Wet weekend

 

So I was dead set on riding this weekend, but not till Sunday because I really didn’t want to get my new saddle wet.

 

I got my new saddle wet.

 

What ended up happening is that on Saturday morning I went into town to do some e-mailing and it was just so beautiful that I decided to ride then and drive Huck on Sunday.

Lucy was so energetic! She was practicly trotting down the trail as soon as I got on. I think being fed grain and having not been ridden for a while made her more excited. When we did trot though it made it even more obvious how much I need to work on balancing her since she would throw me forward whenever she came down from the trot.

I was worried about getting the front of my saddle wet whenever we went under a branch that had drops of water on it. I was very upset whenever a drop landed on the saddle. I should have saved my anxiety.

I ended up turning around at one point because the trail was overgrown with broom (a non-native shrub that grows to be just over the height of Lucy) and I knew it would be totally full of water. Normally that would not deter me, but with my new saddle I wasn’t taking any chances. As it turned out it was all for naught anyway. It started raining on us barely a minute after we turned around. It was very upsetting!

Lucy, it turns out, does not like being out in the rain, which is funny because I have ridden her in the rain before without problems. But on Saturday she was either very energetic or just really not wanting to get wet. She actually came close to taking off with me at one point! She kept trying to trot then when I leaned down to go under some low hanging branches she decided to start trotting and didn’t listen right away when I asked to walk. That is Lucy taking off!

 

Anyway, it didn’t turn out so bad! It turns out my saddle can handle getting rained on better then I expected.

There were a couple of things I didn’t like about the saddle:

1. I was very concerned about the fit. The panels seemed to be digging into her shoulders a bit before I got on, but once my weight was in the saddle they eased up considerably.

2. The panels come very close to sitting on her spine. I kept feeling it and it didn’t feel as if they were, but I am still a little concerned about that, a longer ride will show better.

3. Because the panels are so long I ended up placing the saddle further back on her back then I would have liked. I think I can move it forward the next ride since I now know that the panels will ease up once I am in the saddle.

4. When going down hill the back of the saddle made an odd thumping sound. I am pretty sure it was one of the back rotator things (what connects the flex panel to the saddle tree). I could feel it if I put my hand on the panel and Lucy didn’t seem to like it much. I am going to take the booties off and see if I can find what was moving.

 

Other then that, the saddle was amazing! Very comforitable and well balanced. I will hold out judgment on how well it fits until I go on a longer ride and can assess her sweat marks.

 

 

Sunday

Sunday was way fun! I took all the horses out to eat grass by the generator shed. Everyone was pretty happy since I also fed them their grain out on the driveway so they didn’t have to stand in mud to eat it.

 

I took Huck to town to drive. I cannot wait until I can get him long lining and driving in an arena so I can figure out why he is so crooked in the cart. It may be an adjustment on his harness but either way I think he would benefit from some long lining work. Which I need to do to prepare him and Ollie for Tandem driving anyway.