A Fun Sunday

Not that I don't always have a fun time on the weekend but today was sort of a nice, horse filled, day of doing just the things I wanted to do since my bf was doing the thing he loves (cars) all day.

Picture from my last ride, today I rode outside!

First off, I got Moshy mainly so that I could have a dog that could go do things with me. I adore Veggie but he just wasn't socialized well enough so while I can do the things I need to do with him it certainly isn't fun or always safe to bring him places and the barn tops the list of places he shouldn't go. With Moshy I not only chose a breed that I knew could be a fairly decent barn dog but I've also worked with her a ton to socialize her to all the things she'll see at a barn. The toughest has been horses since I got her during a really long cold winter and she was just too tiny to spend much time at the barn.

While she's really well socialized I've been a bit nervous to bring her back to the barn since if she wasn't good with the horses it would be tough to manage her there without just bringing her back home and with the drive out 50+ minutes it wouldn't be nice to have to just turn around and bring her home.

Then yesterday I got an invite from H to go watch her ride at a really nice local show that was close to my house. Right away I thought of bringing Moshy with me but I knew it wasn't the best idea to test how well she'd do around horses there for the first time in a few months so I decided to start at my barn. I knew it would be quiet since most Sunday mornings there are a lot of people at church or sleeping in and I went for it.

Long story short, it went really well! I walked her a bit around the parking area and then carried her over towards the fence of a pasture with two quiet horses in it. I didn't get too close and she barked a couple times but they weren't spooked and when I gently scolded her she gave it up and just watched, interested to see what they would do. I eventually worked my way up to the fence and she was still calm and quiet. After that she never barked again! I walked her all over, introduced her to the old mostly blind barn dog, held her near the cross ties while a friend was grooming their horse and carried her while I walked Katai back to the pasture after my ride.

During my ride she hung out in her carrier in my car with all the windows open (it was in the low 70s and overcast so she stayed nice and cool) and I'm pretty sure she just slept. If I do this often I may get a plastic crate to keep in the back of my car just so that she has a nice secure place to stay while I ride if needed. If it's warm, I could put her in the air conditioned lounge instead. She was just so, so good and it felt so validating after all the work I've done.

My ride was pretty decent as well. Katai had her mare panties in a bundle and didn't want to pony appropriately but she let me help her loosen up and then we got some decent work and some of the best shallow serpentines at the canter that we've done where she really sat back and carried vs. just running. More on how we got there in a different post though!

After Katai was put away I stuck around and let Moshy run around a bit more and talked to friends. I didn't want to go home for an hour or two and then leave for the show but I also didn't want to get there too early. Eventually we left for the 1+ hour drive to the show grounds. I stopped for lunch, gas, and coffee along the way and Moshy mostly napped or watched me drive.

Once we got to the show grounds I crossed my fingers that she would remember and not bark and she came through! I carried her at first and we found the barn with H in it. She thought Moshy was adorable, as did many other people who stopped me to meet her, and gave her some pets while she was getting ready. We got there about an hour early so we had a chance to chat and for Moshy to meet a few dogs which she was a total lady about.

Eventually H was ready and we headed out to the arena to watch. Moshy made more friends and then sat quietly on my lap in the bleachers watching H put down a really good test that she ended up winning a blue for. After that we chatted a bit more and then I headed home with a nice sleepy puppy who immediately got a bath since her mop self had picked up most of the nasty things on the barn floor at that point.

I had so much fun and it was so nice to have a well behaved companion that I didn't need to worry about come with me and do all the things. I'm planning to make bringing her to the barn a regular thing!

So sleepy

Look What We Did!

All those baby steps paid off :)

Of course those ribbons don't tell the full story. Due to a scratch and an elimination my Training 1 opportunity class had only 1 other person in it. Training 2 opportunity was larger and had more experienced and even professional riders but with lots of baby horses and lots of "baby's first show" scenarios. I'm still proud though because I got great scores and was a nonprofessional that got my very difficult pony through her 3rd show in one piece!

However, my main goal was to have a rideable pony, outside, with the judges' "booth" at the end and I had that in both tests!

First I rode Training 1 for, what I later learned was, the "friendly" judge. The ring was off in a farm field and was quiet. There weren't many distractions and the judges were in a truck at one end instead of a horse trailer which I knew would go better. I felt really ready for this test and very confident even though, while Katai had loaded pretty well that morning, she was a fire breathing dragon pony when we got to the show grounds. She quieted down once we started warming up and I did LOTS of bending. We ended up being able to go a bit early and we took it. I had a really great ride with just a couple of bobbles and scored a 62.826%.

I can't believe that I got a 7 on position!!!
That would certainly not have been the case before Jane :)

I was SOOO happy and it was so unexpected, especially the blue ribbon which just made it that much sweeter. After the first test I found out that the judge I had for the next test was the "unfriendly" judge and heard some horror stories. Sounds like she'd had some pointed remarks about some of the other riders and my friend H who was there to watch my first test warned me not to feel bad or lose hope if I didn't score well for the second test. 

My first test was just after 10am and my second wasn't until just after 4pm so not only did I have a long day to wait but Katai's buddy left part way through so she was by herself. It was also SOOOOO hot and was forecast to get up to 89*! They waived jackets (probably MN is the only place where they waive coats at 76* ;) I know for many of you that wouldn't be that hot but last week we were still getting highs in the 60s so this was just such a huge swing for everyone to deal with. I don't handle heat well on the best of occasions and with some stress and the first hot day of the year I was really worried. I thought multiple times about just scratching my second test but I really wanted to get Katai some more show miles and this next arena was MUCH busier (right in the middle of everything) and had the trailer of DOOM so I wanted to try it out.

I am SOO glad I stuck it out! Besides a 4 on our halt (which wasn't even close to the center line and barely happened) we did SOOO well! The judge also had more great comments for us and we got another 1st with a score of 65.769%!!

This time I also got a 7 on effectiveness!!

I also can't believe that Katai got 6.5 on gaits in both and she was tight enough that they weren't even seeing her true gaits :) Plus I'm really happy with the improvement in her walk scores since that's the roughest part of the test for us right now. So happy!! I really can't believe that we did this well at my first rated show. I clearly understand that the firsts in both tests had more to do with the small classes than anything else but those scores make me SOOO happy! Of course the satin and glassware is pretty darn amazing too.

Another friend let me know that she got a few pictures so once I get those I'll share. I'm still waiting on the pictures from the last show but will share those as well and hopefully soon!

There Will Be Blood: 3 Ring Circus Show Recap

*No ponies were harmed in pursuit of this schooling show ;)

This weekend was pretty rough and I certainly wasn't having the best of luck during prep for the show. First, on Friday night for some reason I shut a door that I don't normally close and then proceed to walk into it head first. I really banged up the bridge of my nose and sort of wondered if I'd have a black eye the next day. I'm writing this on Monday and my nose is still swollen and quite sore. I've also still been recovering from my cold so let's just say that I haven't been feeling my best.

On Saturday I went to the barn in the morning for a lesson. The beginning of it was "interrupted" by a horse outside having a meltdown and Katai was very bothered by it so I actually had a great opportunity to practice what it would be like to ride her at the show. We ran through both Intro C and Training 1 and they were great! That evening I went back and gave her a bath so that she'd have as little time as possible to get dirty again.

I don't think I had mentioned it by my ride times for Sunday were 7:44 and 11:04 and the person who trailered us didn't ride until 3:16 so we knew it would be a long day. Due to pony trailering issues (even though she'd been walking in on a loose lead rope prior she realized we were going somewhere and refused to get in) we showed up with an extra trailer about 20 minutes later than I would have liked and I pretty much needed to throw the tack on her and jump on. I did end up doing about 10 minutes of warm up which went well and then we headed into the outdoor ring for our Training 1 test.

With the prep we've been doing I was hopeful that it would go better than our test last year which was Intro C in the same arena. Unfortunately the judge was in a trailer at C again and that proved to be our kryptonite. The judge this year is a fixture in our local dressage community and a really incredible woman. When I finished my test I thanked her and she said it was one of the most dramatic tests she'd seen that day which made me smile. I was smiling and giggling through most of the test actually because stubborn Katai showed up in full force.

Parts of the test were actually worse than last year but I rode WAY better, and actually got a canter in each direction on the correct lead (probably the best part of the test) and most of the movements so we scored much better and received a 50.22%. We also have a new nickname, Drama at C lol.

Reading drama at C still makes me giggle

Reluctant entry, much evasion makes me giggle too because I ended up doing two 10 meter circles trying to get some bend and forward with no luck.

I've been getting as much practice riding Katai with scary things as possible. I've thought that I'm prepared to deal with it but at this test Katai grew roots into the ground and literally would. not. go. forward so all of my aids were pretty useless. Oh well, Jane is going to park the trailer outside and we're going to ride near it to get her used to it. Katai was just scared so pushing her wasn't going to do anything I don't even cary a dressage whip. I did pony club kick her a few times with Jane whooping from the sidelines (lol, I love my instructor) but it really didn't have much effect.

Afterwards Jane said that I looked cool and confident though and I really was grinning through the whole thing. This is Katai's second show and she's always been a difficult ride so what can you do, she just needs more miles and not a beating (more on that later).

I brought her back to the trailer and we relaxed for a little while. She was actually REALLY good about standing there, even when her friend left, and there was way less drama and rearing than I expected. Poor pony baby did get quite exhausted from stress though and fell asleep a few times which was AMAZING to see!

Katai with her "mommy mare" who showed 3rd level this weekend :)

Finally once we got closer to our second test, I got tacked up (with Katai at the trailer by herself woot woot!) and headed to the warmup ring to prep for our Intro C ride. It was in the indoor so I wasn't worried. I warmed up and Katai was on the aids and ready to go and then we went in and rode our test!

I ended up having a bunch of friends at this show. My co-worker happened to be there, the women who took the amazing photos from the show last year was there and took pictures again this year (which I'll share in my next post since I don't have access to them quite yet), plus just a whole bunch of other riding friends that I've made over the past few years. Most of them were standing at the door to the arena, along with Jane, while I rode and after I finished they were all cheering. It was so amazing to have so many wonderful people there routing me on because this has felt like a tough time trying to get Katai to this point and they all recognize that and have seen us at various points in our struggles.

J was also there (the rough instructor that I left) with a few students and one of her students rode Intro C right before I did. We pretty much ignored each other all day (at least until later that day...) but even though I don't really care, it meant something to me that she saw me riding my AMAZING pony at this show and doing well with her. It was even more amazing to have my absolutely incredibly wonderful trainer there with me all day, supporting me and Katai and talking us through this show. I can't believe how lucky I am to have this amazing person in my life.

After that test I got Katai tied back to the trailer and untacked and then went to watch some people ride. Jane went to pick up my test(s) and when she came back to me her face was stormy. She had picked up my Training test but thought it was Intro C. I reminded her that it was Intro C that I did better on and she said "thanks for stopping me because I was about to go shoot that judge". Have I mentioned how much I love having a coach like her? I ended up scoring 64% for my Intro C test which was awesome! We would have scored higher I think but Katai picked up the wrong lead for the second canter circle and was pretty tired by that point so she kept trying to stop. She goes from trot to walk so quickly that even though I was doing my best to keep her in front of my leg, there kept being these weird pauses in our trot rhythm and she actually broke from canter once before I got her going again. Going down the center line at the end of the test she tried to stop 5-6 times and it took everything I had to keep her going. Poor tired baby pony.

I feel like an alternative title to this post could be More Bend Needed

Jane was very happy with this score and felt like it was really accurate. I'm really happy about the 7s and if I can just keep her in front of my leg, and do this more so it's not so exhausting for pony brains we'll be in a good place :)

Finally I tied her up to the trailer and we hung out for an hour or so. By 12:30 we were ready to be done but still had at least 3-4 more hours to go. We alternated walking and hand grazing and sitting by the trailers. I'm hoping that between all the grass she got to eat, the peppermints I shoved in her face, the grooming, and pettings, and all the people that admired her (she seriously collects fans wherever she goes), that she'll have good memories of this show and be even more relaxed next time.

If you look closely you can actually see the brains oozing out of her ears

Finally K went to warm up and I hung out with Katai for awhile. Katai was calling a lot (I think I went a bit deaf yesterday) but was mostly being a really good girl. After awhile Jane came back and said that K's horse was calling a lot too so instead of bringing her back to the trailer they were going to switch to the double over by the ring. I pulled Katai off the trailer and found her some grass to help get her quieter and hopefully remove the distraction from K's horse. Eventually we worked our way past the tree line that you can see in the picture above to where the rings are so that I could watch K's horse from afar.

While I was hanging out I happened to look up and see a horse that I recognized in the ring. The rider prior to K was one of J's students but even from that far away it was clear that J was actually riding. The horse was very clearly upset and there was quite a bit of whip being used. At one point the horse froze up by A (and by froze up I mean it was dancing and rearing and freaking out but unwilling to go forward) and then it bolted. It went straight forward and leapt out of the ring (that happens) but was so panicked in it's bolt that it kept going and went straight over the wooden arena fence RIGHT past K and onto a gravel path between arenas. J got it back into the arena and then got called over by the judge for a talk. They talked for awhile and  while she, of course, got eliminated I'm hoping the judge was pretty firm about how inappropriate that was.  It's just my opinion but I'm really, really, really glad that I'm not working with J anymore.

K ended up having a really great ride!! She doesn't show a ton and is hoping to receive her last two bronze medal scores this year. For not riding in a ton of shows she got a very impressive 60% and is well on the way to getting those scores, hopefully, next weekend!

Finally we went to load pony for the ride home. I'd had my fingers crossed all day that she would be so tired that she'd just walk on but unfortunately it wasn't to be. We tried first to see if she'd ride home in the trailer with K's horse but that wasn't happening (it's a 2 horse straight load with a step up) so we tried Jane's trailer instead (larger two horse straight load with a ramp and with the ability to swing the center divider). She still put up a fight but I will say that she gave in quicker and didn't escalate quite as bad. She still had some bad rears (I actually worried that she was going over backwards at least once) but we ended up getting her on after about 15-20 minutes. Just not the way we're supposed to. Unfortunately I did something stupid and tore up my hand. I ALWAYS wear heavy gloves when I'm doing this and I've had enough rope burns that I know to not try to hold on. I was tired though and also had a long day so I grabbed and held the rope at one point and lost some skin.

Before I got it cleaned up

It actually doesn't hurt that much all things considered or maybe my nose just hurts enough that I don't even care about this lol.  Overall I'm very happy with how this show went. For Katai's second show (away from home) and my fourth dressage show I'm really pleased with our rides and I feel like I've become much more effective. We have some things to work on (all things involving the trailer) but I feel like those just need some continued work and we'll be in a good place to have decent (anything above 50% would feel good to me for next weekend) tests on Saturday!!

I'll share pictures in a followup post once I have access to them. I can't wait to see them!

My Event-ful Weekend

I had some tentative plans with some horse friends for this weekend that I hadn't shared previously because I wasn't quite sure if they would happen or not.

First though, on Friday I went to my tack shop to pick up my HKM stuff!

So pretty!!!

I also went back and looked at their consignment section since Jane wanted me to get a pair of regular irons and found a great deal on a pair for $10. On the way I saw this.

Brown and padded with sparkles!!!

I didn't get it but I sure wanted to. Katai's halter is starting to wear out and after our recent trailer loading experience I noticed that theres a hairline crack in the ring you attach the lead rope to which probably isn't safe for long term. It's not in the budget now but over the next few months I plan to replace it.

I then went to the barn to ride and had an AMAZING ride on my incredible little mare. She was really tuned into me and was behaving so well that I was able to really focus on myself. There are so many things right now that I have to focus on that it was nice that she allowed me to do that.

So gorgeous :)

I also got this, sort of, confirmation shot where you can see what a little beefcake she's turning into!

Sport pony goals

Then on Saturday I got to go watch eventing and groom/cheer on my friends!! They were doing a schooling show at Roebke's Run which holds 1* and 2* events. It's just under 2 hours away from where I live and easily the closest facility for eventers in my area. I had never been there, love eventing, and was looking forward to spending time with friends so when Allie and Vanessa (both of which I went to the hunter pace with) let me know that they were going I was excited to be able to go with as their groom.

This is from the stadium ring at the show office and kitchen

The facility is absolutely gorgeous and there is not a bit of it that's imperfect or untouched. They've done everything so well and the cross country course is amazing, along with everything else.

You know you're at a fancy place when you pull up and see this rig

Both Vanessa and Allie were doing starter. It was Allie's first event and Vanessa had brought her greenie that was on the hunter pace. Allie would have had her green horse as well but he, of course, turned up dead lame two days before the event so she was riding a horse that one of the other boarders had lent her who is a champion hunter (over fences).

Course walk

Water complex, it was optional for starter

I spent most of the day carrying stuff, cheering them on, keeping them on time, holding horses, and bringing snacks as well as taking pictures on Allie's fancy camera so these are just a small number of the total pictures I took. Once they share some on Facebook I'll have more to share on here hopefully because it was an amazing day for photos and they both had a great show.

Look at that sky!

Both did Dressage and did really well, especially for having a green horse and a horse that had never evented before and both scored under 40. Other than circling back to a fence for a second try both made it through stadium clean and then it was on to cross country!!

This tiny pony was named Hotsauce and I just about put him in my car.
The starter jumps looked like Rolex height jumps for her but she made it through the entire course!

Allie was first and my heart was in my throat because up until that moment no one had made it past the 3rd fence and the previous riders had all fallen. Allie however went in and owned it! She jumped the entire thing clear other than, I believe, one circle. I was able to go down and check in with her before running back out on course to take photos of Vanessa and cheer her on.

Watching show jumping

Vanessa also went clear up until the last fence but got her mare over and they made it through!

Ironically this is the only jump that I took a photo of during the course walk and it's the
one where the first few riders came off.
Apparently I'm not the only one that thought this fence looked interesting ;)

It was amazing to see both of them so successfully complete their first/horse's first event and on top of that it was an absolutely beautiful day. It was in the 70s and sunny with an amazing breeze so I couldn't have chosen a better day to be there.

Allie and Dream walking back from the wash stall with HotSauce and his rider.
Too bad it's so blurry!

Then today I went out to the barn and had another amazing ride! Katai was great and was almost listening as well as she did on Friday. During the second half of the ride she did get a little speedy but the great thing was that I was able to slow her down and adjust her stride with my posting so that almost made it better just because I was glad to be able to practice my new skills :)

Since I didn't ride on Saturday I'm planning to ride tomorrow and then I'm really looking forward to another lesson on Tuesday!

Hope

How Katai greeted me the day after all that work.
She was totally mugging for treats (spoiler alert, she got one :-) 

Sunday at the Hunter Pace was amazing. I had so much fun and I think that Katai did too. Taking home a ribbon was the icing on the cake but that isn’t what’s left me feeling like I’m on top of the world for the past few days, it’s that Katai wasn’t a monster to handle, didn’t lose her cool, and didn’t forget how to horse at this event.

I know that I’ve been a little negative about how the last schooling show went and I just want to be clear, that had nothing to do about our dressage score. I think that’s sort of funny and was very fair for how she rode. I do feel like it was an accomplishment that we stayed in the ring and I’m really not disappointed in how she was to ride. It was everything else.

Katai's satin. I used to have all my ribbons (4-H and other horses)
on this picture holder thingy but took everything down except what belongs to Katai

She was a monster to handle on the ground and nearly hurt me a few times. She so completely lost her marbles (didn’t even seem to know I was there) that I’ve just been unsure about how she’ll be to show in future.

It’s not like I think that she’ll never be able to show calmly. She is a very reasonable pony and exposure has really fixed most of the concerns I used to have. In fact, she used to lose it when I cross tied her in the barn and now she gets in the cross ties and pretty much falls asleep and doesn’t move her feet. I know it’s possible, it’s just that with the extent of her freak out at that schooling show I wasn’t sure how many YEARS it was going to take her to calm down and for showing to be fun. I’m just in this for the fun and the thought of dealing with her tantrums for any lengthy period of time was making me feel sick to my stomach.

However, on Sunday she was nearly foot perfect for a young horse. She did throw her shoulder into me a bit, she danced a bit when she was tied and had a couple of nervous poops. She didn’t want to stand still for me to mount and she jigged a bit when I first started riding. All of that is fine, it’s what I signed up for when I got a young horse and decided to start her myself. I didn’t sign up for a horse that was blindly striking out at me (she was so upset that she literally didn’t see me) or rearing into me, or rearing backwards into the wall in her stall at the schooling show. That’s terrifying and something I’m hoping to not repeat and the Hunter Pace on Sunday proved to me that it might not take YEARS for her to be a good pony, maybe just a few months or a year. That gives me so much hope :)

National Dressage Pony Cup Trip Recap - Long

I'm so excited to be able to attend the NDPC again this year. I was here in 2014 as you may remember but that was with a friend (previous roommate) who was familiar with KY and is a huge race enthusiast. That trip was all about visiting and spending time in KY including going to a race, the Keenland auction etc. This year for me was all about the pony cup so I planned two days in Lexington (Friday and Saturday) with the goal of spending the full day both days at the KY Horse Park. I was so excited to fly out!

I luckily was able to get packing completed on Wednesday (despite my puppy not being very happy with me and hoping to invite himself with) which was good because I had to leave for the airport directly after work on Thursday.

He's pretty good at breaking my heart when he wants something he can't have like going along in my suitcase. Maybe next year :)

I made it to the airport plenty early thanks to my amazing roommate who got off work early to drive me in. I got some dinner at the airport and then was on my way, or at least I thought.

First my flight was delayed because of some small repair that needed to get done. Then they got us all on the plane and promptly told us that there was a ground stop in Chicago so it was going to be half an hour. That turned into an hour and a half. I knew that flights out of Chicago were going to be delayed as well but since I only had an hour to transfer to my next flight I wasn't sure if I was going to make it and was really hoping that I wouldn't need to spend the night at the airport.

Despite being stressful it was a beautiful flight to Chicago

I was actually able to make my transfer which was actually running quite late as well. It was a cute little baby plane with two seats on one side but only one along the other side. Smallest plane I've ever been in.

Chicago to Lexington in a baby plane

Unfortunately that meant that instead of getting to Lexington around 8:30pm I didn't get there until 12:30am. It also meant that the rental car I had booked through Hertz wasn't available since they must have closed at 9:00. I ended up getting a "second" rental car from Enterprise who was open which sucked but oh well, what can you do. It also meant that I got to my AirBnB pretty late and was lucky that the guy who owns the place is sort of a night owl and was able to answer my questions about how to find it, since it didn't show up on my GPS, and how to get in. It's a studio apartment which is really cool and in a beautiful historic building right near downtown.

One of my favorite ponies

I was eventually able to find it and get in. I pretty much collapsed right into bed around 1:20am and was happy to sleep in the next morning.

I did eventually get myself out of bed and decided to run a few errands before heading to the show. I had chosen this AirBnB because it had a mini kitchenette and I was hoping to save some money by buying groceries and preparing most of my own food. I found a Trader Joes and bought some groceries. After getting back, putting them away, and grabbing everything I'd need for the day I headed out and got the show right around 10:30am.

Seriously the cutest flying changes ever!

It was actually really nice and overcast, in fact I found out later that there had been rain delay's early on, and was nice to be there without the heat and the sun. I walked around to the various rings and watched for awhile and then went to find some food at the restaurant at the KY Horse Park. I found some french fries that were vegan enough ;) and found a table. At some point I looked outside and realized that it was pouring. Apparently I have really great timing!

This guy is the first dressage rider that I've ever seen with a full beard!

After I finished my lunch I stopped by the giftshop and got a really awesome plastic rain poncho and then headed back out to watch ponies again! Amazingly enough with how hard it had been pouring while I was eating, the rain stopped completely right after I headed back out to watch. Maybe the universe felt like I'd already put up with enough on this trip?

Adorable Buckskin in the warmup ring

At any rate I watched some more amazing and talented ponies and their owners. I really enjoyed watching the upper level riders and ponies but what was really fun was watching the people that are closer to my level. It was amazing to watch the 1st and 2nd level ponies and see that while the ponies that were winning were amazing and nearly perfect, there were plenty of people that were doing quiet well that have many of the same bobbles that we would have at this point. Not at 2nd level of course, I can't even imagine showing at that level yet but 1st level for sure. It was really good motivation to keep at it!

It was also fun (and sometimes funny) to hear Axel Steiner's commentary. He had a few sarcastic sounding comments but mostly was very complimentary of the ponies and their riders. If you're interested you'll be able to find the archived live stream on USEF Network this year!

Then I went shopping...

My "I probably shouldn't have bought this" face. Adorable AirBnB in the background

I did actually have a small budget for shopping and only went slightly over what I had planned. My souvenirs seem to always be riding clothes. There is the Asmar jacket that I got in OH when I was in Cleveland for my sister's college graduation, and the Kastel Denmark sun shirt that I got last time I was in KY. The purchases for this trip were a jacket from Horze and a pair of my favorite breeches from Horze that are sold out on the website. 

I've planned to get another "shell" jacket since I wear these all the time and lost my FAVORITE mountain horse jacket at some point last winter. I nearly cried over that one. I've been just wearing my Asmar jacket but it's nice to have two so that I can wash them more often. Plus it's MN, there are seriously 4-5 months of the year or more when a good light jacket makes sense. I LOVE Horze stuff as I've mentioned before but their sizing is weird. The only shirts I've ever got from them have either been too big or too small so I just don't get their tops anymore without trying them on first. In fact, this jacket was an XXS which I certainly am not but it fits great and is so adorable. The breeches are the same as the burgundy ones that I have and adore but are in a light grey with a navy blue seat.

Squeeeeeee

I REALLY wanted these when they came out for my "schooling show" breeches but I hesitated and they sold out online and aren't sold anywhere locally. I saw them on a mannequin at a vendor tent on Friday and asked if what size they were. I was really sad when the shop owner said that they were a 22 which would never fit me. I let her know that I would need a 26 and she went to check to see if they had a pair in the back. She came back out with a pair but it was a 24. Since I've been losing weight and my 26s are slowly getting a little looser I decided to just try them on and although they're just slightly snug they do fit!! I thought about it a bit but did go for it and I'm so exited about finally having them!

The Fell mare from H's barn

I also met up with the owner and rider of the ponies that are here from H's barn in MN! The owner has two adorable Fell ponies and I've met her trainer who rode at the NDPC. I've actually watched her ride the gelding at the recent Janet Foy clinic at H's barn that I went to. The rider and owner were really nice and we talked ponies for awhile while we hung out in the stable isle. I found out that both ponies were showing the next day, the mare that I'd seen on Friday was showing really early but the gelding, who is showing Prix St. George, was showing around 11:30 which was very doable so I let them know that I'd be there to see him go the next day.

I got back to the AirBnB around dinner and after making some food I went on a couple of errands to get some more drinking water and other odds and ends. The rest of the evening I caught up on blogs and watched Youtube.

These two were so adorable! She rode upper level and the pony couldn't have been over 13.2 hands.

I got up fairly early this morning and after making some coffee and getting breakfast I headed back out to the horse park. I wanted to be there early and leave right around noon so that I could make myself lunch and get out of the heat and sun before it got really hot.

Lauren Chumley riding Grand Prix on Avatar's Jazzman

I saw a bunch more talented ponies and got to see Lauren Chumley ride grand prix as well as some other extremely talented upper level ponies. I also watched some more lower level tests and got to pet more amazing ponies. I knew that the Fell I was there to watch wasn't going to be out very long before his test since he has a lower energy level and they didn't want to wear him out before his class. Right around 11:20 I found him and made my way back over to his owner. She was so nice and so excited to have a fan there to watch her pony :)

The Fell gelding from H's barn with his group of admirers after a great Prix St. George test!

He did an AMAZING job especially for a pony that's just not built for upper levels. It was so inspiring and amazing to watch him put in a great and clean test. I believe he scored in the 50s which is amazing for a little guy that was brought up through the levels by lots of hard work. It was especially amazing to see his rider/trainer pumping her arms in the air and giving him lots of hugs after the test and hearing how rewarding it was after all her hard work with him. She's an amazing rider that has her gold medal and has ridden many warmbloods and yet said that this was way more rewarding then those other tests that she's completed because of all the work she's put in with him to get him here.

We all gushed over him for awhile, he'd gathered a little crowd of admirers, and then when they headed back to bathe him and get the mare ready for a breed class I left and headed back to my AirBnB. It would have been fun to stay a bit longer but I'd seen so much pony dressage and it was getting really hot and sunny and I was ready to be in the air conditioning again.

The front of my AirBnB

Downtown Lexington

I LOVE all the amazing historical, brick houses

I did a bit more exploring and now I'm planning to spend the rest of the evening hanging out here and then I'm going to head to bed early since I have to leave around 4:00am for the airport to head home. I'm so happy to have been able to be here again and it just makes me even more excited to get here with Katai some day!

Recap and Coming Up Next

I'm so pleased about how our show went this past weekend. I learned a lot and I think there were a lot of good take aways. I went back and forth about whether to post this but from a journalling perspective I think it will be very helpful for me so I'm going with it.

1. I need to continue to do more ground work

She had been doing so well in her normal environment that I've been ignoring this a little. I had focused on it in the weeks before the show but I need to make this more of a priority. Of course she's only bad when she's under stress and I was actually able to keep her from running me over which was enough for me at this show, but I want to make it even better for next time.

2. Trailering

This one is so frustrating when you don't have your own trailer. I have someone that has a trailer that I can maybe borrow but she's been out of town for the past month so I haven't been able to talk to her about it. H has a trailer but it's about 2 hours away so it's nearly impossible to got get it, park it at the barn for a few days and then deliver it 2 hours away again :(

I'm going to do some begging and see if I can borrow a trailer on any sort of regular basis. It's not that I can't get her on, it's more that it causes her a lot of stress and I'd like to be able to practice show trips on a regular basis.

3. Packing Stuff

Randomly piled in my little car before the show

I struggled with all my stuff last weekend. It didn't help that it was rainy and muddy but with my lack of organization my stuff got even wetter and dirtier than it would have been with more preparation. Between that and not being able to find what I needed, plus lots of trips back and forth to my car, and I really need to figure out a better system.

Mucky, wet, stinky tack after the show (and cute puppy :)

I love planning and organizing stuff like this so I'd put some thought into it but, honestly, it caught me a little off guard that my show came up that quickly. Next time I'll be better prepared!

My poor boots

Our next show is coming up quickly! I'm going another schooling show on June 25th and L is out of town tomorrow through the 19th. I'll do fine on my own, especially since it's less about riding and more about handling the dragon pony. What's actually going to be a little trickier is that I'm going out of town early on Monday and will be out of town through Friday. In between I'll be riding two horses on Saturday and Sunday for three weekends in a row. At least I won't be lacking riding time :)