Things for Sale

I really enjoyed Jen from Cob Jockey's post about budget and it was especially interesting to read since I've been doing a lot of work to improve my budgeting over the past year. Thanks to my bf and a new banking system I have a really solid system in place at this point.

It meant that when I got my refund I used it to pay off my smallest debt (so that I can snowball to the next one), put an emergency fund fully in place, and put just a bit in a trailer saving fund. I'm going to be trying to find every opportunity to increase that fund this year so that I can either get a trailer later this year or potentially next year. With that in mind, and minimizing because of the small apartment, I've been going through my horse equipment and culling some of the nice things that I haven't been using for one reason or another.

I figured I'd post it here to see if other bloggers are interested and if not I'll be posting these things to Facebook.

Let me know if you're interested in any of these and I'd also be happy to send additional pictures or get dimensions for anything. I may have a few more things to sell as I search through my collection but I figured this was a good start.

Mattes Pads: $55 for the first (used one) and $65 for the second

Mattes saddle pad in medium. It's been washed but has
been lightly used so there is some dirt and hair on the underside.
There's also a slight amount of staying where the billets sit. The colors are dark grey with pink binding, braid, and stitching for the logo

This is also a medium Mattes pad that has never been used. It was going to be my show pad but this one and the one above are both pretty big and I have other smaller pads that fit better. This one is grey with white and pink braid and black binding.

Unused liner :)

 Halters: Pink one is $5 and grey one is $10

The pink halter is a break away and has never been used. It's foal/weaning sized and fits but I just have too many halters.
The other is a Schockemohle in cob sized. This one has been lightly used but washed. It's a sturdy, high quality halter and it has padding on the crown and nose. The Schockemohle logo and brand name are on the nose.

Other Saddle Pads: $15 each

I think this is a cob sized pad and it's from B Vertigo.
I did cut off the billet straps but otherwise it's in fantastic shape.

White show pad in pony size from Horze. I bought this as a show pad but white on white just doesn't look great and I prefer darker pads. There is a silver braid and this one has all of the straps.

Pretty Things!!!

While I haven't been able to ride in way too long I do have some pretty new things that I'll be able to enjoy someday when the weather cooperates.

First, my PS of Sweden winter sale haul.

The pile, yes I went overboard...

Not a great picture but I got the grey broadband with the mirror like gems and I really like it!!

I got the really dark navy blue polos

and the pony sized dark navy saddle pad to match.
This is the same as the one I have from them in pink

and this brown one.  

I'm in love with everything and can't wait to get to use these pretty things!!!

My Eskadron bandage bag finally came in as well and I LOVE it. I was using a reusable bag and all of my bandages were tossed in it and often unrolled themselves. This has a bunch of pockets and clear little windows so I can tell if what I want is in there.

Also today my last two bandage liners came in from the Black Friday sale at RW. They had been awesome and called me to let met now how long it would take for them to come in and had said it may be as late as February so I'm pleased they arrived as quickly as they did. 

Now no more spending money for awhile :)

Cold

Cold is the reason I haven't been posting recently. At first we just had a temperature dip down to more normal temps for January into the single digits and low teens. I was still making it out to the barn but not riding a ton since staying warm while taking up is tough for me. 

Then I went and invested in some warmer gloves and figured out warmer clothes and the bottom fell out.

Yeah, it feels about 50* below zero right now. That's not only way too cold to spend time outside, unless you absolutely have to, the road conditions are also awful with lots of black ice. Even worse, we got dumped on with snow on Monday and still aren't fully dug out.

Many businesses are closed as well as schools. I worked from home Monday because of the snow storm and then worked from home again today because of the cold. Tomorrow is going to be even worse since it's continuing to drop overnight so I'll be working from home again. 

Thursday the high is supposed to be a much more reasonable -2* and then it's swinging right back up and we're supposed to have 39 and 38 over the weekend. Of course we're also getting precipitation those days so I still don't know if I'll make it out to the barn but maybe I can grab a couple minutes between the cold and the snow and make it out.

In the meantime I'll just be over here surviving, watching Olivia Towers vlogs, and dreaming of when I can ride again.

What's In My Riding Playlist

I'm the best at taking awkward, pony walking pictures

After reading Meghan's favorites post where she listed her favorite songs I thought that a riding playlist might be fun to share. This is currently what I'm riding to. There's clearly too much here for a ride but I like having extra time so that I can start wherever I want or skip something if I'm not feeling it vs. having to find a different play list.

I have a much more upbeat work out play list that I love but I have to be careful to not ride to songs with a beat that's too fast or I post too quickly. These are all a bit slower.

Strawberry Swing: Coldplay - The best, underrated, Coldplay song
Dare You to Move: Switchfoot - One of my favorite (if very pop-esque), motivational playlist songs
I Wanna Get Better: Bleachers (Thanks Meghan) - Great, positive sounding, uplifting sounding song
Anthem, Pt. 2: Blink-182 - Great for getting me pumped up to ride or work out
2 Heads: Coleman Hell - One of my favorite on this list and the video is outstanding (I have a weird thing for the banjo lol)
Thunder: Imagine Dragons - My playlist wouldn't be complete without this one. Also, when pony is ON this rhythm is pretty good for her canter
Carry Me (feat. Julia Michaels): Kygo - I love riding to this one and the lyrics are perfect for riding
Big Girls Cry (Odesza Remix): Sia - My favorite song on this Sia album
Ghostwriter: RJD2 (Also thanks to Meghan)
Gold: Kiiara - Just a solid song to ride to
High Hopes: Kodaline - Oh my gosh I could listen to this one on repeat all day
Outro: M83 - Still one of my favorites. It starts pretty slow but builds and the end is amazing and uplifting
8 (circle): Bon Iver - This has been my absolute favorite song for more than a year now. The music video is also what I wish all music videos were like since it doesn't detract from the music at all but is also interesting to watch. Bon Iver is my favorite artist of all time.
Skinny Love (Vanic Remix): Birdy Version, actually by Bon Iver - I love the duality of having this one right after the other Bon Iver song since they're so different. This is a FANTASTIC one to ride to
Punching In a Dream: The Naked and Famous - This one has been on my workout playlist songs ever since my first boyfriend introduced me to it
The Ocean (feat. Shy Martin): Mike Perry
22 (OVER S00n): Bon Iver - Amazing song. Don't listen to it with earbuds in though because it will do weird things to your ears
lovely: Billie Ellish & Khalid - Two amazing voices
The Woods (Ghosts Remix): Hollow Coves - Great beat for riding
I Found: Amber Run - This is more recent and I LOVE it
To Build a Home (feat. Patrick Watson): The Cinematic Orchestra - Just a good solid song

The Universe Has a Plan?

I’ve drafted this post a couple of times and each time it was more negative than I wanted it to be so I decided to try one more time and this time start with a recap of my last few trips to the barn.

I’m FINALLY feeling better and was able to make it out to the barn Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday (for a lesson). On Friday I lunged Katai with her halter and she was really good. I’ve been working on some positive reinforcement training getting her to slow down her body, listen to half halts from my body language, and trot slower while still carrying herself. She was finding the carrying part especially tough on Friday but mentally she was very keyed in and listening.

Who's this Scout horse and is his nameplate tasty?

Last Saturday I had a great ride with her and she worked really hard. K was riding a training horse at the same time and it was nice to have a riding buddy (who knows how to negotiate the very small arena with another horse) and great inspiration to have her also doing things like shoulder in and leg yields. I rode for quite a while and we did quite a bit of lateral work. I was able to really enforce the rules kindly and patiently and Katai was right on board with working that hard which was nice. There were no meltdowns and she never said no. We also did a good amount of canter and really worked on her twisting to the right and she was also game to work on that and do some SI at the canter. She was a little rushy but after the time off that didn’t surprise or bother me. Unfortunately I completely spaced and forgot to start the Equilab app so I’m already struggling with that goal.

We took Sunday off per the usual and then I rode on Monday evening. She was definitely tired and less willing to work hard but we still got some really great work. I stuck to walk and trot just based on how her body was feeling. She was really falling in going to the right which usually means that her hind leg is tired out, not too surprising after the canter work the previous day. It’s not helping that we have a ton of ice still so she wasn’t able to work out the kinks in turnout. It was another great ride though and she still worked hard and never quit. I did AGAIN forget to start the Equilab app. *grumbles*

Tuesday I had a lesson! Finally! It’s been since mid-December since both holidays feel on a Tuesday this year and then I was sick. We had planned that K was going to ride her and I was disappointed it was after such a long time off because I was hoping that it would be more productive. However, K still got a lot done and really focused on getting Katai to slow down her own body and carry herself without me holding her. This has been a theme in our lessons so it was great to have K able to feel what I’ve been feeling. She agreed that Katai is great at talking her rider into holding her up and also had no trouble working on it since she’s so much more advanced than I am  I know how to slow her off my seat it’s just that I haven’t been effectively training her that she MUST slow down off my seat so then eventually I get tired (when she decides to ignore me) and instead of using it as a training opportunity I start to go to the reins. It has been a really long time since I’ve seen Katai ridden and that was lovely. Her hind leg is getting so much more active and since she was still sort of tired and stiff that’s saying something. I did climb on at the very end but Katai was pretty pooped (muscle strength-wise) and also spicy at that point since they had just worked on the canter which included a couple of minor blow ups so we never quite got on the same page. I did get her to slow down a couple of times just off my seat so that was awesome.


I have some great homework!

The bad news? K is leaving us.

She has an amazing opportunity to move to the East Coast and work with a very well-known dressage trainer so I’m incredibly excited for her but also sad for myself. It’s not only that she’s a fantastic teacher, she’s also just an awesome person. I really like her take on things and how relaxed she is while still expecting good work. She really adapts to her students and their needs and holds me to a different standard than others. She’s also very honest about what I need to work on vs. glossing over things and I really appreciate that since it’s the way I improve the most. For at least the time being she’s planning to be home at least 1-2 weekends per month.

Such nice lipstick

Since I’m only taking e/o week lesson right now that sounds great except that weekends rarely work for me and I’m also concerned how long she’ll be able to keep that up especially going into summer and show season when I’m sure she’ll be very busy. It also is tough on my plans to show again since I’ve just lost another potential ride to shows and show coaching whether that was prior to the show or at the show. I’m also a little concerned how the barn atmosphere will change with her not being there on a regular basis and curious if anyone will leave.

Getting a trailer, which is a goal this year anyway, would fix a lot of this since I could trailer myself out for shows and take Katai to outside lessons and/or clinics. There are a lot of things floating around right now and bf and I had a great conversation last night about options, goals, plans, and how to potentially proceed. Mostly I’m just sad to know that a new friend won’t be around as much and feel like I’m losing part of my support system.

January Goals

Regular Barn Time:
My goal is to get back to going to the barn 5+ times per week in January pending crazy winter weather

Ride More, Longer, More in Different Gaits:
One thing I've recently diagnosed, actually as I was recapping 2018, is that likely part of what's been tough with pony behavior recently is lack of rides. There isn't much I would have been able to do about it even if I'd been more aware throughout the year but it does help me put the struggle to move to 2nd level into perspective. Therefore in January I want to do the following;

• Ride at least 3 times per week, preferably 4
• Track my rides on Equilab every single time to diagnose how long I'm spending in the saddle and how long I'm spending in each gait
• Likely increase the amount of canter we're doing for every ride
• Potentially increase the amount of working walk we're doing for every ride
• Likely increase total ride times

I think that the above will help with Katai's current excess energy/behavior as well as help with making more progress on fitness and strength.

Utilize exercises in 55 Corrective Exercises:

This new Jec Ballou book is awesome. Not only are there a bunch of wonderful things to do with your horse in different environments both mounted and unmounted but she has these great sections throughout the book of exercise routines you can use for specific reasons. I plan to start out by going through the high headed posture one since it's something that Katai has been more stuck on since the break and I think that doing these will be valuable. Plus it's a great way to do some helpful in hand stuff and break up riding/lunging.

For example, dressing Katai up in this cute matching set
and wearing something coordinating myself :) Then I just need to get media and I'll be set!

Keep up on grooming Katai/dressing well at the barn:

This is such a mental thing for me. I can get stuck rushing from one thing to the next and trying to take as little time as possible. If instead I take the time to groom well and focus on things like being nicely dressed at the barn vs. looking like a slob I find that I'm much more motivated and feel better about everything.

Blogging/Media:

I put both since I'm always more reluctant to blog if I don't have more pictures or video to share. My goal is to get back to my previous blogging routine of posting about e/o day or 15 times per month. It will be a stretch this month since I'm so out of practice but that's what goals are for right?

Focus on Budget - Reduce Overspending:

I'm really pretty good with money for the most part. My expensive/splurge items are having a horse in the first place and spending money on coffee/eating out/groceries. I don't spend overmuch on rent, I get my hair cut maybe 1-2 times per year, I don't get my nails done or do any other splurge type personal care things. I don't shop for clothes and when I do buy clothes I pretty much shop at thrift stores like ThredUp. I do occasionally splurge on tack but my biggest issue is coffee/eating out so therefore I'd like to do the following for the month of January;

• Only purchase "necessary" horse items such as food and supplements, board, and two lessons for the entire month.
• Not purchase any coffee from coffee shops - make my own at home
• Eat out 2 times or fewer, if I don't get food made I'll purchase something from the grocery store to eat rather than ordering food from a restaurant
• Stick with my grocery budget

Here We Come 2019

This picture again because we're so cute :)

I realize that the start of the year is completely arbitrary for a new start but like many others I enjoy the perspective of looking ahead to the next year and making plans and goals. In fact, while it never was before New Years has become my favorite holiday for just that reason.

After spending the end of 2018 in potato recovery mode I'm feeling so refreshed (even with the cold) and ready to really knock 2019 out of the park. I'm going to do this similar to last year and share my big picture goals for the year and then each month I'll post smaller goals that are broken out of the big year goals. To leave myself a little wiggle room, if posting isn't happening as much as I'd like I may change that to quarterly goals.

So without further ado.

Pony/Riding Goals:

Blog more with more media:
I hadn't truly realized how much I've gained from blogging and being part of this community until I wasn't posting much this year. It's amazing how this connection to everyone, even those of you I haven't met yet, motivates me and how everyones comments keep me pushing forward sometimes. I've also truly appreciated the advice I've gotten throughout the years.

Regarding more media, I'm awful at remembering to take pictures and video while I'm at the barn and  typically haven't had anyone to help. I'm going to try to do more myself this year and remember to capture more, especially since I always have my phone with me, but also push myself to ask others to take pictures and video when I can.

Motivational quote board in our arena

No Excuses:
This could be a personal goal but more than anything it relates to my ability to consistently go to the barn. I'm an over thinker and in the past this has led to me trying to have a perfect plan rather than just a plan. I'll be thinking about going to the barn and my brain will start worrying about interrupting feeding schedule, the potential for bad weather, traffic, other people at the barn, the cold, etc. So far the last few months I've been working hard to not overanalyze and just go to the barn when I can without over thinking it. It's been great and a big part of why I've gotten out there as consistently as I have and haven't turned winter and an unheated barn into a Thing. I want to continue with this mind set into the new year.

Track my rides:
I have the Equilab app on my my phone and have had for awhile but I've used it maybe for one ride. While the data isn't going to be as good at the Equisense it's still data that I'd like to have and if nothing else it should be enlightening regarding things like trends in the amount of walk/trot/canter I'm doing each ride and how long my rides are. I already ride with my phone, all I need to do is remember to start the ap before I ride so that should be very reachable.

Continue with dressage lessons and maybe increase frequency:
I've loved having weekly lessons and right now bi-weekly is working for me but I'm also hoping to take advantage of clinics, outside instructors, and riding with my current instructor more. In addition I'm hoping to have K put at least a handful of rides on Katai this year to help us break through the 1st-2nd level barrier that we're struggling with currently.

Vary Our Work:
In the past I've often had something on here specifically about trail riding. The problem is that multiple people close to me have gotten into significant accidents/been significantly injured while trail riding. Plus current pony is hot and can be explosive so it just hasn't been my thing. This year instead of specifically calling out trail riding I just want to introduce more variety including trail walks and other things in the arena such as pole work. I've picked up Jec Ballou's most recent book and plan to post more about that soon!

Get Back In Shape:
This one could probably be in the personal goals but my main reason for increasing my fitness is to be able to ride better. At various points I've been significantly more fit than I am now and it's been so helpful from a riding perspective. I've felt more in control of my body parts, less anxious about pony shenanigans, and just less anxious in general.

Show!!:
I'm setting really easy goals with this one to make it reachable. Mainly I want to get back out there this year and do at least a show or two. Even traveling to a clinic would make me feel like this was a win.

Spend Less:
I'm already on the right track. Last year I reassessed costs for supplements and moved to making my own instead of doing SmartPak. I also moved to a less expensive barn instead of a more expensive one and I'm taking bi-weekly lessons instead of weekly. However, I'm still buying too many unnecessary things (like more saddle pads gah) and while I bought them all on huge sales they aren't necessary items. Things that will make this easy are that I have a great tack set up for saddle, bridle, girth, etc. and shouldn't NEED anything else. I also don't plan to change barns or instructors so that should help to keep my costs lower than in past.

Things that will make this difficult are that I really need to replace my winter boots, I still need a couple more pieces of cold weather gear now that I'm in an unheated barn, and that I'm still hoping to buy a trailer. Plus showing is expensive! Ultimately if I can spend less in unnecessary purchases I'm hoping that I'll net out to close to what I spent last year.

Personal Goals:

Continue to Budget Better:

My BF has been amazing with this and has really gently been guiding/teaching me how to better track my spending. He's got me using more auto pay and keeping track of where my money goes. In the past I would just white knuckle the bit yearly expense, now I'm saving for them ahead of time so that the money is there when I need it.

Pay Down Debt:

I've been working on this for the last couple of years and made a ton of progress when I was paying next to nothing for rent and living at my grandma's house. Last year my expenses went way up and then I ended up needing to pay two separate apartment deposits and moving costs associated which added to increasing the balance on my credit cards. My goal is to get at least one credit card paid off this year and hopefully two

Get a New Job:

I LOVE my current job but it's time for me to move on. I'm not in a hurry on this one because it's pretty bitter sweet to think about but at some point this year I plan to move to a new role/company.

Stretch Goals:

Showing stretch goals:
Ultimate goal is to ride at rated shows and get my 1st level Bronze Medal scores and maybe try out a second level test toward the end of the year even if it's at a schooling show.

Get a Trailer:
This one is going on the list AGAIN. It's definitely a stretch goal but at the very least it's a thing that I need to keep working towards. This certainly doesn't jive with the "Spend Less" goal but part of the spend less goal is to allow me to do something like this.

Lose Some Weight:

Awhile ago I posted about how much weight I had lost over the past 5-6 years or so. Unfortunately I've crept up a bit and while I'm nowhere near to my heaviest I have climbed up significantly further than I ever wanted to. Being in a relationship is just so good for gaining weight :) It's time to lose this again both to make it easier for Katai to carry me and just for my health. This is a stretch goal because just with my goal of getting more in shape I'll likely get back to where I had been stuck pretty easily and I now just want to move past that and lose the last 5 pounds or so this year.

Christmas Presents!

As a break from all of the goal setting and goal recapping posts I thought that this might be a nice post plus, technically, this is a 2018 recap right?

First let's start with presents from other people.

Presents from my Parents:

In the past I've typically stuck to Amazon items for my mom and/or dad since it's easy and they have Prime so they save on shipping. This year though I sent items from The Collected Pony, Riding Warehouse, and PS of Sweden. My mom knocked it out of the park and even though I didn't let her know what my preferences were for my list she ended up giving me two of my favorite items!

I got the HKM pad that I'd previously posted about from the Collected Pony and I adore it! I've been really into floral patterns (especially with roses) this year. It's just as pretty in person as it is on the site and it's the perfect size for Katai. She also got me the Eskadron bandage liners that I asked for. She did get them a size too big (small horse instead of small pony) so Katai looks very European with them on, but they still work and are another awesome bandage liner option. Wait until I put both of these on her with her pink polos ;)

All the pretties

From Riding Warehouse she got me more low sugar horse treats and a pair of Dreamers & Schemers socks. It was a great horse related gift Christmas :)

From my dad I got an Amazon gift card and got a couple of necessities for Katai including more flax seeds and Vitamin E but I also picked up Jec Ballou's new book and some new stirrups. Jane had a thing about metal stirrup irons so I had swapped out my Composti's for some plain irons (and then sold the Composti's since I'm a minimalist). The rubber pads on my current stirrups has been falling apart though and when I went to look for replacements these came up. I've wanted to buy Composti stirrups again and thought that the wide beds might be worth a try. Of course I needed to get them in pink :) Also this Jec Ballou book is amazing so far and I'll be posting more about this soon.

From my bf's mom I got a pair of awesome unicorn socks and a bandage storage bag like this (that was on backorder so we're still waiting for) that she adorably refers to as "the pocket bag" :)

Dreamers & Schemers socks on the left from my mom
Middle unicorn socks from my bf's mom
My lucky unicorn pooping rainbow "show" socks that are much loved
I feel it's important to not take oneself too seriously when one is an adult who rides a pony 

Sort of horse related we did a secret Santa gift exchange with other members of my bf's family and I'd put picture frames as a hint since I want to print more pictures of me and Katai for our apartment and my office. The amazing person gifting these to me sneakily found out my favorite celebrity and found these awesome pictures of Charlotte and Carl which just made these pretty frames even more awesome.

Then there's the stuff that I got for myself. I'd previously mentioned that for black Friday I'd picked up a couple of things including the Lemieux bandage liners and Eskadron pony polos in black and pink. I also picked up an Asmar long sleeve shirt and a couple of other misc items. That was all I'd planned to do except for the couple of items bought with Christmas money above, however, then I saw the PS of Sweden after Christmas sale.

*headdesk*

I really hadn't planned to get anything, much less as much as I did, but I couldn't say no to such amazing things at 50% off and picked up two saddle pads (since they're currently my favorite pads), two sets of polos, a browband, and a jacket. I did need a second jacket since wearing my regular jacket to the barn causes people to stare and point when I'm out in public. Ok, maybe it's not that bad but it's pretty barn smelly. They shipped today and I'll share more pictures once they get here. I didn't really need the other items in any way but that sale totally got me and I can't wait to have all of my pretty new things. More on my 2019 goals for budget soon ;)

2018 Goals Recap

Our motto

 2018 was such an interesting and tough year for goals. To start out the year I posted these goals and then never really recapped them so here is a brief recap just to close these out.

Buy a Trailer - Bit fat nope! Needing to purchase a, new to me, car ate up all of my trailer savings and with how my year went I doubt it would have happened anyway. There's always next year!
Bronze Medal Scores at First Level - Also a big fat nope. I had received a 60+% score showing opportunity classes in 2017 and I've made huge progress since then so if I had shown I'm pretty confident this would have happened. There's always next year for this one as well.
Debut at Second Level - Also a nope, not sure if this one would have happened anyway but I'm hoping that with the additional progress we've made over the past couple of years now that it will be possible in 2019
Attend at Least Five Clinics - No but I don't count this one a total nope. I rode for the most well known/tough clinician that I've had the chance to ride for this year and it was a total success. Added together I also probably audited another clinic or two including one by Janet Foy.
Develop a Better Show Plan/Skills - Nope
Trailer Off Property More - Nope, unless you count moving to two different barns lol
Go On Trail Ride(s) - I'll put this in the meh category. I did go on a very advanced and technical trail ride at the WI barn and did a few more hand walks in the great outdoors there since that place had a ton of property. I've also hand walked Katai on the trails at the new barn. Honestly I'm just not much of a trail ride person so hand walking on trails may be our new thing instead.
Do More Reading - Nope but I'm hoping to do more for 2019
More Blogging and More Media - Definitely a no in fact I went backwards haha
Fitness - Same as above, no and I went backwards
Budget Better - Yes! Biggest success of the year. With the bf's help I'm now budgeting way better and have a plan to continue to improve

Toward the end of the year as I started to have more time, energy, and mental capacity I posted new goals and acknowledged that my original goals just weren't going to happen. So here is a recap of those updated goals.

October:
-Get to the barn 4-5 times per week - Yep! For most of October I was able to accomplish this!
-Groom better - Yep! I was, and am, still actually grooming better
-Dress like we mean it - Yes! Nothing like faking it till you make it
-Take two lessons - Yes!
-Have barefoot trimmer friend check my work  - Accomplished! I got great feedback and have continued to do her feet myself. I'm continuing to see great progress
-Build up to Katai wearing the BoT sheet for longer periods - Yes! She is now wearing it overnight or for up to a day or so at a time and I think I'm able to see an improvement.

November:
-Get to the barn 5+ times per week - Mostly accomplished. I made it out 6 days one week and 5 another. Around Thanksgiving I struggled a bit more.
-Make sure at least 1-2 of those times are not riding and work on other necessary things such as ground work, trailer loading(?), etc. - Not really, I pretty much rode or lunged
-Take two more lessons - I can't remember if I got one or two so meh
-Continue with grooming better as possible with fluffy pony - Success! I even cleaned up the mare beard despite it being no shave November haha

December Goals:
-Step back a bit and have some fun including reducing to going to the barn 4-5 times per week - Accomplished a bit too well, for the last couple of weeks I averaged closer to 2-3 times per week with all the holiday craziness
-Teach at least one “useful” trick such as targeting and/or stretching - Nope but this is carrying over into next year
-Focus on varying fitness with poles etc. - Same as above, not really but carrying over
-Keep up on trimming Katai’s feet even with the cold - Yes!
-Adjust to the cold in a non-heated barn - Yes! We've had a fairly mild winter so far but I'm proud of how well I've been doing this and how few excuses I've made
-Take at least one lesson - Yes! One lesson, on my birthday no less, in the books

2018 Year in Review

I'm going with a full, wordy, review of 2018 and I'm going to fit it all in one post. Never fear, I analyzed the year as a whole vs. recapping posts so there is some new information here and at least one picture I took for each month I'm recapping. Hopefully the media will get you through this long post!

Pretty weather but a really tough month for us

January:

In general this year was tough riding wise and it really all started last winter. January was a continuation on that and I only ended up with one lesson despite typically taking them weekly with Jane. I was dealing with SADD and anxiety and Katai was dealing with saddle fit, ulcers, and too much energy from not being able to work because of the other two. The happy things going on were that I was dating someone amazing, had an adorable baby puppy, and was looking forward to moving out of my grandma’s house and into my own apartment.

Pony was doubtful and I was enthusiastic. This was during the period of time where we were
 pretty much always at odds with each other

February:

I posted a grand total of 2 times and didn’t even get my saddle shipped out to be resized until early February. By the end of February I had my saddle back and had managed to fit in a couple of lessons but Katai was still full of energy and probably ulcery. I had also moved and was dealing with awful weather. Personal things remained awesome, other than some awful depression and anxiety that came from the move and living in chaos for a while, but pony things still weren’t going well.

Pretty tail, also one of my last photos at Jane's barn *sadface*

March:

March continued to be a struggle. The weather was awful, Katai was naughty and overly full of energy still. I also had my car break down and ended up replacing it which ate up my trailer savings. That was the final straw for me and I decided that I needed to move somewhere that could consistently trailer me to shows, having onsite clinics etc, so that I could have more opportunities. Plus I found out that Jane was selling her farm. I was also still dealing with the transition of moving into a major city that I wasn’t familiar with and was feeling a bit trapped (although I didn’t realize that until later) and needing to figure out how to manage my rescue dog who was having major anxiety and leash aggression issues that I didn’t post much about.

I did actually ride occasionally. You can also see in Katai's expression how much she hated this place.
This was her constant look whenever I had her in the barn.

April:

April was my highest posting month this year with a grand total of 8 posts. Less than half of the amount I was posting in 2017. I moved to the barn in WI and was, at the time, thinking I’d have a show in May which was exciting. The weather continued to do it’s best to defeat me and I was already struggling with figuring out how to get to the barn with all the snow and ice. I posted about my show plans for the year *sadface*, dealt with two fairly significant snow storms, and went to OH for work. Then I was very sick when I got back which just continued making it difficult to be consistent with rides.

 

Getting ready to interview for a new job. Thankfully my boss at the time found out and then changed up my work to make it more sustainable so I ended up staying.

May:

I almost entirely ended up missing May but posted three times right toward the end of the month. The weather had suddenly gotten unseasonably hot and because of pony behavior things we decided we needed to skip the May show. I then realized that I wasn’t going to be able to go to the June show because of previous plans to go to NC with my bf for a wedding. Unbeknownst to me at the time that caused a chain effect of the serious dressage crew at the barn, including my trainer at the time, to lose all faith in me and push me out of their clique. I was learning some great things from S2 especially around how to handle Katai on the ground when she checked out. Partially I was needing to learn this because Katai was ALWAYS checked out at this barn. I’m still not sure of the cause but she hasn’t had such consistently negative (anxious) behavior anywhere else which is suspicious in retrospect. I was also sick for a week or so again.

Pretty sure we make a weird perfect team

June:

The highlight of my riding year (accomplishment wise) was riding for Kristi Wysocki in a clinic and having her give me very little advice (based on riding and showing at 1^st level) when I knew going in that she’s really tough. It definitely gave me confidence that 2^nd level is in our grasp. I also got to bring Moshy to spectate at a dressage show and she was amazing! It was so much fun and I can’t wait to do more of this in 2019.

Riding blind, only a well trained dressage horse could
be so on the aids that they don't need to see right? *snorts*

July:

After only posting early in June I didn’t post again until late July and only got a few posts in. I had diagnosed many of the things that I had been struggling with so far this year and had a plan including moving to a new barn since I had realized that I had overextended myself commute time wise. Something I wasn’t posting about at the time is how much worse the people at the WI barn were making things for me since I was being actively pushed out. I wasn’t sharing because I hate adding in any way to barn drama. Plus my mental health was pretty fragile this year so I was having a tough time not feeling that it was deserved it despite literally doing nothing that should have caused ANY negative feelings from anyone at the barn.

Very few pony pictures were taken in August so enjoy a puppy instead

August:

August was a big transition month and when things actually started to slightly start to look up to me for the first time in over 9 months. I moved Katai in the middle of the month and cut my commute to the barn more than in half. Bf and I also decided moving in together was officially a thing and found an apartment at the end of August. Katai spent most of July and then August entirely off work which set us way back especially since I hadn’t been at all consistent prior to that since back in November/December.

Saying goodby to my cute little apartment
(and the amazing view lol)

Finally in the arena after all that time off even if we weren't riding much yet 

September: 

I didn’t post a single thing in September. Instead I spent the month moving myself and the bf into the new apartment, being really sick (again!), and starting to slowly work toward more time at the barn with Katai.

I can tell I was starting to feel better in October because I took way more pictures

She's perfected the mare glare

 October:

Things really started looking up this month which is funny since typically it’s October/November when I really start to suffer with seasonal depression. Kinda tells you how rough the rest of the year was for me. At any rate, I actually started to be consistent with barn time and was meeting my goals for October. I also posted a bit more about the apartment move and my new tack storage and shared new goals for the rest of the year, did some shopping, and got more media posted.

November:

Despite only posting two times I was doing so much better and averaged 5 times per week at the barn which was a combination mainly of lunging and riding. I was starting to get my position back a bit and Katai was starting to be more consistently cooperative for the first time in over a year. I shared a general update of stuff I hadn’t posted over the past year and reviewed my updated goals which were going well.

Starting to get better at our selfie game

December:

Things have officially been feeling way better and like the worst of whatever the universe was trying to throw at me is over. In December I pretty much posted about shopping (lol) but despite a real lack of any riding content I’ve continued to be really consistent up until this past week or so but I blame that on the holidays. Mainly I’m so looking forward to 2019 and having a way better year in every way.

I’m aware how quiet things have been this year and I apologize for the negative tone in the blog. It truly just has been a year where I kept getting kicked when I was down even with small things. To top that off I was really struggling with anxiety and depression in a way I never have. I’ve tried to keep some of that out of the blog since it’s just not helpful but to still be decently transparent. Saying this isn’t to diminish the amazing things that happened at the end of last year including my relationship with one of the most amazing people I’ve met, moving in with him, my amazing puppy, and my incredible pony. Thank goodness for my amazing bf and his ability to support me through this really tough year because I don’t quite know what would have happened this year without his support. Mostly though I’m looking forward to a fresh start this next year where we can have more fun together, I can accomplish more of my goals (which are mainly riding goals lets be honest) and where I just don’t have so much stress in my life.

In Retrospect

Goals

I’m finally caught up enough to be able to talk about the ride I had Thursday! But first, I need to give a little context. This will be long so I don’t blame you if you skip it!

I think I’ve briefly described my current barn set up but I’m not sure I gave much detail and even I don’t want to go back and look it up so it’s getting explained again. Firstly, current barn is one of the less expensive barns I’ve boarded at especially within the last 4-5 years or so. The care and options available are amazing as is the location but the amenities are pretty scarce. When you first drive up the driveway (which is narrow and hilly – we’ll get to that later) you drive past pastures on either side and then paddocks and a parking space on the left. On the right, just after the house that my trainer, K, lives in is the indoor arena which is behind a 3 sided shelter with a grain room for the pasture and paddock horses. As you continue down the driveway you pass the hay barn on the left, more paddocks on the left and right, and one of the outdoor arenas on the right. Right after that is parking for the barn people and trailer parking on the right for all of the trailers.

All in all, it’s a bit of hike to take Katai from her stall to the indoor and I’ve been so proud of her steadiness as we walk through the dark and various terrain which can be muddy, snowy, slippery, frozen, rutted, etc. and past all of the potentially scary open buildings and farm bunnies which are everywhere and love to jump across the road in front of you in the dark. Secondly, for some reason the majority of the drama happens with the barn boarders and there are 1-2 people who board in the barn who are the cause of most of it (at least from my initial observation).

Also for context I’ve been doing SO WELL the past couple of months with getting to the barn regularly but this past week that’s fallen apart a little. I’m not overly disappointed and even left room for that in my December goals. It’s all because of holiday plans so it will calm down soon but it’s still disappointing. I had big plans to get back to 5-6 days a week the week of Christmas and even went out Christmas Eve morning but then on Christmas when I looked at the forecast they were predicting a crazy chain of winter weather. It was supposed to start with snow Wednesday evening, turn to rain through most of the day Thursday when the temps were going to be in the high 30s and 40s, and then turn back to snow in the later evening. Friday the temperature was supposed to drop below freezing, and then over the next few days we’re supposed to get more snow and then have a couple of extremely cold days with highs in the negatives.

Tack cleaning helper

This meant that my best chance to ride for at least a few days was to go out fairly early on Thursday. I’ve been working really hard over the past few months to not look for excuses or overthink going to the barn so I didn’t even worry much about the weather and just planned to go while I could. Luckily since it’s the week of Christmas work has been really quiet so I was able to get done a bit early. I wasn’t at all worried about the roads since it was so warm and they were absolutely fine. On my driveway up to the barn my car gave me a low traction warning but I figured it was a little slushy and nothing to worry about.

Nice dry pony. You can just see the one little wet spot. Also, ignore my horrible clipping lines.
It's almost time to clip again so I'll have a second chance at it lol.

However, everyone looked shocked and appalled that I was there. It was raining hard (and about 37*) and there was slush in the driveway but otherwise nbd really. Katai had her most waterproof blanket on with the neck rug and other than a small wet spot on either shoulder, where the water must have gotten between the neck rug and blanket, and a wet face she was perfectly dry. I had taken my tack home to clean it and was bringing it back so I was running between the car and the barn carrying armfuls of stuff. While I was carrying my saddle in one of the other boarders (one of the two drama causers who we’ll call NB) was acting especially shocked that I was there, and seemed even more concerned that I was planning to ride. Giving some context to this though, this same person had just the day before “tied” her gelding directly in front of Katai who was in crossties so that he could have touched her shoulder with his back end and then walked away while I was trying to ask her to move him forward a bit. She did eventually move him about 1’ forward but he just pulled loose and then wandered the barn while she followed him around tacking him up while telling him he was naughty. That same day she almost ran into people multiple times in the arena while riding.

You could say that I don’t have high confidence in her instincts.

She was insistent that it was REALLY slippery but all I’d encountered was slushiness which can be slippery but isn’t typically that bad so I let her know that I’d be careful and kept right on with my plans. We chatted a bit about the weather and then NB left and I got Katai tacked up while she ate in her stall. I took my time so that Katai could get plenty to eat and then covered her in a rain sheet since it was still pouring out and headed up to the arena. I was disappointed to find that not only was there a lot of slush and puddles, in the most compacted portions of the driveway there was skating-rink-like ice covered in water. Just about the worst case scenario slippery wise. We managed to avoid most of it through carefully choosing our path and only hit a couple more small slippery bits but in the dark and with how slippery it was we’re lucky that we both didn’t fall down in a pile.

Just her poor little face was wet

Once we got to the arena I walked for a while and then lunged to get some of the excess energy I suspected Katai had out. I was right to do so and probably could have lunged a bit longer but once she was being civil and listening I mounted up. The goal was to work on walk and trot and really getting her round over her back and oozing forward into the contact. Since the canter has been a point of contention recently I didn’t even want to go there that night. The only problem is that we’ve been building strength and then I took time off. That meant that I have a strong, capable pony with lots of pent up energy. We started at the trot and she was clearly really trying to keep a lid on it and listen but had energy bursting out everywhere. We settled at first for a VERY forward, huge trot and my focus was just keeping the strides slow and pushing vs. being quick. That quickly devolved into a tense running pony though and then she transitioned to canter and quickly used that as an excuse to let out an upset buck and slam to a stop. This time I just sat there for a while until she let out a big breath and then took her back into a trot.

I realized quickly that we were just going to need to canter to help Katai find her hamsters so when she nicely transitioned, going to the right, again I just let her go. I wasn’t trying to tire her out or let her just canter around and wear herself out. I was really working on getting her bent around my inside leg, cantering slowly and politely, and doing as many different things in canter as we can right now which isn’t many. She was actually really, really, really good and listening. She was struggling to bend to the right but wasn’t fighting me on it, she just was struggling a bit. After a lot of canter she was finally breathing evenly and really listening so we went down to trot, crossed the arena, changed the bend, and I cued for a canter. She slammed into the transition so I brought her back and did it again and she transitioned so nice! She was already clearly tired and the left lead is her strong lead so we didn’t do nearly as much in that direction. She dropped to trot a couple of times so we got some more practice at the transition and we ended on a great note.

I hopped right off since we had clearly accomplished a lot and were both feeling good about things. Plus, I was conscious of the potential for the weather to get worse and there wasn’t anyone else around so I didn’t want to push things too far. We walked for a while and I stuffed her full of treats and eventually I tossed her rain sheet on again and we headed out.

I got the Eskadron bandage liners from my mom for
Christmas but she got a size too big so Katai is looking very european.

It was immediately a much more hairy trip and not long after we hit the driveway Katai ended up right in the middle of the iciest part of the road. It was dark out and I didn’t dare move from where I was. Luckily I had her on the lunge line so I just gave her all the space she needed and she skittered her way back to good footing. I was so relieved and so glad that she’s a sure footed pony but also felt really bad. I stuffed her full of more treats and then luckily we had a much less exciting walk the rest of the way to the barn.

I untacked her in her stall, groomed, and got things put away fairly quickly since I was getting more concerned about navigating the driveway in my tiny car. Once Katai was all tucked in with a fresh, warm, waterproof blanket and some extra alfalfa pellets I headed out to my car.

Both of us being derps after a great ride

With some momentum I made it up the first hill to the first parking area but the scariest part was still coming up. There is a fairly steep hill down on the way back out to the road and now I knew that it was glare ice. The driveway drops down steeply on either side so if I misjudged I’d end up in the ditch. I had planned to just coast straight down and not touch the brake or steering wheel unless I needed to. The only problem is that my SmartCar has the engine in the back so it’s heavier back there and as soon as I hit the ice the back of my car started to come around trying to beat the front down the hill. Luckily with this many years driving in icy conditions I reacted quickly and got it straightened out, kept the momentum up the next hill and out onto the quiet road. I took a bit of a chance and also kept my momentum out onto the slightly busier road since otherwise I likely would have drifted into a ditch and then the rest of the way was on busy roads that had been cleared of snow so were just wet.

In retrospect I maybe shouldn’t have chanced it but I’m so proud of myself that I just went and did the thing and didn’t overthink it. I guess I could use this as a lesson to listen to my fellow boarders and next time I may take it more seriously despite the general lack of trust I have in their horse keeping instincts. I’m also so proud of how well the ride ended up going especially with the canter that I got and the work that we did plus the strength that Katai is showing currently is also really encouraging and I can’t wait for this winter storm to be over so that I can get back to it!