Long Time, No Post

Last week was nuts. Opening a new site like that just is, especially when you’ve got 25+ brand new employees being trained in a site that is still being moved into. Add to that the fact that I had some short nights, early mornings, and I didn’t sleep that well and I’m still exhausted even after a nice quiet weekend. Pretty much the only thing I did outside of relaxing at home was grocery shopping and going to the barn.

I made it out both Saturday and Sunday and Katai was so good! On Saturday I rode (after lunging :) and just focused on forward, stretching, and lots of bending and flexion. I did a bit of lateral work but otherwise just kept it simple at walk, trot, and canter. Her canter, though, was seriously the best it’s been. I guess the two weeks off was a good break for her! She was really moving forward rather than up into the transitions and was stretchy and carrying herself. Her back felt great and solidly strong and she was really through rather than just running with her legs. I tried to get some video but I must have not pushed record because I didn’t get anything.

On Sunday I just lunged with the Vienna reins both because I just couldn’t function still (so tired and I had a headache) and because with the weather and the fact that I was working Katai during the day when she was going to be in the barn by herself, I knew that it would just be a better idea. After one small blow up at the beginning she worked really well and I got more brilliant canter and some really nice open, forward trot.

I’ve recently really started to enforce voice cues. I’ve used different clicks (smooch for canter etc.) but never really enforced voice cues before. She was sort of figuring it out before the break but she must have been doing her homework because this weekend she was spot on with my cues about 75% of the time and the 25% was just that it took me giving the vocal cue twice or needing to reinforce with a slight whip cue.

It was great to see her moving so well after the break and now I just need to be careful about putting her back to work so that I don’t immediately cause her to have sore muscles. I did sign her up for a massage on 4/2 again so she’ll be in good shape going into the show season. I also shared my contact info with my fellow boarder since she’ll likely be my ride to shows this year. It’s so exciting to be making progress towards doing more shows!

Work Trip

I haven't, and probably won't, had time to to do any touristy things
but thanks to being in the back of an Uber I got this picture.

The good news is that on Saturday when I lunged Katai she looked so much better! Not only did she seem to be over her mare issues but the break had done her some good and she looked loose and relaxed but strong.


The bad news is that as of [VERY] early this morning I'm in Seattle for a whole week...

The timing could have been better but I'm glad that she's feeling better and a little vacation will probably do both of us some good.

It's in the 50s here and since it dropped back down to the single digits at home it's a nice break even if it is typical rainy Seattle. Oddly enough I haven't had to deal with rain much when I've been here so far so it looks like this week is going to make up for it.

We're opening a new site and I'm here to train the 30+ employees I hired :)

Usually I have a rental car but this time I don't so I probably won't be able to get to the other tack shop that I'd like to visit. I will be back in April/May though so likely I'll be able to do that then!

In the meantime I don't think I'll have much to blog about for the next week, or much time to blog, so it will probably be pretty quite until next weekend. I already can't wait to get back and see my girl!

#mareproblems Continues

My poor mare is really having a tough time. I got out there tonight hoping that she would be feeling better but she was a bit worse. The ointment did what it's supposed to and is keeping her from chaffing but it is making the mess on her back legs even worse.

I got her cleaned up and then went to groom her but she was so sensitive around her lower back that she was tossing her head and pinning her ears with just me lightly brushing her. I gave her some bute and cleaned her stall and gave her another night off.

Her stall had clearly been soaked but my BM had added a bunch of extra bedding and done a late night cleaning which isn't typical. It's so frustrating knowing that she's uncomfortable and that there isn't anything I can do. If this didn't happen each spring I'd already have called the vet and I certainly will be if she doesn't seem better over the next day or two. Unfortunately this is just pretty typical for her and when I've talked to vets they haven't had any ideas beyond what I'm doing for her already.

Our weird weather this year certainly isn't helping. Fingers crossed that she's feeling way better tomorrow!

March Goals Fail

He's just such a little prince

So far I have not been doing well with my goals for March. I haven't done a great job of getting to the barn or blogging.

The lack of riding has been mainly due to weather and a tired pony but last night there was a return of #mareproblems and Katai was sore and extremely in heat. I got her cleaned up and coated in diaper rash ointment and I think I caught it soon enough but I did cancel my lesson tonight. My plan is to go to the barn Wednesday-Saturday and then I fly out early on Sunday for a work trip to Seattle.

So tough to get pictures of her when she wants to just follow me around :)

I'll be gone for about a week so Katai will get a nice break and then we'll be back to working on our goals once I get back. I'm not looking forward to this work trip, it's going to be stressful and busy, and will be really missing Katai but I always enjoy Seattle!

Treat Yo Self Thursday, Lesson Recap: 2/28, and Weekend Update

I've had a good week of rides but I didn't make it to my goal this week. With the seasonal change in full swing I've had some headaches (I have a lead on a really good PT that I'm going to try out to see if that helps) and was feeling like I was getting a cold again so I ended up taking it a little easier. Also, at my lesson last Tuesday Katai was a little short in the right front. I wondered if it was just a sore muscled but she was pretty short still on Thursday after a day off on Wednesday so I decided to give her Friday off as well.

She's had some Thrush so that was my first thought and my second was just that she's been working pretty hard and had some soreness and time off would be good.

It turned out that the combination of additional Thrush treatment and a bit of a break meant that she felt amazing on Saturday and was quite the speedy pony.

Back to Tuesday, I had another great lesson! Again, Jane called out movements and I did them and we worked on things along the way. We started with nose to the wall leg yield at the walk which was really helpful and Katai really seemed to figure out what we want. Since then her leg yield has been great and she's really crossing over.

After that we did some trot work and then canter. During the trot work we got the best lengthening that I've had! It was so cool to feel her shift into that higher gear again :) Our canter work was tougher but not bad. She wasn't struggling strength wise, just not wanting to be straight or on the bit. we worked on getting flexion at the canter and I had some of the best trot/canter transitions that I've had. Finally we did some more shoulder in. I'm slowly figuring it out and will keep right on chipping away at it.

Then on Thursday my local tack shop had their 35th anniversary sale. I was invited as a "special customer" to shop the pre-sale on Thursday afternoon. I shopped but am very proud of myself that I didn't find anything that I "needed" enough to buy.

However, I've been wanting to make a trip to the tack shops on the west side which are Dover and a place called Coach House Equestrian. Coach house is my favorite tack shop and Dover has enough variety that it's a great place to try on clothing.

Coach House shopping!

So many cute things!

I ended up not going to Dover just because I found something I really liked and used up the money I'd budgeted on it. So much adulting!

Finally found my show shirt!

I didn't end up buying the shirt though, instead I got a spring jacket. I've been envious of the Rolex jacket that one of my friends has but I found a Longines Show Jumping Ariat jacket that's similar. It was on clearance for less than the shirt and it was the last one so I got that instead.

Then, that evening I had a great ride! Katai was quite hot, mainly because I was doing some work to reinforce my forward aids. Recently she's been ignoring them and freezing up so this time I corrected her each time, rather than just waiting her out, and that made her pretty fizzy. I still got some amazing work including some really, really good leg yields. Also, even though she was fizzy she never really lost it, she was just forward and I just was calm and went with her but still kept getting her slowed down/kept her slow so it was a great ride :)

Look at that lipstick :)

Then, today my plan was to do another Sunday Spa Day but I woke up with a really horrible headache/stomach ache. I really think that all this crazy weather is messing with me. At any rate I ended up laying on the couch watching tv for most of the day and by the time I felt up to doing anything I needed to get chores done to prepare for the week.

My favorite recent vegan meal :)

Since I'm flying out next weekend I'm going to plan to be there every day this week and Saturday (obviously not riding every day) so that she's ready for a week off.

February Goals Review and March Goals

Blurry photos courtesy of my phone
Missing my Cube!

February Goals:

"Ride her Neck":

This had to do with really riding and keep her contact and flexion more consistent. Rather than losing my concentration and just letting her bum along for half of the arena Jane wanted me to keep it more actively.

This has been good!! It's not that I'm at 100% but I've been doing a lot better and, wouldn't you know, now that I'm more consistent she's figured out what's "right" and keeps it better herself.

Ride More:

My goal was 6 days per week and mostly I'm really happy with this!! I may not have been riding 6 days per week but I have been to the barn 6 days per week pretty consistently in February. I haven't been riding 6 days (which wasn't really the goal, more like work her 6 days per week) but she's had spa days, lunge workouts, and at least 3 rides per week.

Improve That Pesky Right Leg:

Meh, this one is going to be a long term thing since I know it's not going to be "fixed" in a month but I didn't really make as much progress as I wanted to in February. I'll be

Pats for the pony :)

Goals for March:

Let Go During Lateral Work:

It's crazy how things work out but only a day after I'd read this amazing post by A Enter Spooking, Jane worked with me on not juggling so many balls in the lateral work and just letting Katai be unless she was doing something wrong. It was a huge lightbulb moment for me so now I want to try to replicate it for my rides without all of the coaching from Jane.

For some reason I find this photo so cute!!

Structure Rides More Carefully:

I've been getting some good work during my rides but I know I'm not always structuring them as well as I could be. For March I want to make sure that I'm doing stretchy rides in between more collected work rides. I also want to figure out before my ride what my main items to work on are so that I don't end up doing a bunch of random stuff that doesn't work together.

Work on Trailer Loading:

So far our weather has been unseasonably warm so I'm hoping that continues which will mean that I'll be able to work on trailer loading. I'm really planning/hoping to do quite a few shows this year (more on that later) which means that the pony needs to be able to load.

Our halts are getting better :)

Ride More:

I'm keeping this at least one more month. Again, the goal is to be at the barn 6 days a week which I think will be easier now that it's getting lighter out earlier :)

Winter Favorites

Horze Quarter Sheet:

I haven't had much use for a quarter sheet recently but I've used this quite a bit in the past and really used it a lot this year. It's a nice simple quarter sheet and, of course, it's and adorable Rambo knock off and fits with my pony theme. I like that this quarter sheet is the type that I can put over my own lap (it was about -12* out this day) but it is tough to do much work in so I normally warm up at the walk and then remove it before I trot which sometimes makes for a spicy pony at the trot.

Dublin Boots:

These actually should have made it into my last review post about my most durable horse related items because I've had them for over 3 years now and they get a lot of abuse. I use these as my winter riding boots (as you can probably tell from my recent riding photos) and I also wear them to the barn most months out of the year and change into my riding boots as I'm getting tacked up. They are SOOO comfortable and since I bought one size too large I can wear winter socks and still not have them too tight.

Wahl Clippers:

I don't really use these that often but they've worked really well for me especially since they really aren't meant to be body clippers. Thankfully there isn't as much surface area since Katai is little and I haven't done a full body clip yet. I actually started using the new clipper blades this year so I got a good amount of use out of my last blades as well. I don't know that I would recommend using these for full body clips on a horse but they work very well for smaller body clip areas or for trimming bridle paths and legs.

Horseware Blanket Liners:

Yep, these things again. I'm not going to go into this too much since I just posted about them but they have been one of my favorite things this year. They just give me so much flexibility with blanketing and they seem to be comfortable to Katai.

Prestige Lucky Dressage Saddle:

Yeah, this isn't really seasonal but I've been using it since September(ish) and it's absolutely one of my favorite pieces of tack so I wanted to mention it. It fits both Katai and myself and puts me in a good position without forcing me there. The saddle fitter recently deemed that it was still a great fit and the leather quality is amazing especially for a saddle that was under $2000 new.

Tentative Show Plans

May 29th, St Croix Saddlery Three Ring Circus Schooling Show:

This is the same schooling show that I went to last year which takes place over Memorial Day weekend. It's tough for me to believe that it it only just under a year ago since it seems like so long ago now.

I posted about this show here and here. It was really my first show with Katai and although I signed up for two classes I ended up just doing one (Intro C) where I got a 35.25% haha.

This year my fellow boarder plans to do several rated shows and is just using this as a prep. She's invited me to trailer with her and we're both excited about doing shows together but I'm also a little nervous that I may end up jumping into rated shows after one schooling show especially with my previous score which was pretty dismal lol.

It's not that I'm worried about making a fool of myself, just that I don't want to spend the extra money if I've only ever scored 40% or below since it just seems like a waste. However, I've also got way more faith in myself and Katai and I feel like if we can just get a good few months of trailer loading practice out of the way that will be the biggest hurdle.

Because I plan on riding along with her to the shows she's going to the rest of these are all rated. I'm not sure if she'll do all or any of these but I figured I'd share the shows it's most likely that I'll be going to and then we'll see what happens!

Photo of the closest local show grounds

June 3rd, Spring Party Dressage Show:

This is a rated dressage show that takes place at a popular local fairgrounds which is the home of most of our local rated dressage shows. 

This would be the first rated show I'll ever have participated in which will be very interesting but it's exciting to just think about!

My show outfit plans! Now with black tack ;)

June 11th, Dressage at Alpine I and II:

I'm not sure if my fellow boarder is planning on this one since she's mainly shown at the other location but this is another beautiful local show grounds (at a very fancy, ritzy boarding barn) that's not too far aware from our current barn.

June 17th, Sun Dance Dressage:

I'm going to guess that we'll do this one instead of Alpine since it's back at the location that's closer to our barn. 

July 8th, Dressage at Alpine III and IV:

Again, not sure if we'll do this but it's a gorgeous location so I've sort of got my fingers crossed for these!

July 15th, Midsummer Dressage:

Back at the location that's close to the barn so I'm guessing we'll do this one :)

August 26th, Northern Lights Dressage:

Same location as most of the other shows. There were a lot of rated shows between Midsummer and Northern Lights but they're all a long ways away and I don't think that my fellow boarder plans to drive that far and I also don't really want to go to shows every weekend and, let's be honest, I've never done more than one show in a year so just doing a couple of these would be fantastic!

My main goal for this year is to just get some good experience and miles. Once we have more experience I'll be setting more goals but this year I'm just hoping to get to the point where we're both having fun and where Katai's behavior at the show is closer to how she behaves at home. If we can get that done this year I'll be so happy and really won't care what our scores are :)

There are quite a few more within a 4-5 hour drive but I don't know that either of us will be interested enough to do that this year. Maybe some day!!

Weekend Rides Recap

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!

Horze Haul

This is what Katai thinks of being a model again

Yes I have a problem, I just love this store so much! European products without shipping from Europe and without having to deal with the exchange rate.

The story behind this shopping trip was that the Horze President Day sale was showing up all over my social media. Of course it was, they know I'm a sucker for their stuff. At any rate, they had REALLY good deals on breeches which I couldn't pass up. Since my breeches collection post I've had to make a few changes including tossing two pairs (the seat on one was faulty and nearly wore through on me at the barn and the others still smelled like chemicals after a few washes). That means that I've been rotating through four pairs and with the number of times I've been going to the barn it's just time to get another pair or two.

I'm still being careful with my budget though so even though I really wanted some of the B Vertigo breeches (normally $200 but on sale for $140!) I went with the cheaper pair ($89) because they get amazing reviews but I haven't tried this style yet so this was a great time. However, Horse always catches me with all of their random sale items.

A little background is that I've REALLY wanted one of these PS of Sweden quarter sheets for a long time now.

Photo courtesy of the $900 Facebook Pony

I've had multiple ISO posts on Facebook groups and have a normal search on Ebay for a cob size but haven't found anything yet. I'd had a random thought a few months ago that maybe Horze had something similar but didn't think I'd find anything that was very close. With this sale and since I was already shopping I remembered and decided to check and found this!!

Obviously missing the cool leather straps (easy enough to add those) and the very cool PS of Sweden branding but it was also only $49 and available!

On to the box opening :)

I was a little worried about the breeches because I've really been between sizes and I ordered the smaller size but they fit great!! I LOVE the color and they're so stretchy without the fabric being too thin. I will absolutely be buying more of this style of Horze breech especially since they've got a bunch of awesome colors :) I don't have a full length mirror at my current house but I'll try to get a picture soon!

I was also concerned about whether the quarter sheet would fit Katai. I got it in Pony since they only had pony and XL left and sometimes their pony size is more shetland sized but it fits Katai really well as well!

I was having a tough time getting picture but this sort of works

I'd pulled it up too far in this picture but it fits so cute!! My only issue with it is that there aren't darts at the back so it sort of has a peak and doesn't fit around her butt. It will be easy enough for me to add darts though so I may do that in the near future. Plus, the wool is really nice quality and thick so I think it will get better as it gets used and softens up.

It's almost past quarter sheet season but it's looking like I'll have another week at least so I'll be using it every ride.

Not Linear: Lesson Recap 2/21

First time I sat on baby pony's back!!

Clearly learning isn't linear but sometimes it's easy to be slightly frustrated about how up and down things can be with my pony right now. Lately it's pretty much been an e/o week thing where one week is amazing and the next is a struggle. I think it's more strength related (or maybe a little bit of resistance when Katai feels like it's been hard) than anything else. This mare picks things up so quickly that she certainly hasn't struggled to understand the work, just to get her body to do it or sometimes to do it appropriately :)

The lesson this week was definitely a struggle week. It wasn't nearly as much of a struggle as we've had in the past, it just hasn't been as much of a struggle since I started with Jane. Now a struggle week is where our canter isn't as nice rather than that Katai wouldn't stop threatening to rear which certainly used to happen.

This lesson I was also feeling a little emotionally sensitive which is odd for me. I LOVE direct feedback and that would always be my preference. I didn't get emotional in my lesson but just left feeling pretty down.

This lesson we focused mainly on lateral work and also tried to get a canter on a smaller circle. Unfortunately for us Katai didn't want to play at the canter and didn't want to work on the bit. I think she was just a little tired from Monday and since we continue to increase the difficulty each week I think she was just feeling a little like this was tough work and she didn't want to play.

Poor pony, oh well we'll be having a toodle/bareback day soon.

On the way home (even though I wasn't that down, just feeling less positive than last week for example) I was thinking about how far we've come from the beginning and thought it might be fun to go back to my first lesson recap and share the first riding video I have of Katai.

This video is from May 2015 and I have to apologize for the blurriness. It got transferred to a few different phones before I ever uploaded it so the quality is pretty bad. At this point I'd been riding Katai for about 6 months (but I'd hesitate to call much of it riding and I wasn't on her back more than 1-2 times per week for that time).

Then here is our first lesson recap! This was from September 2015 and we were working on changing directions on 20 meter circles at the trot! I was still getting lots of pony tantrums and sass and some days I could barely ride because of how stiff, tense, inverted and stubborn Katai was.

This is exactly why I have this blog. To be able to look back and see the net change rather than feeling like I need to make positive change each day :) It's fun to do this when I'm feeling down and since I don't have much to share about the lesson since we did a lot of the same thing and struggled the whole time I thought it would be fun to share!