing and bouncing so I had decided not to. However, she lunged (as usual) so calmly and was so keyed in to what I was asking that I decided to try it anyway. I’ve been on her bareback maybe 3-4 times in her entire life and only ever rode her at the walk. I also used to be really good at riding bareback since I did that a lot when I was growing up. Now that’s not the case and the only recent time I climbed on her bareback I felt tippy and insecure.

I rode her around at the walk a little and tried to re-balance myself and find that consistent center. At some point she was being such a good and obliging girl that I decided it would be a shame to not try some trot. She actually had a great transition and then really pushed forward from behind into a nice, big girl trot. She had pinned ears because I was all over the place and had to hold her mane to keep from balancing on her mouth but she didn’t try anything silly. She did a nice 20 meter circle for me and after a couple of circles I called it quits before I made her sore.

Not Katai's hair but it could have been this weekend! Pony was shedding

She got handfuls of treats for babysitting me and being so sane and because it was Easter and then I turned her out again. When I let her loose she immediately started bouncing and bucking again. I think that the barn staff wonder how I survive sometimes and they’re always telling me how crazy she is in turnout. I’m glad that she takes advantage of it actually, she should go out there and bounce around and burn off steam. She’s very careful with herself so I’m not worried about injury and it’s good for her body and her mind to be able to play and bounce like that. It also makes me exceptionally proud that she doesn’t try that stuff under saddle.

I can’t believe that only about a year and a half ago I was thinking about listing Katai for sale. Our partnership has come such a long way and now we are actually working as a team and seem to have more mutual respect for each other. It’s been a real shift for me to start thinking of her as a more accomplished and capable athlete rather than a baby horse in training but we’re finally getting there. Her ability to just go to work and leave the silliness behind is amazing to me as is her lack of spookiness. There are still people at this new barn (which is new to everyone) that can’t get their horses to the far end of the arena. I’ve been in their shoes many times with different horses so I’m not trying to imply that they’re doing anything wrong. It’s just helped me realize that I get to have so much fun riding (since I’m not an adrenaline junky ;-) because I don’t have a spooky horse and we’re able to make so much progress because I don’t have to also deal with desensitizing. It’s one of the big reasons why I will now always own ponies. Don’t get me wrong, we each have our thing and I certainly know that not everyone wants to give up amazing movement, or size, or breeding, or many of the other things that go into each person’s favorite horse. I’m just happy that I’m finally grown up enough to recognize what that thing is for me.