Mustang Saga

I guess I'd better check in. It's been a while!

Last Friday I got to take Scout out on another trail ride. We had another colt along, I think it was his second trail ride, and two broke horses. The broke horses are there for support and we all stop and do whatever a rider in trouble needs. Same as how I ride with others but this is a new group of girls and I really enjoyed riding with them. Scout was pretty nervous, and we only rode for an hour but by the end of it he had calmed down. I was impressed with him for walking through puddles with frozen tops and over little runnels of water without having to look at them for a long time first. After a good look at the first puddle he marched on through the rest. He's a good boy.

Monday we didn't do our lesson, we each had our reasons. My reason was my elbow. I don't know what I did to it but it's all inflamed and I can hardly dress myself sometimes. When I'm doing ground work and a horse pulls on me even a tiny bit it really sets me back in the healing process. I know Scout and Cimarron are both going to pull on me, so I thought I'd give it a rest. Then I found out our lesson for next Monday isn't going to happen either but we might be able to fit one in later in the week.

I've been offered Cimarron to keep here and ride all I want, they just need him back for hunting season. Yay! I can't wait to share him with you all, he's a pretty good looking guy. I don't have any pictures of him, darn it. It's killing me to wait for him and not even have a picture to look at. Sometime next week he'll be here.

I topped off my excitement about Cimarron by ordering a new headstall with some Christmas money. It should match my saddle pretty well. I'm hoping it gets here fast. Then today I went and spent some money I'd gotten from selling other tack, and replaced my stiff, uncomfortable chinks. These ones are so supple, and they're a weird kind of leather that's more grippy. It reminds me of pigskin but I think it's too thick for that. They're not fancy but I like them the way they are, and I can actually bend in them! I love them. I got them at Indiana Harness in Spokane. The price was already pretty affordable for good chinks, and I traded in my old ones for more of a discount. I looked at the ones at two other stores in Spokane and there's no comparison. Now, you could probably go to Post Falls and get something a lot fancier for twice the price, but I'm not a very fancy girl. :)

That's about all my horse news, other than a short ride at home where I discovered how small Scout's comfort zone is in terms of leaving his buddies. I'd say it's about 100-200 feet before he gets jittery about it. We'll gradually build on it without blowing his confidence.