We'd like to plan a ride on Skyline Drive at McCroskey state park. I was looking at it on Wikipedia and after seeing the pictures there I'd really like to go while the wildflowers are blooming. Which would be soon. I can't go this weekend or the next though, so maybe it'll have to be during the week.
I'm leaving for Longview tomorrow morning. My mom is going to go with me to visit her parents. She insists that we take her Jaguar instead of my little Toyota with 200,000 miles on it. I don't think she appreciates my good little car. I can't wait to see all my grandparents. I wish I could be gone longer, but it's not fair to leave John with so much work.
Speaking of work, it's time to move those turkeys out. John was nagging Katia about her grades, telling her she needs to apply herself, she can do better than 100%! when suddenly Katia was yelling, "Turkey out! Turkey out!" and ran to save the day. The little brown turkey was perched on the side of their box. He didn't know how close he was to becoming a tasty little crunchy doggie treat.
I got a great deal on a saddle this week. Well, I paid what the saddle is worth, but it was cheap! An old Simco saddle, not pretty, but it's comfortable and it fits both Soxy and Bella passably well. Much better than the synthetic saddle we had for Soxy. Now that each of the horses has their own tack (for the most part) I wish I had a big enough tack room to make them each a spot with their name on it. I could get all creative with name plates and everything. Someday...
Here's Bella saddled up with the new saddle for her second ride.
Please excuse the out of season orange halter. :)
4 comments:
Do you know all of the secrets to saddle fitting? Or do you have someone from the tack store fit your horses for you? This will be my next task this summer for Shoni and Sundance and I don't have a clue about fitting. Maybe you could send some pointers my way? :)
Cool saddle! I love the old ones! I have a very old Simco saddle that fits Cody and Chico (they are too wide for my nice Circle Y saddle - that one only fits Catlow).
Nikki, I usually set a saddle on the horse's back without a pad, and feel underneath to see how well it fits their contours. Then when you have a pad under it, it's usually a little tighter fit. I use that as an approximation, but I use the horse's sweat patterns to tell me if the saddle really doesn't fit well. If there are pressure points, the horse usually won't sweat there (dry spots in the middle of sweaty horse). The dry spots are because there is too much pressure to allow the skin to sweat...which ends up killing the skin cells in those areas and you'll either get saddle sores or white hairs growing in. Maybe that's a crude way, but that's what tells me my saddle really doesn't fit. If I get even sweat marks and it fits their contours pretty well, then I figure it's a good fit. Really, you'll only know by trying them on and riding in them. A lot of tack stores will let you trial saddles. You should ask.
Oh, and remember that the horse's shape changes as they grow! My nice circly Y saddle fit Cody when she was 4, but at 5 years old, it gave her white hairs...so I had to switch to a wider saddle. Same for Chico...it fit him when he was 3, but by 4 years, he was too wide in the withers for it. That saddle does still fit Catlow, though...
I've read a lot about saddle fit but I'm still not very good at it. It's one thing to read about it but to put it into practice... I do the same as Kara. We do have a saddle maker nearby, and I keep thinking I'll take my horses and saddles out to him to check, but haven't done it yet.
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