Sunday, March 29, 2009

With a 3:00 saddle fitting on the schedule today, I got to the barn by 1:20. Josie was laying in the wet mud when I pulled up. Great! (this is a sarcastic great)

With saddle fitting, J likes to see the horse before it has been ridden and without the pad. I brought Josie up to hose off the mud. She was more wet with a little bit of mud. I took her bell boots off. Now is the time of year to worry about scratches. The bell boots she had on were stiffer while making them more durable, make then harder on her pasterns. Boy! They were difficult to remove. Josie is pulling one way, I am pulling the other, quite the funny site.

J liked how the saddle looked, saying it would come down more with my weight (thank) and that she would like to see her move. Josie is worse when people are around. I was a bit embarrassed. Oh, well, we are a work in progress.

We get into the arena and crap! Indy is in there. He is Josie's nemesis. She just can't stand him. I rode to warm up and let J know that it was the other horse she was pinning at, not at the saddle. She noted that the back end comes up but feels that as the saddle breaks in that it should go away. She gave me a good tip for making the slippery new saddle grippier and that is to put glycerin soap on it. This I will try. She wants to see Josie again in six months or so to give the saddle the free flocking. At the rate I am riding in it, I should have it well broken by then. Tomorrow night is cleaning and conditioning night for sure as this also helps with breaking it in.

I have the arena to myself for a while and am able to practice bending and serpentines. She blew me off when asking for the left lead canter from the walk. I bet she misses the days when I wouldn't ask for canter departs so much.

With the nice weather and her obedience, I decided to cool off by walking down the lane and back. Well, it was so nice and Josie was being very good, I decided to cross the railroad tracks and ride to the stream past the lake. She was a bit looky but nothing that I couldn't handle.

We turned back and once we crested the hill, I thought I heard something. I remember thinking to myself, is that the train? Nope, four-wheeler. Oh, she should be fine. She gets her dinner from four-wheelers. When they are going approximately 45 to 50 mph and jump, catching about two feet of air - NO, TOTALLY NOT ACCEPTABLE. As she kept getting more excited and getting bigger, I decided to slide off. Out of the corner of my eye while I am still astride, I see Pix and she looks to be thinking of chasing said four-wheeler but holds her ground. I know Wyatt was a bit in front of us but I know how much he hates it when Josie gets wiggy. It is amazing how quickly things go through your mind. Once I was off, Josie wanted to not have them behind her and whirled around me to watch. Next, another one goes by and does the same thing.

I think to myself, now if she will hold still so I can get on as we need to get across the tracks before they come back. You know they will. That looked like a major rush! They will return for more. We made and were most of the way down the lane when they went by again. Josie could have cared less. Wyatt followed us about 20 feet behind. This must be his preferred avoid the crazy big dog zone. We went down to the red barn and then rode back to the arena barn to unsaddle. Josie wasn't too happy about leaving her barn but this was a good training opportunity. Speaking of which, I could have practiced piaffe (trotting in place) but I was certain we would be doing a capriolle which I would rather not attempt. Darn! Lost training op! The most suspension I want is in a good forward canter. Maybe next time I will remain on and ride it out.

This has been quite the exciting weekend. This summer ought to be fantastic!