Respect

I feel like we finally turned a corner in my lessons. J has had respect for me from the beginning but had none for Katai. I really don't blame her because Katai has been a little brat and has made my life more difficult that a more well trained horse would or just a horse in general since ponies are pure evil.

At my last lesson Katai was far from perfect but she listened and wasn't trying to rear or flip like she had been. She was relaxed, calm and sweet. I could tell that it changed how J felt about Katai.

This weeks rides have sucked. I've honestly been less motivated than I was for the past few months and Katai was back to being really tight through her back and resisting again. We were having some luck towards the end of my rides but I've felt like every time I had to go through the same struggle all over again. Of course this is why I have a trainer :) 

At tonight's lesson Katai started out horrible. I have no clue what was going on with her but half the time she was trying to bolt on me and the other half she just wanted to stop and stand or lazily walk around. 

I. Had. No. In between.

For about three seconds during my warmup before the previous lesson finished I got a nice trot so I quit on that and went into my lesson. J is a miracle worker, seriously. It's not that Katai wasn't horrible at moments it's just that she helped me change it, showed me what I needed to do next time and helped me get some of the nicest trot work that I've ever had with Katai.

I can't wait to go back now and try to recreate it!

In other news here is proof that we've been working hard.

I've been cleaning tack every couple of weeks and it's still getting this dirty. I can't do full cleanings more because I have to have pizza and every other week is more than enough pizza.

Yum :)

Next week I'm running in Ragnar and won't be able to have my normal Thursday lesson so I'm having a makeup lesson with a different instructor this Saturday. This is someone that I haven't ridden for or even around so far since she doesn't teach many lessons. I'm looking forward to having another person coach me and it is always good to get a different opinion. Sometimes one instructor just has a different way of describing something that will click with the rider.

It is sort of throwing off my scheduling though since normally pony gets Friday and Saturday off and I ride three of the remaining four days before my lesson. I'm still trying to decide what makes sense for a schedule this week. At any rate I'm trying to be better about blogging again and will post an update after Saturday's lesson!

In Limbo

I had a discussion with my new barn manager, who I will refer to as J from now on, last night and this morning and we made a mutual decision to wait two weeks before I move Katai. It sucks but really is the right decision for everyone involved and I am very greatful for the wonderful, supportive attitude of J who is being proactive and responsible about this outbreak.

Unfortunately this really leaves me in limbo. I was supposed to be out of the place where I was, now am, boarding and had moved out and reorganized all my stuff. I used to have three saddle racks and room for the huge plastic tote that I use as a tackbox and had it all cut down to fit in the one locker and one saddle rack that I will have. Going from this (plus there is a saddle rack even higher that you don't see in the picture)

To this plus one saddle rack,

 

(Not the actual lockers but it looks just like one of the smaller ones in this picture.)

Now, of course, I needed to move some stuff back to the barn but I didn't want to undo all of my new organization so I just schlepped the most important stuff back in one bucket plus my saddle, bridle and lunge line.

The best thing about this whole thing is that I'm going out of town this week and now I won't have to worry about leaving my pony in a new place with no support. It also meant that I got to ride and spend time with her again today rather than dealing with a stressful move. So....

We went on a trail ride!

This was her first real ride outside of the arena and she did great!! Of course she's been ridden outside a lot in the past but mostly that's been in her pasture which is a place that she is familiar. This was her first time in a new environment and she did great!! We even trotted for a long ways :) 

My little girl is growing up and it makes me very proud.

Really On Our Way

The weather has been so much nicer for the past couple of days and on Thursday I had a wonderful ride on my girl. We did so much trotting that I was actually sore, of course I haven't been riding much recently so that's not saying too much, and Katai didn't put a foot wrong.

The ride started out a little rough. She was slinging her head around and not wanting to listen to my leg but was very forward compared to normal. I actually climbed off to pull the saddle and check her back and girth because I wondered if she was sore. I couldn't find anything even with fairly rough poking at her back and a thorough examination of her girth and all four legs so I decided that she must just be having a "mare day" and climbed back on. We trotted for almost 20 minutes and she was just perfect. I even had really good steering which is usually pretty tough when they first start trotting.

Today I had another great ride on her and we did more trotting. there was someone else riding in the arena which was great experience for her but honestly she didn't seem to really care at all. She still seemed a little down but again I couldn't figure anything out even with an examination from her head to her tail. Apparently she hadn't finished up her hay that morning but she was eating the hay pile where I tied her and I looked at everything from the inside of her mouth to the pulse in her feet and everything seemed normal. I'm hoping she just has a minor but from the weather changes but either way we are going to take it easy tomorrow and I'm just going to groom her, spend some time with her and look her over again.

This evening I bought a couple of dressage books on my kindle. I just started one about early classical training with young horses and I'm really enjoying it. The writer does a TON of lunging in side reins before ever riding and explains why that is preferable and I can really see the benefits. I think I will probably do a review of the book when I am finished with it.