winter year end update

Hello, hellooo, hellooo...the lack of presence on my blog this past quarter was not intentional nor for any particular reason. It just happened. Before we close out the year, here is a winter (less) update...with mostly iphone pics. The boys are usually back inside by the time we get to the barn, and it's just too dark inside to use my good camera without a flash (won't use one with horses). Besides the lack of snow, here is what's been happening lately:

At the end of November, Koda was cleared to ride. We began slower then recommended and increased to 15-20 minutes of walking. I've just begun to add in brief trotting this past week. I'm happy to say I've been the only one riding him, and more so that he has been a really good boy throughout the process! I'm sure his testy Appy-tude will surface as more is asked of him, if so it's then that I'll seek help. We have a long long way to go during the healing process, but we are off to a good start.

My favorite view, even if just surrounded by sand

Koda is not cleared to go back in the big pasture with Nemo & Cierra (too many shenanigans) and instead hangs out during the day with a middle aged mare friend named Liz, in a smaller more level pasture. There is a small section of shared fencing between the two pastures, and our horses can see each other. We are fortunate our trainer & the two gals that work for her are so caring.

Nemo in far left pasture, Koda in right
Our panel paddock is still up inside the pasture, just incase.

Brad alternates between riding Nemo, and riding Cierra while working towards his goal of showing her in Ranch Classes. Here she is during a quick "stretch your legs" turnout in the indoor on Nemo's riding day (excuse the too big borrowed halter). 

Cierra, stretching her legs

Nemo & Brad
with Belle kitty, she was hoping to ride

It's been really quiet riding at our barn so far this winter. Most days it's us, and this spotted guy. He greets us and always makes us smile.

Happy loves to greet our truck,
 if only he could fit through the cat door!

Playing ball with Brad
Happy loves him best, second only to his owner

Speaking of happy, not only am I happy to be back in the saddle with my boy - I am actually using my new saddle! Nothing like waiting over a year for something special to arrive, and then not being able to use it for endless months... 

However it was worth the wait, absolutely love it! The roomier seat (per their recommendation) was an adjustment, but feels right now. I sit centered, and my legs hang in the right place. Of course I haven't loped in it yet, that's the real test. I may not be doing as much of that anyways. My sore left foot (yes, I match my horse) mentioned in my last blog update, turned out to be a ruptured tendon across the bottom of my arch and a split tendon up the side of my ankle. No more impact activities for me :( I have to be careful with any activity in general. It's life altering, but I'll get used to it. Don't have much choice. Surgery is not recommended. We all have our less then desirable things to deal with, as aging reveals. A saddle that fits right is even more important now. Thank goodness I have a forever one now! There are a few more saddle pics on my photo website if you are interested. 

If your eyelids haven't closed and you are still reading along, thank you so much for being part of this blog. Wishing all my blogger friends a wonderful end to the year and an even better beginning to a New Year. Best wishes for Good Health and Happy Trails in the year to come!!!

tree mail

It's old news that I've had my share of saddle woes. My good old Circle Y Equitation saddle that I loved riding in for years, prior to getting Koda, stopped fitting him somewhere around age three. Four years later, I am still working on getting a saddle that fits both of us...sad, but true.

After trying different saddles that played into my hitting the ground a couple times, I've learned the hard way. A proper fitting saddle can make all the difference in the world! I don't enjoy learning from the school of hard knocks, and have high hopes I won't be repeating those lessons anytime soon. It's not like I didn't know how important saddle fit is to begin with...however, sometimes the ground isn't the only hard thing you run into.

Over the years I've asked a lot of questions, and put faith in trusted professionals. The one person I didn't put faith in was me. Had I listened to what my body was telling me, I wouldn't have purchased a saddle that wasn't completely right. It fit's my horse okay, but it doesn't fit me. I harbor no bad feelings toward the folks I entrusted for help, for in the end I believe we are all ultimately responsible for our own decisions. They have resolved many a saddle woes, and did their best to try to help me too. Guess everything with me has to be more difficult?!! 

I was tired of saddle searching and inconveniencing people. Scheduled trail trips were rapidly approaching. I wanted to move on, and just gave in. I ended up buying what turned out to be the wrong saddle. It's all on me. 

On the brighter side, as you may know, this difficult fitting duo of horse and rider are now looking forward to a custom saddle! After making the hard decision to purchase, and being measured. I found there were a lot of details that make up a saddle, that I had not really thought much about prior to ordering. 

I was going to share the details I chose, but many of them won't make sense. Unless you know what a #1 horn is, or a 13 swell, or the dish size of a cantle. However these details will make sense; I am getting partial rough out leather in key area's, a rounded skirt, and black padded seat. The horn will be wrapped, so I can play! I requested the same double shell edge tooling they did on my chinks:

tooling sample

The little bit of silver hardware will be like the center conch below. I didn't do a lot of cosmetic upgrades, because what matters most to me is that the saddle fits both of us and helps keep me seated. They assured me it will do both.

silver sample

I took photos of my horse "naked" from all angles...

...including a top view, while standing on the back of a tailgate. After emailing photo links for review....

...my anticipation grew...and then tree mail arrived!! Inching us one step closer to a new saddle. It was time for another Koda fashion show, this time wearing just the test tree. From the tree photos, taken from all angles, the saddle maker determines what adjustments need to be made different in order to fit Koda.

With all the tough saddle details figured out, horse and tree fitting photos done, now it's back to waiting and wondering...

saddle fitting

Over the years I have relied on the expertise of others to guide me when questions arise with my horse needs, and this includes saddle fitting. However sometimes you need to take matters into your own hands, if for no other reason then to gain a better understanding and make wiser choices.

Before we headed out to the barn today, my hubby and I watched a good video on saddle fitting. The basic related anatomy of a horse is explained by Dr. Joanna Robson, and shows you how to tell if your saddle could be causing pain and even bad behaviors. She is fitting for a hunt saddle in this video, but I learned a few things that were helpful for any discipline.

I also watched her Western Saddle fitting video for a refresher, both have good info and are to the point. Looks like supporting videos are hosted on their website, where I found a lot of other how to video's! 

Dr. Joanna Robson also has a book out "Recognizing the Horse in Pain". Has anyone read it? It sounds good. SO many books to read, my wish list is ever growing...

I am still obsessing over the influx of possibilities, the why's and how's of Koda's behavior, while waiting for some responses and yes, over thinking...

We took a close look at Koda and my saddle, and altho neither of us are professional saddle fitters, my hubby & I both agreed my saddle still seems to fit him. I chose to ride in it, altho I did not lope. 

After a longer grooming session, we started with some ground work. I put a cone, a pole, and another cone in the middle of the arena stretching the length of it. We travel lunged walking around and over them, then did the same trotting. Koda was a little skeptical, we haven't done this since our horses lived at home with us. Then I hopped on and we progresses to a couple bends, some turns, and briefly rode around and over using the same gaits - and called it good. 

Poor guy was surprised when I got off after such a short time, but I made sure Koda knew he wasn't in trouble. I wanted to keep this a short, but sweet barn visit. 

keep trying, peaceful ride ahead

First, a short follow-up on a previous post. Koda had no additional white spots and no changes this week. You can see the existing spots in proportion in the photo below, the larger one near his withers and the smaller one in the girth area. 

Onto the saddle saga, which continues. The latest revelation came about when we took the bell stirrup's off my old Circle Y, and swapped them out on the new saddle. It helped my leg issues somewhat, as there was clearly more room for my foot and the stirrup was more weighted. However, it didn't take long to realize the bell stirrup didn't solve the problem. My foot was still slipping. All I could think about while riding was the saddle. 

Towards the end of our ride, frustration was getting the best of me. I've been riding in the current saddle for a month, and it's still not right. I've come to love everything else about this saddle. WHY can't it just be right?! For goodness sakes, I've been trying saddle's out since Spring! Add to that - our boys come home in one week. I was at the point of "I can't have a frustrating saddle, and a frustrating horse. One of them has to go, and I'm not getting rid of my horse". Side note; The mentioned horse frustration comes from Koda making me work my butt off - all the time. I need to focus on him. He is still young. Someday this will change to a much lesser degree, but until we progress - it is our reality. I can't imagine what he is thinking, while I am focused on the saddle. Whatever it is, he was still a good boy.

I've come this far in my saddle search, I can't just give up. Setting frustration aside, I have to keep trying. For comparison's sake, Brad and I swapped saddles. I didn't get half way around the arena, and my legs were killing me - his saddle really is too wide for me. That was an "aha" moment. Furthermore, the stirrups are identical - you can see underneath feet in his saddle stirrups too. Discussion continued and concluded with, if it's not the stirrups it has to be the fenders. Sigh. Now that we've eliminated another thing, our saddle fitter will do more work on the saddle and loosen things up underneath the tree. I am hoping this last (?) adjustment makes it 100% right (she won't sell it to me until it's 100%) before Koda & Nemo come home. Time will tell.

We got a second ride in again this week, on a beautiful early Fall morning - just Koda & I and Brad & Nemo. I opted to ride in the new saddle. Brad pulled hard on the fenders, which made it a little better. My foot still slipped, but I knew what to expect and why. It was okay. I am hopeful, once the saddle get's more work done on it, the fenders will move with my leg.

After outdoor arena fun, we ended our morning with a short trail ride around the field. I am really going to miss riding in a huge outdoor arena.

The boys picked up some tiny seeds, or something, on their legs.

Our sunny Saturday ride was sooo peaceful. It made me feel better about the whole saddle thing. I can't think of a better way to spend my day, then with my boys.

Koda

ride when you can

Altho we had spent the first part of the weekend traveling over an hour to sporting events both Friday evening and Saturday morning, we decided we need to ride while we can. The boys will be coming home soon. We headed back on the road Saturday afternoon, to enjoy a quiet early Fall ride at Iron Horse.

Our humans are here

I was curious to ride in the new saddle again. It got oiled, billet's cut and stirrups re-turned. The second time I arena rode in it, I was having trouble with my legs. My feet (especially my left) constantly slip through the stirrup. Being preoccupied and trying to reset them, instead of concentrating on my riding, was frustrating. We tried shortening, lengthening and made sure nothing was caught up underneath. 

In addition, something has been wrong all along when I lope. It feels like I am lifting out of the saddle, and unbalanced. Nothing I've ever felt before in any saddle, or on any horse. I had three people watching, reassuring it wasn't me. I've never ridden in a saddle where there was such an obvious "sweet spot"...

The oiling & turning did help to get my legs under, and consequently my lope - but the stirrup thing is not resolved. My lope still feels a bit awkward. I think my smart hubby figured out what may be wrong with the stirrup. He said he can see under my foot, as in the stirrup is not flat/wide enough. A new discussion to have, thank goodness our saddle fitter is patient. I never knew saddle buying would be so hard. Much to my chagrin, I am still undecided on the saddle. I really really like it, but need to get the stirrup thing figured out - which will hopefully finish resolving the lope thing.

On the brighter side, we had great weather to ride in the outdoor. It was just us, and very peaceful. After grooming and warming up, we practiced our gaits, some poles, turns, side passes, L-backs, slow spins (Note to self, I need to work on these with our trainer. They are getting worse, instead of better) rope gate, and rock bucket etc. There is so much more to do in the large outdoor, then indoor. We ended with a short trail ride around the field. Pretty much covers everything I love doing, with my beautiful boy...

Koda

trying new things

I'm pretty jazzed up with all the new things to try this week! It started with the arrival of another long awaited saddle to try, a reiner that has been customized. I like 90% of this saddle, fit's Koda well and is comfortable to ride in. I just need to decide if I can get used to a different cantle that is lower then I prefer/am used to. There is some other stuff I would change, but all minor.

We had a good Monday morning Labor Day ride, where I got to try the saddle at leisure. The arena's at Iron Horse had been watered, outside by Mother Nature and inside by hose - so we rode in the pasture. Pasture riding is much different then soft level arena sand, made for a pretty good test. I was happy with our ride, especially towards the end when it was just Koda & I.

Two rides, two days in a row, that's new for this year. Tuesday night was gorgeous weather. We tried new trail stuff that included a bucket of rocks, mailbox, slicker etc. I got thumbs up from our saddle fitter & trainer, who saw me ride in the saddle for the first time.

I'll be testing the saddle again, when we Ride for the Mustangs ~ and try even more new things!

tuesday rides

Tuesday's have become our riding day. We scramble home early from work and head north to see our boys. When the rides are good, they are really good. It helps being in the outdoor arena, weather permitting. Both hubby and I continue working on loping, side-passing, turns, ground poles, along with some work on open/closing gates etc. I am slowly getting back to where I was, working well with Koda. We haven't gone on any trail rides, which of course is the real test. I really wish my saddle time wasn't so limited...some day's I wonder if it's all worth it?

I think the biggest improvement I've noticed lately is Nemo's lope. He has slowed down and is using his top line more. 

A few weeks back our trainer had the largest multi-layer ground pole setup I've ever seen/ridden through (think multiple fallen trees, with branches crossing over each other) for the horses to pick through. It was cool to watch Nemo hang his head low, and lift his feet high, as he carefully picked through them. A natural talent Trainer Patty said horses are either born with, or without. Which category does your horse fall in? Mine is in the latter, without.

Yesterday's ride wasn't one of the better ones, for me. While Brad was enjoying his ride with Nemo, I was back to trying saddles - something that has become far from fun. I think I switched saddles no less then five times. Poor Koda. He was a good boy through the fashion show that was full of tacking up/down, starts, stops, restarts, and plain 'ol frustration. Communication can be such a struggle. It didn't help we were stuck inside due to the flooded outdoor arena. One of the saddle's I tried was a rough-out trainer, that made me laugh out loud! I stuck like glue. Interestingly it felt like it fit Koda the best, but had other things that weren't right (aside from the look). 

They (Trainer & Saddle Fitter) think in the end they figured out what I am feeling, in the best of the bunch, among other things - the lack of a double rig. Needless to say, I am back to waiting. This whole process pretty much sucks. However, I am hopeful it will be worth it in the end.

Looking forward to getting back around the blogsphere, and catching up on how everyone's been doing lately. I've squeaked a few reads in, but overall it's been a while. Hope everyone is enjoying a horse-filled summer!!