Loosey Goosey

This is what she felt like today

One thing that's been amazing to see at the new barn is how much the turnout is helping Katai stay fit and loose.

At the last couple of barns we were fighting a losing battle with her fitness. Two barns ago at least I had an outdoor and a bit of, albeit flat, outdoor space to ride in. At Janes, unless I could con someone into riding down the road with me or if I could work out with the neighbor to ride in the outdoor I had I could only ride in the indoor and both of those were tough to arrange.

On top of that at both of the last barns Katai's turnout was only in a small paddock. She could canter around a bit but it was flat and small and unless she was really motivated to run around there wasn't much real movement.

We win at selfies

Now I have all sorts of outdoor space to ride in even if I never went on the trails since just the space around the arena, near the barns, and down the driveway is safe and roomy for riding. We also have a nice large outdoor that Katai doesn't have meltdowns in (mostly thanks to S2) which helps as well.

Even better, Katai is in a huge pasture with other horses! She has two palomino friends, that look like twins, and another paint and they all get along really well. The pasture is huge and hilly just like how we kept our horses as I was growing up. Walking to the end to graze on it's own is a good workout and is really helping to keep her muscles loose and definitely adding some fitness. In addition she's been more careful about where she's putting her feet since she can't just drag them along like she could at the last barn.

Plus, S2 is really helping me to work with Katai on getting her to relax the blocked tension she has had. She's always gotten really tight through her shoulders if anything is going on that she's unsure about and also, I'm finding out now, has carried a lot of tension through her hips. Like me with my shoulders I think that she's just been that way for so long that she didn't even know there was a different way to do it until S2 came along and showed her.

I didn't get many pony pictures so her's another puppy picture

It's part of my homework to keep working with her on it but it's also clear how much she's already let go, or will let go if you ask correctly. Her stride, which was already much improved at Jane's, has gotten even more buoyant and loose and it's easier to keep her from getting locked up. I also have tools on the ground so that if she does lock up and threaten to rear I can dismount, address on the ground, and then remount and have a nice soft, loose pony which certainly wasn't the case before.

All of these things led to a really nice ride today where she was right with me, loose, relaxed, pushing from behind and really trying for the whole ride. She, of course, had the wrong answer to things sometimes but now when I ask again differently, or do a minor correction she just melts into it and keeps trying. It was an amazing ride and made watching the rest of the team leave for the show even more bitter sweet. Oh well, soon Katai will be on that trailer too!

My Bestie

Easter Coffee, yes this is actually coffee that I bought on Saturday from my local, vegan coffee shop

I went out to see Katai on Easter Sunday morning. It wasn’t necessary because I was that dedicated, more because I hadn’t been able to make it on Saturday and wanted to make sure to check on her owie. However, the barn time turned out to be the best part of my day. It was quiet at the barn and Katai was her new normal, sensible self in the barn even though she was in there by herself.

Her wound is looking almost completely healed. The compresses hopefully helped with expelling whatever was stuck under her skin there and now all that’s left is a small pink spot with a clear small hole in the center. On Sunday it was still covered in crystalized gunk and had clearly been trying to expel something and since the swelling is completely gone and it doesn’t seem tender anymore I think it succeeded J I put a little antibiotic gunk on it just to be sure there’s no infection and that it’s able to heal up cleanly and then I got her boots and bridle on so that I could lunge.

The barn I board at is so beautiful and my pony has one of the nicest spots

I had been planning to hop on bareback but when I pulled her out of the pasture she was bucking and racing and bouncing so I had decided not to. However, she lunged (as usual) so calmly and was so keyed in to what I was asking that I decided to try it anyway. I’ve been on her bareback maybe 3-4 times in her entire life and only ever rode her at the walk. I also used to be really good at riding bareback since I did that a lot when I was growing up. Now that’s not the case and the only recent time I climbed on her bareback I felt tippy and insecure.

I rode her around at the walk a little and tried to re-balance myself and find that consistent center. At some point she was being such a good and obliging girl that I decided it would be a shame to not try some trot. She actually had a great transition and then really pushed forward from behind into a nice, big girl trot. She had pinned ears because I was all over the place and had to hold her mane to keep from balancing on her mouth but she didn’t try anything silly. She did a nice 20 meter circle for me and after a couple of circles I called it quits before I made her sore.

Not Katai's hair but it could have been this weekend! Pony was shedding

She got handfuls of treats for babysitting me and being so sane and because it was Easter and then I turned her out again. When I let her loose she immediately started bouncing and bucking again. I think that the barn staff wonder how I survive sometimes and they’re always telling me how crazy she is in turnout. I’m glad that she takes advantage of it actually, she should go out there and bounce around and burn off steam. She’s very careful with herself so I’m not worried about injury and it’s good for her body and her mind to be able to play and bounce like that. It also makes me exceptionally proud that she doesn’t try that stuff under saddle.

I can’t believe that only about a year and a half ago I was thinking about listing Katai for sale. Our partnership has come such a long way and now we are actually working as a team and seem to have more mutual respect for each other. It’s been a real shift for me to start thinking of her as a more accomplished and capable athlete rather than a baby horse in training but we’re finally getting there. Her ability to just go to work and leave the silliness behind is amazing to me as is her lack of spookiness. There are still people at this new barn (which is new to everyone) that can’t get their horses to the far end of the arena. I’ve been in their shoes many times with different horses so I’m not trying to imply that they’re doing anything wrong. It’s just helped me realize that I get to have so much fun riding (since I’m not an adrenaline junky ;-) because I don’t have a spooky horse and we’re able to make so much progress because I don’t have to also deal with desensitizing. It’s one of the big reasons why I will now always own ponies. Don’t get me wrong, we each have our thing and I certainly know that not everyone wants to give up amazing movement, or size, or breeding, or many of the other things that go into each person’s favorite horse. I’m just happy that I’m finally grown up enough to recognize what that thing is for me.

Yay! Boarding!

I found a place!!!!

I really love where Katai is now but with no arena, a sketchy pasture (used to be an alfalfa field 0_0) and nobody to ride with I have been seriously considering moving her. The problem is that the closest boarding stable and the most reasonable is also over crowed and has poor pasture spaces with many, many horses per field plus it is way more expensive just for pasture board.

This barn is slightly further away from home but almost exactly the same distance from work. It has a huge indoor coverall arena, an outdoor round pen, trails and a nice outdoor riding space, arena with grass footing. There aren't too many boarders and the woman who owns that place has exceptional horse keeping knowledge. She only deworms if she knows what the worm count is, rotates pastures and is willing to dry lot and manage turnout which is so huge for Katai!

















 Best of all the board is exactly what I will be paying now where she is for winter and only a little more expensive then I have been paying for the summer plus I can move in soon! It looks like I may be able to move her as soon as next Sunday although it will depend partially on Dan since I know I didn't give him much warning.

I can't wait to be able to ride her inside a nice safe space, ride with other people and be able to ride during the winter.

I was going to get more pictures but it was getting dark and its always a little weird taking pictures as the owner is walking you around. Next time I will get arena pictures :)

I can't wait!!!