Blogger Meet Up Trip!

Those of you who follow me on Instagram probably already know why I was wearing riding boots at the airport in my last post. For anyone who doesn't, I was visiting Jen from CobJockey!

Jen and I first met in person at the National Dressage Pony Cup a couple of years ago. I really felt like I clicked with her and we had a great time hanging out. We started making plans then to get together so that I could see Connor again, maybe have the chance to ride him :), meet her spouse, and visit her amazing house. Since then we've talked about it but finding a time that worked for both of us with our busy work schedules and horsey stuff was tough.

Finally, over this winter we started talking about doing something this spring. I was aiming for April/May timeframe to hopefully have decent weather but not intrude into show season too much. In the end my bf ended up picking the weekend that we were hosting the Final Four so that we could escape the craziness.

I fail at taking photos of architecture
but trust me, this church is  beautiful

It worked out great! The weather in IN was gorgeous and sunny in the 60s and 70s which was a nice break from our 40s-50s and grey skies. We left MN on Friday afternoon and got back Tuesday afternoon and we had so much fun!!

Getting the Equisense going

Before I get to the pony things I just have to say that Jen and her spouse were amazing hosts. Their home is gorgeous and it was great to be able to explore their hometown and visit some of the awesome places including a really adorable coffee shop that I wanted to take home with me. Also, my one worry about the trip was whether my bf would enjoy himself since he is not much of an outdoor person and definitely doesn't like to spend time at the barn. That meant that he and Jen's spouse would likely be hanging out a lot. I hoped that they would enjoy each other's company and that's exactly what happened. My bf has already been talking about when we can visit again and that he wishes that we lived closer :)

On to pony things! We had three full days at Jen's gorgeous barn and we took full advantage of our time. On Saturday we went to the barn early in the day and got to hang out and talk ponies for awhile while Jen's trainer and her husband got packed up and headed out to a clinic. Then we got Connor ready and headed to the outdoor where Jen rode first and then handed him off to me and, guys, he was SO MUCH FUN! The cues I know and use seemed to mostly transfer and the few things that didn't, and let's be honest I'm probably doing wrong, were fun to play around with to see where our understanding varied.

After we rode we gave Connor a bath and tried a new product on his mane, tail, and feather.

Connor wasn't pleased about being a punk rock unicorn.

The next day was forecast to be rainy so we planned to ride in the indoor. It was icky enough out that the horses were inside, avoiding a fairly cold downpour when we got there. Like the previous day Jen rode first and then let me climb on again. I feel so lucky to have had a couple of chances to ride her amazing pony. I was able to build on what I had figured out the previous day and it felt like we were speaking the same language on more things. I was also playing with the half halts that K's trainer wants me to do with Katai. It was so nice to be able to play with that on a more educated horse vs. trying to figure them out as Katai was figuring them out.

My phone is not good in low light so everything turned out super blurry but I had to
share this photo of Connor's amazing tail.
At any rate Jen had Connor looking awesome before I hopped up

Unfortunately I realized when I looked at these photos that I'd completely forgotten to close up my helmet strap. Oops! Quite bad on my part but luckily Connor was a good boy.

Since Jen has a show next weekend and a lesson on Tuesday we knew that Monday would need to be a quiet day. We talked about a few options but ended up going to a tack shop and then Jen giving me a lesson and some practice braiding Connor! The tack shop was awesome and I was sorely tempted by some of the clothes and brushes but I stuck to my budget and didn't get anything. Sad day for tack haul photos. With the braiding I definitely picked up some things including that braiding up is really truly important and quick braid is definitely nicer to work with than the gel that I've been using.

It was an amazing trip! I had so much fun with Jen and her spouse and Connor was just as amazing as I remember. My bf and I definitely want to visit again and would love to host here as well although maybe not during blizzard season.

Meanwhile in MN...

Layers

What an appropriate name for this blog post. First, we’ve got the layers of snow. Snow that JUST KEEPS FREAKING FALLING and won’t give me a long enough break to get to the barn.

Seriously guys, not sure what I did but pretty sure I’m in some sort of 3 year run of bad luck. 2018 concluded with the illness from hell and I was encouraged that it would all be up from there but alas all that’s happened is extreme cold (windchills down to -50*s), and lots and lots of snow. I’ve barely been leaving the house at all and have only made it in to work about 7 days out of the past three weeks.

That’s bad.

Luckily I can work from home, unluckily I hate it and even worse, the same snow that has me working from home also means I haven’t been able to make it out to the barn much at all. At least my boss, who is an eventer, lives 5 minutes from her barn so even if she’s working from home she can still go to the barn. I’m very jealous lol.

I was going to wait to blog until I had more positive news to share but we’re into March at this point and there’s a lot more snow in the forecast and the days where we aren’t getting snow are really cold. Grrrrrrrrrrr

 Luckily I live with a really amazing person now and have an awesome puppy so time at home hasn’t been awful but I am just absolutely dying for some consistent, productive time at the barn and am feeling really motivated to make progress so it just sucks that the weather isn’t cooperating. Second, while I don’t have much really positive riding stuff to share I do have some updates that I wanted to share so I figured it made sense to post at this point.

The first update is that I actually did get a bit done at the barn over the last 10 days or so. I was able to make it out late not last week but the one before, on Saturday, and then again on Monday and I had my lesson last Tuesday! The bad news is that I forgot to bring riding clothes with me to work on Tuesday so I didn’t ride and instead K put a ride on Katai. However, it went really well and despite not riding much she was really impressed with the progress I’d made on my homework. T

he second update is that I audited a lesson two Thursdays ago for a fantastic, upper level, local trainer. I’m still figuring out what I’m going to do with K moving. For the short term I plan to stay and will try to make e/o week weekend lessons work. If they were weekdays it would be fine and I wouldn’t be that worried but I have a REALLY tough time fitting things in on the weekend so I’m worried about that. I’ve also been planning to increase my lessons this spring and either take weekly lessons, get more clinic time, or at least take more as needed so that we can officially progress up to second level.

Long term not only am I really sad to be losing my trainer but the farm I am at will also need to close at some point, likely, in the next few years. I don’t know (or understand) all of the details but the land was re-zoned as commercial so I signed on knowing that they had approx. 3 years at that point. The city may allow them to extend but if not, there will be a TON of displaced riders and horses all looking for space at the same time and I don’t want to deal with that. The two things together are causing me to look at new places despite wanting to be doing just about anything other than move Katai again.

She can't resist grabbing a bite of Alfalfa as we walk past

The good part of it? I really enjoyed the lessons I got to see. This person is very easy going but still firm, has their Gold medal so would be the most accomplished dressage show rider that I’ve had the chance to ride with, and is just fun and has a good sense of humor. Unfortunately she had a cold when I audited so was a little less chipper but still fun. The riders at that barn are very talented and I saw more upper level riders and horses there than I have at any other barn in a LONG time. The arena was also really nice, big, and had fantastic rubber mix footing. It was also really busy the entire time I was there from around 6-8:15 with at least 3-4 dressage riders in the arena at all times. I would ADORE being part of a community like that.

The less good? I’m on a waiting list with a few people ahead of me and it’s a tough place to get into since even if a sale horse there sells the new owners often keep it there. I’m also slightly nervous about the intensity. I feel like over the past few years I’ve discovered that there is a sweet spot for me where I can work, make progress, and be motivated but not shut down and still have fun. As I’ve had more things happen in my life outside of horses that balance has shifted slightly so while I REALLY want to ride consistently, make progress, blog more, and for heaven’s sakes finally show more!!! I’m also really conscious of the fact that if I swing too far into that sort of environment I may burn out and it might stop being fun. I’m doing a TON of thinking about the last point and still figuring out where/what type of barn I’d fit at best in the long run.

One big thing I’m considering is that J’s farm (not Jane although Jane’s was a close second) was my absolute favorite environment to be in. If J hadn’t been such a heavy handed person I would have stayed in a heartbeat. Part of me thinks that ever since being there I’m really looking for something similar and this place is so similar it’s eerie. Everything from the set-up of having a heated grooming area but unheated grooming area, to having more trails, to there being primarily dressage riders, to the level of the instructor (J had her silver medal when I was there but shortly after I left she got her gold), tack lockers, pasture board for most horses etc. It’s so similar. That is really encouraging. Add to that the fact that I had the most fun riding and made the most progress/was most motivated when I rode with J and Jane and I think this could be a fit. I've also asked my bf and he thinks I should go for it and I put a lot of stock in his opinion.

But I did get these cool socks. Consolation prize?

In other updates I also went to a tack sale at a great, local tack shop last night with K and another barn friend. That was awesome! Lots of horse talk and shopping. It's been a long time since I got to do something like that and I had so much fun. Again, making me even more sad that K is leaving :(

Treat Yo Self Thursday, Lesson Recap: 2/28, and Weekend Update

I've had a good week of rides but I didn't make it to my goal this week. With the seasonal change in full swing I've had some headaches (I have a lead on a really good PT that I'm going to try out to see if that helps) and was feeling like I was getting a cold again so I ended up taking it a little easier. Also, at my lesson last Tuesday Katai was a little short in the right front. I wondered if it was just a sore muscled but she was pretty short still on Thursday after a day off on Wednesday so I decided to give her Friday off as well.

She's had some Thrush so that was my first thought and my second was just that she's been working pretty hard and had some soreness and time off would be good.

It turned out that the combination of additional Thrush treatment and a bit of a break meant that she felt amazing on Saturday and was quite the speedy pony.

Back to Tuesday, I had another great lesson! Again, Jane called out movements and I did them and we worked on things along the way. We started with nose to the wall leg yield at the walk which was really helpful and Katai really seemed to figure out what we want. Since then her leg yield has been great and she's really crossing over.

After that we did some trot work and then canter. During the trot work we got the best lengthening that I've had! It was so cool to feel her shift into that higher gear again :) Our canter work was tougher but not bad. She wasn't struggling strength wise, just not wanting to be straight or on the bit. we worked on getting flexion at the canter and I had some of the best trot/canter transitions that I've had. Finally we did some more shoulder in. I'm slowly figuring it out and will keep right on chipping away at it.

Then on Thursday my local tack shop had their 35th anniversary sale. I was invited as a "special customer" to shop the pre-sale on Thursday afternoon. I shopped but am very proud of myself that I didn't find anything that I "needed" enough to buy.

However, I've been wanting to make a trip to the tack shops on the west side which are Dover and a place called Coach House Equestrian. Coach house is my favorite tack shop and Dover has enough variety that it's a great place to try on clothing.

Coach House shopping!

So many cute things!

I ended up not going to Dover just because I found something I really liked and used up the money I'd budgeted on it. So much adulting!

Finally found my show shirt!

I didn't end up buying the shirt though, instead I got a spring jacket. I've been envious of the Rolex jacket that one of my friends has but I found a Longines Show Jumping Ariat jacket that's similar. It was on clearance for less than the shirt and it was the last one so I got that instead.

Then, that evening I had a great ride! Katai was quite hot, mainly because I was doing some work to reinforce my forward aids. Recently she's been ignoring them and freezing up so this time I corrected her each time, rather than just waiting her out, and that made her pretty fizzy. I still got some amazing work including some really, really good leg yields. Also, even though she was fizzy she never really lost it, she was just forward and I just was calm and went with her but still kept getting her slowed down/kept her slow so it was a great ride :)

Look at that lipstick :)

Then, today my plan was to do another Sunday Spa Day but I woke up with a really horrible headache/stomach ache. I really think that all this crazy weather is messing with me. At any rate I ended up laying on the couch watching tv for most of the day and by the time I felt up to doing anything I needed to get chores done to prepare for the week.

My favorite recent vegan meal :)

Since I'm flying out next weekend I'm going to plan to be there every day this week and Saturday (obviously not riding every day) so that she's ready for a week off.

Bridle Shopping

So, while waiting for Katai to gain some muscle and fill out and waiting to get some money together for my saddle I've been bridle shopping. 

Don't get me wrong, I love my pink lined bridle,

but it was never meant to be a permanent solution plus since I'm planning on a brown dressage saddle I'll need a bridle to match. 

With some googling I found some really great options so now I'm having a tough time deciding between them.

First option:

Micklem Competition Bridle - I've always liked the way these look and the science behind them plus Katai does always violently rub her head after I finish riding. I'd be interested to see what she thought of this since I don't use a flash. It could make her feel more claustrophobic or she could love it. This is probably my second favorite bridle at this point.

Second option:

Schockemoehle Sports Paris bridle - I really like this bridle but it doesn't look like the flash attachment is removable and I've heard mixed things about the quality. This is probably my third favorite at this point.

Third Option:

 

FlexiFit bridle - I think these are beautiful bridles plus you can order each piece in a separate size which is great since Katai's head is oddly between pony and cob sized. They also have different options for each piece with some really beautiful browbands and several options for nosebands including patent and white lining. Even better, they have a removable flash attachment so I could ride without if I chose but add it later if/when we need one. Right now this is my favorite bridle and my first choice.

There are several other options such as this bridle,

 

which is a little too odd for my taste and this bridle,

Which I love but is not legal for dressage.

Luckily I have some time to think about it since at the very earliest I would be getting my saddle at the end of June.

Which one would you pick?