Sunday, February 15, 2009

Lovely Ride on a Lovely Horse

And A Lovely Saddle

Had a bit of a headache this morning on the way to church. Took some Advil and felt OK, but not great. Came home to find out my saddle demo was postponed until tomorrow which is fine.

I lay down for a while with some heat packs which didn't help. So I finally got smart and sat with my neck in traction (I have a door hanging traction device) for five or ten minutes. With that and some more pain medication, I felt a lot better by late afternoon.

So I headed out to ride Toby in the Excel. He has the sharper wither now with his age and retirement so it was a good test. The saddle fit him beautifully without any extra padding. We went out on a nice hack and even after the saddle warmed up and molded into place, it still fit without any kind of pressure on his withers at all. In fact, when I gave him the option of which trail to take, he opted for the long way home up along the ridge near the back lake. We didn't try going around the lake as that was probably pretty muddy, but the upper trail was just fine as were all the tracks in the woods.

I did pull or stretch something in my hip joint, something I have done dozens of time before. It has nothing to do with the saddle but just the general stretching of riding, especially when I am not exactly in shape. This time, it did not "walk off" after I dismounted, so I decided not to ride anyone else.

Instead, I took the tractor and the drag and groomed the arena. The footing out there is just beautiful right now with enough dampness to keep down any dust and enough dryness so there is no mud at all and even "Lake Follywood" is dry--rather unusual for this time of year.

I hope to do the saddle demo tomorrow as I am off from school for President's Day (Washington's Birthday). I don't know about the time yet as I am waiting to hear from my client, but either way, I can get a school in. Even if it freezes tonight, the well-groomed arena will be rideable in the morning. And if it's later, even better.

What a joy to be outside with sunshine for a change. And what a joy to be outside until nearly 6 PM and still have light to see what I was doing! The days are growing longer now. It's the best sign of Spring.

That and shedding horses. Not quite yet, but soon. Nothing like horse hair in everything.

Oh, yes, had a cute Chance moment when I went out. There was Chance galloping around with the playball in his mouth. He was playing some kind of game with Tucker who was bouncing around in the same area. I guess I came upon the final period of the contest and, since Chance had the ball, I suspect he had won. It usually takes a while to figure out the rules of these competition without watching for a while, so I don't know how the scoring went. *lol* This is the first time I have ever seen one of my Boys actually playing with that toy although it certainly does have a habit of "moving" all around the paddocks. I'll have to keep my eyes open and the camera handy just in case they play again.

3 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your neck and hip, I guess we all have things that are painful from time to time, especially if we ride. Glad to hear you got out anyway. I wish the ice would melt in our arena so I could at least drag it.
    I'm really interested in seeing how your treeless saddle works out, we are considering getting one for Donnie and maybe a few of our other horses could use it(if it fit them), they're all about the same size. But for us exact saddle fit is a must. We just hate to jump into something expensive that may not make much of a difference. Feel better.

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  2. the weather's improving over here as well, jean - molly rugless through the day yesterday & today, and I was able to do my morning chores without my jacket as well...

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  3. I nearly bought Buttie a football when SH was buying some sports shoes yesterday, maybe I should have?
    C

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