Mustang Saga

I'll be heading home today, I've been in Longview visiting family. It's been sad, being here without my grandma. It seems like so recently that we went out to dinner together. We drove past the cemetery but I didn't have it in me to visit the spot where she and my grandpa were buried. I know she missed him so bad that it was a relief to her to finally be able to join him, but it doesn't make me miss her any less.

My mom came with me and we spent a lot of time with my other grandparents. Helped grandpa fix a window frame that had dry rot. Grandma is having a lot of health problems but she still gets around just fine (although slowly) and she's sharp as a tack. I'm going to miss them while they're down in Yuma this winter. I also got to see my aunt and uncle and my cousin and his kids. Boy are they adorable. I love toddlers, it almost makes me want another. My mom keeps bugging me to have another, but I think two is enough.

I've been researching saddles while I'm here. I had heard a lot of good things about the Martin saddles built on the Axis tree - about how they leave plenty of room for shoulder movement. I discovered that the Cashel trail saddles (which are a lot more affordable) are also built by Martin on an Axis tree. I'm hoping to find a dealer in Spokane that carries them so I can try one on Tonka. Sometime next week I might haul him up there. There are 3 saddle shops (one in Post Falls) that usually have a lot of saddles on hand, so hopefully I can find something.

My sister got a new horse! She fell in love with a POA that was boarded at her barn and was about to go to Ohio for a big horse sale, but he was out of her price range. Her husband worked out a deal with the owners of the horse, and she found him in her round pen one day when she came home from a ride. So now Jeff has his horse back (Cowboy, the horse she's been riding, had been his before she took over riding him) and Amy is tickled pink with her new boy. His name is Sport. He shares some bloodlines with our Soxy, which is kind of neat.
He's been trained for show, never been out in the woods, so she has some work ahead of her. But isn't he a pretty boy? I guess he's too tall for the POA registry, but just right for my sister at 14.2 hands.

I better get going. I have a long day of driving ahead of me...