Ride Recap With More Video!

First, before we get to my Monday ride recap I wanted to recap the weekend. After a really successful week last week (first time I’ve ridden 5 days in a way in a LONG TIME) I went out on Sunday all ready to ride only to find the arena full of exhaust. Again, my fault since I know they drag the arena late Sunday morning/early afternoon and I showed up in the early evening. I was only frustrated because if I’d shown up a bit earlier I could have taken her outside for a walk (by the time I showed up it was too dark) or a bit later and maybe the exhaust would have settled a bit more. Oh well, I’ll remember for next week.

Instead I ended up doing a good spa day and I worked on spray bottles. I also walked her around the barn finding places that were #justlikeatrailer and making her walk into them and back out. She seemed to enjoy the time without riding and again, I need to do this more.

Sorry for the weird framing, I put this above the

arena door and didn't think it would be in the shot

but apparently it was.

Then Monday! It’s getting to the point where we have enough movements to work on that I need to do more planning prior to the ride about what I’m going to work on. If I don’t I either end up not really working on anything (suddenly getting a perfectly circular circle seems very important) or I try to fit too many different things in and the ride feels hectic. This Monday I wanted to tackle halts, medium trot, stretchy trot, and leg yields and knew that I needed to fit a good amount of canter in there. Because a few of these things are really opposite and I knew that Katai wouldn’t be good at halting after some work on medium trot I wasn’t quite sure how to fit this in but at least I had some goals. I’m happy to say that I did all of these things!

I started off with some stretchy trot. It wasn’t our best stretchy work but it ended up being an effective start to the ride. I’d like to do more of this in the future but for this ride I was happy with her work on this. Then I gathered her up and pretty much went straight to canter. She also cantered really nice (see video) and I’m starting to look less like a potato as well. Both of her transitions were decent even which was great! Right after the canter when she was forward we did some medium trot. The first few times weren’t good but on our fourth try we got a REALLY good attempt! It’s in the video but unfortunately it’s straight towards the camera so you can only partially tell.

What I was proud of was that I was able to maintain the same rhythm and yet she really pushed forward. After that we went right to walk since I wanted to reward that try. After the walk break I picked her back up and we did some lateral work which was a mess. Now that she can do haunches in and shoulder in she offers that instead of leg yield and since leg yield is still one of my weakest things I struggle even more. I can really see it in the video one way where I didn’t feel like she was doing anything but actually she was doing a really nice shoulder in. *headdesk* Oh well, we’ll keep on practicing and I think I found a few holes including that I was hanging on my inside rein and blocking her from going over. We’ll keep right on practicing!

After that we finally worked on halts. She was getting a bit flustered and throwing her haunches right so I went to the rail and slowly broke it down for her and used way more cues than I should need to. In the end I got two nice square(ish) halts so we quit on that note. It was pretty action packed for such a short ride so next time I’m going to work on fewer things. Mainly I need to ride more but work on fewer things in each ride so that’s my goal for this week!

August Goals Recap

This whole summer has felt really hit or miss for me. I’m not sure if I’m just that much more motivated and working that much harder than I have in the past on my goals or if it was just a weird summer (I sort of think it was) but I feel sort of like when I look back the whole thing was in a fog.

August Goals:
1. Work Outside
Meh - I honestly hated the footing in our outdoor. It just felt way too deep to me and really changed Katai’s way of going. Still not sure if I was just being a baby if it’s actually too deep but I didn’t want to risk it. Because of bugs and riding schedule I didn’t get out much at the barn but I did go to the Hunter Pace!! She clearly showed that she can do that well so now I just need to do more work at the barn and make it a more normal thing.

2. Stretchy Trot
Not bad, I didn’t specifically focus on this as much as I’d planned but I did more lunging with the neck stretcher and she is pretty confirmed in stretching down when I ask for it.

3. Massage
I’m not as far as I’d like to be in this book so I haven’t done much with Katai yet. I’m going to keep plugging away!

4. Strength
Yes!! I’ve started working out again and have just been more physically active going on more hikes and doing my work out at home more regularly. Also, see below.

5. Ride More
Yes!!! Really happy about this one. With one big exception I’ve been out to the barn consistently about 5 days per week. I can tell in my strength and Katai’s ridability.

September Goals:

1. Continue to Ride More
I want to continue to get 5 rides/Lunges in per week for the entire month!

2. Work outside
Reading about Megan’s work with TC over at Enter A Spooking and how she’s been showing him around the new barn has inspired me to do the same with Katai at this new facility. I think that it became a bigger deal that it needed to be at the last barn because it was an exception rather than the rule that I rode outside. Here I don’t have an outdoor arena but there is a space to ride/work and a quiet(ish) dirt road that I can ride on so the plan is to start taking her out for hand walks to explore after our rides. I think it will be good for both of us!

3. Massage
Since I’m nowhere near being ready to do a good massage with Katai yet I’m going to schedule one for her over the next month or so. Between the hunter pace and her shenanigans at loading to come to this new barn I think she’s carrying some extra tension.

4. Adjust to my new coach and the new facility
I’m going light on the goals for the rest of the month because I know that Jane, based on my previous lesson with her, will do completely different things with us. Apparently she already has plans for us at my first lesson with her (next Tuesday) which is both exciting and terrifying haha. Mainly I’m just going to do light stretchy work with Katai for the next week to make sure that she’s feeling as good and loose as possible for my lesson. Plus, honestly, you pretty much can’t do too much loose stretchy work with this pony.

July Goals Recap

Previous Goals Recap:

1. Proper bend to each direction - I honestly think this is something we should have better by this point. I’m sure if I were a more advanced rider that this would be more consistent than we have it right now. I’m going to just keep working and improving my skills at this.
-Meh, I just wasn’t able to dressage consistently enough in July for this to get any better. Between the weather, my travel, and moving her back and forth to the other barn (and all the drama that entailed) I just haven’t had many regular dressage rides. Luckily she hasn’t back slid (much) but I also didn’t make much dressage-y progress.

2. Work outside - I just need to get her outside as much as I can and for as many different activities as possible
-Yes! I’m getting so much better that this! Pretty much every day that I could, where the weather cooperated, I rode outside.

3. Do chiropractor prescribed stretches before every ride (also getting a massage book so that I can do some of this myself :)
-Meh, mainly just because I wasn’t doing these before outdoor rides or lunging sessions and I didn’t have many dressage rides so I didn’t do many stretches with her. I am a ways into the massage book so going to continue working on that!

August Goals:

1. Work Outside – Yes it went well last month but I need a reminder to continue to make this a priority. Soon it will be snowy and icy outside and impossible so I need to get out while we can.

2. Stretchy Trot – I think from the lack of rides and all the trailering drama Katai has been tight and tense through her back. I want to head it off by doing a lot more stretchy work this month and really confirming that I can get her to stretch out when I ask for it.

3. Massage – As mentioned previously I’m partway through the book I got (really good book by the way and I’ll do a review at some point) and want to finish this up and start practicing on Katai.

4. Strength – In previous posts I’ve mentioned that I’ve really let my strength go. A combination of just not riding as often, and doing more trail riding, and letting my normal riding workout go which means that I’ve lost a lot of strength. It means that I’m flopping around up there and that’s making Katai crabby (I really don’t blame her) and tense. I also want to work on Katai’s strength and add more cantering into our workouts since she’s wearing out pretty quick for how far we are along at this point.

5. Ride More – This is the biggest goal and will make everything else easier. I just need to focus this month on getting out to the barn more.

June Goals Recap

Update to current goals:

1. Proper bend to the left – I’ve been chipping away at this all month and it’s actually getting better. At the very least she isn’t as surprised when I ask for the bend through the jaw now so she get less defensive. However, either through focus on this side or possibly saddle fit(?) she’s now struggling more with proper bend to the right

2. Stretchy Trot – I’ve been working on this a lot this month. I’m getting better at getting her stretching out but she’s still struggling with her balance a little. Once we’ve gone back into work I haven’t focused on this as much and I think with a little loss of strength she was struggling more with this last week when I worked on it.

3. Canter Transitions – These are getting way better! I’ve had a few great transitions to the right (her tougher side) but her transitions to the left are consistently  WAY better. This is a total win for my new goal setting format

4. Lateral Work – This is getting so much better!! I’ve been doing a lot of shoulder in and nose to the wall leg yield along the wall and she’s really getting it. Her balance has been getting better and she’s getting a bit better at working through and not getting tight through her back. We’re still having some rushing but that’s been getting progressively better.

5. Cavaletti Exercise – I haven’t done this one again but plan to pull it out again in the near future

I haven’t quite decided how I’m going to transition from previous goal to new goals but I think that what I’m going to do is kick anything off the list that’s going well. My goal is to get these items at a good point and then at least maintain but shift my focus to other areas. Then if for some reason I’m having trouble maintaining progress on something I’ll put it back on the list.

 New Goals:  

1. Proper bend to each direction - I honestly think this is something we should have better by this point. I’m sure if I were a more advanced rider that this would be more consistent than we have it right now. I’m going to just keep working and improving my skills at this.

 2. Work outside - I just need to get her outside as much as I can and for as many different activities as possible

 3. Do chiropractor prescribed stretches before every ride (also getting a massage book so that I can do some of this myself :)