Princess and The P(olos)

She's just the cutest princess ever :)

Katai is most certainly a princess and most certainly very, very clear about when she doesn't like something. When she was younger I mostly just made her deal with it and she got lots of tough love. However, as she's grown and developed into a really well behaved riding pony who pretty much deals with everything I throw at her I've started to take a softer stance on the things that she still doesn't like. For fly spray I just spray it on a mitt and rub it on her (which she still objects to but not as much) and there isn't much else she doesn't like.

However, she was occasionally objecting to her PoH dressage boots. I always figured it was more due to them meaning she was going to be doing work or that she was too hormonal to handle them. When I started using the Hufglocken boots she clearly wasn't a fan and would pick up her feet or move away like she used to with the PoH boots, however she did that every time I put them on rather than more randomly like she was. I kept on using them figuring she'd get over it but her behavior kept getting worse to the point where she was nipping at me and pinning her ears.

Exactly how I feel after a big meal

I finally wised up, took the hint and stopped using them. In fact, I don't think I'll be able to continue to use them with her so I'll probably need to find them a new home which is so sad because they are so cute!! Since that point I was so sick of dealing with her being unhappy about her boots that I've started to use polos with her and it's made a HUGE difference. She's entirely stopped objecting to me putting them on and her riding is calmer as well. Every once in awhile when we transitions to canter she used to leap forward or kick out, probably because she caught the boot on her other hind leg or something (sounds like something I'd do when I'm running really) but now thats stopped. I will still use the PoH boots but mostly I'm going to be using polos with her since that's clearly what she prefers.

Then there is the whole sensitive princess ulcer thing.

*Public Service Announcement* I realize that she's not being a sensitive princess and that she was hurting. The thought of that hurts me. I'm really glad I figured it out (finally) and am doing something about it so please don't take this the wrong way. *Public Service Announcement Over*

The ulcer meds have been making a HUGE difference. Katai has been completely back to her sweet self and the constantly pinned ears, reactivity to being touched, and general crabbiness is gone. Or was until tonight however I'm pretty sure that she was both in heat and maybe feeling like this was going to be a lot of work since this was her third ridden day in a row. Yay for goals!

I'm hoping that she's back to being her happy perky eared self for my ride on Thursday.

Good Ladybug

Edit: I wrote this before I was in the accident but I wanted to thank all of you for your comments. It means a lot :) I was extremely sore yesterday and actually went to the hospital. They told me I had whiplash and gave me some pain meds and told me to take it easy for a few days. I dodged not being able to ride but we had a snow storm yesterday and today so I won't be going to the barn. Tomorrow the high is -9* so we'll see if I go out then. Luckily next week is still forecast to be in the 20s and 30s so I'll be there every day!

First, to explain the title I always used to call female horses Lady. Not as in the name but the way you might say "Hey ladies!" to your friends. With Katai, since she's my adorable little bug it turned into Ladybug :)

The adorable little bug herself

Second, I just want to say that Katai is a good girl. The reason that I don't talk about her spooking, bucking, leaping, bolting, kicking, biting, etc is that she just doesn't. Especially after working with Jane, she just doesn't do anything other than get a bit tense, rush a bit, trot sideways a bit, or possibly giraffe for a stride or two and that's more confusion or when she's feeling a little stiff than an actual "no" response.

You can just feel the pre-ride excitement 

As an adult amateur who personally doesn't have the guts to deal with a big powerful horse that  doesn't always want to play this is absolutely perfect for me. It's the most amazing feeling to go to the barn and know that one way or another we're going to have a productive ride. Of course sometimes I feel better about rides than others and I'm consistently on the struggle bus with figuring out all of these new skills that Jane is patiently trying to teach. However, Katai has been right along for the ride which makes the struggle bus a much less lonely place.

P is for Pony and also Perfect and Princess ;)

She's still a horse and sometimes she still decides to blow me off. Sometimes when it's chilly out and you're a pony and your feet have grown wings and you're stretchy trotting so your rider has less half halting ability it's a lot more fun to go fast than to listen. I wasn't asking for much, just that she slightly slow down based on my escalated seat cues but slowing my posting wasn't working, using my seat wasn't working, picking up my reins wasn't working so I went to pulling on my reins and to be frank, it took a pretty big pull to make a difference. I HATE pulling on her mouth but a "trotting" away pony needs to listen at some point and I'd given her almost too long (more than half of the arena) to make a change.

We're riding at 3* like a badass

After I corrected her we walked for a bit, did a transition to trot (which was beautiful :-) and then I asked her for stretchy trot again. Going down the long side again her feet grew little wings and we were nearly cantering. I started with my posting, then my seat, and finally barely picked up the reins and this time she immediately slowed her trot. What I was really happy about was that there was no over reacting and she stayed stretched down into contact. I ended on that because we were already at the end of a great ride but it's being added to our homework for the next few weeks.