Specialized Test Ride Results:  Definitely need to undo the rivet up under the saddle and lengthen the stirrups, once I got them to my height it had shortened them enough that the fenders were sitting directly on top of the stirrups themselves and it wasn’t comfortable. Easily fixed, it’s the first thing shown on the fitting DVD and I declined to actually set my stirrups to the correct length and discover this until I had hauled to the trail head away from available tools. That’s good planning ahead, eh? Anyway I will adjust that tonight.

The trails were slippery from the last week so we didn’t move out enough to work up a good sweat as far as checking the sweat marks from the saddle. It looked like there were two small dry voids just behind her wither, but again she was barely sweaty so I’m not exactly sure about that. There looked to be a bit of ruffed up hair on both sides of the back right on the points where the stirrup leathers run down, I’m wondering if I need to put a thin flat shim under there to give more cushion from the leathers pressing down on the fitting cushions..but yeah, it was fairly subtle. Basically I need to point Desire up the hill from home and say GO, that always works up a good sweat pattern 😉  So fix the stirrup issue, and I think I’ll screw around here at home to work on the fit this weekend.

Comfort wise, the memory foam-esque seat was as lovely to sit in as I hoped it would be. The lower part of the fenders where it curls around your shin were predictably new-saddle stiff which put more torque on my bad ankle than I like, but the saddle does need to be broken in. The western saddle I’ve been using on her was the same–I borrowed it with only 4 rides on it and it started out stiff but now curls around the leg without putting a torsion on my ankle. I put the stirrups it came with on the saddle, though they are heavy and clanky they have really thick nice padding. It’s so nice to have loads of D rings to attach things to again and it was awesome how perfectly the burgundy saddle seat matched my wine&blue colored tack. I scored a royal blue cantle pack from The Distance Depot to use for rides when I need to carry more water and it matches the blue saddle pad pretty darn well. I’m so gleeful about matching color tack, I could never go back to plain old leather!

It was a GORGEOUS day out on the trails, we met N and her mare and had a nice mellow ride chatting away–man, I enjoy talking horse and horse person gossip like nothing else and that is the truth! The lake was blue-green, the sky was deep blue, the sun was out–and Desire was spooky. She was pretty silly at the beginning of the ride, I think our choice to take the steep uphill trail first took a little piss and vinegar out of both mares which helped, but she still looky-looed more than usual. N and I were also both convinced that Desire seemed taller today. I know that sounds bizarre but I thought it to myself when I tied her to the trailer and when N came over to see the new saddle she said the same thing. My (totally scientifically based) theory was that her heat (OH YES, seemed like as soon as she touched noses over the fence with Blaze this week she went into winky heat) makes her pull herself up into true huffy lady form and look that much taller. Who knows. What I do know is that the annoyed little glances Desire was shooting N and I as we ooed and ahhed and poked around the new saddle on her back were HILARIOUS. She certainly wears her feelings on her face.

Miss D loaded and trailered there and back well. No more crazy crashing around since I opened the divider. Unfortunately my good friend Thrush is back in all four of her feet. All it takes is a little moisture and she gets thrush, which is unfortunate. I treated it with Hypozin this afternoon. Anyone know if there is anything to feed supplemental-wise to help prevent it, or do I just keep battling it? It gets better with treatment but doesn’t totally go away if the ground stays damp.

I noticed 2 gaiter rubs and N noticed a heel bulb rub from the boots today. That’s never happened before, but this is also the wettest and slickest ride I’ve done in them. We had to cross a number of puddles and a couple streams, so her feet and boots were wet the whole ride and clearly rubbed. Makes me nervous for any endurance rides with those weather conditions..we did 6 easy miles  and got small but visible rubs, so if I were riding a 30 or 50…yeahhh. Hmm. Could be a problem. Wonder what people do in that situation, I know I’m not the first to encounter it. Are there fleece linings for these boots or what?! Lol.

I think I’ll see if the husband wants to see The Grey tonight. Because Liam Neeson vs. anything works for me!

While the rain has stopped, it’s still been dark, gloomy, cold, and intermittently windy and/or sprinkling in the last few days. I’ve been playing around with my saddle fitting, re-watched the DVD for a refresher and dug out my notes from when I had the demo model. Due to one thing and another I haven’t gotten it actually out the door and onto Blaze but we’re getting there. I’ve got plans to meet N at the lake tomorrow for a ride and I haven’t decided whether I’ll take Desire or Blaze, since I now have that option. Blaze needs to get back on the conditioning program and now that I’ve got the Specialized and some Easyboot Epics to try on him, I’m feeling the self-imposed pressure to get him out, though I just LOVE flying down the trail on Desire. I am reminding myself that I have two wonderful, very different horses, and I’ll just have to strap on my kidney belt and get Blaze going again. Not to discredit him, he is a doll, but the smooth powerful ride of Desire has spoiled me on his choppy gaits, I won’t lie. Still he loves to get out and about and I’m hoping to do some gymkhana and team sorting on him this season as well as a few LDs. My first LD goal for him is probably Hat Creek Hustle in June, where my hope is to ride the 30 on him one day and the 50 on Desire the next.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned on here that we’re boarding two little goats for our neighbors who have gone back to southern California for the winter–and let me just say they are, ahem, entertaining. First let me say, I am NOT a goat person. Various experiences from my own childhood and a friend who owned a herd of goats when we moved to this area 4 yrs back, well, it just cemented my annoyance with and dislike of goats. I find them obnoxious and the whole escape artist thing tickles my “Respect My Fences” pet peeve (be it a goat escaping or a horse leaning on them, if you disrespect my fences I get MAD, Lol). Luckily these two little goats are fairly low key, they do BAH obnoxiously any time they see you anywhere on the property but so far they satisfy themselves sliding under the gates from pasture to pasture, but haven’t actually gotten OUT. They do like to be *let* out and will run around following you like dogs which is kind of funny but they have a tendency to branch off and end up on the porch chewing on things they shouldn’t, so I’m not a huge fan of that. After the big storm I moved the horses from the barn out into the big east side pastures so they wouldn’t tear up their soggy smaller paddocks here on the house/west side of the property, which meant the horses were out with the goats for the first time, which resulted in those funny pictures I posted last time.

The goats for the most part hang out in Sheza’s pasture and they all tend to graze together now, with Sheza giving the goats the occasional run-around for entertainment, but when I feed the goats have a tendency to come flying over and slide under the gates to get closest to me. This morning they did that and ended up in Desire’s pasture, where they promptly decided one hay pile was good as another. Desire pinned her ears to tell them to keep away from her hay but the female goat reared on her hind legs and offered to headbutt Desire! The surprise and confusion on Desire’s face couldn’t have been any clearer and it was pretty darn funny. Apparently that was enough to seal the deal because Desire and the goats began sharing the flake of hay, though Desire’s eyes were riveted on the goats and we’ll see how long the truce lasts. So far the goats haven’t tried to bully into Blaze’s hay and I really recommend they don’t for their own good but no doubt they’ll try it. Blaze and El Bandito keep their warfare skills pretty well honed in their daily love-hate relationship so approach with caution, goats! I really wish I’d had my camera to snap the photo of the goat rearing and threatening to headbutt Desire, these goats are VERY small and the juxtaposition of tiny she-goat vs. big she-horse was pretty great. Oh by the way, Sheza is showing some real flair for herding her goats around, maybe she’ll be a good cow horse in the future 😉

Winter horse:

Seeee, my dirty dirty blonde is actually this color..ohhh amazing.

Definitely lost her baby belly in her winter pic though, eh?

After false starts Monday and Tuesday (due to freezing pipes, bursting pipes, guests, etc) Desire and I finally made it to the lake today to squeeze in a ride before this big rain storm (finally) hits us. We rode with C today for the first time in a few months and it was also the first time riding Desire with C’s big gelding. I always felt like  I was on the verge of getting left in the dust by C when I was riding Blaze but Desire and her gelding rate pretty darn well together. We did the short loop around horse camp since it was cold and gray and C’s guy hadn’t been out in a while but it was a perfect length for leg stretching, some trotting fun, and not getting the horses too sweaty for the chilly day and rainy night to come. Desire rode really nicely in the trailer again, the husband reported no tap dancing when we pulled out and I didn’t hear any coming home. I had to stop at the feed store for shavings and she was dancing around a little bit and nickering at me when I was loading the shavings but she still came out of the trailer at home mostly dry and much calmer than previously. I looked at the divider itself and it’s actually easily removable, just pull two big bolts and it’s out, so I think after the rain I may just take the whole darn divider out.

The shavings I stopped for were for bedding down the stalls in the barn. We’ve got 100% rain in the forecast for the next 4-5 days and with Sheza’s latest blanket already not fitting I decided I’ll put up the herd in the stalls for at least a day or two, depending on the severity of the storm. Our stalls are so ridiculously large, I still laugh in disbelief every time I walk into one. I’ve literally seen paddocks smaller than our stalls! We bought the place with all the fencing, stalls, horse stuff already installed and we really lucked out. The gal we bought it from was a breeder and trainer so all six stalls are large, stallion-secure, and ready to go. It’s a mare motel style barn so the stalls aren’t fully enclosed but still, pretty luxurious. I realized when I was getting water buckets ready that I haven’t used the barn at all since Sheza was born 9 months ago! Wonder if Desire will have any weird birthing flashbacks 😉  I don’t think she had a clue what was happening or happened when Sheza was born so probably not, Lol. I still remember the evident bewilderment after we helped deliver Sheza and Desire just stood in the corner with her back to us like “Woah, okay, woah, I need a breather, what the hell just happened.” Then we showed Sheza to her and she kept the filly in front of her at all times in good eye shot and didn’t want to let her go around to nurse, Lol. Got to keep an eye on that thing that just came out of her! I only had to halter her the first few nursings and she got the point though. Silly mare. She was a great mom, kind and tolerant of baby but not over zealous and always ready to leave the nutty baby and go be a REAL horse again.

This evening was herd round-up, which was pretty entertaining. We had the usual fracas trying to get El Bandito into his stall–picture Bandito running circles around the barn snatching mouthfuls of grass w/ people and dogs hot on his heels. Blaze was at his arch necked, snorting, stallionwannabe best when we took his girlfriends away first. Sheza was convinced she had NEVER been in the barn EVER before (Despite being born there and staying nights there for weeks after). Desire had eyes only for her mash bucket. They all have their priorities, Lol. 


Once the herd was settled the husband arrived home with Chinese food for dinner–and a very exciting box!

Whoop there it is!

The seat is Sooooo cushy, it feels like it’s made with memory foam! Can’t wait to cruise down the trail in this puppy. Won’t happen til next week at the earliest if the forecast holds, but we’ll see. In the meantime I can do a refresher course on fitting with the DVD and my notes from the demo etc. I also got a forest green pad for riding Blaze–and coz I don’t own any other saddle pads and thought 1 might not be enough for competition.