Milestone: Lesson Recap 7/9

No new pony pictures so you get some more pictures from Kentucky

As mentioned in my previous post the plan was for me to have a lesson once I got back on Sunday to make up for the past Tuesday when we canceled due to the holiday. Jane's amazingly nice and flexible as she didn't expect me to set a time on Sunday and just watched for me to get there so that I didn't need to feel stressed about making it at a specific time after my flight. I ended up getting there right around 5 I think so it was hot but not unbearable.

We warmed up using the full ring again and getting Katai cruising before we asked for anything else. She was moving nicely to start (especially after a few days off) and so after a bit we did some leg yields and we NAILED them! We've still been struggling but on Sunday we really got them. I think it was a combination of getting her off my leg better in warmup and that I'm finally starting to put the pieces together to be able to ride them appropriately even as her balance changes throughout the movement.

After a walk break we did some shoulder in and just worked on sitting trot in general. It's already improved from how it was at my last lesson but I'm still struggling with losing my stirrups and maintaining consistency in my position. Even with that we got some really good should in. Jane had me do an exercise where we'd do half the long side, do a 10 meter circle and then go straight for the rest of the long side just to make it so that Katai didn't need to do SI the whole distance. I struggled enough with getting her shoulder off the wall and making the 10 meter circles appropriately that Jane set up cones and that ended up being as much a focus of the exercise as the SI was. Ah well, I have to keep reminding myself that this sitting trot thing is really new for both of us.

Overall Jane was really happy with our SI and with our progress in sitting trot as well.

Downtown Lexington

After another walk break we started our canter work and did some counter canter through shallow serpentines. To the right we did quite well but (maybe because she was tired after all the canter to the right and SI) to the left she struggled and wanted to use speed to cheat. However, her canter is still much improved and she's mostly letting me slow her down and control the rhythm and tempo better than she was.

At our final walk break Jane brought up that she thinks we're going to be ready for 1st level at our next show!!! I may make that goal after all. First level test 1 basically has the addition of leg yield and if we can keep going the way we have recently we'll be ready for that by the end of August for that show. Then I'll probably also enter Training 2. It will still be opportunity classes for both and then next year I'll join all of the things so that we have more test options.

The horse park is such a beautiful place

We also decided that instead of doing any other schooling shows I'm going to do two clinic rides with Susanne likely in November. She teaches the clinic at my old barn which is just a few miles away and we'll trailer there and back both days so it will be a great experience for Katai. It shouldn't be too intimidating since she lived there for awhile and it's a nice short journey so it shouldn't be overly stressful. It will also be good for me since I'm sure I'll learn even more than I would at a show.

It was such a great lesson and felt like a great payoff after a few tougher rides :)

NDPC Recap Part: 2

On Saturday I had three people to watch ride and those rides spanned the entire day from 9:50ish am to 5:30ish pm. For a horse show, though, that didn't feel too early and since I'd planned to spend all of Saturday at the horse park those ride times actually worked out.

10 years! It sounds like it was so big this year that next year they may need additional space.
That says a lot since they were using at least four of the
five rings in the KYHP dressage complex the whole time.

I got to the horse park just a bit before the first ride, which was Jen's, after stopping for Starbucks. I'm getting spoiled with  my trips to Seattle where there's literally a Starbucks on every corner and it took me a bit longer to get coffee than I expected so I didn't get there quite as early as I'd hoped. At any rate I had a bit of time to chat with Jen's mom and Connor's breeder before Jen went in for her ride.

I don't want to give away any spoilers but their ride was fantastic! I ended up video taping the ride on Jen's mom's video camera plus I don't like to share pictures of people riding unless they approve them first so I don't have any media but I'm sure Jen will have some to share.

After her ride we talked a bit and then Jen headed back to the barn with Connor while I waited with the other two for a golf cart because #ourfeethurt.



We got back, got Connor hosed off and helped with a scary loose horse situation (everyone was fine as far as we could tell). We grabbed some food and then headed over to the Mustang Makeover to see what was going on over there.

Helping with Connor's bath. He clearly wasn't too fussed by the loose horse.

Unfortunately we would have needed to buy tickets to see any of the demonstrations and we weren't quite dedicated enough to do that but we did check out some of the horses and burros that were up for adoption and walked through the barns.

I got another golf cart ride back and made it just in time for H's ride! I took video again for her and this time the GRP pony filly did really, really well and they snagged a placing for their training level class. I spent some time hanging out with H and the women from her barn again after and then went to do more shopping!

I did a really good job of budgeting this weekend and didn't splurge much other than on coffee. For shopping I just ended up with a set of appropriately pony sized, navy blue polos (no pictures but I'll get some of them on her soon). They were a good price and it's so tough to find polos that fit Katai's dainty legs so I couldn't say no. I also got an NDPC logo grey polo shirt that will work great for schooling shows and clinics. They had a lot of really cute NDPC merchandise this year but the polo was the most useful so that's what I decided to go with. That was the extent of my shopping which is both disappointing and makes me happy haha.

By that point it was around 3:00pm and I was dragging a bit. The weather was cooler than I had thought it might be but still quite hot and humid and it had been a long day in the sun so I decided to head to the Starbucks for some coffee and air-conditioning. I got back around 4:30ish and headed over to watch Emilie ride!

Busy warm up ring

By that point I just couldn't be in the sun anymore so I found some shade that put me a ways away from the ring Emilie was in but where I could see her warm up and ride. She and Crumble looked really, really good and the judge must have thought so as well since, from Facebook, it looks like they made out pretty darn well ;) Emilie is an amazing rider and it was really great to see her warm up and ride her test, it certainly gives me something to aspire to!

After that I pretty much packed up and headed back to the Airbnb. It was great to be back in the air-conditioning and I spent the evening watching Friends on cable (I don't have cable so it was a treat) and spending some time on my computer.

The person taking care of Veggie (I booked through Wag)
took this picture of him modeling the bandana.
I think it may be a bit too big and he clearly doesn't think it's his color.

My flight back on Sunday morning was uneventful and I got home around 2:00. I quickly got an Uber home, drove to Minneapolis to pick up Veggie, and then headed to the barn for my lesson! It was a really great lesson but I'm going to make you wait until the next post to read about it ;)

I had such a great time at NDPC this year and really hope that I can spectate again next year and that in the next few years I can go to compete!!

NDPC Recap Part: 1

I have so much to write about! For now I'll start with a recap of my NDPC Friday :)

I had an amazing weekend and this was easily the most fun I've had at Pony Cup so far. I also realized later that it was their 10 year anniversary and I've been there for three of those 10 years. Not bad! Now I just want to actually ride there at some point :)

This year my flight to Lexington was scheduled for early morning on Friday with a 1:30ish arrival. I was going to check into my AirBnB and then go straight to the KY Horse Park and planned to get there around 2:30ish. I knew I was going to miss Jen and Emilie's rides since they were earlier in the day but I had hoped to make it to H's ride since it was scheduled for 2:37. I was so close but ended up being just slightly too late. I wasn't worried though since I knew I'd be able to see everyone ride on Saturday.

Don't let Katai see this...

This pony cup was slightly different for me than the ones I've gone to previously. Since I had three people I knew I ended up spending more time with them and their ponies in the stable area and less time watching other people's rides. That's also part of what made this year so much fun!

This is the driveway to the garage at the AirBnB that I stayed at
Reaaaaally doesn't feel like it's going to fit in person either.

When I got to the horse park I had a brief fan girl moment when I looked up and saw a big name pony breeder/rider/trainer and said hi. I'm sure she wondered who this weird person was who recognized her when we've never met. After that I went and found H right away to see how her ride had gone. Turns out that the mare she was riding (a young GRP belonging to her trainer) had an issue with a bug. Overall H was happy with the test but disappointed about that part of it. The pony was also quite young and green and hasn't shown much so she really was fantastic for the most part.

I spent some time with H and the other two women from her barn chatting and figuring out their schedule and then decided to go meet some blogging friends! Emilie was closest so I went to say hi to her and Crumble first. OMG is Crumble ever adorable!! He was going to work on his hay and probably not impressed with another admirer but it was great to get to see him. Emilie was also trying to get her tack ready for the next day so I kept my visit pretty brief.

Getting Connor kisses :) So jealous of that forelock!

Then I headed over to meet Jen. I went straight to Connor's stall first. He was pretty sure I had food for him and spent some time licking my hand while I texted Jen to see where she wanted to meet up. We figured out a good spot and I headed over. It was SO GREAT to get to meet Jen! I've felt from reading her blog that I'd get along with her really well and I was so right. We sat and chatted for awhile and I got to meet her mom and Connor's breeder as well!

We spent most of the rest of the afternoon chatting, trying a bridle on Connor and doing some low key shopping (seriously tough to resist getting some things!) and then Jen headed out and I went to say goodnight to H.

Later that night I ended up going out for drinks with Jen, her mom, and Connor's breeder and I had so much fun!! It seriously felt like we'd known each other for a long time and it was great to try out some new craft beers and learn more about everyone. I really want to visit Jen and Connor and am definitely planning on Rolex next year!

Next up, a recap of my NDPC Saturday :)

Cliff

Well, I feel like my rides have completely fallen off a cliff recently. It's not so much that I lack motivation, just a combination of things. Last week I rode 4 times but this week I'm going to have ridden 1 time, yep, 1 time or sort of 2 since I kind of rode bareback on Wednesday.

Proof of my laziness.
Also, all the sweat is just from standing, I hadn't even ridden at this point

The main thing is the heat. We had another big swing up in temperature, this time with really high humidity so the horses are sweating standing still in front of their fans. I'm certainly not going to ride (other than the 10 minutes I spent walking with a bit of trotting bareback) in that sort of situation.

Monday was an amazing ride. I did a full 45 minutes and we got the most AMAZING lengthening at the end of the ride. Then the fourth of July with fireworks going off everywhere and then finally the heat hit.

and spending lots of time grooming so
we could spend time in front of Katai's favorite fan.

Of course Friday-Sunday she won't be ridden either since I'll be at Pony Cup!!! I'm really looking forward to this trip and know that I'll be really motivated when I get back.

Unfortunately it is going to be tougher to meet my July goals. Once I get back from KY I'll have two full weeks of pony time and I'm going to make sure they're action packed! Then I'll likely be in Seattle for around 11 days straight from the 23rd through the beginning of August.

Then the plan is for no travel until my next horse show which is planned for August 26th or 27th!! Straight from there I'm taking the last week in August off through Labor day and will be traveling to Rochester, NY to visit my sister and hopefully meet Bobby from Poor Woman Showing. I can't wait! Even better, I'll likely be traveling Wednesday-Saturday but will have the rest of the time to spend time recuperating from the show and having a fun staycation :)

An Ideal Day

I'm sure that many of us have ideas of what our ideal day(s) would like like. There are so many things that I think would make up an ideal day. A beach in Greece with a Mimosa would certainly be an ideal day for example ;) This past Saturday though was the most ideal day, especially horse wise, that I've had recently.

To start off I got to sleep in and then had some of my homemade cold brew coffee with my favorite vegan creamer. I pulled Youtube up on my tv via ChromeCast and watched a bunch of riding videos.

I had a delicious lunch and then took a break to bring the Vegetable out for a walk. Around 12:30 I headed to H's barn for a Janet Foy clinic! What's really cool about this barn and these clinics with Janet is that it's a really small audience and most of the people watching are also riding. I think I was actually the only auditor on Saturday. They aren't advertised beyond an occasional Facebook post by the owner (H's trainer) and with the small number of people watching (2-5) every time I've been there Janet really interacts with everyone.

The other thing that makes it fun is that this barn has the highest concentration of upper level riders in my area. Around here there aren't many people riding above 3rd level but on Saturday I watched two riders that were competing at Prix St. George, one at 4th, and one that was training Grand Prix movements on her baby horse that still isn't showing at that level. She did a couple of PERFECT one tempis and I got to watch as they introduced canter pirouettes, and worked on getting better piaffe and passage.

Ignore my inability to get a good canter picture, this pair was AMAZING!

H was the last ride of the day on her pony and it was really great because they worked on stuff that I can (for the most part) do even if we're not as good or consistent at it yet. They focused a lot on straightness since he's wiggly and then did some lateral work and ended with counter canter. H did a great job and it was great to be able to learn from Janet while watching someone riding at a similar level to me :)

Hungry pony after a great ride :)

I'd worn my riding clothes and went out to ride my pony directly from the clinic, after stopping for my favorite Starbucks drink (which I got to use my free drink stars for!) and stopping at Chipotle for dinner.

I got to the barn and the weather was so perfect that I decided to ride outside. I've been using the extra oomf from riding outside to really work on canter since Katai doesn't keep trying to quit on me. I really focused on maintaining the rhythm in the canter and getting it slowed down while maintaining the jump and longer stride length. I also did my 5-10 minutes of sitting trot and started to feel like I was actually getting somewhere. After another little walk break I did some walk/canter and canter/trot/canter transitions. She did so well! She was more hot about the walk/canter on Saturday and was launching more. I'm curious to check with Jane to see if it's good launching (powerful and engaged) or if she's launching so that she doesn't have to step under and carry herself up into the transition. As it was, since I didn't know if it was good or bad I just giggled and carried on. The canter/trot/canters across the diagonal were beautiful as well! She did fewer trot steps and maintained her rhythm better. Plus we got the correct lead every time!

These gifs aren't from Saturday and she's been getting better and better outside so I'll need to get some new footage soon but I realized that I'd never shared these.

The trot is getting so much bigger and more uphill! (I was pushing her sideways in the second one trying to get her off my left leg) 

Since she did harder work and spent a lot more time in canter along with needing to work harder with the uneven terrain I kept it shorter so our total ride was more like 35 minutes than 45 but that was still an improvement so I'll take it!

Slowly but surely getting more strength at the canter :)

It was an amazing, relaxing, but productive horse focused day :)

June Goals Recap and July Goals

June Goals Recap:

Practice More Lateral Work: Meh, we did start working on shoulder in again and I have been making sure to do lateral work each ride. The problem is that I'll do something like leg yield a couple of times to the right and then because I'm struggling I just switch to the other side. I need to do more (not drill but more) and just keep practicing or I'll never get how to do it.

Continue With Trailer Loading Practice: Meh again. I did some work, then we had horrible heat, then horrible bugs, and then (very unfortunately) Jane's young horse needed veterinary attention and stayed at the clinic for a few days which mean that the trailer stayed there with her. Bugs and heat are excuses but not bad ones and it's been tough to be motivated when I knew it would be over two months until I'm going to show again.

Practice Other Show Skills: We did a bit better here. I've been working with Katai and the wash stall/hose as you've seen. I've also been more consistently working with her with bug lotion, the spray bottle and other gunk. I need to do more work with the bridle number and I need to try a different way of braiding but mostly it's still been tough to be really motivated to do much work with this stuff since I have so much time.

July Goals:

Ride Longer: As I mentioned in my new and improved 2017 goals, I discovered that I've been averaging around 20-25 minute rides including warmup and cool down. Now that I'm riding more often (4-5 days a week at a minimum up from the 2-3 I was doing) it's time to increase the duration. To accomplish this I'm going to start riding with a timer. I don't need to absolutely hold myself to the time on the timer for every ride (If Katai does really difficult work or does something fantastic I'll end earlier) but at least I'll have more awareness of how often I'm cutting rides short. Both Jane and I want the majority of my rides to be 45ish minutes including warm up and cool down. Of course I'm not just going to start riding her 45 minutes each ride for 4-5 rides per week but we are going to start working our way up there.

Continue Outdoor Rides: Recently I've really been enjoying riding in the grassy area outside the barn since, in part, makes Katai enough more forward that it's easier to work on her canter rather than in the arena where she'd rather quit. I want to continue to ride out there and also start to take her down the road. I may also see if I can ride in the neighbor's arena again as well. I have a good stretch goal for the show in August so I need to put in the work to get there and getting Katai comfortable outside is one big step :)

Practice, Practice, Practice (or Sitting Trot): This goal is about not avoiding what's hard, instead I just need to do more hours of practice so that it becomes easy! Primarily right now that's the lateral work and the sitting trot but of course it could be anything else haha. Sitting trot is harder for me than posting right now and I feel like I'm going to hurt Katai's back so I don't do it. Instead, Jane want's me to do it for 5-10 minutes per ride so that I have plenty of chances to work on it but don't over do it. So far since my last lesson I have practiced it for that amount of time every ride and now I just need to keep it up through the month. If I do that, by August I'll be so much better! Of course this could also include doing more rides outside, trailer loading, lateral work, and practicing our medium gaits.

QuietRide

Close enough...

This has been a bit of a quiet week for rides. A couple of weeks ago it was the heat, then we had a 5 ride (or 4 ride one lunge) week and now this week it's probably going to end up at 4. This week it's more because I've been focused on other things.

I've needed to do this for awhile but I was sort of stuck in my winter routine of work/home/barn and didn't feel like doing more than that. I've pushed myself to do more outside of the barn this week though and it was a good break. On Monday I just took the evening off riding and then on Wednesday after work I went out to check out a vegan donut shop.

A small sample of their vegan menu.
Not shown, my maple donut or the Sriracha/peanut butter donut 

Unfortunately I didn't think to get pictures but my vegan maple donut was spectacular. Then on Thursday after work I went to the Mall of America with my sister. We got drinks, food, and did some shopping.

Mini story break here. I've had and consistently worn the same sandals for the last 19 years. Very sadly they gave up finally last week leaving me walking home with on bare foot. I wisely decided it was time to get another pair of sandals especially since I wanted something to wear for pony cup next week.

If you want the most comfortable sandals in the world
that will last forever try Speedo

I did manage to find a very comfortable pair of sandals but they just aren't the same as my favorite pair so my heart is still a bit broken ;)

Both days are typically Katai's days off so it was just the fact that I felt a bit burnt out on Monday and took that day off that will mean I have fewer rides this week. At any rate, it was needed and I'm feeling more motivated again after my mini break. Luckily it's just in time for the holiday weekend!

This weekend is going to be awesome because I'm going to watch H ride in a Janet Foy clinic. She's riding her pony cup pony in the morning and then her pony in the afternoon. I'll probably only be able to make one of her rides but I'm hoping to see a few other people ride as well. I may also check out my favorite tack shop (which is over in that area) because it looks like they're having a great Independence Day sale.

On Monday I'm "working" from home. Even my boss has said that there's unlikely to be anything happening so I'm going to be pretty free beyond checking my email periodically for emergent issues. Then of course I have Tuesday off so it will be almost a 4 day weekend. I'm back in the office for Wednesday and Thursday and then off on Friday when I'll be flying to Pony Cup.

I'm so excited!! 

Relationships

When I read Emma's post and some of the responses to it I knew that I wanted to do a post about this. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot both from the perspective of what I need and how Katai matches that and from the perspective of what I would do differently “next time”.

However, I sat down to type this up and I struggled. I’ve drafted something at least 3-4 times now but it never really captured how I honestly feel about this and that is that Katai is perfect.

Sure I can wish and dream for something “better”, after all the grass is always greener, but ultimately Katai is the perfect horse for me which made this either the longest post or the shortest post. Instead I’ve decided to share a little about how I got here.

 When I chose Katai I was in a very different place. I had found early in life what my limit was and unfortunately ended up with a lot of fear thanks to my first horse. I had conquered maybe 70% of that fear by 2012 when I got my first pony as an adult. Myshla was an incredible pony who was calm, quiet, cute, cuddly, and nearly a perfect kids pony. The only issue is that she was very forward and hadn’t been very well trained so she wasn’t very responsive to halts or half halts which made her feel a bit like a run away. The fact that she was a run away in the body of a small pony/teddy bear made it fun for me to work with her instead of scary.

When I first got her I was finally putting aside peer pressure and getting what I wanted which was a pony. She was the first horse I had after Sora and Sora had taken me on a journey that was way off the beaten path. In many ways Myshla helped me find my way back to riding dressage but even though she did that for me I quickly realized that she wasn’t going to be comfortable as my dressage pony, it just wasn’t her thing and she wasn’t built for it. She was such a perfect kids pony that I decided to find her a home with a kid and find myself a different pony.

 Now (while I wouldn’t change this for the world since it would have meant not finding Katai) I maybe would have done things differently but it felt important to have a dressage pony prospect asap. So with my very tiny budget I started looking. I found Katai’s ad but kept convincing myself to skip over it. I’d had my fill of green horses with Sora and Katai was a bit shorter and possibly not as athletic as I wanted. Now I maybe would have kept Myshla for longer and saved up some additional funds but at that time I decided to go check out Katai.

That’s when something really weird happened, I went to see her and didn’t fall in love with her. I actually felt sort of meh about her and while her size felt better than I thought it would (she was at least a couple inches taller than Myshla) and I liked her brain she was also very resistant, scared, reluctant to be caught or handled, and pretty much feral. Even then I had a pretty good picture of my limits and I just wasn’t confident that I’d be able to successfully train her. I still bought her, or actually traded for her, and after one failure and multiple hours got her on the trailer and home where she proceeded to completely ignore all of the electric fencing and escape to the neighbors.

The first two years where really, really tough and I thought a lot about giving up. Ultimately what made me keep her was that there wasn’t going to be a market for a young, untrained pony and I still saw so much potential in her. My budget was still very low at that point so hiring a professional just wasn’t an option. Eventually I got through the worst of it and was able to move her to a dressage barn (with J) which felt like the right track. Now if I could go back and change anything it would just be to not ever bring her to that barn or take lessons on her with J. I learned from J but it caused issues with Katai that we’re still dealing with to this day. Things went backwards for a bit and then we started to make progress again.

Overall it was another 2 years of struggle before things really started to improve significantly with Jane (plus Katai hit that magical age of 8 which I’m sure helped). However, after 4.5 years of blood, sweat, and tears I can say that my pony is perfect for me.

She’s still tricky, she’s still very forward, still gets tense, still frustrates me, still has meltdowns about things that just shouldn’t be a big deal after 4.5 years but I adore her and she’s good for me. Even though I can think/dream about what’s next and I’m sure Katai won’t be my last pony, I also can’t imagine finding any horse or pony that I would enjoy more than I’m enjoying Katai. Plus, she's still more talented at this dressage thing than I am and I'm still learning from her so it doesn't make sense to look elsewhere even if I weren't completely in love with her.

She’s just the perfect mix of bold, funny, spicy, forward, lazy, powerful, intelligent, cute, naughty for me to have fun and feel challenged but not ever feel scared. She also doesn’t have huge movement that makes me feel like I need to spend tons of hours at the gym. I work out to be a better rider for her, but it’s not another full time job. I never climb on her and wonder if she’s going to be naughty but I’m also not bored when I ride and she always challenges me in a good way. I just can't imagine a better pony for me :)

Goals, Mid-Year Update

I figured it was a good time to check in on my yearly goals and possible adjust as needed!

Goals for 2017

Increase Blogging Again 

Buy a Trailer

Trailer EVERYWHERE

Ride in Another Dressage Clinic

2nd Level Goals

Ok, so I'm going to keep the goal to increase blogging but that's about it. Honestly these just don't reflect much about what I want to improve this year and since I wasn't able to purchase a trailer a few of these are out.

I had good intentions with the 2nd level goals that were more about understanding and working towards the movements that make up a second level test than actually being able to successfully make it through a second level test in any sort of smooth, ridable sort of way. However, not really sure it's useful at this point at least not this way.

I've also become much better at making goals since my pony is actually rideable and can, you know, actually complete a good 20 meter trot and canter circle. I've spent some time outlining the things I actually feel like we need to work on and rather than keeping them in the background and limping through the rest of the year with these goals I figured it was time to clear the slate and start fresh.

Remainder of 2017 Goals

Build Katai's Strength:

This involves a few things including continuing to challenge Katai's balance with things like counter canter, walk/canter/walk transitions, trot poles, varying terrain, 10 meter canter circles 

Another thing it includes is riding more and longer. I've discovered that I'm only really riding for about 15-(maybe)20ish minutes each time I ride! I had videoed a couple of rides and found that including my walk warmup, walk breaks, and cool down I was in the saddle for about 25-30 minutes typically which just isn't long enough at this point. It's not my physical stamina that makes me cut it that short, it's more mental but I need to figure this out so that I'm riding closer to 40 minutes for at least 1-2 of those rides each week. I've really gotten my consistency up and have been keeping it there but now it's time to increase the duration of my rides.

Speaking of varying terrain I'd REALLY like to make more opportunities to ride outside. Jane has one small hill on her property and if I ride down the road I can ride up and down the banks on each side in some places. At the very least it's a good mental break from the ring but hopefully it's just one more way to strengthen the pony.

Show Experience:

As mentioned previously I'm planing at least two more shows this year. My main goals for these shows are to improve Katai's relaxation and rideability. I want to continue to be able to relax and have more fun, and I'm really hoping that she'll start to calm down more at the trailer and when I handwalk her around.

The smaller part of this goal is that I'd like to continue to practice my grooming and show prep including learning how to braid better and getting Katai more white and clean for the next show. This involves more desensitization to spray bottles and coat "products" for Katai so that she can let me do this especially when we arrive at the show grounds so that I don't just decide to throw up my hands and show with green spots on her legs.

Such grubby legs for this show!

"Fix" the Walk:

All I want is for Katai to relax in the walk. It's my fault that she's tense since she doesn't realize that walk is anything other than a way to get to trot. I just haven't practiced a medium or working walk enough so she's either on a loose rein or I'm just shortening the reins to trot. 

More consistency with riding a medium walk and practicing other movements at the walk should be all we need here. Now I just need to do it (see also, riding more and longer above)

Honest Connection to the Outside Rein:

We're pretty much there with the left rein but not with the right. She's starting to get it at the trot but at the canter if I put any contact on the right rein she trots. Again, I just need to practice and actually do it. This is sort of also connected to my loose hip on the right which means my leg turns out from the hip so my knee points out which also contributes to her bulging out through that shoulder. 

Latteral Work:

As mentioned I struggle with this but instead of practicing I just give up. I need to just practice, practice, practice. (see also, riding more and longer above)

Change it Up:

Originally part of what I loved about ponies was their accessibility and wanted/planned to do more different things. Without a trailer I'm certainly limited in what I can do beyond dressage right now but I have been spending more time riding outside and want more practice riding down the road. 

Retail Rewards

Awhile ago I put together a plan for a show outfit for me and Katai that looked something like this.

Of course I no longer have brown tack but I have almost everything else in this picture, albeit slightly different brands or styles, except a grey pad. Grey saddle pads are SO tough to find especially in dressage style and pony size. When I first looked I decided to get a Mattes euro pad since I have one and I love the size, styling, and quality and it looks really nice on Katai. However, since Mattes pads are pretty pricy I wanted to get one as a reward for  good show, or sort of feel like we'd earned it.

This past show felt that way to me so I went ahead and ordered a show pad. Except, they had free shipping if you spent over a certain amount and since two pads would get me over that amount I decided to go for it. Now I'll have three Mattes pads including my navy with the pink fleece, the
grey show pad, and another one that will be a surprise :)

Not sure if I've ever shared a clear picture of this pad
but I love it so much and it's held up so well

I also got some much needed summer stuff from Riding Warehouse. I picked out a fly sheet, fly boots, salt block, and I've really wanted to try Equifuse after reading a few good reviews so I decided to try that as well. They also have such cheap shirts that I got a couple of those since you can never have too many summer riding shirts.

I do have to say that this is only my second experience with Riding Warehouse and my first wasn't wonderful. It wasn't their fault, just a combination of a faulty pair of breeches and a show shirt I really disliked. Luckily they do have an amazing return policy so I was able to send both things back. I was anxious to try them out again since I've heard so many great things and my impression was much better this time around. My order shipped right away, arrived quickly, and everything was exactly what I expected. I look forward to future orders with them!

The Next Step: Lesson Recap 6/20

No new riding pictures so here are some adorable puppy pictures

This was the weirdest I've felt during and after a lesson in a long time. I went into it feeling sort of emotional and vulnerable. Still not sure what's up with me lately but I think it's a combination of things from my previous post. At any rate, it probably wasn't a good time to bring up show plans for the rest of the year but I need to at some point so I asked Jane.

To make a short story shorter, we're sticking with Training level for the rest of the year. She's completely right and I don't quite know why I've been pushing for 1st. I'm totally in this for fun and I want to build a strong foundation with Katai which means making sure she's comfortable at shows and I'm comfortable riding her at shows before we increase the difficulty. I've mentioned before how goals turn me into a lunatic and this is one example since after we discussed this I felt completely defeated and just completely lost all motivation.

Luckily the beginning of the lesson was just about getting Katai moving forward, stepping under behind, and getting her rhythmic. For the past month or so our warmup has been to start with serpentines and get her bending but now we're in a different place (already) so using the full arena and getting her cruising is the answer. We also worked on changing the rein length at the walk and getting her to stretch down and then come back up without a pony melt down. Happily the answer on this is to just do it many times since she just doesn't know that sometimes the correct answer is a medium walk.

Doggy trifecta, tennis ball, rawhide, and sun spot

We got such nice work that I started to realize what a ninny I was being and was feeling better by our first real walk break. At that point Jane brought up that we were going to work on walk/canter/walk transitions!

Talk about an emotional roller coaster...

I had been planning a post on how I've been practicing these with Katai occasionally on the lunge. It felt very "exercising the Black Stallion at midnight" since at that point we hadn't even talked about walk/canter transitions. I just hoped that by introducing them there she'd understand them when we went to do them under saddle. On Sunday this past week she had NAILED them and gave me one, textbook perfect, transition on each side.

I mentioned this to Jane but neither of us were confident about what we'd get. I was betting on these transitions making Katai hot and explosive and tense and I think that Jane felt like we'd get that or just lots of running trot. However, Katai surprised both of us and stayed extremely rideable, mostly waited until I gave her the cue to transition, didn't run into the trot before the transition, and I was able to keep her fairly soft in the poll in the downward transitions.

Yeah, he's not spoiled at all...

Of course they weren't perfect. There were some trot steps, some tightness, some rushing in the walk, and going to the left she really struggled to step down into walk without some running in the trot first but they were really, really, really good for her first tries. Most importantly to me she stayed with me and didn't get explosive but she also did some really decent walk/trot/walks in each direction.

We ended on that but for some reason I still just felt sort of dull. I KNOW what a big deal that was but I was just struggling to be happy about it in the moment. Katai got lots of pets, a peppermint, and Jane and I talked more about the show schedule. She's going to look at the calendar and figure out when she can drive me. It sounds like there's a show at the middle of August that she's bringing her young horse to.

It will be interesting since her young horse hasn't shown before or even been off property much and this will be Katai's fourth show so two noisy baby mares. I'll be bringing earplugs and taking lots of Advil I'm sure haha. I'm hoping I can do at least one more show after that. The show in August is rated so my options will be Training 1 and 2 again. Hopefully that will be good enough that we could consider doing Training 3 at a schooling show later this year.

This is from last year (Veggie is two from the left)
but we've been doing more dog parks this year

Again, I'm really not unhappy with where we're at. I'm actually so, so, so happy and having so much fun. I love my time at the barn, I've been so motivated to go, and this past week I've been to the barn 5 days in a row and rode 4 of those days which would have been unheard of not that long ago. It's just this other stuff that's coloring my time at the barn and I think because I don't feel like I can make progress there I'm pushing that much harder at riding.

I'm working on perspective and finding other things that I can obsess and make goals about such as getting the Vegetable to the dog park every weekend :) Also, I want to mention that even though my last couple of posts have been a bit whiny and negative that's not really how my last couple of weeks have gone. It's just been a small part of how I'm feeling recently  and happened, in this case, to come up during my lesson.