That Can't Be!

I'm posting again!!

I'm also riding again because MY SADDLE IS BACK!

First though, some updates!

I'm now pretty much fully moved into my new apartment and I love it so much. Anything I was worried about hasn't been an issue, such as street parking, and there are so many amazing things that I hadn't planned on being able to take advantage of. It's also definitely my first adult apartment which is pretty cool.

A small piece of the city skyline

The dogs are adjusting pretty well with just a little separation anxiety from Veggie. Moshy is being a happy puppy superstar! We've even visited the local pet store who's sharing a picture of her on their instagram haha. She's going to be famous :)

Moshy had a fun time with moving in and enjoyed
using my Tipperary bag as a sleeping bag ;)

Pony updates wise there isn't much to report. I've had two lessons since I got my saddle back and both have been primarily about gettin Katai loosened up and moving forward off my legs. She's pretty determined to stew in all her excess energy and not listen and we're pretty determined that if she just moves forward and we can keep her loose and flexible she'll actually feel better.

Right now we're not exactly sure who's going to "win" the battle but I'm feeling pretty good about our progress so far ;)

Also, look at how much more full this tack room is!
I'm down to two saddle racks and a pile of stuff underneath haha
I also love how there are more pink saddle pads at the barn now.
Pretty sure we're driving Jane crazy ;)

Unfortunately the weather has not been cooperating. This past Monday we got a snow storm and now we're supposed to get 3-5" tonight and snow again on Saturday. In addition I'm still getting used to the rush hour traffic so between that and doing some chores on Wednesday I wasn't able to get out on Wednesday either. It's so frustrating and I hate the cold and snow anyway so I'm really sick and tired of winter especially this year. Luckily our weather is warming up and is going to be in the 30s consistently this next 10 days or so. Unfortunately that also likely means more snow. At least it's end of February so this is on it's way out and can't just last forever.

Positive

She rubs the snaps open on her browband :)

It has already been quite the year for me and Katai. First, because of weather I rescheduled my first lesson of the year (1/2) for Saturday (1/6). You all know how that lesson went. Then yesterday (1/9) both Jane and I had big plans.

However, I got to the arena, realized I’d planned poorly and needed to pee so I handed Katai to Jane for a minute. She held her for me while I ran to the rest room but when I got back Jane didn’t look happy. I assumed that with recent pony behavior Katai had stepped on her foot or been a pill but the first words out of Janes mouth were “your saddle doesn’t fit”.

 Damn it

 She was completely right, it was pinching worse on one side than the other but definitely pinching. I feel horrible that I didn’t catch it and saddle fit just sucks in general. I just lost a week of riding a few months ago when I needed to get it narrowed 2 cms and now I’m going to need to send it back to get it widened 1 cm.

Lazy vegan fajitas

This. Winter. Just. Sucks. Between the crazy weather and Katai’s moodiness so far I don’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything even though I’m miserably cold trying, but I’m trying to stay positive.

Positive number one: This is probably a huge part of Katai’s recent poor attitude and it’s fixable! I may still have my sweet willing pony once her saddle actually fits her

Positive number two: I have a backup saddle which I hate but at least I can ride!

Positive number three: I’ve been wanting to do more “spa” days recently so this is a good reason to do some things out of the saddle for the next week or so.

Positive number four: There are a lot of other great things going on in my life right now. More on that later

Fall Blahs

I LOVE fall. Usually our weather is gorgeous and it’s my happy place temperature wise with temps normally around the 50s-low 70s. However, like all our other weird weather this year we’ve had two spikes up into the 90s in between the 60s. The cooler weather came earlier than normal which was lovely but these weird 30 degree spikes are rough and migraine causing for me. I ended up with a migraine (although I actually caught it before it got too horrible this time) on Thursday and then Friday was 93. Because of that, despite my goals of making it out at least 4 times this past week I only made it out 3.

Part of that is that I still don’t have a saddle. Despite VTO’s quick turnaround time I miscalculated how long shipping takes with a box that large. It was either $40 to ship for 5-6 day shipping time for $106 for 2-3 day shipping so I went with the longer option. I know my saddle has gone to the adjuster at this time but with shipping back likely taking at least as long I don’t even know if it will arrive this week. That’s more than two weeks without a saddle and I’m starting to worry that Katai is going to gain back enough pudge that the, now narrower, saddle won’t fit when it gets back. I did end up talking with Jane on Sunday and she suggested that I try one of her back up saddles. I was doubtful but it actually fit pretty well so I’m going to try it out tonight and then possible ride in it for my lesson tomorrow.

It’s a really rough time for this to be happening since my friends, who are still looking at moving, are wanting to watch another one of my lessons before they make the decision. Oh well, I needed to get my saddle adjusted and this time as is good as any since I don’t have any shows or clinics coming up.

In the meantime I’m planning to get out to the barn 5 times again. Even if this borrowed saddle doesn’t fit well enough for me to ride in it I’ll be lunging and doing some bareback rides. Plus I still want to get a bath in for Katai before the weather gets too much colder. It's looking like our weather is going to be more consistent for the next week or so and I'm hoping that my body adjusts again so that I can enjoy it!

Resting on our Laurels

My barn really looked like a scene from the Headless Horseman

Not completely because I wanted the break but we're on a bit of a reinforced break for the moment. At first it was because of Katai's hooves, then those were trimmed and right around the same time I heard back from the saddle fitter and sent my saddle in.

I am going to be spending time with Katai lunging, riding bareback, walking down the road etc. Tomorrow I'm planning to give her, probably, her last bath of the year while it's still warm out. I'm also going to lunge her and possibly take her hand grazing :)

I enjoy these times because it's always good bonding time when I can't ride but it's also tough because I was very motivated after our last show and it's been tough to have this down time. I do feel way better now that her feet are short and much prefer down time due to saddle fitting.

Last week was employee appreciation
complete with AMAZING free coffee

In between the two I did fit in a lesson but it was very meh. Unfortunately it was also when my friend from J's barn came out to watch a lesson so hopefully we didn't scare her off. We ended up with a heat wave that day and it was in the upper 80s after a couple of weeks in the 60s so neither Katai or I had much energy. She'd also just had her feet done the day before and between, probably, the different angles and the recent lack of rides she just wasn't feeling her best. We kept it pretty short and sweet and while she seemed to work out of it a bit, she just didn't have her now normal willingness.

At that lesson we did some lateral work and a bit of counter canter along with more of our most recent exercise where we combine leg yield and 10 meter circles along one long side which is really a brain teaser for me.

At any rate, we survived and then I shipped the saddle out right after. Due to having too many plans this week I haven't made it back out :( which is unusual for me but not a bad break after all of the work we've done this year. I can't wait to see her tomorrow and should have more updates soon!

They Came! and Other Updates

I mentioned awhile back that I'd ordered a couple of Mattes pads, one for schooling and one for show, and that they hadn't shown up quite in time for my last show of the year. Then they were scheduled to arrive while I was in NY so I had to have them re-delivered when I got back. They showed up last week but I've been so distracted by farrier related things that I haven't shared yet.

I like them so much!! The dark grey one with the logo is for schooling/clinics etc. The light grey one is for shows. It honestly is a bit flashier than I expected but I think in the show ring it will be ok. I also LOVE the color of both of them :)

I'm really happy with both of them. The only thing I'm not happy about is that they're both longer from spine to girth loop than my other Mattes euro fit pad. I'm hoping that after they got washed a few times they'll shrink a bit but otherwise they'll work, they're just longer than I'd prefer.

Along with my new farrier and current (possibly past) farrier I heard back from the saddle fitter this week! He/they feel that my saddle does need to be made more narrow by 1-2 cms and just needed a few more pictures to figure out how much narrower it needed to be. I took a few pictures for them (that make Katai look really awkward) and sent those over. 

You can sort of see how horribly long her heels are in this picture

Of course the timing will probably be just wrong so that I'll finally have her hooves trimmed and be able to ride and then I'll need to send her saddle away. Oh well, at least the show season is over at this point. 

Withers and muscle have replaced the fat :)

I also found out that unfortunately I likely won't be riding in a clinical with Susanne in November. They had to do some rescheduling based on a few people's availabilities and turned two clinics into one. Because of that all the rides already filled up with people that board at my old barn. She is going to be teaching in Rochester but that's a LONG drive from my barn especially since that's prime ice season.

Oh well, I'm going to talk to Jane about other options for trailering off the property for a ride. At any rate, whether or not I can this year next year will be all about trailering places for adventures!

Random food pictures of the vegan "power bowl"
that I made for myself for lunch today. It was delicious

That's already quite a few updates but a have another! Jane's been looking for another boarder or two. During the past year there have been a couple of minor changes at the barn that involved Jane taking on some retired horses. At this point it's still just me and K that take lessons with Jane and since K's horse is semi retired she isn't even taking as many lessons. One of the few things I miss at this barn is having other people to ride and talk horses with.

About a month ago Jane let me know that she was looking to fill some stalls and on the way home from the last show I offered to post online for her. She took me up on it and I got it posted. There was quite a bit of interest but one of the people that reached out was someone that I boarded at J's barn with. She's toured Janes (last week) and now is planning to come to my lesson this week. I've got my fingers crossed that she and her friend (who also boards at J's barn) will end up moving to Jane's. It would be so great to be able to ride with them!!

Bits and Bobs

There have been a few random things recently that I haven't found a good place to talk about so I thought I do a miscellaneous post and just role it all into this post. I'm still working on that January goals post so I'll have that to share soon

First, a few weeks ago there was a saddle fitter (Trilogy Saddles) out at the barn and Jane was nice enough to have her check Katai's saddle. I was 90% sure that it was fitting fine but since it's been about 4-5 months since I got it I figured it was worth a check to be sure it didn't need new flocking or an adjustment. The saddle fitter pronounced that it fit great! I was glad but not surprised, just nice to have the peace of mind.

Second, A couple of weeks ago Jane's upper level horse (who's also literally the sweetest horse to ever exist and who looks 12 but is actually in her 20s) got kicked by another horse during their evening meal. I found out when I saw Jane doctoring the wound which at that point didn't seem to be serious. Just about a week later I found out that she was going to be going to one of our large local vet clinical for a stay. Jane was clearly pretty worried and honestly I think she wasn't sure at that point if her mare would be coming back. I had my fingers crossed for the next few days and was extremely happy and relieved to find her back in her stall when I went to ride about a week ago. The vet has been out a few times to clean/drain the wound but she's on the road to recovery which is such a relief.

Third, Katai is getting a massage tomorrow :) She loved her last one so much that I've been looking for another opportunity to schedule one for her and now I have my chance. The person we're scheduling is insanely cheap ($50 per horse) but everyone really likes her. I can't wait and I'm so happy I get to make my pony happy! I'm hoping to be there but I'm just not sure when she'll be at the barn and when I'll be done with work so if I'm able I'll get pictures to share.

Saddle Update

A month or so ago I was able to speak with the saddle fitter that works at the company that I got the Prestige Lucky on trial from. He requested some pictures and asked some questions about her breeding and her build. I took the following pictures for him.

After looking at these pictures he announced that she is a 36cm but that the trial saddle could be widened to a 35cm (it's a 33cm and they can adjust it 2cm at a time) and he thinks that would be good enough to try riding in. The trial saddle has been out with a different customer for quite some time now but yesterday I heard back that the saddlery got it back and are readjusting it and going to send it today or tomorrow!

I was thrilled to hear that he thinks that this saddle could fit her with the adjustment. It's just a gorgeous saddle, the leather is amazing, it's shorter through the back, and I'm comfortable riding in it plus it's in my budget so I'll have my fingers crossed that it will actually fit :-)

the trial when it was still a 33cm

Cool, patent carbon fiber type material on the cantle, tough to see in this picture but it's pretty cool 

Of course I also had to check and see if they could get it in "tobacco" brown and they can! So excited to get it back and try it out again.

Saddle Saga

The Prestige Lucky I have on trial doesn't fit. It doesn't fit so badly that I could see daylight through the bridging areas but, we think it's just because it's too narrow. So, I'm going to take a leap of faith and try to get another trial in a wider tree size. If it fits it will be perfect, if it doesn't, I'm going to wish that I hadn't gone for either trial but at least I'll know!

I LOVE the saddle though. It's the new Lucky Idol and it's gorgeous, the leather is amazing, I love the flap length and the seat is really comfortable for me. I'm going to have my fingers crossed until I get a chance to try it.

In the meantime at the suggestion of my trainer I picked up an Amerigo Vega from our local tack shop. I heard great things about them for ponies. This was a wide 17.5" so it was a bit of a wild card and while the shape of the tree fit really well and the point billets put the girth in the right place it was just too wide so it still slid forward (worse than my saddle actually). It's on my list since I think if I can find a 17" in a MW or M tree it has a good chance of fitting. It wasn't my favorite to sit in though so It's not at the top of my list right now. Once I've had a chance to try a different tree size in the Prestige Lucky I'm going to try a few other options.

Trainer Ride: Lesson Recap 5/15

I really enjoy having an instructor that can ride my horse occasionally since I feel like it's such a great way for her to really feel what's going on in a way that she may not always be able to see from the ground (although L is damn good at seeing what's going on from the ground). It was actually part of why I decided to take lessons with L since not only was she willing and able to ride but she was small enough to ride my smallish dressage pony in a way that another instructor might not have been.

With that in mind, I really don't want to go more than a few months without having her hop on and make sure that I'm not setting Katai up with any habits. I have a pretty good feel for when something isn't going the way that it should but I'm not nearly the rider that L is. So, at my last lesson I brought up that I wanted L to ride Katai again soon. I mentioned that we could wait until after the show but L said that she wanted to ride at the lesson today instead. Then I'll have two more (since I'm getting a lesson at the show grounds) lessons before the show.

Love the extra fluffy mane in this one

In the meantime L had three lessons scheduled to ride with Susanne Winslade but found out that two of her client horses that she'd planned on riding were lame. When she mentioned it to Susanne apparently Susanne made a comment along the lines of, "Too bad you can't ride that spectacular little pony that your student rode on Monday." L messaged me on Tuesday but unfortunately it just wasn't in the budget for me to pay for any additional lessons. At any rate I was thrilled to hear that Susanne really liked Katai and that L would have wanted to ride her in a lesson. The only comment that Susanne made was that Katai was really locked up on the left side which both L and I are aware of.

L started off working on just kind of figuring out where Katai was at since it's been quite some time since she rode last. Then she started working on getting her to release to the left. At first there was some not so pretty stuff but then she really did it and L really got her back up in that direction which is tough impossible for me to do.

After that she was working on doing some sitting trot, transitions within the trot, shoulder in, haunches in, and canter in each direction. There were some great moments, good moments, and not so good moments but Katai tried everything that L challenged her with. She had a few minor moments but absolutely no melt downs. I asked L how she felt and was extremely flattered when L said that I'd been doing a good job with her and that Katai felt great :-) L also mentioned that everything she was schooling was from 1st level! She said that some of it wasn't very good yet but still, it made me so happy to hear that she's getting to the point where we can at least school it!

A moment of sass

However, we were both annoyed to see that my saddle is really sliding forward again. Katai has lost some weight (in a totally good way as you can see from the photos) but it means that her saddle is sliding again and not necessarily a great fit anyway. We talked about getting the Prestige Lucky trial again (I'll be calling on Monday) and I'm really hoping that it will be the answer. L had to get off twice to adjust my saddle today which is demoralizing at best. I'll be riding her with the half pad again until I can get a saddle that fits.

The Real Dressage Training Period

The real dressage training pyramid

Yep, that's right I'm still shopping for a saddle again. I'm still waiting on the Prestige dealer in the US to get a new Prestige lucky in for a trial. I'd be more actively looking while I wait except both L and I think theres a really good chance that the Lucky will be a great fit for both Katai and myself.

I have to admit that a very small part of the appeal for me is that it comes in brown.

Yummy

I don't know why but I've always loved brown tack and when I started seeing people with brown dressage tack I was very envious. When I figured out that it actually looked better on Katai than black tack I knew that my next saddle was going to be brown. I love my current brown dressage tack but my goal for next year is to find a saddle that fits (hopefully in brown) and get a PS of Sweden bridle that matches. If it can be brown I'll be even happier.

My current saddle isn't horrible but it still slides forward and I've noticed a patch of messed up hair on the middle of the left side of her back more than once. I've got a reminder on my calendar on the 16th of this month to reach back out about the saddle and hopefully they can ship it my way for a trial. I'm really hoping that this might be the answer for us!

Sore and Stuck: Lesson Recap 1/31

We had an interesting lesson on Sunday this week. Katai has been virtually tantrum free for the last few months but she came as close as she has at this lesson. She started off very stiff and reluctant to bend. In true amazing trainer fashion L didn’t get fussed at all and just worked us through it with lots of canter transitions to get her loosened up. Katai was calm but sucked back at that point which is unlike her. In fact she’s been fairly sucked back recently at both training rides and lessons.

 

Once she was loose enough we did some walk work and Katai tried a new tactic. She would freeze at the walk and absolutely refuse to go forward. I got to practice my pony club kick and then we’d push her into canter and make her work until she was listening. Then back to a walk and wash, rinse, repeat. After about 3-4 times she figured out that listening to my leg and going forward at the walk was much less work than being made to canter and with all the canter work she had done she was a little tired and sweaty so we ended the lesson.

 

This along with findings from both the massage/saddle fitter and the farrier/chiropractic appointment that she had today point to general muscle soreness/stiffness. Specifically in her lower (closer to her hip) back on the left hand side. Massage/saddle fitter thought it could be saddle fit and farrier/chiro thinks it’s just muscle fatigue. I had a long text conversation with my farrier/chiro and her recommendation is rest first and then to give her a chance to show us if it’s saddle fit or just a pulled muscle or tough stretch of work. 

 

Based on her recommendation we’re going to give Katai a quiet week. I’ve already messaged L and we are going to cancel my lesson. I’m going to hand walk Katai for 2-3 days, ride at only a walk for 2 days, and then go to walk, trot for a few days before doing much canter work. I’m going to keep track of any pain responses in her back and see if it’s getting better. I’m also going to include some stretching.

 

My chiro isn’t worried about her at all, she just thinks she’s getting used to moving herself properly and suggested lots of work having her use her back and some ground pole work to make sure she’s using herself correctly. I just want to make sure I’m not aggravating something and, like I told L, since we’re not training for the Olympics we have time to just let her relax and heal.

 

Tonight I did my first evening of hand walking. She was pretty stiff but after about 15 minutes of nice, relaxed hand walking she was loosening up and had a nice over reach at the walk.

 

On the drive home I was really thinking about this chart that the farrier/chiro sent and I have a thought. It looks like her lower left back – the muscle that helps her push with her left hind – and her right shoulder are both sore. I’m going to guess that between working on lengthenings and extra canter work I bet she pulled her back muscle and has now been compensating with her right shoulder at the trot. Just a theory but I think it’s maybe a good one.

Changing it Up: Lesson Recap 1/24 and Saddle Fitting Update

L wasn't feeling well at all for my lesson on Sunday and for some reason I was more distracted and less motivated than usual so it was nice that we worked on a couple of slightly easier things.

We started off with warming her up nicely at the trot and she was actually a little sucked back. That almost never is the case with her but I had done quite a lot of canter the day before so I think she was just slightly tired. With my nice, slow pony who was really listening to me we started out by working on leg yields. 

We are still squarely on the leg yield struggle bus both because she's learning and because I'm proving to be completely incompetent at moving my body properly to get them done. Oh well, I've been working on them more in my schooling rides and they were slightly better in my lesson so after a couple of times in each direction we gave her a break and them moved to working on turns on the forehand.

We've worked on turns on the haunches before but this was the first time we worked on these. Again, once I grasped the concept she did them pretty well, especially for a first time. This is reminding me that I need to do a schooling ride or two where I work on turns on the haunches! Sometimes we work on something in a lesson where L warns me not to drill it and then I promptly forget to do it on my own at all. I've been toying with the idea of a lesson journal for that reason but have hoped that my blog will fill that purpose. Maybe I just need to go back and read them more!

Then we went to the canter. We are both getting better at the transition and she's been picking it up in a stride or two rather than 10 like it was taking before. So nice to have that progress :-) At the canter we worked on doing more straight work down the long sides and it was amazing! I felt like we were flying. She is developing more jump as she develops more strength but keeping the same maneuverability which makes it so much fun. She can turn, properly, on a dime and our 10 meter circles at the canter are easy because she's such an adorable little athlete.

In other news I've calmed down after the saddle fit debacle yesterday but I haven't changed how I feel about how it went. When I'm at the barn tomorrow I'm going to try to get some pictures of the underside to post on here and make sure that I'm not just completely missing something.

I've also been chatting with P, who also had a saddle fit appointment with H yesterday, and it sounds like things went really well for her. I'm going to chalk this up to H trying to fit a small pony, which is probably not as normal for her, and with a saddle that isn't one of the usual brands that she sees. I haven't lost faith in her as a saddle fitter but I'm not sure that I'll use her again in the future. Unfortunately I'm not even sure if I'll have that choice because I don't think I have many options for saddle fitters that will work with my saddle in my area.

Take What You Need and Leave The Rest

I'll be writing a lesson recap post soon but first wanted to talk a little about my saddle fitting appointment today because, frankly, I need to vent.

Katai was scheduled for a massage at 10:00am and then the plan was for me to get to the barn around 3:00pm so that we could do a saddle fit appointment at 3:30. I got to the barn a little early, helped with turn in and then got Katai all groomed and ready to go.

We started out with Katai fully tacked up and the saddle fitter, who I'll call H, looked over my set up in detail, did tracings, and took some notes. I was pleased and she let me know that Katai LOVED her massage and was all relaxed and blinky and happy about the whole thing. That made me feel good and we were off to a good start.

Unfortunately that's where my happiness ended.

Let me preface this by saying that I'd prepared myself for every contingency. While I felt it was unlikely that my saddle was a horrible fit I was ready for everything from it just needing a flocking adjustment to needing to buy a new saddle or even being completely unable to ride in it because it fit so horribly. What I wasn't prepared for was to have my emotions played with.

This pretty much captures our whole experience.

So, when H started poking around at the channel of my saddle with a concerned face I was ready for the worst and then she said she thought my tree was broken. I can't even imagine what my face looked like. The saddle is 6 months old, Katai doesn't have any sore spots and seems comfortable in the saddle, I haven't noticed anything off, the box the saddle came in was in excellent condition when it arrived and there wasn't anything scraped or scratched on the saddle that would show there had been any sort of damage.

Common sense has always been my friend so I started asking her about thing things above. Basically she said that no, Katai's back hadn't been sore during the massage, she couldn't flex the saddle in any way that was unusual, when she asked if I'd been hearing or feeling anything weird I let her know that I hadn't. She remained unconvinced and spent at least 10-15 minutes trying to (I felt) prove that my saddle was broken. What she was feeling were these two small metal lines that were unevenly long. Not unevenly placed but one was longer than the other. If I had to hazard a guess I would say that there was one line of solder that was longer then the other on the individually made tree. She also said that some of the stitching looked uneven and I agree but this is a handmade saddle and it's very, very, very slight. She finally decided that it was time to proceed so we tacked Katai up and she really examined everything both with me out of the saddle and with me in the saddle.

At this point I was already a little frustrated but was still hoping that H would have some advice. The problem was that I think I'd already lost a little trust in her because the idea that my tree was broken was so far out of left field that I had a tough time even beginning to entertain that idea.

Then, with me mounted up, she said that my saddle was beautiful but didn't fit my pony. Again, I felt a little crushed but was all ready for her to give me some ideas for what to look for in a saddle and some ideas for where to shop. Except when I started asking she hemmed and hawed over the saddle again for awhile and then started naming things that did fit. The shape of the tree, the shape of the panel, the length, the tree width, the flap, the billets, etc. all in the "fit" category and then she said that she didn't know what she would do differently. More hemming and hawing and then she felt around in the channel again, still sure that my saddle was broken in two and going to stab my pony's back, and said that she would change the width of the channel which was slightly too wide.

Saddle fit picture I was encouraged to take to show the maker. Not quite sure what this will show him other than that my saddle fits? Although after the flocking was added it does look a little high in front...

That was the first, and only, advice that she gave that I trust at all since she was actually able to show me what she was looking for. I do know that channels can be too wide and can see that this one could be too wide for Katai. This is what I was looking for, proactive advice before she gets sore and how to change it. Even better, she is able to fix it by doing some work on the panels of my current saddle.

Bad news, she want's me to contact the company about a warrantee to see about having them fix my "broken tree" and "uneven stitching". At this point I was about ready to gouge my own eyes out so I tried a different tactic and asked her what the cost would be for her to work on it. Common sense again since I knew that shipping it back (even if it weren't ridiculous) would be at least 200 even if there were a warrantee (which there's not) and the maker didn't think I was completely batshit crazy (which I'm not). She said that it would be around $150 so I let her know that if I decided to go that way I'd want her to do it rather than shipping my only saddle back and forth (and making it even more likely that my tree might actually be broken). She still pushed that I should contact the company and send pictures. I wanted to ask what I would be taking pictures of exactly but figured that would be too snarky.

but damn my pony is starting to look like a beefcake!

I kept thinking that I must be crazy, she's the expert right? She should know but every time I looked at the channel of my saddle and felt what she was feeling all I felt was a well constructed, not factory made saddle with a small quirk. She still couldn't tell me anything concrete that was making her think it was broken other than those uneven lines. I'll try to get a picture for the blog but honestly I don't think there is a picture to take since I don't think you can see them since they stick out about a millimeter from the underside of the channel (on the tree), slightly under each of the panels and you have to push on the leather lining pretty hard to feel them.

My phone a friend. Apparently I'm no the only one thinking it might be because it's hand-made

I was so frustrated that I couldn't get out of my own head on the drive home. I ALWAYS trust the expert. I want to trust the expert, that's why I work hard so that I'm able to involve them in my horse's care. At the end of the saddle fitting she kept saying that my saddle fit great (she did add a little flocking in the front and the back) and that it must not be broken or we'd be able to tell but by that point how was I supposed to trust her. She'd gone from the saddle is broken, to the saddle doesn't fit at all and you need a new one, to it just needs some flocking, to it fits great.

grrrrrrr

I'm going to talk to L and see if she has any advice. H wants to put a front gusset in it as well and I can't even begin to imagine that that will help it fit since I thought those were more for narrow horses with big withers. I can always stand to learn something though :-)

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.