Finally Some Photos

I have been completing missing out, and missing, the horse blogging community recently. Work has been nuts but we are finally fully staffed in HR so my work load is finally getting back to normal. 

The other issue has been the weather and while I am glad that we are finally getting some rain, I'm not happy that it has been interfering with my riding.

Overall though things with Katai have been great! I just started to introduce trotting under saddle and I'm taking it slow because of the cool weather and the fact that I'm stuck in a huge open field that at times make the pony feel like she has wings. She has been excellent though and I have no complaints about her behavior. In fact she had her feet trimmed for the first time by someone other than me last weekend and she was a complete angel, just nervous even though I kind of thought she might be naughty.

Our other project has been getting her to work through her back. For one reason or another, either breeding or conditioning since shes a shorty and always has to stretch up to do horse things, she has developed a very high headset when trotting. She is nice and relaxed and swingy through her back at the walk but the trot is a whole different kettle of fish.

I'd had side reins on her quite awhile ago a couple of times but it was clear to me then that she wasn't ready as she started to curl a bit. Since then she hasn't worn them at all but since recently she has been trying to root the reins out of my hands I thought that I might be able to work on two birds with one stone :)

Here is what I got. She was obviously still tight through the back and trying to avoid the side reins but she also balanced herself sooooo well and started to really use her hind end. You can see from these pictures how tight she is through her shoulder so that is certainly something we will be working on but her natural balance had me grinning the whole time.

She was really starting to get it at the end and was working nicely through her back so we ended on a good note.

I think the plan is to work her in side reins again next time for a short time in both directions and see if she remembers what she learned this time and then we'll go from there. I want to work more on trotting under saddle and while I know it will take her awhile to become comfortable and balanced with someone riding her it feels like I'm riding a giraffe right now so I need to do it in combination with this to help her learn to use her muscles correctly.

Weekend Activities

This weekend was all about me :-) The boy was running in a Ragnar so I was all on my own and I made good use of the time to myself!

I had ridden Katai on Sunday and Tuesday so far this week and she had been excellent both times. On Thusday and Friday I worked on her hooves but then rode again on Saturday and Sunday. She has been soooooo good and is developing a nice, forward, relaxed walk. As you can see from the photos I'm riding her in a LARGE open field and she hasn't tried anything funny at all. 

She is going to be SUCH a great little riding horse as she gets some more miles on her. Shes just so calm, relaxed and obedient. I love this picture of her because you can see the custom browband I had made for her. Its in her colors, Navy Blue and Pink, and it is nice and big so that it doesn't squish her pony brains. Ponies certainly don't need their brains squished lol.

Craaaazy pony face picture,

and proof that yes, I do ride her sometimes haha.

On Saturday I decided to check out the new Dover Saddlery that opened up in the Twin Cities. It's about 45 minutes away and I didn't really NEED any tack but they were having a tent sale and that was a good enough excuse haha.

My sister compared these bridles to art and I think thats pretty appropriate :-)

I ended up with a waterproof turnout sheet, breeches (which I LOVE), cute argyle socks, crocheted gloves, a magnesium suppliment that I'll write more about later and some Swat. It's been an awesome weekend :-)

Goal Oriented

I’ve always been someone who sets goals for myself. It started with my mom pushing us when we were little and learning to play the piano, she wanted us to all be professional musicians and two of my sisters will be, and has carried on from there. I’ve always had goals around my career in HR, some assumed and simple, others more difficult that I have to work towards, and I’ve met or surpassed them all so far. However, things with horses have always been different for me. It started with the fact that we had so few extra resources as we were growing up, I got my first horse when I was 12 years old, that even owning a horse was difficult and there was no way we could afford a trailer, lessons, or appropriate tack. Because of that they always had to be just fun and that carried on as I grew up partially because after being pushed so hard by my mom to compete and be competitive with music I had lost my taste for it with the horses. They were my escape, my fun and the best therapy ever.

Now though, things have changed. I chose to change my career from music to an office job so that I could have horses and be more serious about riding, owning and training them. I have always wanted to be more competitive than I was and now that I’m making a better living it’s something that I can actually pursue in the way I want. Because I changed my career at least partially for horses I feel like I have almost an obligation to myself to pursue this at least for awhile.

I do have realistic expectations though. I’ve been riding since I was 12 and I can stick to anything, have shown a couple of times, had some excellent lessons and trained three ponies, before Katai, that all ended up as children’s’ first ponies. I am great with groundwork and making horses/ponies into safe, excellent citizens that are safe to ride while not teaching them any habits that would be hard to break for any discipline. However, I do still consider myself an intermediate rider and know that to reach any goals with Dressage I will need lots of lessons and hard work. I’ve had so many hurdles in the past such as the lack of resources and time that I haven’t made it as far as I would have liked but I’ve also always known that as soon as I could get a good job it would be completely within reach. When I acquired Katai I looked ahead and knew that I was getting close. I had my dream pony and a new job was within reach.

I took a couple of Dressage lessons that winter and although I couldn’t afford many I learned a lot. I had already lost some weight but during the course of the winter I lost more and brought my total to 45 pounds. I started running, something I NEVER thought I would be able to do, and now run over a mile consistently with the goal of doing a 5K sometime this fall or next spring. Most importantly, at least to me, I started working with Katai. That fall was a huge battle dealing with a pony that was somehow spoiled and scared of people at the same time. She would run right into you and walk all over you but if you approached her first she would spin and run. She was tough to catch, didn’t respect fences, and had no idea about what a halter was much less any other piece of tack. She caught on quickly though and last fall I sat on her for the first time. During the winter she sat mostly because I didn’t have any place to work with her in the snow but right away in the spring we started working again. Now she is doing excellent and would be even better if not for all the other little distractions I’ve had this summer such as taking on a new job, being short a person at the job and doing twice the work I should be, starting a relationship J, and moving myself to a new apartment and Katai to a new facility. However, even with all of these distractions and all that change she has mastered a lot of important skills. She now will tie, hard tie or cross tie, can spend time in a stall, is easy to catch, will pick up all four feet, lunges all three gaits in both directions with side reins or without, trailers beautifully J, and is riding nicely at a walk.

My next hurdle is to move her to a different, bigger facility that has an indoor or at least an outdoor arena and an instructor since there is no way I will be able to afford a truck and trailer anytime soon. To be able to move her I need her to be good at a couple more things first. She has to be able to be ridden walk and trot and safely enough that I don’t feel like she’s going to buck or take off at any moment (she feels great at the walk now but the trot will be a whole different story), she needs to be able to be trimmed by a farrier, and she needs to be more comfortable in a stall/barn. The last part is almost set and after this winter she will be fine in a stall. I just emailed Dan yesterday asking when his farrier would be out next so that I can have her professionally trimmed for the first time. The only part left is up to me and should be easy to achieve by the end of fall. I also plan on continuing to work on myself this fall and will keep running, would like to lose a couple more pounds and will be taking some Dressage lessons.

Why do I want to compete at all? Honestly I’m not sure how much I want to compete. I’ve always thought that it looked like so much fun to be at a show with a horse, to talk with other horse people, show off a bit of what you’ve learned, and have people admiring your cute horse. It’s something I’ve really wanted to do since I first got a horse. For me it’s never been about ribbons or winning, its more about doing better than last time and conquering all of the tough tasks that a horse show embodies for your horse, being around other horses, trailering, being in public, standing quietly, and being around other horse people while getting to ride which is something I truly love. However, there are many things about showing that I don’t love and I don’t know if the wonderful things will outweigh those and I won’t know until I try.

So Proud!

Today was the first day that I feel I can call what I did with Katai "riding". Up until now it was sitting on her, training, working with her or something along those lines but tonight I rode.

This morning my parents drove up to see my new apartment and I showed them where I work. Once they left I went to the local tack store which is now only about 15 minutes away. Scary how easy it is to go there now haha. I needed a dressage whip since my old one was lost and it had actually kinda needed replacing anyway because it was falling apart thanks to poor care. I'd had it as a teenager and it had been left outside and driven over in the law mower a dozen times. I picked out a cute purple whip with nice balance and some fancy treats that I knew Katai had liked since they were part of her Christmas present this last Christmas. This is the first time in my life, well since i was about 8, that I've had only one animal and so she gets to be spoilt :)

Then I went out to see her. She got one of her new treats when I caught her and I don't know if it was an incredibly effective bribe or if she just wanted to be on her best behavior but either way she was perfect for everything.

She was very calm so just got lunged for a couple of seconds in each direction and then I mounted up. The new whip was perfect to endorse my leg and follows the same idea as when I ground drive her so it helps her understand the leg cues. I rode for about fifteen minutes and during that time she went where I asked and was nicely forward compared to how she's been in the past. Now I can't wait to ride again!

I actually took some pictures today and in blogger app fashion they are all going to be stuck at the end but it looks like I may be getting Internet!! It would be awesome to be able to blog from a computer again, it's been about three years! At any rate the pictures are of the tack shop and then the incredibly spoiled pony's fan which runs anytime the temp is over about 75 0-0 they were actually sleeping under it when I got there :)

Finally are pictures of my new saddle pad, I'm officially a Mattes fangirl! Yes that is a Navy blue pad with pink fur, binding and piping and a blue strip of piping. Katai's official colors in a pony sized Mattes and I things it's completely adorable :)

Bad Blogger

I have been an extremely bad blogger recently and it's not because of the weather or lack of horsie, pony, stuff to report. It's actually all because of work.

When I started at my new job I was warned that the other generalist (I was going to be one of two for a company of over 500 in an HR department that consists of manager, assistant and two generalists) was going out on maternity leave and when she got back she would be promoted to the education manager. This meant that it would be me and only me while we looked for a new generalist.

We actually found someone fairly quickly who was extremely qualified but fast forward two months and she had failed to learn even the basics of the job so was let go.

We are now on the hunt again and that means that since I started I've basically been running the generalist show. I'd had very little experience on a lot of the issues I'm currently facing when I started but I'm starting to feel like a pro. The problem is that I'm also getting burnt out, like really really burnt out.

Instead of having 10 managers and 240 employees relying on me like I should have, I've got 20+ managers and over 500 employees relying on me for every single thing that requires HR. I'm recruiting for over 20 positions at a time, dealing with employee relations, terminations, legal, paperwork, orientations, paperwork, trouble shooting, time cards, paperwork, complaints, many computer issues, complaints and paperwork.

Rant over....

Seriously, I love my job and all the people that I work with. I'm learning a ton from my boss and have been pretty positive and able to cope but this week I feel like I hit a wall. We NEED to get someone capable in that position ASAP so I can concentrate on stuff outside of work and not feel so tired and stressed all the time.

I did get moved into my new apartment last week and while it didn't help my stress levels at all I LOVE it here. It's great being on my own and not living with two huge dogs and four cats has made life way better :)

I've also been working with Katai who continues to adjust to her new home. She has been so relaxed and happy and I think she really likes her new buddy who is much less neurotic than her previous herd mates were. I rode her for the first time at the new place, if you count mounting and dismounting a bunch, lots of flexing and a couple of short walks a ride, and she was great. She is starting to relax and I could tell that she was feeling naughty today so I kept is short and ended positive.

I should have time to ride on Saturday and I hope that since I'll have a little more time that I'll be able to get more pictures.

Riding the OTTBs

After checking on Katai yesterday Lisa invited me out to ride in the new arena. She's asked me to stop and ride with her even once I'm fully moved out and I happily accepted. It will be good for me to ride a fully trained horse and fun to still spend some time hanging out with Lisa.

Last night I started out riding Missy who is a small, at least for an OTTB, Bay mare who is in her late teens. She hasn't been ridden much and is stiff but after 15 minutes of warm up and some very concentrated leg yielding and proper circles she was moving extremely nice. It was really fun to really RIDE again and to feel the difference in Missy after some correct riding.

While I was riding Missy I noticed that Lisa was having some trouble with Liv, who is an awesome 2nd level Dressage horse, and I asked if she would want to switch. She did so then I climbed on Liv and worked on getting her to slow down and not blow through the aids. She had cantered the day before and was hot and could only focus on cantering. It took about 10 minutes to get her to actually listen and stretch out softly into contact rather than lifting above it and running through all aids.

Overall it was an awesome ride even if I'm extremely sore and I really look forward to doing it again :-)

Pony is at Home

Yesterday I went to work with Katai for the first time since I moved her to the new barn. I knew she would be adjusting still but it is still always hard to see them backslide and she had been so good at home that it was tough.

I kept things simple and made it impossible for her not to do well. I made her stand tied in the new barn but left the top of the door open so she could see her new friend, who's name is actually spelled Sevy, oops! I also lunged and then tied her in the barn again and fed her her grain.

She was jumpy, bouncy and naughty the whole time. The thing I really was worried about was how long it would take her to return to normal and I got my answer tonight.

I went out again tonight and planned on tacking up and longeing for a little longer and otherwise keeping it just as simple and positive as yesterday.

I could tell as soon as I caught her that she was much calmer and more relaxed and she proved to be almost back to normal. She stood calmly in the barn and was mostly well behaved when I tacked up.

I pushed her more when I was lunging and made her walk, trot and canter nicely but just for a short time. Then we walked back and she got groomed and had her grain.

I was so happy that she returned to her normal behavior so quickly! I think the plan for tomorrow, if the boy is sick like he thinks he will be and I can't go see him, is to go out and work on her hooves.

Hopefully I can start riding again this weekend but starting Thursday I'll be moving into my new apartment and working full days at work so I don't know how much time I'll have.

Moving Day

The message came on Thursday from Dan, the name of the person who is now boarding Katai, that the pastures were all cut and he was ready for me to move her. This morning worked for both of us so I got up early, hooked up the truck and loaded the pony. Despite being in raging heat from the neighbor's gelding she was really very well behaved.

The drive went well and was about half an hour which is perfect to continue to slowly get Katai more used to riding in the trailer. I was nervous but I didn't kill anybody and drove safely even though its only my second time, for more than five minutes, driving with the trailer. She unloaded well too even though she was very ready to be off and was a lady while we waited for Dan.

Dan was impressed with her behavior which was nice because that's been a goal for me. She really did well with meeting his gelding as well who is named Sav, which is short for something but I'm not exactly sure what :)

We let them meet on lunge lines and there was no squealing or striking. They were good and calm so we let them go and they trotted around the pasture.

Sav has been on his own for awhile and was obviously happy to be meeting a new herd member. I'm happy that it looks like they are going to get along and the pasture is truly amazing. I will take more pictures once I'm there on my own. The horse area of the barn is small but very neat and clean and the access to the stall will be perfect.

My goal now is to work with her and get her riding well and behaving even better and them I will reassess, see where I am financially and possibly move her to a barn with more riding options and an arena. For now though I really love her new home :)

A Graduation of Sorts

Tonight I am so extremely proud of my little girl!

Lisa asked if I wanted to bring the girls, Katai and her horse Liv, to the neighbor's arena that we finished last weekend. I have a cold but I knew it would be good for me to get up and do something rather than moping around so I agreed. I had no idea how it would go but it ended up being an awesome experience!

I trailered Katai down to the neighbors which was the first big step. I've only ever trailered her to bring her home and that time she freaked out and it took me over an hour to load her. She was understandably a little freaked out when I unloaded but she stood tied while I groomed and tacked up even if she was moving her feet a little more than she should have.

Lisa had elected to ride to the neighbors rather than trailer and the only time that Katai really freaked out was when she could hear Liv through the trees and they started screaming at each other. She pulled back twice but thanks to her awesome rope halter she didn't get free and calmed right back down.

I took her out to lunge her a bit and get her feet moving while I waited for Lisa to arrive and them tied her back up to the trailer while Lisa changed and adjusted tack.

When we initially brought them both I to the arena I figured it would just be a lunging day because she was still pretty worked up but as I actively lunged her at a walk, using the whole arena, she settled right back down and was being so calm and well behaved that riding just made sense.

So I climbed on. She was extremely good and having another horse to follow helped with forward movement. She threw her head up one time with naughty intentions but I just growled at her and she went right back to her normal, well behaved self.

After that it was all easy. I ended on a good note sooner than I would have liked but the day had already been full of new, stressful things for her and I didn't see the need to push it especially when she was behaving so well.

She again stood tied to the trailer like a champ and walked right past the neighbor's dump truck into his pasture without batting an eye. She and Liv will stay down there for the rest of the week so we can take advantage of the nice weather and the arena but I'm guessing that the new stable will be ready by this weekend so then I'll probably be moving.

I am so totally proud of my pony and myself for getting her to this point! Now I just have to work with her more consistently and she will be the most awesome, stubborn pony ever!!!

Next time I will get pictures :)

More Big Changes

It wasn't that long ago that I started my new job and I talked about the change in my life then along with the option of boarding. Then about a month and a half ago I started dating a really incredible guy that I LOVE spending time with.

Now I'm moving myself and Katai!

I've wanted to be in the twin cities for the past few years but I have to be where the job is especially with our slowly recovering economy and I really enjoy my current job but after dealing with interesting (cheap) rentals for the past few years its time for me to finally have my own (well sort of since its a rental) place :-)

I am moving almost exactly half way between where the boyfriend/friends live and where I work. Of course this also means moving Katai. I found a great place near where I am going to be living that will also be affordable. It's a small private stable with one horse and two stalls. The other horse is getting a little older and his owner was looking for a companion for him that wouldn't pick on him. The barn is insanely neat and clean and the stall is large. It has great pastures and he has it all set up for proper rotation :-)

The worst downfall is the lack of an arena of any kind. I just spent the past couple of weekends building an incredible arena at the neighbors and I was really looking forward to being able to finally have a real arena. I also won't have access to a horse trailer which isn't fun.

I'm hoping that in the next year, or so, I'll be able to move her to one of the other boarding barns that are nearby which have multiple arenas and more people to ride and hang out with. First though, I have to make sure I can afford things :-) I will post pictures of the barn as soon as we're moved in.

Awesome Opportunity

This post also could have been called "eaten by mosquitoes" but I thought I should maybe keep it positive.

Long story short, I haven't had a real arena to ride in for several years except for a short time with Sora while I was boarding her, of course I couldn't ride her then but that's not really the point is it?

Is it....

Never mind


At any rate I now have an opportunity to finally have an awesome, large arena at the neighbor's!!! He is in a relationship with Lisa, my landlord, and said that if we bought the fencing materials he would buy the sand. He already had an arena at some point and the base is still there but he stole the sand off it to use it for his landscaping business.

Last weekend we put in posts and got most of them painted white. This weekend we have to finish painting and drill holes for the rope. Then we just need to hang gates and get the sand and we will be set!