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Katellyn
From Pam:
Katellyn Padgett (age 15) and Kaylin Medlin (age 14) are two friends who are on their way to Ocala, Florida for winter training and the start of spring season.
Kaylin has been training with Rebecca Howard for nearly two years and Katellyn is new to Rebecca’s training program. This is the first time for both of them to go away for winter training.
Blogging for EN will be part of their high school English curriculum and a great way for EN readers to hear the perspective of first timers traveling for winter training.
Katellyn and Kaylin hope to bring you lots of insight, photos and perhaps videos during the six weeks in Ocala. They hope to entertain you too!
~ Pam Medlin – mom, home school teacher and chauffer
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When I was first told that I had been invited to go down to Florida I couldn’t have been happier, until the month before I was scheduled to leave. The month of December was filled with plans of moving and what to do about school. Since I am in public school nearing the end of the semester and the all-important exams, I had to schedule all of my exams the week before I leave. I struggled to get the two state mandated exams figured out so I won’t fail those classes. We finally came to an agreement with all my teachers that I will be staying after school the week before I am supposed to leave to do my exams so they’ll be counted. Currently I am being handed study packet left and right and being tutored by all the teachers that are supportive and what to see me succeed over the course of my time in Florida. I feel that I will miss some of my true friends that I have at my school. What I won’t miss is the typical high school atmosphere where it was everything to be one of the “popular” kids and never really focusing on how the real world works. I’m excited about being home schooled while I’m in Florida!
I would have to say that packing is very hard. When you’re used to normally being gone for three days, to being gone six weeks and not know all of what you need. I have managed to fit the majority of my horse’s supplies into two large boxes. All that is left for my horse are his saddles, bridles and the basic necessities for every day riding. I have found that my normal show kit was of course not adequate for the showing I will be doing, or for the trip itself. My to-do list now consists of packing my horse’s supplies, finding some way to fit eleven bags of feed onto the trailer and packing for myself. As of right now, I have prepared myself mentally for thinking about starting to pack all that I need. I have started a nice collection of polos and lesson approved riding pants. All I really need to do now is help them find their way into the trailer along with my show clothes. So I am starting to figure out what I thought the easiest part to be was packing, has now harshly proven me wrong.
Riding is a mental and physical game and you need to be fit and prepared in them both. I have found that I need to greatly work on my endurance, and core strength. The core strength is being taken care of in one of my high school classes, weight lifting, which also covers my leg and upper body strength. As for my endurance I have been doing a lot of cardio exercises mostly running about a mile a day. My horse is a different story. I am still getting used to him and the ride he has. For now I have been doing a lot of hill work for the muscle build up in the hind end and to strengthen his legs. Also for him for the flat work I have been doing trot and canter sets and really focusing on my transitions and accuracy in my movements. The jumping aspect for my horse is mainly focused around straightness, balance and my eye to the jump itself. I am sure that I will have the routine changed by the time I am done in Florida and I know all of it will be for the better.
The only major drawback for me about going to Florida is going down there without my mom or dad. I haven’t ever spent more than ten days without them before and I am very close with my family. Friends and family have been very supportive of me going down. Some have even helped with the funding for supplies needed to go. I am very thankful for all of them. My friends however took a little more convincing that it’s an awesome opportunity for me and I needed it. None of them could really accept the fact that I was quitting school for what they called my hobby when I refer to it as a soon to be life style. In the months leading up to the day I leave I have had every emotion I could think of and they are all mixed together, all playing together and becoming one big ball of stress for me. I have learned to deal with these stresses by just going out on a hack with my horse. It always seems to calm me down and I’m at peace for the remainder of the time. Hopefully being able to calm myself will help me in the art of being patient and finishing the first thing I started successfully and safely just has my dad always tells me. Another thing my dad tells me to help me know everything will be okay when I leave, is that six weeks is a short amount of time in the whole span of my life.
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I have not started packing. Procrastinating seems to be so much better, ha ha! When it comes to riding however, I would rather be doing that 24/7. I’ve been trying to get out on the cross country as much as possible, but with hunting season going on it hasn’t been easy.
We had a clinic a few days ago at the farm with Sinead Halpin, Lynn Symansky and Rebecca Howard. I am definitely a little bit sore after having three jumping lessons and a dressage lesson in two days. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot, both from the riding and the Thursday night potluck/discussion the group had with Sinead, Lynn and Rebecca.
Goal setting is something I’ve always tried to do, but after hearing that even top event riders get nervous and need to remind themselves of goals daily, I decided I would try and be more focused on my goals and how to achieve them this season. The first goal I set was to get my final two qualifications for my T3D event. I’m hoping to compete in my T3D event in May at Southern 8ths Farm in South Carolina. The second is to fix my transitions in my dressage test. I got some awesome tips and advice from Sinead during my dressage lesson at the clinic on how to do this.
Rebecca has told me I have to ride the entire month of January without stirrups. It’s going to be a challenge, but it’s one that I will gladly accept. I’m also going to start running and doing yoga to help with endurance and flexibility. Core strength is coming, but I plan to add some exercises to help with that as well. By the time we come back from Ocala I’ll be a different rider!
I am home schooled, so I will continue to do school as usual. Hopefully it won’t take more than a few hours. Rebecca has already said no going into the barn until school work is done. That’s going to be hard since I love to be with Harley every chance I get.
The competition schedule is set up so that I will compete at least twice while we’re in Ocala. I’m looking forward to competing someplace I’ve never been before, as well as checking out all of the local shows too. All in all, Ocala is going to be a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. I’m looking forward to it and I’m looking forward to having my friend Katellyn with us for six weeks.
Here’s to a great winter wherever you may be.
