The Heat is On

Both literally and figuratively! I’m sort of considering this one long off season right now so that we can get stronger and better and be back to showing next year and boy do we ever need it. Both of us are out of shape and a bit fluffier than I’d like (more so me than Katai). Unfortunately it’s also the hottest part of summer and I don’t deal with heat well so that adds some complication, however, I’ve been really solution focused recently so with that here are a few things we’re doing.

Fitness:
For me mostly I’m trying to just get more movement in every day. With my mental health struggles over the past year and being sick so much I went from decently fit to absolute couch potato. Picking back up running was just way too much to face right away so I’m trying to do smaller things like going for a walk on my work breaks. Just going to the barn more is helping since even doing simple tasks like grooming and lunging are better than sitting on the couch watching Netflix :) Even better is when I ride. I’ve also started to do core work outs on a regular basis. I’m hoping to get to a point where once it cools off I can get back into running this fall and then carry it through on the treadmill this winter.

For Katai I had a great step by step plan but then she blew that up when she decided to be a right twat about lunging and then about being ridden and then about lunging and riding. Instead of a couple of easy stretchy days with a slightly harder cardio day she ended up doing an hour ride, then a long mostly canter lunge, and then a 45 minute ride/lunge. Pony mares….

At any rate she got a few days off that turned into several days off with the heat. As soon as I’m not worried that I’ll get heat stroke again (I’ve already had it twice this year) I’ll be getting back to the step by step work outs.

Miss Puppy got stuck and couldn't turn around

Training:
There are a bunch of things that I’ve wanted to do but that I’ve been throwing up barriers about. One is the wash “stall” at this barn. It’s outdoors, near the house so that it can share hot water, and is a concrete slab with a wooden fence on three sides. I like this set up except the wooden fence is SUPER rotted and I absolutely guarantee you that if I tie Katai to it she’ll pull at least hard enough to take down part of the fence (since I can move it around without much effort). Since I can’t have that risk it’s meant that it’s really tough to spray her off or bathe her since she’s really water averse.

However, since it’s hot and she’s getting sweaty I’ve needed to spray her off and I’ve been working on getting her to just relax and not mind so much. She’s still not a huge fan but I’m now able to spray off every part of her while she stands still with her head down on a loose lead. It’s HUGE progress for us and I’m proud of both of us for sticking with it. The real test will come this week when I give her a full bath.

The other is riding outside. Part of the issue is that I’ve boarded places that didn’t have safe space to ride outside or safe trail access. Now that I have that I’ve been working this summer to get her comfortable riding outside. We were doing REALLY well and doing mini trail rides around the property and longer trail rides with a calm friend (the horse not the person since both of us riders have anxiety lol). In the midst of that I started acclimating her to her easy boot gloves since I did some research and found that I could actually use them in an arena setting!! I had been worried about the added bulk but it turns out that barrel racers use these and if they can do those sharp turns at speed it’s probably ok for me to occasionally ride my pony in the arena on 20 meter circles and straight at w/t/c.

I started acclimating her to them on a walking trail ride and then hand walking her in the arena. She had been super calm about riding and working outside (which was frankly kind of shocking after her past behavior) so then I planned a light ride outside. Amazingly there were a couple of people working on dressage at the lower arena so I “joined” them and brought her down there. She was slightly tight when I mounted but after some work on walking and halting she breathed out and was perfect. I planned another longer ride out there, not thinking much about it, and she had a total meltdown. I was proud of myself that I put my trainer hat on and we worked for about an hour mostly riding but with some ground work as well. I was very patient and giving except when she was trying to rear because that is just not allowed. She was REALLY wound up though so ending on a good note meant just getting a decent, but very tight, trot and then a walk that wasn’t jigging as much.

I lunged her the next day and she was still really up but better so I planned another outdoor ride. The day before I’d had food poisoning and still wasn’t feeling 100% but I was just planning on a nice easy ride doing some walk, a little trot, and focusing on relaxation. That was not what Katai had in mind. She had another melt down which resulted in 45 minutes of work some lunging and mostly riding. I also overdid it and then ended up with mild heat stroke for the second time this year :(

At any rate I still had my trainer hat on and we did make progress. That was last weekend and this past week with the heat I didn’t make it out a ton and when I did I was being conservative with my rides. I decided to ride in the indoor to see if she was still as reactive since that might point to pain or discomfort. She hasn’t been uclery and after the first bad ride I palpated her back and couldn’t get a reaction but I figured it was still a good check point. However, we had an excellent, relaxed, flowing ride in the indoor so I’m 100% sure that in the outdoor it’s behavior related. I did a light halter lunge down there a couple of days ago and she was nice and relaxed and much less spooky and reactive so fingers crossed we’re headed in the right direction. At least with the easy boots I’m able to work on this!

I have high hopes that I’ll be able to finish up addressing this major tantrum behavior over the next week as I have time and then we can go back to productive rides that slowly ramp up fitness!

Loosey Goosey

This is what she felt like today

One thing that's been amazing to see at the new barn is how much the turnout is helping Katai stay fit and loose.

At the last couple of barns we were fighting a losing battle with her fitness. Two barns ago at least I had an outdoor and a bit of, albeit flat, outdoor space to ride in. At Janes, unless I could con someone into riding down the road with me or if I could work out with the neighbor to ride in the outdoor I had I could only ride in the indoor and both of those were tough to arrange.

On top of that at both of the last barns Katai's turnout was only in a small paddock. She could canter around a bit but it was flat and small and unless she was really motivated to run around there wasn't much real movement.

We win at selfies

Now I have all sorts of outdoor space to ride in even if I never went on the trails since just the space around the arena, near the barns, and down the driveway is safe and roomy for riding. We also have a nice large outdoor that Katai doesn't have meltdowns in (mostly thanks to S2) which helps as well.

Even better, Katai is in a huge pasture with other horses! She has two palomino friends, that look like twins, and another paint and they all get along really well. The pasture is huge and hilly just like how we kept our horses as I was growing up. Walking to the end to graze on it's own is a good workout and is really helping to keep her muscles loose and definitely adding some fitness. In addition she's been more careful about where she's putting her feet since she can't just drag them along like she could at the last barn.

Plus, S2 is really helping me to work with Katai on getting her to relax the blocked tension she has had. She's always gotten really tight through her shoulders if anything is going on that she's unsure about and also, I'm finding out now, has carried a lot of tension through her hips. Like me with my shoulders I think that she's just been that way for so long that she didn't even know there was a different way to do it until S2 came along and showed her.

I didn't get many pony pictures so her's another puppy picture

It's part of my homework to keep working with her on it but it's also clear how much she's already let go, or will let go if you ask correctly. Her stride, which was already much improved at Jane's, has gotten even more buoyant and loose and it's easier to keep her from getting locked up. I also have tools on the ground so that if she does lock up and threaten to rear I can dismount, address on the ground, and then remount and have a nice soft, loose pony which certainly wasn't the case before.

All of these things led to a really nice ride today where she was right with me, loose, relaxed, pushing from behind and really trying for the whole ride. She, of course, had the wrong answer to things sometimes but now when I ask again differently, or do a minor correction she just melts into it and keeps trying. It was an amazing ride and made watching the rest of the team leave for the show even more bitter sweet. Oh well, soon Katai will be on that trailer too!

New Barn Intro

I mentioned a few things about this barn previously but wanted to do a proper barn tour now that Katai has been successfully moved in.

The barn is in Western WI and about 50 minutes from where I live currently which has increased my drive by 15 minutes one way and half an hour round trip. The extra drive time sucks and I'm not looking forward to that piece but for all of the benefits I think it will still be worth it.

Outdoor Spaces First:

It was/is a working farm (corn and beans as well as producing hay and oats) complete with farm outbuildings and lots of property. The pastures are expansive, split between mares and geldings, and nice and hilly.  My only other reservation is how Katai will handle the grass but I'll get a grazing muzzle if I need to and I'm hoping that with the increased work load from last time she was on grass and all of the running up and down hills that she will be doing with her new pasture mates she won't turn into a pony tick.

Out the field road there is a way to get into an expansive trail system through other properties. It sounds like the owners of those pieces of land are more than happy to have horses riding through (around crops of course) and there are trails cut through the woods, around fields, through meadows, etc. These are exactly the type of trails that I grew up riding on and I am SO EXCITED to get to introduce Katai to proper trail riding.

There is also plenty of space to ride around the property itself including a long driveway and field road/paths around the barns. Even this is way more than we've had before and will be a good way for us to safely dip our toes into trail riding along with lots of potentially spooky things to look at which will be great for desensitization.

There is an outdoor sand, regulation sized, arena with white rails that I'm so excited to ride in and it sounds like they set up ground poles around the outdoor in the grass along the tree line and even a couple of jumps when the footing is dry and safe which will be fun to work on with Katai.

Indoor Areas:

There are two barns (upper and lower which is the main barn) and one overflow barn. Right now Katai is in the upper barn that just has stalls but I'm going to hopefully be able to move to the lower barn at some point. At any rate, both barns are ours to use.

The lower barn/main barn, has all of the grooming spaces including four wash stalls with heat lamps, tack lockers, saddle closets, lounge, and indoor arena. I should have my own tack locker (once things shake out) and get to use a saddle closet in this barn. Currently I'm in the fancy tack room so no complaints! Both barns are heated warmer than what we've had which is nice and the lower is kept closer to 40* during the winter which will be AMAZING. Both are bright and extremely well ventilated so that you wouldn't even know that horses live there.

Pretty sure she's punishing me for the move by blinking

The indoor is actually slightly smaller (shorter) than Jane's but has really nice footing that has some rubber in it. I really like it and Katai seems to as well so far.

Other Stuff:

Turnout times are similar to Jane's with the horses possibly staying out slightly longer during winter. They also go out more days including in snow and appropriate rain (unless it's really cold) which I love. Katai being able to have group turnout with grass during the day and friends to run with is going to be amazing for fitness, for her mind, and very likely for her sometimes ulcery tummy.  Hopefully the grass just doesn't cause any issues.

Tons of hay including alfalfa is also fed and it sounds like (and I observed when I was there) that horses eat their hay before their grain which speaks highly to the quality and palatability. There's also enough of it fed that they're eating constantly which will also be good for Katai's ulcery tummy.

The barn feeds a good ration balancer and will feed supplements. They have Barn Buddies which is great since my now more limited SmartPaks were no longer qualifying for free shipping and I hated paying for shipping on them every month.

The barn manager/owner (S2) lives on site and does some natural horsemanship training as well as being an accomplished dressage rider and competitor with her Silver Medal. She's currently showing Prix St. George. She is also able to give IV meds which is great just in case there's ever a colic situation that would call for it. Having met her and the other people who work at the barn I trust them completely with Katai's care. S2 runs a tight ship and has been showing for a long time so she has the infrastructure to do it well.

The large, fancy, show trailer

Blanket are put on and removed each day which is fantastic. They are also willing to mess with neck covers so I'm looking forward to having Katai fully body clipped next year.Also, my friend who rides her pony at 4th level currently boards there and helps with things like full body clips and will help with mane pulling if needed. I'm looking forward to potentially having her clip Katai with her MUCH nicer clipper next year so that Katai doesn't look moth eaten.

There are also a few big name clinicians who clinic there on a fairly regular basis including Ann Cizaldo which will be amazing both for auditing and riding opportunities.

I'm really hoping this is my last move for a long time. Maybe the last time until I'm able to afford my own property!

500th Post!!

I just can't believe that this is my 500th post! I was going to do a recap of my past posts but I'll do that for my end of year posts instead.

This is really more of a celebration of this blog :) I was hoping to have some nice new media, I don't really, but I did get some screen grabs of a ride I did outside at the neighbor's arena.

It would appear that I've posted an average of just over 100 times each year since my 5 year anniversary with this blog and Katai is coming up in a out a month and a half. Stay tuned for more celebratory posts!

So happy with that hind leg!

Starting to feel like I can share canter photos. Also, I really need to listen
to my trainer when she tells me to shorten my reins haha.

Again with that hind leg :)

Slightly BTV, her favorite go to when she's tense in a new place

She's definitely starting to get looser through the shoulder

Flying :)

Love this pony so much

Also, I don't remember if I mentioned that this neighbor has a pot belly pig. She'd warned me that horses are typically terrified of it and the last couple of times I've ridden over there she's put it in the barn. This was the first time it was out when we showed up and Katai made a beeline straight for it. I teased that they bonded over their similar love of eating all the things. She was fascinated and curious and just wanted to hang out by it, not nervous at all.

Crazy Week and Crossed Wires

Well I tried to make this past week productive and sort of like boot camp but it didn't really turn out that way.

As mentioned I had two lessons last week, one on Sunday and one on Tuesday and didn't ride on Monday to give her that time off. The plan was to lunge on Wednesday, do a longer tougher ride on Friday and an outdoor ride on Saturday morning (still work but not as focused) when I could ride outside without the bugs being too bad.

On Wednesday I lunged as planned and Katai was clearly tired but was a good girl. She got Thursday off and then on Friday I showed up ready to work.

Pulling out all the stops in the bug battle this year.
The farm is in a marsh so they seem to be particularly bad.
These boots are working really well!

I'm a bit OCD about my horse things. I'm not that way with anything else in life but everything at the barn has a place and I put stuff back the same way every time. I was surprised to see the crank noseband on my bridle fastened differently than normal. However, since I'd lunged last I thought maybe I'd done something different than normal when I put it away and just didn't remember or that someone was checking out my bridle which I never mind.

However, that night Katai was REALLY weird to ride. Very unlike her normal self and very tired and behind my leg. She kept stopping and spooking at the end with the door and she never does that, or almost never, and never this bad. I kept it pretty short but was nervous that she wasn't feeling well. Because of that I decided to do another quite day on Saturday and gave her a bath and hand walked her down the road and let her graze a bit. It was really good for both of us but not really the way I pictured the rest of our week going. With that being said I still got to the barn 5 days so that felt good.

All geared up minus her fly mask :)
For a $25ish fly sheet this one has been doing great so far!
Please ignore the horrible angle, she's not nearly this downhill.

Sunday I got to the barn in the evening and planned to do a ride outside. Jane had put together an arena outside and I really wanted to play ride in it. While I was tacking up Jane came out to feed and walked straight over to talk to me. I found out that we'd had our wires crossed and she'd thought I was out of town last week so had my fellow boarder K ride Katai on Friday. Jane felt so bad but I wasn't worried about it and honestly was just glad that I had a reason for Katai's weird behavior on Friday.

the new arena!

I then went on to have an AMAZING ride! Katai has SO MUCH FUN riding outside and I need to remember to do it more. I played around with transitions and asking her to be consistent in the trot but we didn't ride for too long. In the span of about 5 minutes we had attracted a nice little herd/flock/murder of horse flies and they were plastered to her ears. I seriously don't know why she didn't just buck me off and run for the hills but she didn't. Instead she was a princess pony and just kept listening and playing along. I didn't want to make it a miserable experience for her though so after a couple of really good transitions I called it, we went for a little walk loop past the outdoor "arena" and then ran for the barn. I was covered in biting flies, horse flies, and mosquitoes so I was ready to be done as well.

Sort of working but I'm going to try a different type of lotion next time.
This would all be easier if spray bottles were a thing...

Next time I'll use her cute little fly bonnet but it's bad enough out there that I'm not even sure if that will really fix it. At any rate, she was a total princess and I had so much fun!

Now this week I've already been prevented from riding tonight (I'd planned another good long ride) because it's in the 90s and extremely humid again with impending storms. I had wanted to at least go spend time with her but an hour in the car just to go rinse her off for the second time in three days just didn't seem like the best idea. It looks like it will be cooler for the rest of the week so I'm planning to continue my boot camp through Sunday and then I'm off to Seattle and pony will have a few rides from K but mainly a vacation :)

Monday/Wednesday Ride Recaps

As I mentioned in my lesson recap I rode on Monday this week which is really unusual. My normal schedule has me riding Tuesday – Thursday during the week and both Saturday and Sunday. Sometimes I change my Thursday/Fridays depending on my plans and every once in a while I take Wednesday off and then ride Thursday – Sunday but I almost never ride Mondays. It’s the day after her lesson ride which is normally more intense and I appreciate the quiet evening after my first day back at work on Monday.

However, because she was so full of energy on Sunday and because of some plans that I had this week I went ahead and rode. It also worked out well with my visit to a local tack shop to special order some items. I just found out that this tack shop orders from HKM and that I could join in on an order and thus save shipping from Europe so I jumped on it. HKM is one of the few places that offers pony sized dressage saddle pads and other items. I had planned to order a couple of saddle pads but it seems my saddle pad obsession has recently turned into a breeches obsession and so I got one saddle pad and one pair of breeches to try. I’ll let you know what I think in a future post!

 

Checking to be sure my phone is still recording.
Look at what a powerful princess she's getting to be!

My ride on Monday was kind of a mixed bag. I had planned on doing cavaletti in the indoor or possibly just lunging over cavaletti in the indoor but once I showed up one of the other dressage people invited me out to ride in the outdoor. It’s funny because on trail rides or in the outdoors in general Katai is so brave and so calm (like during the hunter pace when I don’t think she spooked once) but she HATES the outdoor. All I can imagine is that it’s because it means work where a trail ride is something she thinks is fun.

At any rate, while riding out there more and getting her used to it would be idea the footing is a little deeper than I’d like and trying to lunge her just turns into her running around like a madwomen which makes me worried that she’ll hurt herself. Because of that I usually only ride in the outdoor now if someone else is out there because then I have my nice, calm, workable pony and I just don’t ride too long in the deep footing. This particular night was VERY windy. I thought we were going to blow away and everything was moving around in the grass and trees etc. so it was especially spooky. 

Look at that inside hind!

I hand walked her around and checked everything out (we startled a deer family so I was glad that I was on the ground) until our fellow rider showed up. Then her horse (who I later found out had only been in that area a couple of times) was spooky and about to lose his mind. Katai and I worked a bit and then spent some time babysitting him until his rider threw in the towel and decided to end her ride in the indoor. By then Katai had done a lot of canter work and a good amount of trot work so I called it, especially since the footing was more work and she had been worked hard the day before.

That inside hind though.
My pony is seriously Gumby if Gumby were good at dressage
I however am collapsed to the inside (hearing L in my head telling me that my pony needs to bend, not me)

Then on Wednesday I did a ride where I was going to really work on Cavaletti but she came out very, very stiff and not wanting to work through her back so we mostly worked on that and then did the cavaletti just a few times. Unfortunately I’m back to riding in my normal saddle and oh boy does it put me in a bad position. I had no idea until I rode in the other saddle how badly this one puts me in a chair seat but it’s bad. I almost flopped right down on Katai’s back the first time because I couldn’t keep my legs under me to keep me airborne for the extra moments at the longer stride. It’s frustrating that I’ll have to deal with it until the new saddle comes but I’m so excited that I’m getting a new saddle that will make it easier! I’ll probably just do more lunging sessions until it gets here and maybe do a low key bareback ride which would be good for both of us.