Serafina
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Wow. I don't think I've spent so much money at once since we bought our house. I bought Huey, paid his board, bought some more lessons, and ordered a saddle, stirrups, stirrup leathers, a girth, and a saddle pad. All in the space of one hour.
Originally I *was* going to spread out the sticker shock a bit, by buying him yesterday and having the Saddle Goddess come out today. But the weather all weekend was total crap, and it made sense to do it all at once.
He's got a good clean bill of health from the vet, and thanks to my new BFFs at SmartPak he's got a good senior-horse joint supplement (glucosamine and chondroitin and MSM, where before he just got MSM). And he has an Almighty Awesome Pink Himalayan Salt Lick On A Rope that has added untold joy to his life. He's only had it 1 week and he's already started sculpting it. And he has a great raincoat, and an even better heavy jacket for the winter. And new shoes, and a new bit for his bridle (myler? happy mouth?) and...and...and...
Today my BFFs at SmartPak sent out a Saddle Goddess with a trunk-load of dressage saddles - 'cause that's what we're going to be doing, it looks like...I think it looks like fun, and it appeals to my taste for finesse, and he's taking to it like a duck-to-water. We tried about 8 of them on him, three of which were worth trying out under me. Two of those worked for me, both of which I was OK with, but my trainer was MUCH happier with one of them because she said it put my leg in a MUCH better position than the other one did due to where the stirrup bar was located (I hope this makes any sense at all). So that's the one I went with. It's an ANKY Salinero. When I was looking for it online I found a video of Anky, the rider, and her horse Salinero, doing one of those musical freestyle turns at WEG in 2006 or so. All I have to say about that is if you are even vaguely interested in such things, it's a good use of 6 minutes. Holy cow. I almost consider it an honor to be riding in a saddle named after that horse.
Holy mackerel, I can't believe I really have a horse.
Originally I *was* going to spread out the sticker shock a bit, by buying him yesterday and having the Saddle Goddess come out today. But the weather all weekend was total crap, and it made sense to do it all at once.
He's got a good clean bill of health from the vet, and thanks to my new BFFs at SmartPak he's got a good senior-horse joint supplement (glucosamine and chondroitin and MSM, where before he just got MSM). And he has an Almighty Awesome Pink Himalayan Salt Lick On A Rope that has added untold joy to his life. He's only had it 1 week and he's already started sculpting it. And he has a great raincoat, and an even better heavy jacket for the winter. And new shoes, and a new bit for his bridle (myler? happy mouth?) and...and...and...
Today my BFFs at SmartPak sent out a Saddle Goddess with a trunk-load of dressage saddles - 'cause that's what we're going to be doing, it looks like...I think it looks like fun, and it appeals to my taste for finesse, and he's taking to it like a duck-to-water. We tried about 8 of them on him, three of which were worth trying out under me. Two of those worked for me, both of which I was OK with, but my trainer was MUCH happier with one of them because she said it put my leg in a MUCH better position than the other one did due to where the stirrup bar was located (I hope this makes any sense at all). So that's the one I went with. It's an ANKY Salinero. When I was looking for it online I found a video of Anky, the rider, and her horse Salinero, doing one of those musical freestyle turns at WEG in 2006 or so. All I have to say about that is if you are even vaguely interested in such things, it's a good use of 6 minutes. Holy cow. I almost consider it an honor to be riding in a saddle named after that horse.
Holy mackerel, I can't believe I really have a horse.