Starting Strong

Maybe not on the blogging front but in other areas yes, it's been a great start to 2020. We're in the middle of our first real snow storm of the year so I finally have some enforced down time to put a blot post together!

First, we're mainly moved in on the first floor of our house. The basement needs some serious work (except my tack corner but more on that later) and the upstairs is livable but still a work in progress. We did get our Roomba set up today though so we have that going for us.

Dining room and kitchen looking very adult. 

And then there's my tackroom corner in the basement.

All of the <3 eyes
Also, supplement baggies being made while I watched horse Youtube for entertainment.

I so love having this much organized space for my horse stuff. It also feel slightly insane that I have this much tack in "storage" which completely ignores all the stuff I have at the barn and in my car both of which are more actively in use. This set up is also awesome because it's right next to our washer and dryer and the laundry tub which make tack cleaning easy as well as doing horse laundry.

One big thing that's going to be updated is that the tack locker that I made with my dad is getting moved in probably within the next month or so. It's going to need a coat of paint and some finishing touches but then I'll be rearranging to make use of that space. I'd love to have it at the barn but the last couple of barns that I've been at already have dedicated tack space and didn't allow outside tack lockers so my best option is to have it at home. I'll share updated pictures once I have that set up.

In pony news things are going really well. I've been really focused on utilizing the skills that I'm learning from resources such as the Jane Pike podcasts and it's making a huge difference with how Katai and I work together. We're in sort of a back to the basics and strength building place right now. It could, and would, have felt frustrating but I've been really focused on how much of a different place we're in relationship and communication wise so really it just feels like a huge step in the right direction.

Finding these amazing things that Katai ADORES
probably isn't hurting our progress lol

I've also been so happy to have Katai in a stall again. A week or so ago we had a quick temp drop and I went out in the morning planning to add a blanket and I was feeling bad that she was probably cold. I got to the barn and saw that the barn employee had added a couple of extra layers when she turned out and Katai was toasty warm. I actually got teary eyed. I can also tell that she's getting her magnesium every day and it seems to be making a huge different in her ability to learn and process the work we're doing.

Katai was having a bit of trouble adjusting to the new stall board set up. For whatever reason all of the mares in the pasture she was in previously got along SUPER well and were very close. After moving her to the stall, she was worried and upset for about two weeks and spent a lot of her time trying to convince us that we'd screwed up and put her in the wrong place. I started her on a hemp supplement just to see what happened since I was curious if it would help her high anxiety around the change. She hasn't been on it for long at this point but I'm curious to see if it helps her anxiety in general. She seems to be adjusting better to the stall at this point but I'm not sure that it's related to the new supplement and feel that it's more likely it's related to time.

Rolling time. Now I just need to make some time to clip again to clean up what I did previously and get rid of the awkward hair on her belly and neck since she's in a stall overnight.

She's also scheduled for a massage on Monday to help offset any muscle soreness with getting back into work. I'm curious if she's more or less receptive to the new massage guy this time since she was pretty doubtful last time.

I'm hoping that since moving is quieting down at this point I'll be able to blog more frequently since it feels like I actually have content now that I'm back in a more regular routine!

2019 Discoveries

Something I thought might be fun was to do a post of things that I learned, discovered, or re-discovered over the past year.

Podcasts/Media:
There are some podcasts and other media that I discovered, love, and wanted to share.

The first is Buck Off Banter which Amanda from $900 Facebook Pony recommended at some point. It is FANTASTIC! Not only are they real horse people they are very funny. They share the bad with the good and just enough about their family and non-horse things to feel like you're talking with a friend over a cup of coffee instead of listening to a podcast. 100% recommend.

The second is the Confident Rider Podcast. I actually found this through the Olivia Towers podcast (which I also really enjoy) but while that one is still fairly young and there are a lot of topics that I just don't connect with as much, I LOVE Jane Pike. She talks a lot about anxiety and mind set stuff and I find it really helpful. I've learned more of my current skill set around mental health from her than I did from the therapist I was seeing for awhile. Even if you aren't struggling with mental health stuff at the moment this is a fantastic listen.

The Hackett Equine Youtube channel is my third item for this group. I talk a lot about how much I enjoy Youtube but I also feel like I have a pretty good handle on which channels are out there and which I enjoy. Hackette Equine was a new one for me this year and she's lovely. I definitely recommend if you enjoy equine youtube channels!

Planning:
I got a planner around black Friday and it’s been something I’ve used off and on since then. Recently I think I’ve hit my stride with using this. The main thing I’m still struggling with is how to plan for future rides with all of the variability that entails. Ultimately though it’s more important for me to be able to plan when I’ll be able to ride and for now as long as I have a main theme for my rides on any given week I can always shift around if needed based on the weather or Katai’s behavior. The main thing it’s help helpful with is being able to look ahead and identify which days in the future I won’t be able to ride. That way I don’t miss a ride that I could have made and then realize that I have plans the next evening so suddenly miss multiple days in a row. That had been a huge issue. Visually looking at my month and which days I won’t be able to ride has helped me prioritize to ride on days when I can especially on weeks where my schedule is tighter.

Consistency is Good:
Both with time at the barn and mindset around change consistency feels really positive right now. I’m so tired of being so transient. I’m tired of moving homes, states, jobs, barns, etc. Knowing for the past year that I was going to be applying for and moving to a new job was stressful and applying and interviewing is always stressful and frustrating at times. Moving into a role at a great company that I’ll likely spend at least several years, if not the rest of my career, with is a huge weight off my shoulders.

Now we have our own little house :)

I’ve talked a fair amount about moving somewhere but knew that was less likely when I met my bf. I’ve also dreamed of having my own little farm and I think that thinking about that all the time always had me with one foot out the door at boarding places since it was easy to think about how that would solve all of the little annoyances. Now that we won’t be moving forward in that way it makes it easier to be solution focused with finding a great boarding situation and just staying there. Moving to the house and having a job that I’ll be at for a while also means that I’ll be living in one place and not moving around and therefore won’t have an additional reason to move barns. To me all of this means finding solutions to things like cold winters, hot humid summers, finding a great trainer etc. That’s a good place to be and feels much more settled and relaxing than constantly feeling like I should be picking up and making a big move. Also knowing that my disposable income will increase significantly in the near future means that I’ll have additional options for problem solving. I’ve already been doing this and it’s so nice to just be figuring it out vs. constantly having that foot out the door.

Down Time:
Taking some time off of lessons has been fantastic for me. I was feeling really burnt out after weekly lessons for a year and while I’m 100% confident that’s the quickest way to make progress, at this point as a working adult amateur with a high stress professional career, a new relationship, a new home, and a puppy that’s just too much. I’m looking forward to being able to have more consistent lessons (my goal is once per month or so) but for now this is exactly what I needed. I’ve been able to get my head straight and some of the training that’s needed with Katai is not in the arena but ground work and training items like working with the hose, relaxation and patience training, and being able to get out on trails. While I’m certain that some people could do this with weekly lessons I was just not feeling like I ever had enough time to work on my “homework” much less that I had time to work on these other things.

Pretty sure my boyfriend needs this mug

It’s been good for me and Katai’s relationship to step back, she’s getting more well-rounded, and her ulcer symptoms had completely gone away prior to the move. I contribute the improvement in her ulcers to several things but I’m also fairly convinced that the step back in arena work has helped. We will be slightly stepping this back up again to at least 2-3 days in the arena each week so it’s my goal to keep her tummy feeling just as good.