The Year of the Horse

Tonight when I went out to check on Katai, pull her blanket off and make sure that she was in one piece underneath and she looked like this ->

but I think she thought that she looked like this ->

Or this ->

 

I am really liking her new blanket. It's my first ever heavy weight blanket and a few years ago I NEVER thought that I would be using a heavy weight blanket on a horse I owned much less a PONY I own but she was actually loosing weight from the cold weather and now she is maintaining nicely.

She is just so cute! Once she had her blanket off and had been thoroughly inspected I free longed her for a little while which is when she turned into fire eating dragon pony and then put her blanket back on, fed her grain, and brought her back to her pasture.

As far as 2014 goes it has been going great so far! My old car died on the last day of the old year and I got a new on on the 1st. It is so nice to be confident about my car again and to know that it will go where I want it to!

I am also very excited to be taking part in the 2014 Twelve Week Horsemanship Challenge!! It is on Facebook and the challenge is;

Pick 1 horse and in 12 weeks: Spend 40 horsemanship hours and ride 30 times. Any rides count towards your 40 hours. (5 rides can be bareback the rest need to be saddled. No minimum ride time but 2 hours minimum between rides.) To throwdown in this challenge you must post a picture of you and the horse you choose by midnight PST Saturday January 4th 2014. The challenge starts on Sunday January 5th 2014 and finishes midnight PST March 29th 2014. Choose your horse wisely, get ready to grind it out rain or shine dark or cold. Posting updates is not required but is a huge support, inspiration and service to everyone else. Complete the challenge and reap the rewards in your horsemanship. Are you in??

I think it will be just the thing I need to encourage me to continue to ride through this cold. I will be tracking my progress on here to keep me going. I'm so excited to get started!!

Material Girl

Sometimes I feel materialistic when it comes to my pony and I feel the need to explain even though I know I don't need to.

I do love my pony for my pony and even if I had the same worn English saddle with a towel under it as a saddle pad and a mismatched bridle like when I was growing up I would love her just the same and would enjoy riding just as much. I am not into horses because of products or as a shopping opportunity they are simply a part of my soul.

However, I don't buy much for myself and when I do its normally practical. I love name brands but I can rarely afford them so I almost never buy them and while I do have a weakness for Victoria Secret I rarely buy myself anything fun as far as clothes or shoes go.

I also don't have any other expensive hobbies and even my computer was a good deal and relatively "cheap", in fact the only thing I have that is really nice is my iPhone.

When it comes to Katai though things are different. I save my money so that I can buy her nice things. Mainly its because her comfort and health actually depend to some extent on my ability to buy and use things that fit her and are comfortable and well made. I'll be fine if I wear work clothes from Target but my pony's back won't be ok if I buy her a cheap saddle.

Its also because its fun. Not only is it fun to shop for cute, nicely made, adorable things for her but it is so nice to see her in nice things and to feel proud about how she looks. Probably this isn't so different than parents buying their kids nice things but since I don't have any my pony gets to be nicely outfitted.

I bring this up partially because I did some shopping on Cyber Monday and bought another weight of blanket, finally I think I have the different weights that I need, a new girth and a pair of socks for myself. Partially though its because reading through posts it seems I have a lot of things I want for her. Most of them are things I need for example the girth I just bought was because neither of the ones I have right now really fit her. One is too short so she keeps hitting the buckles with her elbow (ouch) and the other is too slippery and doesn't have enough elastic so I slip all over the place. Having a unique sized and shaped horse means that I'm constantly searching for things that fit and work for her small frame.

And there is the fact that I can finally afford some of this stuff.

Growing up, as I said before, I had almost nothing that I wanted and very little that I needed to actually be able to outfit a horse properly and comfortably. Much of it was a quick fix or was borrowed from a friend and I always felt like I needed something or wanted something. It is so nice to finally have a good job and to be able to afford the things that we both need to be able to function together as a good horse and rider team :-)