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!

Ride Recap

Katai and I had a great ride tonight but both of us worked pretty hard. She was full of energy (my fault) and spring sass (not my fault) so I started her off on the lunge. I had her do a good amount of trot and canter in both directions and at first she wasn't listening to me AT ALL which is unique to her mood with our spring weather. She bucked, kicked out, and spooked a few times but mostly was just really good.

CRAZY weather for February in MN!!

She did enough work that I didn't plan to do much with her under saddle but once I hopped on she still seemed ready to burst at the seams with energy so we ended up doing ALOT of trotting. She was really moving nicely and was really being good, she just needed to move.

I did ask her for a bit of lateral work but she was so fizzed up that it was tough to get her to sit back and do it right. I got a good try in either direction and called it. It's almost always worth giving her the benefit of the doubt rather than pushing her and this is so unusual for her recently that I just put the blame on the excess energy and rewarded her for the try.

He played like this for a few minutes :)

We also did a few rounds through the cavalettis and I was impressed that she did them nicely since sometimes running for her means lots of very small quick steps which don't go well with cavalettis set for a lengthened stride :)

After LOTS of trotting (with a walk break in-between) I asked for a canter transition and got a decently calm one. I did a minimal amount of canter and then tried the other direction and again got almost no drama. More trot, more fizzy pony and then I called it. She'd done a really good job and I certainly didn't want to run her into the ground, just drain some energy.

Weird Weekend

Another photo from last Monday's ride

Last week I was at the barn 5 times and worked Katai 4 times which isn't what I wanted but I still feel pretty good about. It would have been better but I volunteered to spend extra time at work on Friday evening for a project and did a regular shift and then went back from 5-9 so no riding that day.

I had a good but brief ride on Saturday but then on Sunday (you'd think I'd have learned from last weekend) I went later hoping that the exhaust would have cleared out by then but it hadn't so I ended up doing another spa day.

I also just haven't felt that motivated to do anything this weekend. I think it might partially be the crazy weather change we've been having with temp in the 50s when normally it would be in the teens. Or it was the fact that I worked so late on Friday making me feel like I didn't get a real weekend. At any rate I put off going to the barn until the evening both days and even then just didn't feel like my normal self.

Last photo before I started leaving Katai's blanket off.
Enjoy the whiteish pony while you can :)

My ride on Saturday was good but I kept it pretty short and sweet because pony was clearly tired from running around in the nice weather outside (no more ice means lots of pony running) and I figured I'd be riding 5 days in a row. Katai was really good though and we got some great work including lots of stretchy trot and a few really good halts :)

This week will be quiet again so I think I'll be back in the swing of things and I'm going for 6 times at the barn with at least 4 rides and one lunge this week!

RIP

My poor little Cube video recorder!! It lived a good life which was cut way too short tonight.

I pulled it out of my pocket as I was walking, Katai thought it was a treat and reached for it. I fumbled and dropped it and because we were still walking it fell on the concrete and she stepped on it...

In blue cubie's memory :(

I'm actually a little sad about it. It's been such an amazing tool and even though I now I have very blurry pictures and sketchy video from the lighting in my arena at least I have media. I'll be buying another one but will be sad to not use it until it gets here. I also had taken video tonight and had a couple of videos on the Cube that are now lost. Please forgive the temporary lack of media and we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programing soon!!

Woohoo! Lesson Recap 2/14

From my ride on Monday

I had an amazing lesson with my pony valentine on Tuesday! After this lesson I figured out at least part of why Jane is so good for us and that is that she doesn't allow me to be such a perfectionist.

Both of us are but instead of letting me get on a 12 meter circle and pick at the trot for 20 minutes to get it "perfect" she just expects me to ride a "perfect" trot while doing lots of other things. When it's not perfect, she gives me feedback and trusts that even if it's not good in that moment, I'll work on it appropriately and make it better. She never thinks anything is good enough and I always get lots of blunt feedback on everything but she also doesn't let me wait until she starts to introduce new things.

Right after I realized this I saw this quote on VivaCarlos' blog and it so perfectly illustrates exactly what this lesson was all about.

"You'll never be ready if you keep waiting to be."

iOn my own I would totally just keep waiting because I wouldn't let myself move on until something was perfect and my instructors in the past have supported this or brought this out in me. Jane just doesn't care and keeps on pushing me which is exactly what I need.

In this lesson we covered the following:
3 and 4 loop serpentines
Halt
Medium Canter
Medium Trot
Shoulder In
Haunches In
Baby Half Pass
Leg Yield

Plus, she didn't just have me work on each of these things. Pretty much the whole lesson was her calling out what she wanted next much like a reader would do in a test. 

Shiny pony butt!
 I never thought I'd see her actually shine :)

I don't remember exactly what we did where because it was pretty much one thing after the next but one of the exercises we did was to turn down the center line and then A to E do haunches in which was baby half pass. Then straighten on the wall and at C turn down the center line and do the same thing to E which was haunches in (baby half pass) the other direction. It was SO cool, very tricky and it really reinforced how exact I need to be with my aids for haunches in and how I can't "cheat" with the reins and avoid using my legs correctly if I want to be able to ever do half pass.

My favorite exercise that we did though was shoulder in, sitting trot down the long side. Then half way I would straighten her and ride a short diagonal, get the bend, hit the wall and cue for canter. We'd do a 20 meter canter circle and then canter down the long side and transition into trot before I hit the corner. This was cool because a few months ago both of us would have fallen apart at the seams if asked to do those things back to back and now we both held it together a few times in each direction. We also only got one canter lead incorrect!

Yep, it's spring!

This was also the first time Jane had us try medium canter and Katai did so well! Jane asked me to try it towards the end of the lesson and that was where we ended after one really good try. She really lifted in front and lengthened and it felt pretty magical :)

During the rest of the lesson we also got at least one really good medium(ish) trot, some great haunches in at the walk (we spent a lot of time there getting my cues correct - MUST NOT TIP TO THE OUTSIDE!!!), a couple of ok halts, really nice shoulder in and a few nice leg yields!

Katai was clearly extremely proud of herself (as she should be) after this ride and I was too. Jane had some really nice things to say and it really felt good. It was all messy and the perfectionist in me was crying for a lot of it but I held it together and really rode the whole time which I certainly wouldn't have been able to do a month or two ago. 

So happy with my amazing baby girl!!!

Ride Recap With More Video!

First, before we get to my Monday ride recap I wanted to recap the weekend. After a really successful week last week (first time I’ve ridden 5 days in a way in a LONG TIME) I went out on Sunday all ready to ride only to find the arena full of exhaust. Again, my fault since I know they drag the arena late Sunday morning/early afternoon and I showed up in the early evening. I was only frustrated because if I’d shown up a bit earlier I could have taken her outside for a walk (by the time I showed up it was too dark) or a bit later and maybe the exhaust would have settled a bit more. Oh well, I’ll remember for next week.

Instead I ended up doing a good spa day and I worked on spray bottles. I also walked her around the barn finding places that were #justlikeatrailer and making her walk into them and back out. She seemed to enjoy the time without riding and again, I need to do this more.

Sorry for the weird framing, I put this above the

arena door and didn't think it would be in the shot

but apparently it was.

Then Monday! It’s getting to the point where we have enough movements to work on that I need to do more planning prior to the ride about what I’m going to work on. If I don’t I either end up not really working on anything (suddenly getting a perfectly circular circle seems very important) or I try to fit too many different things in and the ride feels hectic. This Monday I wanted to tackle halts, medium trot, stretchy trot, and leg yields and knew that I needed to fit a good amount of canter in there. Because a few of these things are really opposite and I knew that Katai wouldn’t be good at halting after some work on medium trot I wasn’t quite sure how to fit this in but at least I had some goals. I’m happy to say that I did all of these things!

I started off with some stretchy trot. It wasn’t our best stretchy work but it ended up being an effective start to the ride. I’d like to do more of this in the future but for this ride I was happy with her work on this. Then I gathered her up and pretty much went straight to canter. She also cantered really nice (see video) and I’m starting to look less like a potato as well. Both of her transitions were decent even which was great! Right after the canter when she was forward we did some medium trot. The first few times weren’t good but on our fourth try we got a REALLY good attempt! It’s in the video but unfortunately it’s straight towards the camera so you can only partially tell.

What I was proud of was that I was able to maintain the same rhythm and yet she really pushed forward. After that we went right to walk since I wanted to reward that try. After the walk break I picked her back up and we did some lateral work which was a mess. Now that she can do haunches in and shoulder in she offers that instead of leg yield and since leg yield is still one of my weakest things I struggle even more. I can really see it in the video one way where I didn’t feel like she was doing anything but actually she was doing a really nice shoulder in. *headdesk* Oh well, we’ll keep on practicing and I think I found a few holes including that I was hanging on my inside rein and blocking her from going over. We’ll keep right on practicing!

After that we finally worked on halts. She was getting a bit flustered and throwing her haunches right so I went to the rail and slowly broke it down for her and used way more cues than I should need to. In the end I got two nice square(ish) halts so we quit on that note. It was pretty action packed for such a short ride so next time I’m going to work on fewer things. Mainly I need to ride more but work on fewer things in each ride so that’s my goal for this week!

My Riding Schedule and How It Relates to a Famous Cat

This cat to be exact

Previously I'd have a schedule planned for the week which would look something like this;

Sunday: Lesson

Monday: Off

Tuesday: Ride

Wednesday: Ride

Thursday: Ride

Friday: Off

Saturday Ride

In a good week I'd ride or not ride as planned. The problem was always if something came up, I had a stressful day at work, the weather was really bad, my lesson was rescheduled etc. Unfortunately if those things happened I normally didn't ride on a day off, I just didn't ride on a scheduled day.

One of the main problems is that I have a stressful job. 80% of the time when I think about riding that evening during my work day it sounds not only like the least fun thing I can think of but almost impossible with the mental state I'm in. Especially when I need to get home, make food, change, and then drive the half hour to the barn. Because of that, all I can do all day is think about how to not go to the barn and instead sit at home and veg out in front of the tv.

And I even got some video!

Instead I've changed things up this week and now I'm not planning anything. All day long when I think about not going to the barn I just ignore it and go on with my day while focusing on being in the moment. Then, even when I get home I don't think about it and don't plan anything. Instead as I'm finishing up dinner it's actually started to sound like fun and by the time rush hour is over all I want to do is get changed into my riding clothes and head to the barn. 

Then because I didn't have an expected schedule I just went to the barn every day I could so that when I ended up with a day I couldn't go it didn't actually reduce the number of days that I went to the barn at all. In fact, this is the first week I've made it to five, productive, days at the barn in months. Even better, it was easy and non-stressful.

So, basically all day long I could either go or not go to the barn and that flexibility has made it sound like fun rather than a chore :)