Another Meh Ride But This Time...

It was totally me.

Most of the time I've had the arena to myself for the past year. I can probably count the number of times that I've needed to share the arena on one hand. I've known that with multiple people moving in this is going to change and I'm going to need to adjust but I don't know if I realized just how tough that would be.

Then, today Jane came to lunge her mare while I was riding. I had, unfortunately, just set up a bunch of cavaletti at one end of the arena so Jane went to lunge at the other. I should have probably climbed off to move at least a few of them to give myself more room to maneuver but I didn't. That sort of locked me in to doing only very specific things.

I feel very safe with my tiny dog dinosaur keeping watch on my retiree neighbors

In addition I hadn't made it out to the barn the day before because the weather had given me a migraine and that same weather meant that the horses were in all day yesterday. Because of that Katai was speedy as well as sassy, she's very much in heat, and felt like a run away freight train.

Then, because the cavaletti got her even more jazzed up I spent most of the ride, limited to riding specific figures with a horse that was trying to run away and cavaletti everywhere in her vision which didn't help either.

Jane tried to help a bit from the other end and I was proud that I never ran out of patience but it was just really tough to be effective and I sort of set myself up to fail. Then, because she just.wouldn't.stop.running away I ended up working her more than I would have otherwise.

Shnoots

At the very least she was channeling most of the forward into a very big trot and not getting tooo tight or taking lots of little steps like she used to. She also didn't bolt, or buck, or have any tantrums. She just didn't end up learning much or changing her way of going at all during the ride and she's potentially sore after all that work which I really try to avoid.

Luckily I learned a lot and next time if I end up having a more limited space to ride I'll make sure I don't limit myself even more by adding a bunch of poles to the space.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

Of Monsters and Retail Therapy

Yeeeaaaahhhh...

So I probably didn't need to buy anything else horse related for maybe at least a year but when I was so sick I did end up doing some shopping and bought a set of these beauties!

aaaaaannnnnnddd a set of these...

But really I'm just  counting it as improvement that I didn't buy a set of these gorgeous things...

Things like this are why everyone should own a pony

I did actually "need" another set of dressage boots. Polos don't work because of the small size of Katai's legs and the fact that I'm incapable of putting them on well, even though I know how. Also since I only have one set of boots it's been tough to keep them clean and means going for a week at a time without leg protection. It's hardly the end of the world but I'd really rather have a different set to swap out when I'm washing them.

I LOVE the pastel pink set of boots that I have (and I'm sure you're all familiar with) which are from People on Horses. I've had them since just after I got Katai, so about four years, and they still look nearly like new. However, unfortunately at nearly $200 for a set (including shipping) I just haven't been able to stomach the thought of buying more even though I really wanted them in navy patent

First time in her boots, crazy to think this was only about 4 years ago!

Instead I found Hufglocken through Instagram and once I found out that they had free worldwide shipping on orders over $150 I decided to order some stuff. It just so happens that two full sets of boots from them cost about $180 with the difference in exchange rate so I went for it. They shipped today and I'll share more once I get them. I'm really looking forward to trying them out and excited that I'll have full matching sets of navy blue, brown, and pink tack now. It's the little things :)

Also, while I was sick this adorable jacket showed up that I bought for Veggie over Christmas. Watching him play with his tennis ball as a little monster certainly did a lot to make me feel better and I'm almost back to 100%. I should have a lesson recap soon!