Going Ons

I'm loving her new halter.
You can't really see it here but it actually has her show name on it!

Things have been happening over here peeps! I’m finally feeling like a real live human again so I’ve been getting back on track with pony things.

The new schedule has been super helpful although I haven’t been able to 100% stick to it yet. I have been doing the most intensive planned days though which has been huge. This past weekend I didn’t go do adventure day on Sunday but did go on Labor Day to “make up for it” so I’m proud of myself for that. I think that the only day I’ve really struggled with is spa day. If it’s nothing other than grooming I’m finding that my motivation just isn’t there so I think I may reschedule a bit or just move to the more intense schedule a bit sooner than planned.

Rides have been going really well! Unfortunately it’s been a looooooong time since I consistently rode even 2 days a week so we’ve both lost a lot of strength and fitness. I’m continuing to work on losing weight and gaining muscle out of the saddle though and with the plan I’ve put into place it seems like Katai is thriving off the work. She’s moving really well and we really did make some progress on random things over the summer even with the lack of work. Relaxation is a big one and she’s traveling much looser and longer from head to tail than she used to. This feels like a huge win for us.

Our second real work day ride was more about endurance than collection and so I added some time to our ride. Total work time under saddle (including walk warm up and cool down) had been right around 20 minutes. This past week we moved that up to 30 by increasing the walk and trot. I still haven’t cantered because now I realized that her saddle is too wide (loss of muscle) and so it is sliding forward badly at the canter. I need to bring my shim pads to the barn as a temporary solution but I keep forgetting. To make up for that and continue to add canter endurance I have been doing a fair amount of canter on the lunge.

Then on Monday’s make up Adventure Day I did some work in hand. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do on the way to the barn but figured I’d either do a low key ride around the barn or some in hand work. It ended up that, for some reason, I was having high anxiety and so was she. Often even if I’m having a high anxiety day when I get to the barn and she’s her normal calm self I can get my anxiousness down but on Monday she was also really anxious. With that I decided that, for multiple reasons, it made the most sense to do ground work.

The best thing about the situation on Monday was that with us both being high anxiety it was a good mini replication of what it would be like at a horse show. I decided to work her in hand around the trailers since that’s an issue typically. Somehow, magically, as I was working with her I ended up finding a tool to resolve a major issue I’ve always had with working her on the ground. For some reason something clicked with me that what’s tough about handling her on the ground is when she crosses in front of my driving line because then I lose the ability to effectively handle her. With that in mind I was holding the coiled up lunge in directly in front of my driving line (dead center in front of my body) and would flap it against the front of my legs if she got too close to crossing that invisible “wall”. This was seriously like a miracle and not only did she get it right away, she also stopped pulling and remained on the side I was trying to lead her on without a bunch of barging and pulling. It’s so simple that I can’t believe that it took me this long to figure it out. At least now we have one more way to effectively communicate with each other.

With that tool I worked on walking towards and away from the parked trailers since when we go to walk away from the trailer she always loses her marbles. Then we also went up to the wash stall and practiced standing in it. Both were productive and I continue to feel like our communication, trust bank, and relationship are improving in leaps and bounds which is paying dividends for everything I’m working on with her. The gains in relationship and trust are the biggest success for us this year and that’s a huge thing.

Weird Weekend

Another photo from last Monday's ride

Last week I was at the barn 5 times and worked Katai 4 times which isn't what I wanted but I still feel pretty good about. It would have been better but I volunteered to spend extra time at work on Friday evening for a project and did a regular shift and then went back from 5-9 so no riding that day.

I had a good but brief ride on Saturday but then on Sunday (you'd think I'd have learned from last weekend) I went later hoping that the exhaust would have cleared out by then but it hadn't so I ended up doing another spa day.

I also just haven't felt that motivated to do anything this weekend. I think it might partially be the crazy weather change we've been having with temp in the 50s when normally it would be in the teens. Or it was the fact that I worked so late on Friday making me feel like I didn't get a real weekend. At any rate I put off going to the barn until the evening both days and even then just didn't feel like my normal self.

Last photo before I started leaving Katai's blanket off.
Enjoy the whiteish pony while you can :)

My ride on Saturday was good but I kept it pretty short and sweet because pony was clearly tired from running around in the nice weather outside (no more ice means lots of pony running) and I figured I'd be riding 5 days in a row. Katai was really good though and we got some great work including lots of stretchy trot and a few really good halts :)

This week will be quiet again so I think I'll be back in the swing of things and I'm going for 6 times at the barn with at least 4 rides and one lunge this week!

My Crazy Weekend

My barn was having a schooling show this Saturday. I hadn't planned on entering but at the last minute J told me that there would be a sport horse In hand class and I REALLY wanted to show Katai. There were a few problems including that I have a white pony who is still pretty sure that the hose is going to eat her so a real bath would be tricky, I have no idea how to do sport horse in hand, plus I haven't ever made Katai trot next to me and even if I could get her to it certainly wouldn't show off her trot very well. I hate being unprepared so I decided to skip it this time but on Friday evening J asked if I would scribe and I jumped at the chance.

It really was great to scribe and get a feel for what the judge was looking for. This was my first time and I was a little nervous but the judge was very patient and helpful and I feel like its a good life skill. I was glad it was a schooling show and that no one showed over 1st level since those tests were already difficult enough.

It was great to spectate and help out, and I would certainly scribe again in a heartbeat, but hopefully I can ride in the next one!

Then on Saturday I ran my first 5K, not an event just on my own, with only one short 15 second walk in the middle! It was my first time running over two miles and I hadn't done that since last year. Tonight I ran another 5K and cut off 3 minutes :)

I'm really glad that I'm making some improvement because I'm entered in a Ragnar in August https://www.ragnarrelay.com. I'm excited but extremely nervous because this will be the first sporting event that I've ever been a part of. I never did any sports as a kid other than riding and even with riding I never had lessons or anyone to push me so I sort of putzed along and just had fun, which is great don't get me wrong but it doesn't encourage any type of fitness. I was certainly never an athletic kid and while my family did lots of hiking and we would sometimes go on long bike rides it was never easy or especially fun for me. I was never thin but going through college and grad school I was starting to get a bit tubby. It's not something that I've ever really brought up on this blog but it was seeing a picture of myself riding Myshla that made me decide I had to change something. 

I started running last year but never made it over two miles and only did that a few times. This winter I didn't run at all because I didn't have access to a treadmill so this year I had to start all over and I am so glad that I did! I'm actually starting to enjoy it and I can tell how much more fit I am just since I got back to it at the beginning of May. Since I started working on my diet and exercise about three years ago I've lost over 40 pounds and my goal is to lose about 15-20 more. Training for the Ragnar this summer will certainly help! 

Finally on Sunday my sister came to visit and came with me to the barn. I was able to convince her to take some pictures. She rocks! They are a little blurry but they are also almost the only pictures I have of me riding Katai so I don't even care.

Can you tell how much I love this pony :-)

Please forgive the wonky elbows and hands. Between the green baby pony things, the fact that J wants my hands a little low and wide right now to help her stretch down, and the fact that I haven't really ridden much at all for the last month since Katai got to the barn my position has certainly been better. Now that I finally have a saddle that fits and a pony that behaves I can start to do the work to bring it together.

In Limbo

I had a discussion with my new barn manager, who I will refer to as J from now on, last night and this morning and we made a mutual decision to wait two weeks before I move Katai. It sucks but really is the right decision for everyone involved and I am very greatful for the wonderful, supportive attitude of J who is being proactive and responsible about this outbreak.

Unfortunately this really leaves me in limbo. I was supposed to be out of the place where I was, now am, boarding and had moved out and reorganized all my stuff. I used to have three saddle racks and room for the huge plastic tote that I use as a tackbox and had it all cut down to fit in the one locker and one saddle rack that I will have. Going from this (plus there is a saddle rack even higher that you don't see in the picture)

To this plus one saddle rack,

 

(Not the actual lockers but it looks just like one of the smaller ones in this picture.)

Now, of course, I needed to move some stuff back to the barn but I didn't want to undo all of my new organization so I just schlepped the most important stuff back in one bucket plus my saddle, bridle and lunge line.

The best thing about this whole thing is that I'm going out of town this week and now I won't have to worry about leaving my pony in a new place with no support. It also meant that I got to ride and spend time with her again today rather than dealing with a stressful move. So....

We went on a trail ride!

This was her first real ride outside of the arena and she did great!! Of course she's been ridden outside a lot in the past but mostly that's been in her pasture which is a place that she is familiar. This was her first time in a new environment and she did great!! We even trotted for a long ways :) 

My little girl is growing up and it makes me very proud.

The Breakdown

 

 

To accomplish the big goals I need to lay out smaller items to fix, improve and correct. The following are my goals for the rest of February.

1. Lots of Miles – Both of us need time together mostly riding. She is weak, I’m still weak and I’m getting used to her movement and figuring out the communication between us. My goal is to ride her 4 times per week through the end of February.

2. Strength – I need to specifically address her weaknesses which will require more than just time in the saddle. For the rest of February my goal is to do carrot stretches before and after each ride and to introduce more cavaletti work.

3. Communication – Katai is doing really well and figuring out some of the more refined cues at this point, at least refined for a green horse :P, but I need to do more to introduce lateral movements since everything is built on that. My goal is to introduce some lateral work to every ride as well as doing some work on the ground to help her figure this out and figure out how to move laterally without a rider on the days that I don’t ride.

4. Trail Riding – I would LOVE to have nice enough weather to get her out of the arena occasionally in February. If we have reasonable weather my goal is to get her out at least once a week for a quick ride down the road.

During my ride on Sunday I really felt like I’m starting to trust her. She still has spurts of naughty behavior but I know exactly how far they will go at this point and I’m comfortable with how to correct her and move on. I feel like we are starting to become a team and that she is becoming a riding horse rather than just a baby/green horse. I think the main difference for me is knowing that I can do what I need to when I need to rather than needing to change my routine or actions to accommodate a green baby horse and it is a wonderful feeling.

Really On Our Way

The weather has been so much nicer for the past couple of days and on Thursday I had a wonderful ride on my girl. We did so much trotting that I was actually sore, of course I haven't been riding much recently so that's not saying too much, and Katai didn't put a foot wrong.

The ride started out a little rough. She was slinging her head around and not wanting to listen to my leg but was very forward compared to normal. I actually climbed off to pull the saddle and check her back and girth because I wondered if she was sore. I couldn't find anything even with fairly rough poking at her back and a thorough examination of her girth and all four legs so I decided that she must just be having a "mare day" and climbed back on. We trotted for almost 20 minutes and she was just perfect. I even had really good steering which is usually pretty tough when they first start trotting.

Today I had another great ride on her and we did more trotting. there was someone else riding in the arena which was great experience for her but honestly she didn't seem to really care at all. She still seemed a little down but again I couldn't figure anything out even with an examination from her head to her tail. Apparently she hadn't finished up her hay that morning but she was eating the hay pile where I tied her and I looked at everything from the inside of her mouth to the pulse in her feet and everything seemed normal. I'm hoping she just has a minor but from the weather changes but either way we are going to take it easy tomorrow and I'm just going to groom her, spend some time with her and look her over again.

This evening I bought a couple of dressage books on my kindle. I just started one about early classical training with young horses and I'm really enjoying it. The writer does a TON of lunging in side reins before ever riding and explains why that is preferable and I can really see the benefits. I think I will probably do a review of the book when I am finished with it.