COVID Horse Life Update Part Three

I can't wait to see this face again.

If you didn't read through the previous two parts of this please review those first. Those are important details into the updates I have for this post and are good perspective into my decision.

First, I can't tell you how much I've been struggling with this over the last month. I also can't emphasis enough how much this doesn't have to do with not being able to see Katai right now, and how much it does have to do with the lack of communication, poor communication, and lack of any sort of transparent plan regarding the barn closure. I'd also seen shortcuts taken that, when I could be there all the time, didn't concern me but those certainly started to eat at me when I couldn't be there. With that, two things really struck me over the past week that ultimately really made the decision for me.

First, my poor, amazing boyfriend has been listening to me process this and worry about any and all options. He's quietly talked me through it and been so amazingly supportive. Pretty early on he supported me moving Katai, partially because I think he understands how much my mental health is tied to this decision and is fantastic at supporting me through advocating for myself. I've been the one really hesitating to move in that direction. During yet another night of me being emotional and second guessing myself he said something that has really stuck with me. Basically I was talking about how awesome my barn owner had been when other people had horse emergencies and how she was such a nice person. I was feeling awful for even thinking about moving and he said something along the lines of "Just because she's amazing, doesn't mean she's the right fit for you right now". It really struck me in that the barn isn't awful, the owner isn't awful, no one is a villain here, it's just that with the unprecedented things we're dealing with right now, things have significantly shifted and what was amazing before, isn't necessarily amazing right now.

I'm jealous of those of you who can't see your horse right now but know that they're receiving amazing care. I'm jealous of those of you who have your own property and can continue to see, care for, and even ride your horse(s) through this time, I'm jealous of those of you that are at barns that have taken appropriate steps for social distancing and are listening to the science while allowing you to continue to see your horses and ride.

At any rate, I FINALLY came to the decision to move. The deposit has been paid to the new(ish) barn, notice has been given, and I'm planning to move in the middle of May pending final trailer arrangements.

So, where am I going? It's actually a barn I've been at before back in the winter of 2014/2015. This is the barn where I escaped to from the awful trainer that was my first dressage instructor. At the time I NEEDED an onsite trainer since I needed lessons and didn't have a trailer. Because of that, I didn't stay long but loved it there and the only negative I can remember is that I wasn't in a heated barn and it was the middle of winter so it was super cold.

This is the larger, unheated arena that's in the unheated barn I boarded in.

The people were lovely and it has super amenities. Since I left they also replaced all of the footing with a fiber/sand mix and made some other property improvements. I'll also get some additional "amenities" by being in the heated barn including that, well, there's heat and Katai will get led in rather than ran in like my current barn and this unheated barn. They also have a solarium that I'm super excited to use.

This was in the unheated barn. I think her stall was just to the right of this picture.

I actually have had this barn on my list for awhile and was going to move back just prior to when I moved to Jane's. I was so confident that I was going to move back at that point that I even started on the tack locker project with my dad. This is the only barn I'm aware of in the area that will allow you to have a tack locker. In the meantime, my dad has been kind enough to store the locker but I'm going to pick it up in May, finally get the exterior painted, and get that moved up there. I can't wait to finally start using it.

Tack locker in progress from back 2017/2018

Then, when I was leaving my previous barn and going to my current barn I was planning to move there again until my friend at the current barn invited me out for a visit and I fell in love with her facility and knew a few people there. It feels in some way like I've come full circle and found my way back.

I also really enjoyed reading through L. Williams Viva Carlos post about the barns in the area so while I didn't technically shop around I thought I might do a post about barns, what they offer, and what they check off my list. In the long run, I'm STILL on the waitlist for dream barn and after checking in earlier this month it sounds like there hasn't been any movement since February 2019 when I got on the waitlist. I figure either I'll love it here and decide to stay long term or I'll move there when the spot opens up. I really hadn't planned to move again before a spot opened up there but it turns out we're living through something that's changing plans everywhere so it's not too unexpected that I'd need to revise my plans.

Blogging and COVID Horse Life Update Part One

Well shit guys, this isn't exactly something I expected I'd be writing about during my lifetime.

First, since I hadn't updated and then everything hit the fan I figured I'd briefly update everyone on my blogging plans. Basically, when I took a pause on blogging back in February I didn't know how long I would take off blogging and wanted to experiment with other methods of communicating with my horse social network. However, once I took the pressure to blog off my shoulders it became apparent pretty quickly how much that break was needed. In addition, while I get some comments and interaction through my blog, I get far more through Instagram and just really love that platform for communication vs. blog comments. It feels much more interactive and more of my friends follow me on Instagram than through my blog.

With that, I don't plan to completely stop blogging. There are certainly things, like this update, that are much more easily communicated in this format vs. on an instagram post. I also do love blogging and the longer format certainly makes journaling easier. I am currently planning to post if and when I have bigger updates, feel like writing about something, have time, and feel motivated to. Otherwise I'll continue to update Instagram because it's just so much less time consuming and easier media wise etc.

We did discover this cool water tower on
one of our walks around our new neighborhood.

On to the horse life with COVID stuff updates.

For anyone who doesn't know I live in the Minneapolis, MN metropolitan area and I work for a major healthcare (hospitals, clinics, elder care, etc.) organization in MN. With that, while I might not be on the front lines I do have an inside look at how COVID is impacting hospitals and healthcare workers. Also important to note, our "Stay at Home" order went into effect on March 27th at Midnight. This "Stay at Home" order is similar to many others that have been shared in that it encourages outside activities that comply with social distancing measures, shuts down "non-essential" businesses, and encourages individuals to only engage in essential activities while following social distancing measures.  My BF and I both are lucky enough to work in fields where we can work 100% from home. We're also ordering all of our groceries online. With that, we've done a handful of curbside pick ups for booze and other items but otherwise haven't left the house since March 9th when we were both moved to 100% wfh.

I had stopped going to the barn as of 3/19 because the person who rents the apartment above the barn had symptoms similar to those with COVID. As of March 25th at Midnight my barn closed with the communication that it would open when it was safe. Between then and now I've received one video of the stall mares running around and playing (where I could sort of see Katai) and have had a couple of text exchanges with the owner. With that, I haven't seen Katai now for four weeks as of Thursday, 4/16.

Old fashioned with the best bartender <3

In Minnesota most barns closed down when the Stay at Home order went into place on March 27th. However, in MN boarding barns as classified as "agricultural facilities" and are thus exempt from the stay at home order which makes them free to make their own decisions about how to handle social distancing measures. Many have since re-opened with measures such as scheduled barn slots for all boarders. I know of at least one barn that remained open but canceled all group lessons, clinics, schooling shows, and other gatherings and is maintaining social distancing rules including hand washing, cleaning items that are touched by multiple people, and encouraging things like masks and sanitizer use.

I also know of barns that closed completely that have still been incredibly accommodating during the barn closures. One of those barns even sent the owner, my friend, a video of them celebrating my friend's horse's birthday including party hats and a cupcake with a candle that the horse even "blew" out. It was adorable, and sweet, and caring. Other barns have not been so accommodating, including mine.

Long story short, I've been faced with an icky decision with way too much time to think and worry about it. Basically I needed to try to find a new barn now based on the care concerns I have or stick this out in place with my fingers crossed that Katai will be ok and move after things quiet down. Since I think most of us know that this could go on for a long time, unless *fingers crossed* we find a vaccine or treatment, I don't know what "after things quiet down" means. If that's a couple of months I would be able do that. If that's 18+ months I absolutely won't. Right now our peak is projected to be at the end of June because we are social distancing well that means a long curve. With that, I can't imagine that "safe" will be a thing until at least this fall or even early next year.

Going Ons

I'm loving her new halter.
You can't really see it here but it actually has her show name on it!

Things have been happening over here peeps! I’m finally feeling like a real live human again so I’ve been getting back on track with pony things.

The new schedule has been super helpful although I haven’t been able to 100% stick to it yet. I have been doing the most intensive planned days though which has been huge. This past weekend I didn’t go do adventure day on Sunday but did go on Labor Day to “make up for it” so I’m proud of myself for that. I think that the only day I’ve really struggled with is spa day. If it’s nothing other than grooming I’m finding that my motivation just isn’t there so I think I may reschedule a bit or just move to the more intense schedule a bit sooner than planned.

Rides have been going really well! Unfortunately it’s been a looooooong time since I consistently rode even 2 days a week so we’ve both lost a lot of strength and fitness. I’m continuing to work on losing weight and gaining muscle out of the saddle though and with the plan I’ve put into place it seems like Katai is thriving off the work. She’s moving really well and we really did make some progress on random things over the summer even with the lack of work. Relaxation is a big one and she’s traveling much looser and longer from head to tail than she used to. This feels like a huge win for us.

Our second real work day ride was more about endurance than collection and so I added some time to our ride. Total work time under saddle (including walk warm up and cool down) had been right around 20 minutes. This past week we moved that up to 30 by increasing the walk and trot. I still haven’t cantered because now I realized that her saddle is too wide (loss of muscle) and so it is sliding forward badly at the canter. I need to bring my shim pads to the barn as a temporary solution but I keep forgetting. To make up for that and continue to add canter endurance I have been doing a fair amount of canter on the lunge.

Then on Monday’s make up Adventure Day I did some work in hand. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do on the way to the barn but figured I’d either do a low key ride around the barn or some in hand work. It ended up that, for some reason, I was having high anxiety and so was she. Often even if I’m having a high anxiety day when I get to the barn and she’s her normal calm self I can get my anxiousness down but on Monday she was also really anxious. With that I decided that, for multiple reasons, it made the most sense to do ground work.

The best thing about the situation on Monday was that with us both being high anxiety it was a good mini replication of what it would be like at a horse show. I decided to work her in hand around the trailers since that’s an issue typically. Somehow, magically, as I was working with her I ended up finding a tool to resolve a major issue I’ve always had with working her on the ground. For some reason something clicked with me that what’s tough about handling her on the ground is when she crosses in front of my driving line because then I lose the ability to effectively handle her. With that in mind I was holding the coiled up lunge in directly in front of my driving line (dead center in front of my body) and would flap it against the front of my legs if she got too close to crossing that invisible “wall”. This was seriously like a miracle and not only did she get it right away, she also stopped pulling and remained on the side I was trying to lead her on without a bunch of barging and pulling. It’s so simple that I can’t believe that it took me this long to figure it out. At least now we have one more way to effectively communicate with each other.

With that tool I worked on walking towards and away from the parked trailers since when we go to walk away from the trailer she always loses her marbles. Then we also went up to the wash stall and practiced standing in it. Both were productive and I continue to feel like our communication, trust bank, and relationship are improving in leaps and bounds which is paying dividends for everything I’m working on with her. The gains in relationship and trust are the biggest success for us this year and that’s a huge thing.

Dancing in the Rain

I have one quote at my work desk that says “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.” – Unknown

This has felt like it’s embodied what’s going on with my life over the past year and thankfully I have been learning how to dance in the rain. 0/10 do not recommend all of the life changing things happening at once (even if they’re positive) but I am so so so lucky to have so many amazing things going on in my life.

Not a great photo but I went to a helmet trade in day and finally got a long oval 1K in rose gold.
I <3 it

The new job is awesome, I’m really enjoying being here. It has been a little tough to face the change in work, even though other change has quieted down. I enjoy learning and taking on new things but when everything in my life feels new and I have more questions than answers it’s tough to hold on to my self-confidence.

The house savings is also going well. We’re still on track to be able to afford the friend’s house next spring/summer and we’re both cautiously optimistic and starting to plan for being there next year. I’m continuing to really stick to my budget and money things feel better than ever. Of course getting a job where I’m making more certainly helps but even with that I haven’t splurged or really changed my spending habits and almost all of the additional money is going towards the house.

Other things in my life have been more stable and things with me and my bf continue to be awesome. He’s an amazing person and so supportive of me including challenging me when he thinks he should which I SO appreciate. The most recent thing has been with my current barn. I’ve felt like I’m doing ok but I must be complaining/expressing more than I thought because he started to slowly and gently push me to look at other options. What was in my mind was to wait until we have the house and then move Katai but when I went to a friend’s barn and spoke positively about it he asked about it and then when I actually started to consider moving there he encouraged me to at least really consider it. Sure enough I’m moving and I’m so thrilled and can’t wait.

Doing DnD prep at the cabin a few weeks back.

The new barn is heated and has a heated indoor connected to the barn. Unfortunately I can’t take on any additional cost right now so while the stalls in that barn are amazingly affordable and beautiful (I’m seriously considering just staying here and trailering to the waitlist barn for lessons) I needed to move to pasture for now. I’ll be saving a small amount of money a month but will have to figure out how to get Katai her supplements on a regular basis. Since we’re moving there early September the pastures shouldn’t be overly rich so that will be ok diet wise. Then by next summer when the grass is starting to come up my hope is to move her into a stall. If for some reason I can’t get her a stall because of budget things she’ll just get a grazing muzzle until I can.

Living by this recently

After a few recent “incidents” at the current barn that left me fuming (which is unusual for me) it’s definitely time to leave. I’m also really glad that I’ll have heat this winter since I feel like I especially struggled with not being able to ride consistently during the winter because of the cold this past year. The current barn is just no longer my sanctuary and looking at moving has made me realize how long I’ve felt like I’m walking on egg shells there. At all of my past barns I’ve been excited when I’ve seen other vehicles in the parking lot and know that there’s someone else to ride with. At this barn if there’s a car in the parking lot I start to feel anxious and consider just leaving and coming back another day. That’s not ok.

What I know about the new barn:
-Katai will be on pasture board with other mares
-They do not feed supplements to pasture horses so I’ll have to figure that out. I think I’ll be ok as long as I can go out 5 days a week but will be figuring out a backup plan if I can’t or if I’m out of town or something.
-The barn that I’ll have my tack and equipment in and where I’ll groom and tack up is heated and connected to the heated indoor
-The barn is adorable and has several stalls. It’s fairly small and really nice. My hope is to get a stall in this barn next year.
-The indoor is fairly small but bigger than what I have now (I think it is at the very least wider but it’s tough to tell without measuring it) at around 60-130 feet so just under regulation small dressage size. It sounds like the footing is slightly deep but based on what I saw I wasn’t worried about it
-There is a much larger outdoor that’s in an awesome and beautiful location. Apparently the footing there is even nicer than the indoor.
-L (the trainer I worked with before Jane) teaches my friend at this barn so will be available for lessons. With my current budget and how out of shape Katai and I are I likely won’t take many lessons at first but it will be AWESOME to have a trainer again.
-My awesome friend boards here (of course since that’s how I found it ) and is the one who took the really nice pictures of Katai and me at the shows we’ve attended. She also rides dressage, takes lessons from L, and shows occasionally. Plus she trail rides a ton so will be a good trail buddy.
-The barn is directly across from a large park system with lots of horse trails so I’ll have trails very available to me. I’m looking forward to getting Katai more exposure in that environment

Zen

There are so many new things going on that I don’t even know where to start! I was going to just post a bunch of updates in the one post but I’m getting tired of doing that so instead I’m going to do a bunch of more involved update posts about some of the things that are happening in my life right now.

During the move. Luckily it's cleaner now but not quite
where I'd feel comfortable sharing a picture on the internet

To start this off my boyfriend and I have successfully moved into our apartment together! This marks a huge step for me since I’ve never lived with a significant other. I can’t imagine a more amazing person to experience this with though. Yes, I’m pretty sappy about all of it.

Walking Moshy in our "backyard"

Our new apartment has amazing views of a couple of Minneapolis landmarks and we’ve got a great view from our public roof top. The gym is amazing, now I just need to make use of it, as are all of the other public spaces. I love the layout of our apartment as well as the fixtures and we have in unit laundry which is fantastic. We’re still in the moving in phase, even though we’re mostly unpacked, and working to find homes for some of those last pesky things. We also have a few more things to pick up from James’ apartment but 90% of our stuff is here at this point.

Moshy's favorite place to play guard dog

We were also excited to be entertaining friends for the first time this past Sunday doing something extremely nerdy *cough* D&D *cough* and we’re both looking forward to being able to do things like this. Neither of our past apartments were good for having people over so that was one of the things on our checklist when we picked this place.

We have gorgeous views!

It is still a bit small so we’ve both had to downsize a bit. Space wise it feels huge compared to my last apartment, which was only about 400 sq ft but that apartment only needed to fit my stuff and since my bf owned a home at one point he has way more things than I do. We’ve both done quite a bit of downsizing and have a bit more to go but we’re getting there and it’s starting to feel less cluttered. I also came up with a really cool set up for my horse stuff, at least the horse stuff I’ve been able to keep through the downsizing, but that’s for one of the next posts!

At night the view from our public access rooftop is spectacular

Enforced Down Time

Well, after posting “all” of those posts there were even more life changes and a timeline that changed slightly so things have been really busy again away from the barn.

 Katai is still doing well but I’ve been maybe seeing her 1-2 times per week at this point. As July was coming to a close I decided that for a few reasons, during the month of August I was going to just coast and only go to the barn if I felt like it and/or to make sure she has everything she needs. Luckily with full care board at an amazing facility that’s ok and while I still feel guilty about it I don’t feel as guilty as I thought I might. I think I really needed this “vacation” from riding. It’s been something I’ve put my whole heart into for the past 5 years or so without really significant breaks so this has been nice and refreshing.

 Also, since Katai will be in quarantine for the second half of the month and I’ll be unable to ride or work her it seemed silly to try to get her back in shape for two weeks only to have her lose that conditioning while she’s standing around for two weeks. As of now Katai is at the new barn and in quarantine but that’s for a different post.

 The life changes are really exciting however :) As I mentioned previously other things were in the works to help with the overwhelmed feeling. One was moving Katai closer, another that happened to come up was the work change/promotion that significantly reduced my stress, the third is that my bf and I were starting to talk about moving in.

Tiny sleepy fox puppy

Initially it was going to occur next spring to coincide with the end of the lease I signed but the more we talked about it the more we felt that actually moving before winter was ideally the way to go. We moved up our plans to look at apartments while keeping in the back of our mind that we may still need to wait until next spring. We looked at a couple of meh places and then we saw two that we really liked that checked all of the boxes. After some debate we ended up with a favorite and went ahead and signed the lease to start moving in September!!

My bf will have until the end of October to move and I’m working to finalize a sub leaser who will likely want to move in mid-September. Talk about stressful with moving myself and pony twice this year! However, both moves are going to significantly reduce my bf and my stress and open up a bunch of time that we haven’t had which is much needed. I’m also just so thrilled and excited to move in with this amazing person I love.

Vegan tacos!!!!

At any rate moving for me will likely occur during the first week of September right as Katai gets out of quarantine. To help I did take the full week off instead of just Labor day so hopefully that allows me time for both getting Katai back into work and for moving. I will post a brief update of the move to the barn and I’m hoping to do a mini barn tour this week. Otherwise the blog will likely be pretty quiet until all of the moving is completed. Hopefully at that point I’ll be refreshed and rested from pony stuff and ready to start this blog back up in ernest!

Exacerbated (long post feel free to skip)

While I know I haven’t done a good job of updating this blog this year I have still been reading all of the blogs I subscribe to. Reading a couple of posts recently made me want to post an update on what is going on more from my riding perspective and mind set than just a general update so here goes.

 I am, along with at least one other blogger, currently struggling with the move up to second level and really have been since last fall. At first it was because I was getting a lot of attitude from Katai as she also struggled with the new expectations but then it became more because we were consistently derailed. First by saddle fit, then ulcers, then SAD, then more saddle fit issues, then my anxiety, then a new boyfriend, then a new puppy, then the weather, then a barn move, then a longer drive, then more expensive lessons, then the weather again…

This weather? Making riding difficult? No that can't be...

 Yeah, so while I’m certainly struggling with moving to 2nd level that’s been exacerbated by all of the other things going on in my life. It is a two way street though and while I’ve shared a lot about all of the other things there is certainly a component of the barn and riding no longer feeling entirely like my happy place, at least not to the extent that it did. The question then is whether I’m going to let myself continue to be derailed and just not focus on riding as much as I have been or completely let the blog go but I don’t want to do either of those things and honestly my life wouldn’t be complete without horses and working toward some sort of riding accomplishments.

Delicious blueberry, spinach smoothies are one way
to make the high heat and humidity tolerable

 So what am I doing to fix it?

 When I stepped back and analyzed why I was really struggling a couple months ago I found that I’ve added the following:
An additional commute in the morning of 10-15 minutes
An additional commute in the evening of 20-50 minutes
An additional commute to the barn each way of at least 20 minutes
Additional time spent walking puppies (I used to be able to let Veggie out in the backyard) of 10-15 minutes 3-4 times per day
Additional time with my bf

 If you completely cut out the time with my bf that’s an additional hour – hour and 45 minutes for days I don’t go to the barn and an additional hour and 40 minutes to 2 hours and 15 minutes on days when I do go to the barn from how my schedule used to be. When you add in time with bf at home and time with bf doing events that pull me away from home that’s a considerable change from my previously quiet (but also lonely :) schedule.

Lots of days like this with huge thunderheads as our weather wildly swings

Having laid that out I feel less guilty for not being able to get to the barn as much or guilty for our lack of progress. Then when I look at budget as well and that is also tight. Moving into the new apartment, needing to pay for parking every day, boarding at a more expensive barn without lessons included, a new puppy, a new (used) car, needing/wanting to go out on dates with my bf… All of these things were items that I took into account but it still feels tighter than I want which is annoying. The tighter budget means fewer lessons and less ability to do shows and/or clinics.

 With looking at the above there are a lot of things that I can’t control but there are a couple of things that I can control and one of those is the barn where I’m boarding Katai. So yep, you guessed it, I’m moving again. The new barn is cheaper by a good bit, and much closer. I’ll easily save 30-50 minutes each time I go to the barn between the shorter drive and the setup of the barn. I found it through my horse network since, like Jane’s place, it doesn’t have any online presence. I’ll do a post specifically about the barn soon, I’m getting so good at them at this point..

One of the busy weekends spent up north with my bf and his family

I have a couple of other ideas as well to help take some pressure off and bf is amazing as always since after I figured this out we had a long positive and supportive conversation about doing a food prep and chores day together. That way we could both get stuff ready together for our busy weeks since not having food to eat has been one of the huge stressors I’ve been dealing with. We’ve also talked about leaving more weekends open so that we can just veg and hang out together or do our own thing (riding for me and climbing for him) vs. always having stuff scheduled.

 I really like this guy.

 There are a couple of other plans in the works to help with reducing my scheduled time but right now they’re just in the beginning stages so nothing I’m comfortable sharing yet. It is making me feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel though. Work has also gotten better in the last couple of weeks thanks to a shift in how our department workflows function and because we added some additional staff. I’m also receiving a promotion which is fantastic :) That all means that my stress should be far lower when I get home which will make for less need to veg and more ability to do the things I want to do.

Another busy weekend spent in NC with my bf for one of his friend's wedding

 As far as what I’m doing to help with my riding?

 I love my current trainer. She’s an amazing person and the tools she gave me to help with Katai’s ground work have made a significant difference. As long as I keep doing my homework I’m confident that next time I show I’ll have a much easier time getting through to Katai which was exactly what I hoped to gain from her. However, she has seemed to me to be uncomfortable helping me get to 2nd level and has encouraged me to clinic vs. taking dressage lessons with her. I truly appreciate her honesty, and, it’s then tough to feel like it makes sense to invest in many lessons with her.

At the new barn there is a dressage instructor that I follow on social media and who is riding at least a couple levels above me. In addition, there is another, locally well known, dressage instructor nearby who has a history of bringing riders up the levels. At this point I’m still comfortable mainly going it alone for a while both to help with my current level of burnout (weekly lessons just aren’t a thing I can do right now) and because we still really need to build strength more than anything else. However, being able to take a lesson a month or as needed to ensure we’re headed in the right directly would be amazing.

 Of course it’s also going to be extremely helpful to be so much closer to the barn. That will help reduce my burnout, increase my motivation to go, and make it easier to get there even when I have more limited time. More than anything I need to get back into a 5 day routine since Katai is not doing well on the 2-3 days a week that I’ve been managing for the past couple of crazy months. So, I finally feel like I have at least the beginning of a plan in place.

Hopefully the reduction in stress and increase in available time will mean I can increase my blogging as well but my first goal is to get my riding back to where it needs to be and then hopefully the blogging will follow!

Another Update

Crabby looking sleepy puppies.
Their answer to dealing with the blizzard we're having is to sleep and cuddle

I'd like to be able post things other than just update posts but after taking such big breaks between posts it seems like it makes sense. Updates first and then I'm hopefully going to spend some time today writing more posts so that I have some prepared content for the next couple of weeks.

Plans for this week are to;
-schedule travel to new barn for Katai Doneish, I've received confirmation that travel will happen this next week, just not exactly when...
-make sure the vet visit for shots and coggins gets scheduled for before we leave  Scheduled and completed as of Friday
-drop off extra tack at the local tack swap this Friday - did not do
-finish “pulling” her mane 
-trim her beard and ear hairs as well as cleaning up her feather  I didn't get her ear floof trimmed but that's less important to me than the other stuff.
-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  Yay!!
-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

Plans for next week are to;
-clean all my tack including Katai’s leather turnout halter - partially done ahead of schedule
-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

Project Update

I got another weekend in with my dad working on my tack locker. We're working on the toughest part right now which is getting the body of the cabinet assembled. Luckily my dad has 7 large clamps that we can use to hold it together because it's like a large, heavy, sticky (from the wood glue) 3D puzzle.

So far we have the top and left side up and nailed and glued. We're letting the glue dry on those before we put up the right side and bottom luckily those will be far easier since we'll at least have a reference and more to clamp to.
 

Getting there!

Since I'm in WA this week and only getting home on Friday I likely won't go home again until the beginning of March but over the next few times working on it we should be able to do the majority of the rest of the work. I'm not in too much of a hurry though because before I move it I want to paint it and since it doesn't make sense to paint in the small enclosed space of my dad's shop I'll likely wait until it's warm enough to take it outside and that won't be for at least a month or more.

Selfie time! From my hotel window seat looking out at the Seattle Convention Center

I also finished up another project! I started working on the idea for a stall name plate like this over Christmas but I went through a couple before I got it right (right enough anyway). There are still things I'd like to improve but mainly I really like it. I'll take a picture to share when I get home but I painted chalk board paint in a rectangle on the bottom so that I can put notes or just doodles on it. The chalkboard is nice although a white board would have been nicer to write on. The colors, navy and pink, are what I'm going to try to do with my tack locker so it should be a cute match once that's done.

Holly Progress Batman

I’m going to take a selfish minute here and pat myself (and my pony) on the back about our recent progress. It seems like so much of the time we don’t stop to celebrate the little things and I’ve made myself a goal to do so more often.

 

The above photo is from May after I had been taking lessons from L for a couple of months. I was still tipping forward pretty badly and my snap posting was all over the place. Katai was starting to go better but was still fairly short strided and stiff.

 

Now, after about two and a half more months of lessons with L we look like this.

 

 This was a snapshot of actually a fairly rough ride but I'm really happy with the improvement in my position and how much more relaxed Katai is. She's longer through the neck and more relaxed through the poll. Katai has had too much time off recently so when I ride she just thinks she can blow me off and do her own thing. I worked on tactfully reminding her that I’m in charge and she needs to listen and at the end we got some nice moments. I’m so proud of both of us and how far we’ve come over the past few months!

 

The next post is going to be a goals redo/update since I’ve let that get completely out of control this year and I’m trying to catch up. Then I’m also going to post a bad picture of my ride from last night to show how difficult the pony can be when she wants to. I’m seriously impressed that L sticks with us sometimes.