I also got video of our Intro C test from the schooling show over Memorial Day weekend. Fun fact is that my co-worker who was there with friends is holding the video camera and you can see my photographer friend to her right and my Jane to the left. I have such amazing friends :)
I have a huge smile on my face both because I'm sort of stunned with how well the test is going and because for the first time I feel like I have a pony since she is tired and keeps trying to quit on me. Especially on the last center line you can really see her try to stop.
Despite the fact that she keeps trying to stop and interrupting the rhythm I'm really happy with the improvement to her gaits
This weekend has felt a bit bipolar in both my personal and my horse life. I shipped the Vegetable off with my dad yesterday since I'll be traveling this upcoming week so it's been quiet and weird at home without him. I've also started packing and am still doing my best to deal with the stress of this not completely positive last minute trip which will now, most likely, be Tuesday-Friday.
With Mother's Day today I'm sad to not be seeing my mom (other plans, travel, etc.) and since I'll never be a mom to small humans would like to celebrate with my four legged kids. However, with Veggie gone it already feels weird and then I had a scare with Katai yesterday.
So I've mentioned previously that Katai has had some shortness in her right shoulder. It's been off and on and she's always held tension there and she does a really good impression of the Zanyeta stomp when I take up contact if she's tense. Most of the time though she's even and if she's even on the contact and working without tension she's perfect on various footing. However, if there's even a small amount of tension or if we're asking her to take more contact on the right rein she'll have a slight hitch to her gait.
Jane and I did a full lesson where Jane had me work through a few different exercises including counter bending her and changing the bend a lot and she was perfectly even for almost the entire ride. It started cropping up now that Jane's helping me get more even contact on both reins. There's no heat, no swelling, no "off-ness" to any part of her leg or shoulder but she starts to move that way when there's any tension. You can probably see it in the trotting GIF I shared in my last post. When I originally created it I was paying more attention to how active her hind legs were but when I saw how noticeable it is there I thought about pulling it. However, it's an accurate representation of where we are right now.
I want to assure you that I'm not neglecting getting a vet to look at her, if this doesn't resolve itself soon or if it changes, or starts to be more prevalent I'll of course call out the vet and do whatever they think is needed. I have the funds set aside to do it so it's not a big deal but after extensively looking at it Jane and I both feel that it's more of a "rein lameness" than anything else.
With that being said I took her over to the other barn yesterday with just a lunge line and rope halter. This barn is a PERFECT desensitization opportunity. The women who owns it has a pet potbelly pig right up against the arena along with two mini ponies in the next pen over. She's also got three, large rambunctious dogs, a rambunctious kid, multiple other horses, and jumps and standards all over in and near the arena. Basically a whole lot of things that Katai has no familiarity with.
When I got Katai there, while I was incredibly impressed at how well she was handling it, as you can imagine there was A LOT of tension. I just asked for a bit of lunging with lots of changes of direction but she was clearly uneven and this is the first time that I've lunged her where it was noticeable without side reins. I didn't do much and then took her back to our barn. Groomed her, left her, and spent the rest of the evening freaking out. Everything from retirement, to shoulder x-rays, to minor muscle tension, to calling the chiro ran through my head for about 5 hours.
I finally talked myself off the ledge and decided to have Jane look at her this morning prior to heading back over to the other arena for a ride. If Jane thought that anything was wrong I'd call off the ride and figure out with her what to do. If not, I'd go ahead and ride.
I got there and saw that Jane was videotaping her (AMAZING) young horse who was having a trainer ride outside. I watched (with my jaw hanging open) for a few minutes and let her know that I'd like to have her watch the pony trot on a lunge. She agreed but also told me that she still didn't think Katai was off. Apparently she'd been running around and Jane has already diagnosed that tension is what's causing the unevenness and she already knew that Katai was tense when I was at the neighbors.
I got Katai out (honestly all ready to prove her wrong and send us into emergency lame horse crisis mode) and brought her into the arena and started trotting her on the lunge and couldn't find even a speck of lameness. None, zilch, and I was LOOKING for it. I was so ready for her to be off that I changed directions with her a few times and even had her canter just to try to prompt it but still nothing. Then Jane showed up, also pronounced her completely sound (probably feeling like I'm some sort of hypochondriac) and reminded me how that tension would have caused her to be off just as we've talked about in the past.
I was SOOO relieved and tacked the pony up to head over to the other barn. I crossed my fingers that I'd make it out alive but I also had so much hope that she'd be good after all of our recent practice.
Long story short it went SO well! I was able to get some video which I've posted below! I pretty much just cut out mounting (and a bit of the end after I dismounted since I was trying to get a melted peppermint out of a wrapper and even I lost patience watching it) although I wish it had been in frame.
This arena belongs to the women on the right with the exceptionally tall horse and her mounting block reflects that. I had to slowly lower myself onto my pony's back since the top of the mounting block was higher than the bottom of my saddle flap #ponyproblems.
As you can see in the video she still is tight in that shoulder at points, however, for her first ride in a new space I feel like she did well and it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. She'll get four days off next week while I'm out of town so I'm curious to see if that changes anything. If it really is just her holding tension it shouldn't but I'm curious. We really did ride for just about 10 minutes since my boy doesn't do well with quick temperature changes and this was the first 80 degree day we've had. Even with this I had a headache but much more and I would have ended up with an all day migraine. I'm planning to ride over there again next weekend so I'll work more then. Also, yeah I know that I mirrored our test and went right instead of left. I started off without room to go left when I started and since it was more about being able to cue for things at specific points I just went with it.
Finally, once I got back today I finally got to see Jane ride. Normally our schedules don't align so while I've known she's an accomplished rider I haven't quite known what to expect. Some people are better teachers than riders but I was blown away today watching Jane ride. She's not a young women and her horse is in her 20s and a true definition of a school master (at one point the mare decided to try to take over and do a canter pirouette :) and Jane rides like this.
Alois Podhajsky
and reminded me of this book
It was amazing to watch, like watching a true master. The amount of core strength and how invisible her aids are were just outstanding to me. I've seen some amazing riders but never expected to find that in my instructor and because she hasn't shown much, there aren't many scores out there for her so I just had no idea really. It totally impressed and blew me away and while I've clearly always had so much respect and trust in Jane seeing her ride herself just brought it to the next level.
We also rescheduled my Tuesday lesson to Monday so I'll have more to share soon!
First of all you guys I'm doing it!!! I was at the barn 6 days this past week and rode 4 times, lunged once, and did a spa day last Sunday. I can certainly refine it but I'm really happy that I did it, especially since I really didn't want to go to the barn on Friday but was able to pick myself up and go after, again, reminding myself that I never regret going.
Based on my mental ability that night and the fact that Katai felt a little tired I just did an easy stretchy ride. I did get a video which I took by balancing my new iPhone 7 on a jump standard in the middle of the arena. Not ideal, but you can see our most recent stretchy work as well as a decent halt :) There's also some pony cuddles at the end if you make it that far.
Then on Saturday I had an AMAZING ride! Katai was nice and relaxed (stretchy work ftw) but more forward than on Friday. We started with some walk work and did some leg yields, halts, and 10 meter circles while concentrating on controlling her body parts appropriately.
Then we went to trot and other than needing to have a couple of firm discussions about the requirement of flexion and connection she was really feeling good. Nice and relaxed with nice suspension. We did a little lateral work but mostly just focused on the quality of the trot and getting her in front of my leg without getting racy.
Then we did some canter. She was still stiff and struggling a little. After a bit she gave a couple snorts and seemed to really loosen up as we went. I really think she's just adjusting to our tougher work load so I'm making sure to be really understanding while still asking for just a bit more than she wants to give. With that being said her canter is still feeling stronger and stronger, she's just not as relaxed and balanced on days like this as she is when she's really feeling good. Plus she broke to trot a few times. We've been working on doing smaller circles at the canter and I was able to get a couple of good circles in either direction.
Walkies after Saturday's ride.
I always prefer to dismount and walk her out since it's good for me too :)
Finally, after a walk break, we did some of our best recent transition work. It's been a balancing act of working on walk/trot transitions without blowing her mind about them. Tonight I did them in sitting trot just asking with my seat and she was AMAZING!! She wasn't throwing her head around, was going from walk to trot off my seat, and really maintaining a nice rhythm. I also made it tricky for her by doing shoulder or haunches in between transitions.
Finally we ended with a couple of halts. These keep getting better and better! The only thing that's been tough is that now, since she knows she get's lots of praise for a good halt, she keeps trying to throw them in during our walk work. Poor overachieving pony doesn't like when I gently tell her that it's not always what I want haha.
Then today, Sunday, I had planned to do a quiet toodle day or another Sunday Spa day but I woke up feeling like I was coming down with a cold. I try hard to listen to my body so instead of doing anything I stayed home and have pretty much been napping on the couch all day. It's really ok, Katai had two good work days so she had an easier day coming. I would have worked on trailer loading but it's colder out again than it was so I knew she'd be especially hot and spicy and that's the last thing I need right now.
Oh well, I'm feeling ok after a relaxed day so I'm planning to be back at the barn tomorrow!
My poor little Cube video recorder!! It lived a good life which was cut way too short tonight.
I pulled it out of my pocket as I was walking, Katai thought it was a treat and reached for it. I fumbled and dropped it and because we were still walking it fell on the concrete and she stepped on it...
In blue cubie's memory :(
I'm actually a little sad about it. It's been such an amazing tool and even though I now I have very blurry pictures and sketchy video from the lighting in my arena at least I have media. I'll be buying another one but will be sad to not use it until it gets here. I also had taken video tonight and had a couple of videos on the Cube that are now lost. Please forgive the temporary lack of media and we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programing soon!!
Yes! I have media, and not just any media but a video.
Unfortunately we had the heater running so there was a very loud buzzing in the background that covered up everything and was annoying to listen to. Instead you get to listen to one of my favorite tracks from the past month. However, even if you can't hear what Jane's saying you can see how effective she is in changing the way I'm riding.
Just to recap my rides last week, I was out of town through Thursday and wasn't able to make it to the barn on Friday which meant that Katai hadn't been ridden since Sunday. When I got to the barn on Saturday she was fine in the crossties but a little firecracker to ride and she actually had such a hump in her back that I almost got off and lunged. Instead I was able to ride her through it and got some good stretchy work. I was able to get her loosened up enough that I was encouraged that my lesson would be productive.
You can watch in 1080 if you go to Youtube and see the full quality video
if you're curious about the quality from the Polaroid Cube
The first clip is from early in the lesson where Katai was quite stiff and reluctant to bend appropriately. The second clip is from closer to the middle of the lesson where we were starting to get Katai much looser. Finally, the third clip is a walk break and you may be tempted to skip to the end but if you watch till the last couple of seconds there's a good easter egg curtesy of Jane ;)
I love my instructor!!
There isn't much that's exciting to watch since we were just focused on helping Katai loosen up and get steadier in the contact after the break while I was in Seattle. We did some leg yields and canter spirals at the end but unfortunately I didn't think to charge the camera before my lesson so it stopped before we got there. I'll try again next time and hopefully have more interesting movements to watch.
I may have my next lesson this evening but if the weather is as bad as they say it will be I'll have it this weekend instead. Either way I'll post a recap!
I got a few amazing things other than the girth and bride but most of them aren't horse related (including some amazing handmade knit socks from my mom). However, I ended up with a very generous Amazon gift card and I've already bought a few fun things including a Polaroid Cube.
For anyone who doesn't know what these are, I didn't until I found it on Amazon, it's similar to a go-pro but at $60 it's a better price point for me and it's just adorable.
I got the blue one
Along with the price point there are a few fun things about this camera. First, it's tiny!
It's also water proof (or maybe just water resistant) and, my favorite, it's got a small built in magnet!
Sorry for the dirt but look how cool that is!
It's securely magnetized to the metal on the wall
just like a little superhero
It takes video up to 1080 and accepts a micro SD up to 32GB. It also has a wide angle lens so it captures a bit more than my phone which is really nice when trying to get videos in the arena.
Clearly I could have positioned it better
but for a screen shot from a video in bad light this isn't bad!
Mainly, while the quality might not be as nice as a more expensive (or larger) piece of equipment it's really simple, cute, handy, and for the price it will be fun to play around with. I'm hoping to figure out how to best incorporate it in my rides and I'm hoping it will help me get more media since that's been tough otherwise.
Little blurry here (very small part of the shot)
but not horrible and at least I can get media!
First of all I wanted to post my previous improvement video
Secondly I have this video from my ride (early this year or late last year?) in the dressage clinic that I participated in as well as footage from one of my recent rides.
A few things to note:
- while I feel like my upper body has gotten way better, as has my posting (oh boy), my leg has gotten worse haha. It's extremely difficult for me to round my back and still keep my leg back. I'm doing hip flexor stretches but honestly I'm not sure if that's the issue since I need to do contortions to actually feel a stretch and tend to be a fairly flexible person.
- The most recent footage was taken after I finished cantering, gave Katai a walk break, and went back to trot. She's being very good but there's definitely more tension than normal and she's not nearly as through as she gets in my rides with Jane.
- because Katai is so tense I'm riding a bit defensively so I don't think my leg is normally quite that bad and I'm posting ahead more than I have been recently
- I'm not quite sure what happened to my posting diagonals. It's a huge pet peeve of mine and I'm normally correct about 95% of the time. However, we've been using this as a tool for the leg yields so that it's easier for me to effect the correct hind leg and as soon as we started doing that I started messing them up.
- OMG we look so much better. Katai is so much more consistent in the contact, her rhythm has slowed down enough that I can actually ask her for things and I don't feel like she's just running away all the time. I'm improving too but I'm disappointed to see how badly my chair seat is back. It's also tough to see some of the improvements in my posture since I chose to wear the puffiest vest I own during this ride and didn't think to take it off for the video
- Also, this isn't cutting out bad moments. What you are seeing here was the worst part of the ride since before we cantered Katai was much more relaxed and through. The cuts are just to keep this a decent length and to cut out the time we spent off camera.
Finally, I'm so proud of us! We've been making good changes since that clinic ride in the video but the majority of this improvement has happened over the past month or two. I can't wait to see where we are this next spring!
I'm not happy with our weather right now. Spring and Fall when our weather changes and the pressure changes I always end up with bad migraines. This year in particular there have been so many swings back and forth that it feels like my head will never feel normal again. I've been tired, crabby, and in pain which has led me to not feel motivated to blog or to ride. Also with the recent FLSA change, which is going into effect on December 1st, and other year end things work has been crazy. With all of that I've been setting a goal to ride 4 days per week rather than 5.
For the most part Katai has been fine with that but today between still being madly in heat (seriously weather just go away. It's ok to be warm, or to be cold but please make up your mind) and a less consistent riding schedule she was full of spice.
I feel like we're living in England with this cold rainy weather
Also, she really wasn't bad, at all, but I also had my trainer hat on and so I was pushing things a bit more than normal. I feel like around once a week I really feel up to being a real thinking rider and actively training. Clearly I'm aware that I'm training her ever ride and I'm always working on things but this was one of those rides where I went into the ride knowing that I was going to push her a bit. For this ride that meant changing up the normal routine a bit more. It probably wasn't a good time to do that when I knew she was in heat but meh, it ended up being a great thing.
To start I got her into a good trot. She normally doesn't get as through until after she canters but she felt really good today. Because she felt so good early in the ride I asked for canter fairly quickly. She went into the canter pretty nicely but started off on the incorrect lead, my fault. I fixed it and did a good amount of canter on 20 meter circles and straight down the long side. After I really felt that she was on my aids and going well I went to trot across the diagonal and then towards the end went to leg yield and right into canter in the other direction once I hit the wall. Video below, I can really see some improvement!
In that transition she didn't do anything naughty but porpoised slightly as we went which she hasn't been doing at all so I knew she was feeling tight and extra full of energy. That was her tougher side so I got about as much canter but it wasn't quite as good as in the other direction and then back to trot. I gave her a walk break and then back to trot.
She was a bit tight to start off (she still doesn't think she should have to trot after we canter, my fault for always letting her be done after we cantered) but after a couple of serpentines and leg yields she loosened up. At that point I actually went back to canter which she did really, really well. She went right into the transition, very nicely. I was actually kind of impressed with just how nicely she cantered.
Slightly failed experiment with taking phone pictures
Very happy with that hind leg!
After another walk break I asked her to go back to trot, which I knew would mess with her, and she was quite hot, tense, and sassy. Clearly I was completely incorrect in asking her to do that since Katai knows much more about how our riding plan works :)
However, she did get nice and stretchy and felt great. She was stretching down and listening so I went to do a walk transition but didn't want to give her the reins right away. I hadn't put tons of thought into it, just knew that I can't keep just giving the reins away when I bring her back to walk. That really messed with her and she lost the remainder of her pony mind. She jigged, jogged, pranced, and started rearing. Major sass attack time.
Taking pictures with my apple watch
Children, don't Watch and Ride
There are times when I would just have called it after an amazing canter, or amazing trot but I can't keep doing that every time. Sometimes she has to just be an adult and my plan had been to have her take about three steps with some contact and then let it go and be done. Since she spazzed out though we ended up with another 5-6 minutes of riding and sassing with me talking to her, staying calm and relaxed, and trying to get her brain back between her ears.
I wasn't asking for much contact and eventually she did a good job of walking and relaxed a bit and then I really pushed my luck and asked for another halt/walk transition and she walked off softly with contact so I was done.
I was really proud of how I handled it and the progress that we made and I know that I need to just keep chipping away at this little monster I created with following too much of a routine.
Tonight the plan was to just lunge since I'm still working back to 5 rides per week and wanted to make sure that Katai got an easier day. I'd rather go on a trail ride or something but the weather has been horrible for getting a hot young horse outside so since I don't like to die this is the safest option for both of us right now.
I got her groomed and tacked up and I actually had happier ears! She did pin them a few times but over all I think she was more relaxed and seemed less pushy.
This is what a 13.2 hand pony looks like to a short person
Then I put her on the lunge and after a brief warm up where she got to put her head where she wanted I put on the neck stretcher. It's been working really well lately and I'm happy with how she responds to it. As always recently I just sort of try to lunge her effectively but really inside I'm jumping up and down because my pony actually has some suspension! I think I've mentioned this before but I finally got video to prove it! First of all though, some stills :-)
My superstar pony
And now the video!
*I noticed when I was looking at these pictures and video how much her saddle slid forward. I hadn't girthed it very tightly so that's a part of it. It also looks like it's setting pretty high so I'm going to try tacking up without the sheepskin again next time.
Finally a video that I'm comfortable posting! I know we've got a lot of work to do, please forgive my complete and utter lack of ability to do anything properly with my upper body, but I'm so proud of how far we've come and Katai is seriously like a different horse!
I think this video is private so if you can't see it please let me know!
I've been obsessing, again, and looking over the video that I shared awhile ago so here are some stills :)
Look at that hind leg! I realize this is the PERFECT place in the canter to capture a picture but I'm really pretty pleased with her. There isn't much jump but there isn't much strength there yet either. She's nicely balanced and I think reasonably uphill for this point in her training. She's carrying herself that way, there are no side reins on her in this picture.
She is also very upright and balanced. She LOVES to canter and is nice and slow on the lunge even on nights like tonight when she was a little spooky.
Nice long stretchy back and open stride. Even though the picture is tillted a bit in her favor she is still traveling reasonably uphill for where she's got her head. Her diagonal pairs match up nicely.
Pictures of a very tense, inverted pony mare. Yes there are sidereins but they are long enough that she was actually nibbling on grass at one point before pictures so they are not causing her to carry her head like this. Besides, you can see the tension in her legs and body as well.
Fast forward a few months of proper work, carrot stretches plus ground poles and you get this.
Plus, that's in the cold with very little warm up and she is pretty weak still from lack of any real consistent work. I am seriously getting excited about where we can go. Is there a bronze medal in our future?
There may be people out there that are wondering why I have a pony and not a normal sized horse or a warmblood. The reason for me isn't because it wasn't an option but because I've always, always, loved ponies. I think that Flash, the 14 hand pony that I competed in hunters and eventing when I was having early riding lessons is a big part of the reason that I have a thing for ponies but honestly I have just always felt that they are much more appealing for several reasons.
One reason is that I feel it is just a much more harmonious picture.
This vs.
This for example.
Or this vs.
I really don't know why I prefer the smaller horses but I do :)
Secondly they just have such awesome attitudes. Calm, not overly spooky, smart and I adore that they always think they know better than their rider.
Lets not forget their sense of humor.
Finally, lets face it I'm pretty short lol. It is just so much more comfortable to be able to get the saddle on and off your horse's back, to be able to get the dirt off their but without a step stool and mount without a ladder.
Not that I don't like ladders.....
I have a great time looking around YouTube for people, not kids, riding ponies well and enjoying them the way I do so I will leave you with some of my favorite recent videos.
JessicaMichel-Riwera-GrandPrixDressage,LondonOlympics2012.jpg)
