Shifts

It has been so long since I've posted, almost a month at this point, so I'm pretty much giving up on my posting goals for this year.  I'm also tired of doing update posts but I also want to share all of the cool things we've been up to recently!

From this past week. I'm a sweaty mess but she's always gorgeous

First off, no I'm not at a show right now unfortunately. We made the call about two weeks ago that while Katai is making huge improvements in her ground work stuff she still isn't at a point where I can get her attention back on me, at least in show appropriate ways, so we want to get that more solidified first. In that vein, a couple of weeks ago when I had the lesson where we made that decision (on a Saturday) I decided to also sign up for as much training as possible and took lessons on Monday and Tuesday that week (which I had off work) and then another lesson this past Saturday.

S2 has been really complimentary of the training I've done with Katai. She was surprised and impressed that Katai had most of the buttons she needed to do the work that S2 has us doing on the ground and really just needed refinement. I also haven't known when to push, what to push for, and when to take all of the pressure off for some of the minor behaviors that Katai has had so we're working on that. Namely Katai always pushing me around with her shoulders. It's slow because it's a pretty well established habit but we are making headway and it's amazing how helping her to soften and bend her ribcage and move her shoulders around on the ground is helping under saddle.

Katai really loves the new arena except for the side door.
That ear needs to aim in that direction to ensure we stay alive

Then again it should be too surprising because S2 has had HUGE success doing this with her horses and client horses and has her silver medal.

From a dressage perspective I do miss Jane. Her instruction was just so fantastic and her way of teaching really resonated with me. I still don't really think that I'll have a chance to regularly lesson with anyone that amazing again. However, S2 is not only a really solid dressage instructor, she also has the show experience that Jane lacked. She's able to identify in each movement exactly what the judges will want to see and what could lose me points and that is something that's really helpful at this point now that I have a baseline to build on thanks to Jane.

Good side eye
Mare glare was clearly tired of the mirror selfies

I also had the opportunity to go on a trail ride! I was waiting until I could go out with someone way more experience who knew the way and had a solid trail horse and I got that opportunity finally last week. The trail, within riding distance of the property, was very technical with lots of gain and loss of elevation and we did it all at the walk so it was perfect for her busy brain. At first she was just rushing and not listening. She was also tight over her back and trying to trample the (very, very, experienced and patient) trail horse ahead of us. At one point though we headed down a hill that was covered in pine needles and therefore slightly slippery and she realized that maybe listening to me and my half halts was a good idea. After that she was zoned in and while she still wanted to go she was also really listening. It was also an amazing workout for her and she was nicely sweaty and tired by the time we got back. This sort of slow, hill conditioning, outdoor ride is exactly what I was hoping for since trying to build or maintain fitness at our last barn was nearly impossible.

I'm really hoping to find an opportunity to ride along one of the next times that this person trailers out to a trail ride so that Katai can get more off property experience doing something that she enjoys.

Pre-spay happy puppy :)

In other dressage news I also found out that I won't be able to go to the June show. Unfortunately it happens to fall on the weekend that I'll be in NC with my BF at a wedding. Honestly, if I hadn't already bought plane tickets I may have abandoned him haha but with the tickets I was already at the point of no return. It really sucks that a big part of why I moved was to show and now that's not happening but I am looking forward to the opportunity in the future and by the time it happens I should be that much more well prepared.

I also may be able to ride in a dressage clinic at the end of the week next week so fingers crossed for that!

My rides have been cut down to 4 days per week and this past week I only managed three since I ended up coming down with a really bad cold. I have today off and I'm hoping to ride all four days of this four day weekend but Moshy was spayed on Thursday so part of the plan is to make sure I'm mostly around to keep an eye on her and make sure she's not chewing on her stitches at all. She's doing pretty well but is clearly uncomfortable and I feel bad for her.

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.