So Done

With winter this year. I know that it’s not just us in MN that are struggling with a really rough winter this year but I live here and it’s been bad so I’m going to complain about it! 

Tiny car looks even cuter with the wipers up to prepare for ice

We’re on something like third winter right now and after a couple of warmer weeks of 40s with one day in the 50s we’re back to the 20s and 30s. This past weekend we had a day with wind chills of 0 and today and tomorrow we are getting ANOTHER snow storm (7-8” this time). This past weekend I didn’t get out to the barn because of cold and Easter. I didn’t realize there was going to be a snow storm until Sunday after Easter plans had already started or I would have prioritized barn when I could. Now I’m stuck not being able to get to the barn likely until Thursday this week since after the snow storm I have plans on Wednesday that I can’t change. This is so so so so so so so so so so so so frustrating especially with moving to the new barn and trying to coordinate vet visit, pony travel, and getting caught up after a winter of this crap so that we can manage to not make fools of ourselves at this show.

We’ll be ok, I know we will and sooner rather than later the weather will change and we’ll have at least a month or so of really solid rides and solid work. I’m also absolutely planning to use this show as a training opportunity and am not worried about what scores we get. This is all for fun but I don’t want to get there and completely bomb either since that won’t exactly be fun haha. Mostly though I'm soooo excited to move and have all of these amazing opportunities and just in time for spring!

Everything is melting at the moment but it'll turn into ice overnight.
You can't really tell in these pictures but the snow has been really
coming down and visibility was rough on the way home from work

For the short term I'm going to go with lists instead of goals since that feels less overwhelming and more useful.

Plans for this week are to;

-schedule travel to new barn for Katai
-make sure the vet visit for shots and coggins gets scheduled for before we leave

-drop off extra tack at the local tack swap this Friday

-finish “pulling” her mane

-trim her beard and ear hairs as well as cleaning up her feather

-bring home all the extra stuff I have at the barn and get it cleaned and organized for the move

-ride at least 3 times

-try to reschedule several lesson make ups (at this point I’m certainly not going to get all of these made up but having a few more lessons before I leave would be great!)

-make sure I get a new drawer from Smartpak since I tossed the other one and the new barn uses them - Done

More snow

Plans for next week are to;

-clean all my tack including Katai’s leather turnout halter 

-post an update on the farrier/feet situation

-re-subscribe to feedxl since there’s a new ration balancer at the new barn that I need to figure out

-ride at least 4 times

-make sure I get at least one lesson in
-try to wash Katai’s legs (which should have happened when it was warmer but oh well, at least this way she won’t go back out to mud since it’s all ice again)

-wash blankets and make sure that all of Katai’s clothes are clean and ready to be used (moving to a more heated barn so we’re going to need different blankets than we do now)

Plans for moving week (Week of April 15th):
-move pony to the new barn
-move stuff to the new barn

-confirm show plans for the summer/at least the next few months so that I can request PTO
-ride at least 3 times and make use of the move to practice for riding in a new space
-schedule lesson(s) with S2

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