25 Questions

Sometimes I have a tough time enjoying reading through this sort of question and answer post but I've actually really enjoyed reading everyone's answers to this one. Based on that I decided to go ahead and do this as well even though I'm REALLY late with it!

Hopefully more updates soon after I make some progress this weekend.

1. What is the first thing you do when you get to the barn?

Normally maintenance things that I don't want to try to remember after a ride. Usually I grab empty supplement baggies, get my tack all uncovered and make sure it's ready to go (put my reins back on my bridle if I lunged last etc.), grab some Tums peppermint to help head off any ulcer issues, and set up my grooming bag.

2. Is there a breed that you would never own?

Personally I'm not interested in owning a gaited horse.

3. Describe your last ride?

I went on a trail ride with a friend :)

4. Have any irrational riding fears?

All of them. I have high anxiety so it's normal for me to imagine the worst case scenario with anything and everything. I'd say worst would be getting trampled since Katai's groundwork is her weakness and, while we work on it ALOT, she's much more ridable than she is handleable from the ground.

5. Describe your favorite lesson horse?

Probably the small, white, Arabian mare (can't remember her name) that I rode when I was 9. I've only taken lessons on other horses very rarely.

6. Would you ever lease out your horse?

No, not sure who I'd get to lease her. I'm a bit of a control freak, and she's a tricky ride. She's too small for most adults and way too much horse for a kid. I'm happy when my trainers climb on her but she usually gives them grief so I'd worry about having someone lease her. 

Moshy climbed in by the garbage can and then couldn't turn around to get out

7. Mares: Yay or neigh?

Oh yeah. If I have my druthers I'd only ever own mares.

8. How many time per week do you get to see your horse?

I could be going more. My goal is to be back to 5 days a week by the end of June! This year 1-3 has been more typical.

9. Favorite thing to do on an “easy day” with your pony?

A good spa day including doing all of the maintenance stuff such as washing legs, trimming her bridle path, trimming feathers, pulling chestnuts, and trimming feet.

10. Conformational flaw that bothers you the most?

Hmmm, downhill is a big one for me as are necks that are put on wrong.

Adorable puppy loves her bear

11. Thing about your riding that you’re most self conscious about?

All of the things. If I had to pick I'd say that I can tend to a have a chair seat and my right toe sticks out more than my left.

12. Will you be participating in No Stirrup November?

No, I don't want to die ;)

13. What is your grooming routine?

Hmmm, I don't have a great routine really. Prior to riding I typically use some sort of curry. A flower shedder for shedding season, a rubber curry for summer and a jelly scrubber for her legs. Then I'll go over everything with a stiff brush paying special attention to her back, girth, and legs. 

After riding I'll use a curry if she's sweaty and otherwise just stiff brush and then finishing brush. On spa days I do more. I have been known to just brush the most critical parts with a stiff brush and during the winter when she's blanketed and shows up clean I do very little.

I always forget to brush her face.

Wanting this again!

14. Describe a day in the life of your horse?

Normally she gets breakfast supplements in her stall and then goes out around 7:30ish AM and gets a ton of hay in a paddock with four other mares. She comes in around 5:30ish PM and gets more hay and a handful of alfalfa pellets in her stall. If it's a weekday and a barn day for me I normally get there around 4:30 which interrupts her dinner. 

On those days I bring her in, groom, and either ride or lunge. Usually by the time I'm done the horses are in so I put her in her stall.

15. Favorite season for riding?

Definitely the fall. Winter is also nice as long as it isn't too cold since there aren't bugs and I handle the cold better than the heat.

16. If you could only have 1 ring: indoor or outdoor?

Definitely indoor here otherwise there would be at least 3-4 months where we couldn't ride much or at all.

17. What impresses you most about the opposite discipline (english vs. western)?

I'd say that a lot of western riders are more about the utility of the horse and are less fussed by little quirky things that english riders seem to spend a lot of time and worry over. 

18. You have unlimited funds to buy one entire tack set for your horse, what is he/she wearing?

I'd say I actually have it now. I've saved and work hard to have the tack that I have and while it's always fun to shop what I have now is gorgeous, fits, and is everything I've wanted.

More sparkly broadbands would always be nice though and I'd really like one with pearls.

19. How many blankets do you have? When do you blanket?

So many!! My current count is;

2 turnout sheets

2 liners (one light and one medium)

2 medium turnout blankets (one with a high neck and one with a detachable neck)

1 heavy turnout blanket with a high neck

2 quarter sheets

1 fly sheet

2 cotton sheets

1 fleece sheet

I do need to replace one of the turnout sheets since it's quite old and not as waterproof anymore plus has a few tears.

20. What is your horse’s favorite treat? Favorite place to be scratched?

Mac Muffins for sure. They're made by a local couple and are the very molassesy kind with oats and often some sort of candy in the middle. Her favorite place to be scratched is her udder but sometimes she'll threaten to kick me if I try. Mares...

21. Something about your barn that drives you crazy?

Hmmm, unfortunately at this barn that there seems to be more drama than what I've dealt with at barns in the past. Also, not having a heated barn or arena, the very tiny arena, and the fact that both outdoors are rocky.

Oops, that's a lot.

All of the things I need to bring with me to the
barn (well except the vest since it's ungodly hot out now.

22. Roached manes, pulled manes, or long flowing manes?

None? I'd say pulled except I don't pull and neatly trim Katai's mane instead.

23. Can you handle a buck or a rear better?

Probably a rear since that's Katai's move of choice.

24. I would never buy a horse who ___________________?

Was taller than 14.2 hands or who was really jumpy and spooky.

25. Favorite facial marking?

Big, wide blazes

Problem Solving

It’s that time of year again!

I’ve had an idea for a blog hop for a while but wasn’t sure that it would gain any traction with how my poor, nearly abandoned blog is doing at this point. I did decide to go ahead and post this and if you don’t feel like responding to this via a post on your blog I’d still love to get a comment which things you problem solve and how.

Short of maybe Jen from Cob Jockey’s barn :) I don’t think that anywhere we board our horses is perfect. Either it’s a long way away, lacks an indoor or outdoor arena, doesn’t have the ideal turnout, or anything else. As I’ve been looking at options for where to go when this barn closes (obviously I’m already looking so that I don’t get caught without a place) I’ve been wondering how others problem solve for this.

One example is that I currently have a barn that isn’t heated. With that, I can’t keep anything that’s temperature sensitive at the barn including most first aid gunk. My problem solve for this was to get a grooming bag and bring it with me home, to work (since I’ve been going to the barn directly from work), and then to the barn. It certainly wasn’t the ideal set up but it did allow me to have those items at the barn with me without the risk of them freezing and becoming unusable.

This brand new alfalfa smells so good!

I’m working on a solution to the problem of the rocky outdoor arenas at this barn since I’ll likely still be here through the summer and most, if not all, of the fall. My goal is to move someplace that has a heated barn/arena by the cold part of winter but who knows if that will happen since wait lists are fickle things. Some options for problem solving the rocky arenas are low profile hoof boots and/or Hoof Armor.

So, the questions I have are;

1. What are the things at your barn that aren’t ideal for you and your horse.
2. How do you problem solve for those items, what workable solutions have you found
3. At your current or past barn are there things that you haven’t been able to find a workable solution for? What deal breakers do you have for a boarding barn?

New Toys

I really do want to be blogging more but this whole having a life outside of horses and work thing is still taking some getting used to :) My goal is to increase back to my previous blogging rate by the end of the year! I’ll have some more updates on Katai and the adventures we’ve been having soon but wanted to get this posted now since I’ve had this sort of drafted for a bit and have a new exciting item to add!

Electronics:

Equilab

I’ve had this app awhile but as I mentioned I wasn’t using it. I’ve now been able to build it into my routine so I’ve been bringing it with us regularly on rides! Unfortunately since I haven’t been riding very regularly there still isn’t much data but at least I’m remembering to use it every ride.

I’m especially using it to keep myself honest with how long I’m riding and how evenly I’m working on each side. I also like being able to identify trends in comparison with other users. It clearly doesn’t have nearly the sophistication of something like the Equifit but it’s also much cheaper!

To use this I’ve been tucking my phone into my left bra strap now that I’m not wearing jackets with helpful pockets anymore. So far it’s working but at some point I may need to invest in some other way of carrying my, rather large, iphone safely.

Airpods

I’ve had these for a while now and ADORE them and I can’t imagine going without them. I bring this up because I've recently transitioned from listening to my playlists over the speakers in the arena to listening with these while I ride since I'm using the Equilab app on my phone.

Because they aren’t really sound canceling I just have my music turned down pretty low and can still hear all the ambient noises I need to be safe but can listen to music while I ride which is really important to me.

Bonus for the fact that I can listen to Kanye without bothering anyone!

Pivo!

This is the newest of my new toys and I’m pretty pumped about it! This is basically a very cheap Pixio (by the same company) that utilizes the camera on your phone through an app that controls the mount via Bluetooth.

I bought it for the object tracking piece of the app which, theoretically, should allow me to use this for the same purpose as a Pixio but for about a 10th of the price (at least for me since I funded it for $75 through Kickstarter as an early backer). It’s looking like it will be somewhere between $100-$200 though in the future which is still way cheaper.

It took a while to arrive but I just got mine earlier this week. I haven’t been able to test it at the barn yet but in testing it with Moshy it seems like it will probably work. Honestly, even if it loses me occasionally for that price as long as it can find us again at some point it will be AWESOME!

I’ll be testing soon and will do a review once I’ve given it a chance to succeed or fail.

Tack:

Thinline bitless bridle attachment

One of the things that I really liked about K (my trainer) when I found her profile on Instagram was that despite having a large moving young mare and riding upper level dressage she still regularly rides all of her horses in a plain sidepull.

When I was working with K’s trainer and she mentioned that Katai was tense about the bit at times I thought it might be interesting to just switch things up for her a bit. I think it’s always good to have various ways to communicate and would love to be able to use a side pull as a tool. I was looking at the Black Jak bitless attachment and was curious if I could finagle it onto my PS of Sweden bridle (which I do think would work) but then she was unavailable for so long that I gave up. Then I needed to order dewormer through Riding Warehouse and stumbled over this sidepull attachment.

I’m going to be using it with my PS of Sweden bridle since it’s the only thing I have but at some point I may purchase a cheap bridle or headstall to attach this to. I actually haven't used it since springtime mare hormones are no joke but I'll post more of a review once I have!

Other:

Shinto Rasp

I think I’ve mentioned previously that I’ve been doing Katai’s feet now for just over a year. As a way to continue learning and to be able to ask questions I’m part of a few barefoot groups on Facebook. I started seeing them talk about this rasp and thought it looked awesome for my purpose but guessed it was very pricy.

Since I don’t use nippers and just rasp if I go more than a week or two without doing any work with Katai’s feet it takes a lot of effort to get the excess foot off especially in the summer when her feet are rock hard. Apparently this rasp can take off a lot of foot so I’m planning to use it primarily for that purpose and then my normal rasp for finishing things off and for when I am doing weekly work. At any rate I eventually searched for them on Amazon and found this 9” one for just over $15! My other rasp cost way more and is going to need to be replaced soon so I was happy to pick up this one to test out. At that price even if I don’t like it I won’t be out much!

Bandage Liners Review

Well this is an old photo, this was the first time I put her dressage boots on

I love doing review posts but haven’t really bought much that’s new and interesting recently since I’m working to stick to my budget. However, I have been using a new set up to protect Katai’s legs for a while now and wanted to share some info and do a review on how it’s working for us. First though, some background.



Still using the boots but Katai wasn’t happy about it

I know that leg protection is a contentious topic and with that being said there are so many variables for each person and each horse that I would never seek to encourage anyone to do something different if they have something that’s working for them. I believe that everyone should seek out information, including the latest research, on the various options and make a decision for each horse about what’s best for them. With that being said, I’ve had multiple friends need to retire their horse or nurse it through a long recovery related to interference injuries so this is something that I may be a bit more picky about than others. I know that most horses shouldn’t NEED protection, however, as we’re building strength, learning the lateral work, figuring out our balance, and occasionally having tantrums I’m way more comfortable knowing that Katai has that extra protection.


Also still wearing the boots.
Side note: I can't believe how far we've come from this!
She was engaged here but not that up in front and now we're getting that much more.

In my area, Minneapolis, MN, the weather only reaches 90* and above for a month or two each year and even then we have very few days that are actually above the 80s. In addition, I don’t ride for that long, or do extensive conditioning work, especially when it’s that hot out since I do not handle the heat well and typically end up with heat stroke if I do any athletic activity when the temp is above the low 90s. Because of those factors I don’t worry much about heat retention and to reduce the risk further I typically skip the bandages if I do ride on those very hot days.


Here we were finally starting to use polos (without bandage liners) full time
Side note again: I love this picture so much! Now we just need to get back to this level of work :)

 

Finally, I think boots are great. They can be way cooler than wraps, are quicker and easier to put on, can stay cleaner, and limit the risk of wrapping injury for those who don’t have instruction on proper wrapping technique. However, Katai hates them with a passion. She will literally pin her ears and threaten to kick me if I put her gorgeous, fluffy, dressage boots on and I don’t even put them on that tight. I’ve tried various boots and she hates all of them. When I realized that it was the boots and not that she was anticipating work, or ulcery, I switched to using polo wrap but never felt comfortable about the lack of protection they offered. Then it seemed like bandage liners were becoming more popular so I did some research and decided to try them out. Over Black Friday I bought two sets of Lemieux bandage liners and then for Christmas I got a set of Eskadron liners.



See how poofy?

Lemieux Bandage Liners
Size: small

I got one black set and one white set of these from Riding Warehouse. They were way cheaper than the Eskadron’s and got really great reviews. Here’s where having a smallish equine might affect my choice a bit so YMMV. They’re rather thick and made out of memory foam that varies in stiffness. Two of the white liners are very soft and give well, the other two are way stiffer and all of the black set are stiffer, thicker foam. With that, because Katai has small legs, they’re really poofy and even with good wrapping pressure they made her look like she’s wearing casts on her legs or 80s style leg warmers. I’m not a fan of how poofy they are and how thick and the varying thickness of the foam makes me wonder about quality control.

I was also using these during the winter in an unheated barn and in that environment the memory foam was especially stiff. In order to get them snug I needed to pull the wraps pretty tight and then when they warmed up they became more pliable and were looser than would be ideal.

My Opinion?: Overall, I wouldn’t buy again for my purpose. On a larger horse or a warmer environment they would likely work well.

Much better

Eskadron Bandage Liners:
Size: small horse
I got a set of these in white from my mom for Christmas. Unfortunately she got me the small horse size vs. the small pony size but luckily this just makes Katai look very European and adds extra protection so I’m pretty ok with it.

I adore these bandage liners in every way and have been using them for almost every ride since I got them. These are very consistent and much more pliable than the Lemieux liners and seem to be cooler underneath than the Lemieux liners after a ride. They’re easy to wrap over and because they’re evenly pliable I’m confident that I’m able to keep the pressure even.

My Opinion?: I love that Katai has extra protection from interference during rides I will absolutely be buying more of these. I’ve got a black set in small horse size and a white set in small pony size on my list so that I can rotate and wash them more easily and have a smaller pair for when I want to be less obnoxiously DQesque.



And the polo wraps come in cute colors that complement our saddle pads!
Side note again: forgive the slightly messier wrapping job here.
I was still figuring out how to wrap the back ones so they don't go up as far as they should.

Polo Wraps:
With my bandage liners I’ve been using polo wraps rather than exercise bandages because they’re what I’m comfortable wrapping, and are more widely available. I did have to get some new polo wraps though because my very cut down polos that were the right length for a pony without liners were way too short for use with liners. I got two sets of Eskadron pony polos (one of the few brands who actually carries pony polos) and a set of PS of Sweden polos.

The Eskadron pony polos are narrower width rather than shorter length and are AMAZING to wrap. The narrower width means that the coverage when wrapping is easier to get consistent and it’s easier to maneuver them around smaller legs. They’re also nicely stretchy and the Velcro is set up to not have a bunch of extra velcro tab sticking out based on the smaller leg circumference (of course the liners also help with this).

The PS of Sweden polos work well also but are much wider so while I can still wrap them very safely they don’t look as neat and are tougher to get a good wrap around the fetlock with small pony legs. I do like the material they’re made out of though and they have an appropriate amount of stretch.

Katai’s Opinion?: I was curious if wrapping with the liners would make Katai mad since the only thing she’s liked so far were plain polos. However, as of today after using these consistently for almost 5 months she still doesn’t seem to care when I’m wrapping her legs. With that I’m giving them the pony mare stamp of approval.

I purchased all of these items with my own money or received them from family members as gifts. I am not being compensated for this review.

Finally!

There are certainly some nice things about MN but the weather is not one of them. It is FINALLY nice here! By nice I mean that I wore a sweater to the barn today and it was only 48 to start but warmed up to the 60s later in the day and it was sunny!

This weekend was lovely but that was after a seriously awful week that is really just fully explained with this very popular cartoon by K.C. Green.

I'm not going to go over it in detail but in summary: Moshy got hurt last weekend which resulted in two vet visits this weekend with no answers. We did get x-rays and the next step may be orthopedic surgery. I was also thinking an opportunity may open up that didn't but I didn't find out until on my way to get x-rays for Moshy on Friday. On top of all of that I had a dentist apt for fillings on Wednesday. One hour turned into two and I got so many injections into my lower jaw that it was incredibly bruised and painful until this weekend. With all of that they still couldn't get my tooth numb enough so I have to go back for another 2 hour apt in just over a week.

This weekend though it started to turn better.

How could it not when I get to spend time with this girl <3

First I got to sleep in on Saturday! Then I did a bunch of cleaning and food prep which was sorely needed. In the afternoon when it was warmer I went to the barn. I thought Katai might be spicy because I, I think understandably, hadn't been able to make it to the barn much this past week. However, she was a sweet, well behaved lady and we actually accomplished something for our ride! We did a bunch of great canter, she listened well, and only had one minor melt down. Then this morning I had a lesson with K who had flown in this weekend to teach lessons.

I've been doing training braids so her mane (at least what wasn't rubbed out) is adorably wavy.
But then there's that bit at the top that's sticking straight up...

She hadn't seen us in a LONG time so there wasn't anything groundbreaking since she was getting to know us again. However, she did have some great advice and exercises for us which was awesome. Primary though I was really proud of Katai who had almost and hour under saddle (albeit with a lot of walk) and just kept trying to do what we were asking the WHOLE time. She had no melt downs, never said no, and never really got frustrated.

My wraps keep getting neater and neater!

This is big primarily because it's spring, I haven't been riding consistently, and we're both weak. When we were both fit we had weekly hour long lessons and I was riding another 3-4 days a week but right now we are so far from that it's not even funny. With that being said, she barely got sweaty and was never breathing hard. However, I'm fairly certain she's going to be muscle sore so I'm going to use that as an experience to do some low pressure, light, fun things this week. On the schedule are  a trail hand walk, a short bareback bitless ride (to try out my new bitless set up!), some grooming, and some work on her feet. With some more slow, consistent fitness work we'll both be back to it soon!

Not Rolex

Like really not Rolex. As usual the MN horse expo fell on Rolex LRK3DE weekend and while it’s nowhere near as fun as LRK3DE would have been it is still a big horse event with lots of good shopping. I didn’t go last year and wasn’t sure this year but I ended up with an appointment in the morning and rather than taking just the first half of a Friday off I took the whole day. With that it would have been silly not to go really.

Moshy has a slightly sore hind leg, probably from getting tired on a walk, so she's taking extra naps.
If it's not better by Monday there will be a vet visit. Despite being able to prance around on it she's being pretty pathetic about it, poor baby :(

I had two goals, talk with the Shadow trailer dealer and do some shopping. Having checked out Jen at CobJockey’s Shadow trailer I’m pretty sure that’s the trailer I want to buy. For the last few years the Shadow dealer has been at the Expo. Not only do they offer deals (not that I’m necessarily in a place to get something but still!) but I also wanted to talk with them about some of the items I’d want installed on my trailer to see what it would take and if they could do it. Unfortunately one of the main buildings that trailer vendors utilize had a roof collapse during one of our recent snow falls. In the end it seemed to mean that many of the normal trailer distributers decided not to go. Oh well, I’ll be in a better place spring of next year to consider buying something and hopefully they’ll be back then!

My other goal was shopping, particularly at the going-out-of-business local tack store's booth. Based on how much they had left to get rid of when I was there a few weekends ago I figured they’d have some really good deals since this was the last weekend they were open. When I finally found their booth I walked around looking at the racks of clothing and strap goods they had and was sort of disappointed. Still great deals but again, 50% off of items that are $100-$400+ is still a lot of money.

Katai got mane training braids :) Her poor, rubbed out mane :(

Then I saw a few bins on the ground and realize they were full of show shirts and there was a sign that said $5 per shirt in those bins. That was more like it! I did some digging and found two Pikeur show shirts and scored the deal of the century. One fits me perfect now which means it will be slightly big when I finish losing this extra weight but the other, which is slightly too small now, will be perfect. Both shirts were over $100 list price so this was a fantastic deal.

$220 worth of Pikeur show shirts for $10 makes my budget very happy

I stopped and picked up a coffee at a food truck, pretty much the only vegan thing I could find :), then I walked back out towards the entrance to leave. On the way out I discovered that there was another vendor building that they typically don’t have open for the expo. It was at the opposite end of the grounds but I decided to go check it out and walked all the way back. I didn’t find anything but I’m pretty sure it was the universe fixing my timing because when I headed back out to leave I ran into someone that I haven’t seen in a while back at the entrance and found out some AMAZING info. I don’t have anything to share now but will as soon as I can!

Another Clinic Recap!

Bad media > no media?

I mean I should probably not actually call these clinic. Really they're more like monthly lessons with my trainer's trainer but for right now clinic works and it's easier to type! This was almost a week ago at this point but still important to recap.

This one was similar to the last one but a bit tougher in a few ways. First, K's trainer had identified our ability level so she was more picky, as I'd suspected she would be, and second, we cantered early on and then Katai lost her marbles a little.

We started out warming up the walk and trot and K's trainer commented that she seemed way more relaxed and rather than just posing and going she was actually softer. Yay! success.

We cantered as part of warm up and it actually went really well. Katai went right into it and let me bring her back calmly. We cantered in each direction and then went back to working on walk. Katai was UP at that point and was not going to be told to go slower than a full hand gallop. With K's trainer's influence we were able to keep everything pretty calm and were focusing and trying to help her relax with lots of pets and verbal rewards when she was trying. we were working on getting her to listen mainly to my seat but she didn't want to listen to us at all in any way at that point.

Not sure why but clean buckets seem to be a point of contention at this barn.
They scrub them everyday and they're always super clean.

To her credit she never once pulled any real crap. No throwing down a halt, no bucking, no bolting, and no rearing. About the worst she did was walk through my aids, try to trot, or jig a little so really nothing bad at all.

It was tough though to just keep asking calmly for over 20 minutes just for her to slow down and relax when she wasn't listening at all. We did have a few break through moments and, the next day, it was clear that progress had been made so that was good. That day though was tough especially since I had a pretty bad headache which had been made worse by wearing my helmet and the relative heat after our cool spring.

Oh well, that's horses.

Our homework is all about relaxation. I'm taking it one step further though. Katai (and myself) have always been impatient. She had me pretty well trained to let her just push forward anytime things started to go south since not allowing her to go forward resulted in her going up or striking out.

Me grazing Connor while he dried from his bath
I can't believe this was over a week ago now.

Since the first clinic I've been doing a lot of groundwork just working on patience. I don't know where I read it but a trainer I was following somewhere wrote about that having a horse take a step and halt and stand, rinse and repeat, was really helpful in helping them calm down. Therefore I've been working on a lot of groundwork asking for one step at a time with lots and lots of standing. Really, tons of standing. Katai hates it and is trying to figure out why this game is so boring, but, it's been helping.

Of course spring and mare hormones have been making this worse but this week on Tuesday we worked on trailer loading. She was SUPER anxious to hop on the trailer, hop off and be done with things and got angry when I wouldn't even let her on the trailer until she stood calmly. She was trying so hard to tell me that I was wrong and didn't understand but we ended with zero escalation and zero argument with her (relatively) calmly climbing on and off just because I literally stood there and ignored her for at least 30 minutes. We're going to do this a ton more and in the meantime I'm finding all the things I can think of that usually cause her to escalate and we're going to do calm, stubborn and patient on my part, patience training.

Under saddle I'm working on mentally taking the pressure off myself and her. We're doing easy work, lunging in a halter, and spending some additional time doing stretchy forward rides with just a bit more collection. We'll see what the result of all of this is but she's been really chill recently. This weekend I plan to do a bit more collection work with lots of interspersed relaxation to see if we're able to maintain. Things have been promising so far!

Blogger Meet Up Trip!

Those of you who follow me on Instagram probably already know why I was wearing riding boots at the airport in my last post. For anyone who doesn't, I was visiting Jen from CobJockey!

Jen and I first met in person at the National Dressage Pony Cup a couple of years ago. I really felt like I clicked with her and we had a great time hanging out. We started making plans then to get together so that I could see Connor again, maybe have the chance to ride him :), meet her spouse, and visit her amazing house. Since then we've talked about it but finding a time that worked for both of us with our busy work schedules and horsey stuff was tough.

Finally, over this winter we started talking about doing something this spring. I was aiming for April/May timeframe to hopefully have decent weather but not intrude into show season too much. In the end my bf ended up picking the weekend that we were hosting the Final Four so that we could escape the craziness.

I fail at taking photos of architecture
but trust me, this church is  beautiful

It worked out great! The weather in IN was gorgeous and sunny in the 60s and 70s which was a nice break from our 40s-50s and grey skies. We left MN on Friday afternoon and got back Tuesday afternoon and we had so much fun!!

Getting the Equisense going

Before I get to the pony things I just have to say that Jen and her spouse were amazing hosts. Their home is gorgeous and it was great to be able to explore their hometown and visit some of the awesome places including a really adorable coffee shop that I wanted to take home with me. Also, my one worry about the trip was whether my bf would enjoy himself since he is not much of an outdoor person and definitely doesn't like to spend time at the barn. That meant that he and Jen's spouse would likely be hanging out a lot. I hoped that they would enjoy each other's company and that's exactly what happened. My bf has already been talking about when we can visit again and that he wishes that we lived closer :)

On to pony things! We had three full days at Jen's gorgeous barn and we took full advantage of our time. On Saturday we went to the barn early in the day and got to hang out and talk ponies for awhile while Jen's trainer and her husband got packed up and headed out to a clinic. Then we got Connor ready and headed to the outdoor where Jen rode first and then handed him off to me and, guys, he was SO MUCH FUN! The cues I know and use seemed to mostly transfer and the few things that didn't, and let's be honest I'm probably doing wrong, were fun to play around with to see where our understanding varied.

After we rode we gave Connor a bath and tried a new product on his mane, tail, and feather.

Connor wasn't pleased about being a punk rock unicorn.

The next day was forecast to be rainy so we planned to ride in the indoor. It was icky enough out that the horses were inside, avoiding a fairly cold downpour when we got there. Like the previous day Jen rode first and then let me climb on again. I feel so lucky to have had a couple of chances to ride her amazing pony. I was able to build on what I had figured out the previous day and it felt like we were speaking the same language on more things. I was also playing with the half halts that K's trainer wants me to do with Katai. It was so nice to be able to play with that on a more educated horse vs. trying to figure them out as Katai was figuring them out.

My phone is not good in low light so everything turned out super blurry but I had to
share this photo of Connor's amazing tail.
At any rate Jen had Connor looking awesome before I hopped up

Unfortunately I realized when I looked at these photos that I'd completely forgotten to close up my helmet strap. Oops! Quite bad on my part but luckily Connor was a good boy.

Since Jen has a show next weekend and a lesson on Tuesday we knew that Monday would need to be a quiet day. We talked about a few options but ended up going to a tack shop and then Jen giving me a lesson and some practice braiding Connor! The tack shop was awesome and I was sorely tempted by some of the clothes and brushes but I stuck to my budget and didn't get anything. Sad day for tack haul photos. With the braiding I definitely picked up some things including that braiding up is really truly important and quick braid is definitely nicer to work with than the gel that I've been using.

It was an amazing trip! I had so much fun with Jen and her spouse and Connor was just as amazing as I remember. My bf and I definitely want to visit again and would love to host here as well although maybe not during blizzard season.

Meanwhile in MN...

Confidence Builder Clinic Recap (long)

This clinic/lesson day was exactly what I needed. I feel like my confidence has been pretty low over the past year or so. We left Jane’s having issues with Katai’s behavior because of, I believe, the saddle fit and ulcer issue. They had been resolved at that point but Katai was still reactive and worried about being uncomfortable. Then we worked with S2 and I lost more confidence about our path because she had a very different way of working with horses and caused more tension than I’d like. K has been very complimentary but after all of the past issues it’s been tough for me to not worry or doubt. Having another person who was saying really positive things about Katai and myself really helped, plus K’s trainer just has that much more history of bringing people up the levels so that was especially cool to hear.

The day on Saturday was forecast to be colder than what we’ve had (mid 30s instead of mid 40s-50s) so that added to my normal anxiousness because I was riding with someone new. I managed to hang out at home most of the morning and didn’t get myself too tied into knots. I left around 11:45 so that I could catch most of the first rider’s ride but not sit around too long and get nervous or too cold. I also was meeting up with one of K’s other students who was riding to pick up the bags and tags to get my blankets over to a blanket washing service. This is something I’m doing for the first time this year since living with bf means that having horse blankets hanging around drying in the apartment isn’t very fair :)

I got there and it was sunny but breezy and chilly. I got my bags and tags picked up and then went to the arena and watched the first couple of riders. The person who was riding, and about half way done, was the person who organized the day. She was working on canter transitions but I missed most of it because I was chatting with other riders about K moving, what they were nervous about and what I was, etc. The next rider to go was one of K’s long time students and someone who’s riding at 1st level very successfully and I was able to watch a bit more. She’s just getting back into it because she was out for most of the winter due to knee surgery. K’s trainer had a lot positive to say about her improvement despite that since they had worked together in the past. I was able to watch most of this ride and then I headed down to the barn to get Katai ready so that we could have lots of time to walk around in the arena and let go of some nervous energy.

While I warmed up I was able to catch bits and pieces of the person before me who also has taken lessons with K’s trainer before. She’s the one I went to the tack sale with along with K and I’m going to call her Jo since she’ll be making more of an appearance here in the near future.

Then it was my turn and I introduced myself and Katai. Since I’d only ever had one lesson with her, many years ago, on one of her lessons horses we took some time to debrief and talk about what I’ve been working on. The items I brought up were that I had gotten busy with my hands before working with K so she’d been working on getting them more still and giving forward vs. pulling back. We talked about how Katai blows through half halts especially through my seat (which was why I had gotten busy with my hands) and was hot and could get fizzy and worried if we worked on small things for too long (partially because the previous horse was struggling with this). I also mentioned that we’ve been working on getting her to reach forward and down but that my assessment was that now she’s swung far enough in that direction that it’s time to start to include a bit more work to bring her up. Finally I mentioned that she’s been throwing her head into the canter transition and we’ve been working on letting her “roll into it” more but that my timing wasn’t as good as K’s so sometimes she really started to run.

I had noticed through the other riders that K’s trainer was working a lot on position things and I was excited about it. Jane worked a TON on my position but since then I haven’t been getting any advice. I’ve been thinking that it was because it just wasn’t something that either instructor focused on much since I’ve ridden with people who seem to either work a ton on position or really not at all. It turns out though that one of K’s trainer’s first assessments was that I had a really solid position. I’m still a little in disbelief about that actually because I was such a mess when I started riding with Jane and would have guessed that it would have been falling apart again in the interim. It’s not that I don’t have things to do, like closing the back of my armpits a bit and being more relaxed through transitions (more on that later) but otherwise K’s trainer didn’t have much to say. That felt amazing.

She had me get started and just do sort of a warm up with her watching. I did some walk and then went to trot and did 20 meter circles, went large, did some 10 meter circles and some leg yield in both directions at the trot and then we did some canter in each direction. Then K’s trainer had me come back to walk and we got into the meat of the lesson. To start she had us do trot/walk/trot transitions with just a couple steps of walk. This is very consistent with what K and Jane have both had us work on. Basically Katai likes to ignore half halts and needs to learn to step under a bit more. We did fine but during that work K’s trainer also identified that we were both trying too hard. I was too demanding with my seat, although she complimented me on my hands.

She called out several times that Katai is her favorite sort of horse. Super obedient, a little hot, and trying so hard to do what I asked. She said that we were similar in that I was trying super hard and by doing that I was sometimes too demanding with my seat and asking for something immediate vs. letting it happen slower. She acknowledged that one of the toughest things we do as riders is to deal with the pendulum of obedience vs. relaxation and that right now we needed more relaxation. She asked me to relax my seat more into transitions vs. making the transition happen. It was tough for both of us and for a while it meant I was walking Katai into walls to teach her what I was looking for. She picked it up really quickly, more so than me, though so that was encouraging. Now I just need to work on it.

Finally we worked on some SI at the sitting trot and here K’s trainer again wanted a bit more relaxation especially through Katai’s pole and jaw. She did say that we were getting a medium trot through it though which made me celebrate since the biggest issue when I was working with Jane was that I was shutting her down with my seat and getting a tiny little trot through it. Cue minor internal celebration. Obviously we’ll need to get it more collected but the bigger looser trot is so much better than the tiny prancy steps we were getting. To help with the relaxation K’s trainer just wanted me to slightly counter flex her and then return to inside flexion to help her relax her pole, jaw, and body a bit. It was hugely helpful when I did this so some homework for us! She also said through the work that she agrees with me that Katai is stretching forward and down really well. We want to keep as much of that as possible, and return there if we lose it obviously, but that it is time to start to ask her to come up during rides.

Overall I felt sort of showered with compliments. K’s trainer was impressed by us and by the work we’d done. She said she wouldn’t have guessed that I was getting busy with my hands because they looked good in this lesson. She also complimented my position a few times which, again, felt really unreal. She also had so many nice things to say about Katai including that I could get a lot of money for her if I ever decided to sell her, especially with her size and that she was “worth her weight in gold”. That felt almost nicer than the compliments about my riding because Katai has certainly not always been a horse that people have said those things about.

I’m normally really uncomfortable about compliments and if they swing too far to just that during lessons I always wonder what I paid for. In this lesson though I got a lot of stuff to work on and I know we’ll build on this when I ride with her in April. In addition, I’ve just had so little motivation, so many doubts, and so little faith in our path this past year that hearing such nice and affirming things about us was just what I needed right now.

After I finished my ride Katai got stuffed with treats as we cooled out and while she was groomed and put away. She was happy to be back outside with her favorite mare bear friend. Then I went back to watch the next couple of lessons.

It turned out that Jo’s niece was getting a lesson with K’s trainer as well so we had a chance to talk while that was going on and we made some plans! Jo used to trailer over to get lessons from K’s trainer every week but it just got to be too much so she stopped. So, with that in mind, we made a plan to trailer over to K’s trainer’s farm (which is about 10 minutes away) monthly for lessons through the summer when K’s trainer isn’t able to make it out to our barn. I’m super pumped because it will not only be great to have regular access to lesson but it will also mean that we can get some good, low key trailering experience with way less pressure! K’s trainer’s farm is also lovely and she has a large heated arena with lovely footing. We’re going to talk with her when she’s here in April and make a plan. Fingers crossed it all works out the way we want it to!