Spinning: Lesson Recap? 1/6

Shopping for mirrors for my new apartment.
More on that soon!

Today I had a make up lessons scheduled from last Tuesday. On Tuesday I had decided to reschedule, if possible, since it was extremely cold and was snowing. In addition because of our crazy cold weather and the New Year holiday I hadn't ridden for about 5 days prior so I figured that it would be more productive if I pushed it out a bit.

I rode this week Wednesday and Thursday and then had something scheduled yesterday so I wasn't able to make it to the barn. Both Wednesdays and Thursdays rides were "energetic" but Katai was listening, I felt like I rode well, and we got some things accomplished.

Today though we did not. This is the first day of a nice warm up and starting tomorrow through the end of the 10 day forecast most days will been the 30s which is almost a 50* swing from where we have been. I am THRILLED and was hoping that today, since they highs were actually in the low double digits, would feel warmer. When I got in the car to head to the barn though it was only -11.

Blurry but an accurately adorable representation of their current relationship

When I got to the barn Katai was quite fresh and spooky. She was really crabby for tacking up and then had a big spook as Jane and I walked her into the arena. She was really sassy when I climbed on and kept threatening to rear or buck but after a minute or so she calmed down and just went forward.

We spent a long time at the walk and were really focused on bending. She was doing well and walking nicely so we went to trot. I got all of 6 extremely crabby, humpy, tight, angry steps before I hopped off and called out that I was going to lunge. I almost NEVER feel the need to do that since normally I can more effectively work through it under saddle but I felt like Katai was going to bolt and I am not about trying to ride her through that.

Indeed, once we got the lunge on her and I got her out on the circle she lost it. I have never seen her run so fast. I did what I could to manage it and was glad that Jane was there to help with suggestions. Mainly though we just let her run it out and I just tried to slowly get some control back. There was a lot of running before I was able to get some semblance of her listening to my cues to change gaits.

We changed to the other side and had a minor repeat performance before we found the hamsters again. At that point I was able to cue for and get the gait I wanted and have her mostly maintain it. I swapped back to the starting side just to make sure I could get the same reaction and then we went back to riding.

Old media
More new pictures soon I promise! Right now my phone's been
dying if I take it out my pocket for pictures because of the extreme cold.

Jane mainly had me work in trot and we just focused on getting her loosened up and listening. After that performance the hump in her back was gone and while she was still stressy she was at least listening to me and allowing me to help her stretch and work over her back.

We ended on that note without ever touching the canter under saddle. Honestly it wasn't even frustrating really, just telling of how much energy she has since I haven't been able to ride. I completely accept responsibility for that excess energy and I'm just glad that I'm back to my routine of rides. Jane and I also talked a bit about her current diet. We've just added some more fats and a bit of grain to her ration since she was having a tough time maintaining her weight with the cold weather and increased workload. Jane is wondering if that has something to do with her mental state today and it certainly could. I also just don't think that she's getting enough (a couple of handfuls at each meal if that) to so drastically change her attitude. At this point we're going to assume it was the weather change and the lack of rides and go from there but are ready to make adjustments if needed if this doesn't improve.

2017 Year in Review

Comparison thing I created in January

January

After recapping the past year and setting those apparently tough to meet goals I posted about my first work travel of the year and then was able to actually get video of my lesson!  I commissioned a drawing of Katai and tried out Vienna Reins for the first time.

February

February started with a sassy pony and then I talked about some of my blanketing strategies. I talked about motivation and how I was "tricking" myself into riding on the really cold icky nights. We went on to have a really great lesson, lose my new camera (after less than a month), and got one of my best purchases to date! 

This amazing wool quarter sheet!

March

In March I had another, long, work trip and then had sort of a tough lesson. I posted some GIFs of some of our struggles, started our trailer loading practice with lots of fireworks, and then recapped my first day at World Cup!!!

Photo from April

April

April was my busiest blogging month with 19 posts! I started the month with a couple of recaps of Wold Cup. Then I almost missed our spring vet visit, recapped another lesson, shared more of our tough trailer loading practice, shared my bad taste ;), and talked about Katai's hatred of dressage boots. I also recapped a good lesson, finally, and talked about the history of Katai's name and her new show name.

May

I started of May by asking for help with equestrian memberships in regards to showing. Thankfully I'll be able to put that to use this year!! Then I posted about a really great night at the barn, shared some more GIFs, posted again about the struggle of my work travel, posted about my show outfit plans, and finally recapped our first show of the year.

Back when I could ride in short sleeves

June

June started off with a recap of our first rated show and blue ribbons, which I'm still sort of shell shocked over. I then shared some show media, more show media, shared media of a ride outside, started posting a bit about my personal struggles with 2017 , bought a show pad and some items for the fight with flies, and set up new goals for the year.

I didn't recap these new goals officially but they were mostly all successful. It just seemed a bit like a cop out and many of them are more like monthly goals than yearly goals. At any rate, I'm looking forward to setting achievable goals for 2018 and looking forward to finishing up the rest of my 2017 recap in my next post!

2017 Goals Recap

We do have some talent for square halts

Review of Goals for 2017

Increase Blogging Again

I'd like to set the goal to post an average of 15 times per month. If I can do that I'll have at least 180 posts next year and that would feel good!

Nope but for the first part of the year I was doing pretty well. I also hit my 500th post which was awesome! I was averaging 15 posts per month through August and really up until I ended up stuck on the West Coast for two weeks. After that my progress and motivation took a real hit and I ended up averaging around 12 posts for month for the year.

We're also good at trotting sometimes

Buy a Trailer

Trailer EVERYWHERE

Nope! As previously mentioned buying a trailer in 2017 was taken off the list pretty early in the year (February I think) so unfortunately neither of these came true. I did do quite a bit of trailer loading practice in Jane's trailer though! We were also getting pretty close to having Katai self load. In addition, she was very decent to load and unload to and from the second two shows we did.

Getting better at center lines too

Ride in Another Dressage Clinic

No :(, I feel like this one is the most painful. I tried at least 4-5 times to get into a Susanne Winslade clinic but the one I could have attended and new about in advance ended up filling up and the other ones just happened to occur during times when I was traveling. There are other clinicians that I could ride with but Jane prefers that I ride with Susanne and we're making enough progress with Jane that I don't have a great reason to push to ride with a bunch of different clinicians. In the future (next few years) I'd really like to ride with Janet Foy when she's in town and potentially Jennifer Truett who is in town pretty often. I feel like I'd rather be a bit more confirmed at 2nd to ride with either one just to get the most out of the experience even though I know I could learn a lot from either person right now.

Very good at posing

2nd Level Goals

I have complete confidence that even if our progress hits a huge wall we'll be able to ride all of the 2nd level movements by the end of the year. Not sure that showing 2nd this year is a doable goal but I'd like to be completing all the movements at home even if they aren't all pretty.

Hmmm, pretty sure I took this one off the list at some point to but for the sake of argument, we are maybe 85% on this one at least in being able to do the movements. However, we aren't even close to being able to do them with 2nd level movement and true collection.

However, I started setting monthly goals this year and I really liked it! I plan to do the same for 2018 to help break down my yearly goals into more manageable chunks and to help monitor my progress or lack thereof. Some of those goals went really well overall and I figured I'd list them here since I'm really a glass half full sort of person.

Also good at fancy prancing

More Trailer Loading Practice: We've got a long way to go but we did make a lot of progress and had a much better experience at the second two shows we did this year than we'd had previously.
Practice Other Show Skills: I feel like we looked way more put together at our last show this year than we have previously. I even managed to put in braids that stayed in for the full show (now I just need to learn to get them out better)!
Practice Lateral Work: I'm getting so much better at this and better at practicing things that are ugly in general. Our Leg Yield has gotten considerably better and our SI has also improved a TON. We can sort of do HI as well but it's not as consistent and I struggle to maintain the bend especially going to the right.
Ride Longer: YES! We're finally getting more rides at 30+ minutes rather than 15+ minutes haha. I started using a timer to help and I'm still using that timer to keep me honest since my internal clock thinks we're done around 20-25 minutes in. I've even done quite a few rides recently that are closer to 45 minutes.
Practice Sitting Trot: YES! I'm far from nailing this consistently but I can get a good sitting trot for the majority of my rides even for my lesson. Before I was really lacking the skill and feel but now, recently, I'm lacking more the strength both from not riding as consistently and not working out as consistently

Good at moving like a bigger dressage horse
despite her diminutive 13.2 hand stature

So, while it looks like we pretty much failed at all of my big 2017 goals I feel like we had a decent year. Overall 2017 felt really tough to me and like I was constantly struggling to swim upstream. Mostly this had to do with things in my personal life such as work, relationships, budget, etc. but it wasn't all smooth sailing with Katai either. She's had much more attitude these past few months and, while I'm so happy with our show results, I was really hoping for more shows, clinics, trailering opportunities etc. so it was tough to STILL feel stuck with those things.

Good at giggling with an Oh Shit face while we
splash through/around puddles

Regarding our show results, while they were never a goal I was still SOOO impressed that we won three classes at two rated shows at both training and first level. Going into the show season this year I NEVER thought that we'd accomplish that so that alone makes this year feel like a HUGE success along with all of the other progress we made. Now, I just need to learn how to set better goals for next year ;)

Catching Up: Lesson Recaps November-December

Progress in photo form. First real show experience, 2016

2017 goal recap and 2018 goal setting blogs will be up soon but first I have one more blog catch up post.

This isn't going to be very specific because, I don't know about you guys, but I struggle to remember what happened in my last lesson much less the one that occurred over a month ago. However, I really want to at least sort of recap our progress, or lack of progress, over the past couple of months.

Also 2016

Main Themes

Canter: Getting a good three Beat Canter has been a struggle for us. When we first started working with Jane Katai was lateral going both directions most of the time. Eventually we got to a place where she was taking the right lead well but the left has remained more lateral. Even then, if she was tired at all or stiff she would be lateral in both directions and sometimes not even be able to maintain a canter to one side or the other. Honestly, if I could go back in time I would have put much more work in on the canter much earlier on but as it is, it's time to really focus on it now.

As of my last lesson on 12/26 we had a three beat canter for both leads. The left lead we only get a couple of 20 meter circles and a short straight if we're lucky but she's able to maintain the right a lot longer.

One more 2016

More sit: Katai has really developed a HUGE trot but she likes to run and go on the forehand rather than use that strength to push and come back a little. From what I've read this isn't unusual but that doesn't mean it's easy to get her to change her way of going. Ultimately Katai is a very pressure adverse horse especially with something that she feels she's an expert on and so it's been tough to try to convince her to travel in a different way. We're currently working on lots of lateral work and 10 meter circles with transitions to help her understand what we're asking but it's a slog. As of my last lesson, 12/26, she still hasn't really seemed to understand what we're asking so we'll just keep right on practicing!

First show of 2017

Half Halts: Really I'm sure this could fit into the topic above but I thought I'd separate it out since in practice they're sort of two separate things. At this point Katai is highly offended by half halts and doesn't think they're fair. She either wants to flatten onto her forehand and quite or not make any difference in the gait. When she sort of gets them she get's upset because of the amount of pressure I end up needing to use. We'll keep right on toiling away on these and I'm confident that she'll understand the concept soon.

Also first show of 2017

Lateral Work: I never thought I'd say it but leg yields are starting to get there! Katai still has days where she doesn't feel like it but I'm actually starting to understand them to the point where I can really "train" when she isn't getting it and know what I can and/or shouldn't do to get the result I'm looking for.

Last show of 2017

SI is also something we're practicing ALOT and including in a lot of exercises. We're using it to help improve the canter, to help her understand how to sit, to help her understand transitions within the gait, and to help slow down that frenetic forward energy and turn it into more sit. She's very annoyed with us about it but we'll keep right on practicing :)

I feel like I have more homework than ever and really know what we're working on so now it's just convincing Katai that these things are ok and are actually sort of fun!

Also last show of 2017

July Goals Recap and August Goals

More Katai pictures soon but for now Lake Union will have to do

I wanted to share a bit about how amazingly wonderful it is to be back but I'm not sure it's enough for it's own post at this point so I decided to add it here. I got back Friday evening after the most horrible plane ride I've had. We got stuck on the runway on the way to Minneapolis and for about 20 minutes the child directly in front of me SCREAMED as loud as it could. The parents were doing everything they could but it just wasn't helping. I was already anxious and really stressed out for some reason and was getting a stress migraine so the screaming put me over the edge.

Somehow I made it through the flight and the very slow Uber ride home in Friday rush hour traffic but pretty much just made it to the couch and crashed, sort of wishing I could die, for the rest of the evening.

Morning rowing practice

Luckily I feel completely better today and was able to wake up early, drive the 3 hour round trip to pick up Veggie from my parents and then make it the 1 hour round trip to the barn to ride. Funnily enough that means I spent more time in the car today than I did driving from Seattle to Portland.

Katai was great, if full of energy and VERY wiggly to ride, and I feel like my body sort of remembers what to do after two weeks off.

I do think the vacation was really good for Katai who was calm and happy the entire time and really tried to be a good girl despite having extra energy early on and then wanting to quite after about 20 minutes haha. I ADORE this pony (if you can't tell) and she's so perfect for me. After two weeks without any rides and a major drop in the temperature (it was in the 60s when I rode today) she was foot perfect, stood quietly in the cross ties, and was basically just a perfect princess pony.

This AirBnB was adorably decorated with a travel theme.
Bonus points if you can id the movie ;)

She did gain a bit of padding but nowhere as bad as I thought it might be. We just did lots of nice forward trot, some canter (which really felt good), a bit of leg yield, a very small amount of sitting trot, and much to her dismay lots of work at the medium walk.

It was so good to see her and I missed both her and Veggie so much!

Little tough to tell with the tinted glass but you can sort of
see the space needle from the office I borrowed for the week
plus the blurry skyline from the smoke

July Goals:

Ride Longer: Yep! Unless I had a really good reason I rode at least 30 minutes each ride with many rides being 40+ minutes. So much better than the 20-25 minute rides I was doing.

Continue Outdoor Rides: Yep! So much better than I've ever done with her in the past and our outdoor rides have been fun :) Jane even commented on the last outdoor ride I had (the week before I left for Seattle) how relaxed and happy Katai looked.

Practice, Practice, Practice (or Sitting Trot): Yep! Still struggling but it's getting better and I "get" it at least some of the time each ride. Those moments are still few and far between and I lose it quickly but it's getting there.

So hot for Seattle! I was there for both of the really hot days
but it was the smoke piece that was new to me

August Goals:

Continue to Ride Longer: I feel like this one will continue to be important. I'm not looking to necessarily increase the time for most of my rides just to do at least 45 minutes more often or tack a trail ride onto the end of a shorter arena ride to lengthen it but still provide some variety.

Continue to Practice the Tough Things: More sitting trot and anything/everything I struggle with or that Katai struggles with. It's always been tough for me not to take these things personally/emotionally but after watching the video below (for some reason) I've been able to practice something without drilling but still enforce correct vs. just accepting what's not and moving on. Scott Brash is just so relaxed, calm, and no nonsense about trying it again with his horse in this video that I feel like I understand how simple it can be. It's obviously important that Katai know what the right answer is so this is a big one this month especially with transitions and picking up the contact at the walk.

Have a Successful Show: Successful for me will mean that Katai is more relaxed and rideable at this show than she was at the last. I'd like for her not to have any meltdowns but mostly I just want to finish feeling like I rode to the best of my ability. We've got all the movements down for each test (although the 15 meter canter circles are still not as correct as they should be) so I really just want it to be fun and hopefully get decent scores because that's always a good goal :)

Makeup: Lesson Recap 3/27 and Weekend Updates

I had a great makeup lesson on Saturday. Katai was really a good little pumpkin but wasn't completely sure she wanted to work on the canter. It's gone from a gait that we never do and therefore exciting to a gait that's a lot of work so the first time I asked her to canter in each direction I got some pretty good ponytechnics with lots of bucking.

To get the canter we cued for it out of leg yield once we hit the wall at the end of the arena and she did pretty well in one direction but was pretty stiff to the other side and didn't want to flex to the left at all.

 We did a bit of lateral work and also got the alignment better than we have. Overall though, while Katai was trying she was just unwilling to flex to the left and wanted to retract her neck.

Jane and I also had a great time talking about the FEI World Cup and I'm getting even more excited to be there!

Also baked some amazing banana bread!!

After my lesson I went to my parent's farm and worked with my dad on my tack locker. He's made some progress this spring with some of the smaller things that needed time between (for the glue to dry) since it was just slowing our process down too much but we made a bunch more progress on Saturday when I was there.

Door with polo wrap shelves

The main part of the cabinet

These drawers go in the right side of the cabinet. 

I can't wait to get the building part done now so that I can start to decorate it haha.