Defining moment

 

Or an “ah ha” moment! I had one just the other day.

 

Loren and I got home late from his parents house where we were celebrating his brothers birthday. I went out to feed the horses. My flashlight was not cooperating at all! The battery and the bulb were both dieing. So I was struggling through the muck with an armful of hay and hardly any light. When the horses came down to eat Lucy was shivering so I decided I better put her blanket on her. She was suprisingly good about holding still for that, she doesn’t always like holding still for the blanket. It always amazes me how much trust our horses put into us. I can throw this huge blanket over her back and she barely flinches. And it always amazes me how much trust we put into our horses, I can stand right before my horse and reach between her legs for the leg straps and know that she would never kick me (withstanding any outside influences, in other words if something were to spook her from behind), that in fact she will stand perfectly at ease while I connect everything.

 

Anyway, even though it was raining, and dark and late and cold, I really didn’t want to leave my horses. I was just so happy being with them. Lately I have been getting home late and not always feeding because I am dead tired or its raining out. I feed them extra in the morning but its not really acceptable to let them go that long without food in front of them. I have always taken the best care of my horses that I can. So missing dinner feedings will not be happening anymore, my horses did not choose to come live with me, but I would like to think that they are in a better then usual situation for horses.

 

Anyway, it made be realize just how much I need to be with my horses. Even if I am not riding them.

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.

Pictures to go with update

I’m such a space case! I was so upset yesterday that I couldn’t find my camera cord so I could get the pictures of the filly on my blog, then realized 5 minutes before leaving for my meeting I remembered that I can put my memory card straight into my computer. Sigh. Some days are more trying then others.

 

But, now I can post the super cute pictures!!

All babies together (three Morabs and one Arab)

 

The bay filly that I was initially interested in.

 

The gray colt.

 

The Arab filly.

 

And my girl!!!

 

Her father:

And one of the gray ones is her mom:

 

So I have more of the foals, but figured I wouldn’t over do it!

 

Oh and my new saddle (I hope to try out on a ride this weekend)

It looks so comfy! And I can’t wait to see how the flex panels work!

Update!

 

 

So what has been going on with me?  A lot! I have a new saddle and am on my way to having a new horse!

I would post pictures but I can’t find the cord to my camera  = (

Anyway, I am buying a yearling morab filly. No name yet but I am pretty sure I am going to name her Golden Georgiana, Georgie for short. I get decide her resistered name, which is so exciting! Her father is a dark golden palamino Morgan and her mom is a gray spanish Arabian. She should be at least 15.2 but could easily reach 16hh. Her father is very stout and she is already quite stout herself.

When I intially inquired about the yearlings (two fillys and a colt) I was more interested in the bay filly (the colt was out for me completly), but when I got there the gray filly came up and gave me a horsey hug. It was almost like she was saying, take me home! I really liked her outgoing personality, so I decided on her.

I should be brining her home in April, I can’t wait to have a baby around again!

 

So very exciting weekend! Plus a very pretty trip to Southern California in the bargain as well.

Yet and another week without riding, and guess what?

I won’t get to ride this weekend either. Although the reasons why are much better then last weekends. Or the weekend before that.

 

Lets recap shall we? So weekend before last I really wanted to ride, then threw my back out on Friday morning, inhibiting my movements so riding was out. I finally felt better by Wednesday, when low and behold, I got a bladder infection. For those lucky enough to have never had one I will not describe how painful they can be, and I have a very high tolerance for pain.

Then mother nature decided that that wasn’t enough to make sure I would ride, so the next day I ended up with a nasty cold.

Lets just say that besides not getting to go riding, my valentines day sucked.

 

This weekend riding is out too, but its pretty worth it.

I did NOT ride this weekend

You can’t tell but that was said through grit teeth. I am not overly pleased about it.

It was a beautiful weekend, just a little rain on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon.

But I did not ride. Why?

1. Its very, very muddy in my pasture and on trails and road around my house. I hate dealing with the mud with my horses and having to deal with slipping (both my and the horse). I have to have rubber boots on to ever think about going anywhere near my horse and she is a bit of a mess. Dead winter is a sucky time to live where I do.

2. My truck currently has a hot tub in the back, and an almost flat tire that needs to be pumped up, and (probably) a dead battery so it will need to jumped and its in town, rather then at my house. Too much of a hassle right now.

3. And this is the biggest of all. I through my back out on Friday morning feeding. Its still not back to normal. There is no way I would ever consider getting on a horse with a bad back, let alone that I probably couldn’t even get up there! Feeding was not fun with my back hurting since I have to walk up hill and then down hill and back again in 3 inch deep mud.

4. Do I even want to deal with Lucy and her attitude right now? I want to ride, but if I ride her then I won’t want to ride. So might as well pine after riding rather then being mad at all my horses because Lucy doesn’t want to be ridden.

 

I have no idea when I am going to get to ride again.

Well that lasted long

I am having horse withdrawal. But not because I want to ride Lucy. Well ok maybe a little bit!

 

I had a dream the other night that I was riding Lucy in a 25miler, and hey we actually finished. Although I don’t think Lucy was really enjoying herself in the dream! I was having a blast though.

So I woke up the next morning and wanted to go for a ride. And today I looked at horsey stuff for the first time in two weeks (thats a really long time for me!).

 

Even though I want to ride Lucy, I also really don’t. I am thinking about leasing her out as a lesson horse over the summer. But am not sure that Lucy would be happy with that.

 

Nor do I want to ride Lucy and fight with her more and get put off from riding again. But I really don’t want to bring home another horse.

 

Oi!