Monday [lack of] Motivation

I figured Olivia's comment needed it's own post this week because there was a behind the scenes moment that I had to share when I read her comment.

Olivia @ DIY Horse OwnershipAugust 28, 2017 at 1:36 PM

"Good job! I have to say she looks so white and clean despite all the mud. I can't even keep my non white horses clean; I don't know how you do it."

I really wish I had some fantastic story about how much elbow grease I put into keeping Katai so white and shiny but the truth is that she's had two baths this year and those were both prior to August...

Yeah, I didn't bathe my pony before this show. She was just still so white that it seemed silly! I probably still would have given her a bath if I hadn't expected the rain but as it was it seemed silly to put any more time in when I knew she was going to get covered in mud. Deeefffinetly won laziest horse owner award especially since I didn't even use a spot remover, just went through our normal grooming routine before we left. 

Katai really is just a princess pony and doesn't like to lay in her own poop :)

Steady: Lesson Recap 8/6

As a princess it's important to admire oneself in the mirror

This amazing princess pony is so perfect for me and my lifestyle that I don't quite know how I got so lucky. Of course it's not just because Katai is amazing, I'll owe Jane for the rest of my life for making the changes she has in my riding.

Sure Katai may have matured and maybe other things changed in her lifestyle that helped but whatever I was doing with my riding before wasn't working and was leading to at least one blow up per ride. Most rides we couldn't even consistently trot nicely on a 20 meter circle. Then Jane comes along and this pony becomes steady, happy, relaxed, consistent, and starts to love her job so clearly Jane made huge improvements in me, my riding and, of course, my mindset.

On Saturday for my first ride back I didn't push Katai much. As mentioned in a previous post we did lots of stretchy relaxed work and I was impressed especially since it had been 2 weeks since I'd ridden and the temperature had majorly dropped.

Sometimes dealing with the paparazzi gets old though

On Sunday though I had a make up lesson and I still sort of expected that she might have a minor tantrum since it was her second ride in a row, we were going to push more, and the temperature was still quite cool. I needn't have been worried since she was relaxed and happy and everything felt easy.  We still did keep it pretty easy, took lots of walk breaks, and just focused on rhythm, relaxation, and bending. We pushed more at the canter and leg yield than anywhere else but didn't get even a minor pony melt down.

Jane complimented me on Katai's nice steady rhythm right from the start (something we've both majorly struggled with) and I was also really happy with her especially with the long break.

Not a bad confirmation shot.
Also she's sort of glowing blue, should I be worried about Grues in the arena?

Katai was very wiggly, didn't really want to give when trying to bend to the left, and I lost a lot of strength in my core so my seat at the canter needs some work but overall things were amazingly good.