VCBH: What's in Your Show Tote

I really like this blog hop concept and so although I’ve only showed a handful of times my whole life (and only once in dressage) I thought I’d do a "What’s in your show tote: wish list edition" adaptation to this hop!

I tend to be a very mentally disorganized person, whatever the opposite of type A is (would that be type Z?) would pretty much describe my mental state most of the time. Whatever small ability I have to be mentally organized is used up during my job which leaves me with about nil during the rest of my week. However, I love to be physically organized. While I’ve never been able to keep any type of planner and just rely on my phone to tell me what to do, I do very carefully organize my space at home and that includes my horse equipment storage. I have a large wooden trunk that holds all the misc items that I don’t use on a regular basis that resides at home and my small tack cabinet at the barn is carefully organized with totes and color coordination. I’m especially excited for the tack locker that my dad and I will be building this winter and will share more information about that soon!

So, to start my wish list I would want something that I could carry all of my items in and that would provide me with some space so that I can organize everything inside for easy access. The items that I’d want to bring with would be fairly normal show items such as stain remover, safety pins, NSAIDs (of course), and extra grooming supplies. However the big things that I’ll need before I can show are below.

Braiding supplies (assuming this will be a rated show)

Some sort of braiding supplies and lots of practice will be needed.

 

Helmet (since mine is over 3 years old and is falling apart)

 

I have a small, oval shaped head and Uvex are some of the few helmets that seem to be comfortable for my head shape.

Dressage saddle show pad

 

 

For my small pony I'm thinking that the High Point cut out pad makes a lot of sense. I think I'll get it in Black.

Show Shirt

 

I really like this show shirt by f.o.a.l. and would like one in short sleeve and long sleeve ideally :-)

Jacket

 

I haven't done much shopping for jackets but I do really like this one from f.o.a.l.

Breeches

 

My favorite breeches are from Horze and I'm really liking these sparkles and all!

 

I've updated my Wish List page to include more of the items on my wish list so check that out as well as the updates to my Current Equipment page!

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!