Mustang Saga

Today was not my best day for pictures.  None of them were worth posting.  Doesn't help that it was cloudy and my horse was a little muddy.

Today we tried out a different saddle pad, just for kicks.  It's one of those pocket pads that Diamond Wool makes, with 3 pairs of shims you can add in front, middle, or back.  I heard a theory from my sister that with a downhill horse you actually want to shim up the middle or middle/back of the pad, to get the saddle off the shoulder.  I thought heck, then your saddle's going to be tipping even farther forward (which has been causing my back to hollow, which is not something I want in my riding).  But she insisted that this saddler said that's how it works, and I was willing to be wrong.  But I was right.  Before I mounted up the saddle was nicely lifted off the shoulder, but after our ride it was tipped pretty drastically down in the front.

Also, my slanted stirrups are too slanted.  I guess it was worth trying.  Now I can put my matching stirrups back on and not worry about them looking weird.

But back to our ride - we had a good one!  I just rode her in a halter again.  Her turns were much more responsive today.  She was a lot more sensitive overall, I think because we had a little squall coming in.  We rode around the field, over some poles, and ended up going up the driveway again, then spending a lot more time in the trees.  We crossed a little tiny stream and wandered around, practicing a lot of stopping and standing, because she was nervous and tends to rush straight ahead when she's worried.  On the way back we serpentined around bushes, which was good for both of us.  I was concentrating on what we were doing, not worrying about her being silly, and she quit being silly.  But she did leap forward when my sleeve brushed a bush and made a noise.  So I sidled up to a lot of bushes and rubbed my arms on them.  Then we found a tree that made a different noise and did the same thing.  She has pretty darn good lateral control, if she's not too worried about what I'm moving her into.

By the time we were done I had a horrible stomachache and I had to take a nap.  It seems to have passed already.  I wonder what that was all about.

I got a new book today.  I think it's called, "How Horses Move."  I forgot it in my car or I'd go look to be sure of the title.  It shows how the bones, tendons, ligaments, and muscles move.  It has a lot of pictures of horses with their anatomy painted on, and cadaver legs and bones and stuff.  I like pictures.  Toward the end it has info on massage and exercises to do.  I am pretty excited about that part.  I think as Bella gets tronger he'll have le trouble.  Did you notice one of my keyboard key jut quit working?  That' annoying.  I love my keyboard, I don't want a new one!  I got it all wet the other day.  Crap.