Saddle Pad Collection

I've always loved saddle pads, they're just my thing. I really like how they're both pretty and functional and there are so many choices between the different colors, patterns, trims, designs etc. For me the trifecta is a dressage saddle pad that's small enough for my pony, that's easy to care for, and that's not too pricy.

My max budget for most saddle pads is $30 but I'm willing to spend up to $40 for just the right pad. To be easy to care for I need to be able to just toss them in the washer and dryer. Especially now that I'm riding five days per week and pony is working hard enough to get sweaty I go through 2-3 pads per week and just don't have the time to mess with doing anything special to clean them. Size is the trickiest thing for me because measurements are almost never listed and I'm looking for something smaller than what most people are looking for. This is both because my saddle is quite small and because she's quite small. My ideal is close to 20x20 but my favorite dressage pad is actually smaller than that.

Of all of the places that I've looked and shopped for dressage pads Horze is my favorite because most of their pads in pony size fit all three of those things especially when they are doing one of their sales! For that reason I bought four new dressage pads at their Black Friday sale for my birthday present to myself.

 

In the picture above the two navy blue, the pink, and the middle brown pad are the new ones. All of the pads except for the top brown one are from Horze. In this picture I'm only missing one, pink (Euos not Horze), pad that is currently in use. The grey is dirty and needs a wash and the others were just washed and are on their way back to the barn. It will be so nice to have 10 in rotation instead of 6!!

 

Veggie is indicating my two favorite pads just like Vanna White. He was unable to stretch to the black pad in the opposite corner which is my other favorite.

I'll try to remember to get a picture of Katai in her matching set of brown dressage boots and new brown dressage pad because she's going to be adorable :-)

The Weeknd: Lesson Recap 12/6

This weekend was amazing for me and my pony. I had, due to some unexpected changes last week, ended up with four rides in a row. I had ridden Thursday for drill team (short ride), Friday (dressage ride), Saturday (supposed to be a trail ride), and Sunday (for my lesson of course).

This whole week we've had unusually warm temperatures and the snow that we ended up had almost all melted. I had been hoping that this would mean that I could safely plan a trail ride on Saturday but I was warned by the BM that the slush and mud was making it slippery out so I went to the outdoor arena instead and was so glad that I did!

The arena had a thin coating of snow but with the warm temps the footing was still good and since pony was full of herself I was looking for any excuse to ask her to canter. She had to wait until I asked but once I did I had her canter pretty much until I could feel her tiring a little. Because of the snowy footing she had a great amount of jump in her canter and so I felt like I had wings.

It was amazing!

I really wish someone had been available to take pictures or video because she had her little pastel quarter sheet on and with the snowy background it would have been so cute.

Then for my lesson on Sunday we rode inside since the footing was getting a little mushy. Katai was a little tired and muscle sore from all her cantering the day before but in true pony fashion decided that trying to run away with me would be her best way to get out of work. Instead she got pushed forward in a canter and had to keep cantering until it was my idea for her to quit. Then, just because she's sassy she decided when we switched directions that it would be a good idea to try that again.

This all occurred during our warm up so by the time that L started our lesson pony was already pretty tuckered out and thought that she really shouldn't have to work. She was behind my leg pretty much the whole ride, until work started getting tough later on and then she decided to start running away again, but it was ok because we spent more time working on me.

The last couple of lessons Katai has been going well enough that we've been working on leg yields on the quarter lines. Today we added canter transitions once we hit the wall to help me figure out how to get my body placed right. We would do the leg yield, one canter circle, back to the trot and then back down the center line to do the whole thing again!

This got her pretty jazzed up so it was back to the races but after her tiring day on Saturday and the amount of canter she did to start we cut her some slack and just ended a little early after one last good transition.

Overall I learned a lot and it was a great lesson. I've been holding with my inside hand and when I'm doing the leg yield especially I grab it rather than releasing it. Great homework for me this week! Katai is really getting broke and I'm able to do so much to influence her direction/speed/bend etc. that it's just fun to ride even if things don't all go perfectly :-)

Timeline

2012

Boarding Katai where I was renting in Northern WI.

 

 

Baby's first ride

2013

Moved Katai to her first boarding facility which was a pasture share with one other aged gelding.

Driving the trailer all by myself for the second time!

 

 

Fall 2013

Moved Katai to a facility with a covered arena so that I could ride during the winter. This is where she really became broke to ride. Any previous rides I had done lasted about 5 minutes at the longest and only consisted of walk.

 

 

Spring 2014

I moved Katai to a barn with a dressage instructor and a nicer indoor with MUCH better footing. Plus I was worried because Katai had lost a lot of weight at the previous barn which you can see from one of the photos. If it hadn't been for J I would have continued to board here and still really miss most of the people.

 

 

 

 

The above video is not indicative of how Katai had been going in lessons. This was after 1.5 months off lessons where all I did was ride her long and low. She was doing well unless I put any pressure on her and then she would go into full on panic/fight/flight mode.

 

Winter 2014

I moved Katai to a temporary barn because I had started to realize how brutal J's training techniques were and wasn't having fun anymore. Plus, Katai had started rearing and was moving worse and worse.

 

 

Spring 2015

I moved Katai to an amazing facility with at least three good dressage instructors and found L who has been the best for both Katai and I. Starting here I feel like we actually started to make progress!

 

Fall 2015

Unfortunately the owners turned out to be crazy so when I found that L's regular barn had an opening I jumped a it and moved for our final time.

 

Blair Witch Project pony doesn't like to have her fugly clip photographed. More photos soon!

Drill Team

Obviously not us...yet

I have to say that I’ve never been particularly enthused about riding in a drill team. I’ve always loved watching drill teams ride but never thought that I would get that much out of it. So when I initially found out that my barn would be forming a drill team on Thursday evenings I didn’t sign up and was just trying to figure out how to schedule my rides around the arena being closed during my normal ride time on Thursdays.

Then I had a lesson with L and she strongly encouraged me to ride. She said that it would be a great thing for Katai and help me to break up my dressage specific rides especially without the ability to trail ride now that it gets dark so early. She said that she knew I would gain things from it too but that mostly it was just a fun time. What finally convinced me was actually the social aspect. Now that I live where I’ve been wanting to live for the past 10 or so years and have big chunks of my life figured out I’ve made it a goal to do more social things and try to make more friends. It was tough when I always sort of felt like I had one foot out the door since I planned on moving but now that I don’t, I need to make this a priority.

So I signed up to ride.

 

Some additional history about drill team is that most of the people at my new barn have moved with the barn manager. She used to manage a huge facility that was very close (within) the twin cities but when the owner of that facility passed away she needed to look for a new location and found this one. Because of this most of these people know each other very well and there are just a few of us that are new to this group. They’ve done drill team for the past several years and so joining this group seemed like a great way to get to know my new barn mates better.
I did my first drill team ride in October and it was amazing!! It was nice to be focused on big things and just let Katai take care of herself. The most rewarding thing for me though was that I finally have a horse that I can do things like this with! I’ve had so many years of green baby horses that to be able to ride in something like a drill team is such a fun and rewarding experience. I feel like I’ve finally got a horse to ride and not just a horse to train.

I also felt like it was very beneficial to Katai. Something that she struggles with is allowing me to regulate her speed. She wants to find a speed and settle in. Once she’s done that she can’t be bothered to speed up or slow down but in drill team that is so important! She was actually nearly climbing up the butt of the thoroughbred ahead of us a few times and when I slow her trot much more than that she wants to just walk. This helped me make my intention to her clear enough that I was able to get a more rate-able trot then I have in the past. It definitely still needs work, but it was better than it’s ever been in lessons. I also felt like it was really healthy for her to ride so close to other horses. That’s never been something that I’ve worried about or had any sort of anxiety over since we used to basically act like we were riding horsie bumper cars when I was growing up. Our horses and ponies were always well behaved in close quarters and I remember multiple trail rides where our horses were pretty much joined at the hip and we clinked stirrups for miles. Of course Katai hasn’t had the same experience because I normally ride alone or with one other person in a big ring so it was great for her.

Already planning my outfit

During our first practice, with four horses, we worked on the basics of the of the maneuvers. L is the one that is organizing/coaching our drill team and she knew that I hadn’t done it before so she broke down the movements and put me behind a more experienced rider so basically I just had to follow. I learned to watch where my "partner" was along the other side of the arena so that we met up appropriately, or missed eachother as needed, and other then one mistake where I almost went to the inside instead of the outside it went really well! Now I just need some additional practice on these and to add more maneuvers. Then during our second official practice we had six riders which was ideal! Katai and her roommate are at the end and paired up and they are so cute but sassy with each other that it makes it even more fun :-)

I’ve been looking forward to drill team this week since two Thursdays ago L was busy and unable to coach and then of course last Thursday was Thanksgiving. H is invited to spectate and so I may possibly have photo or video proof that I don't just ride in circles!

For anyone who is considering signing up for drill team I would highly recommend it!