Okay, DON'T Laugh...

For your viewing pleasure, I present to you...

me riding the Thelwell pony, Tonto:

We both have a lot of work to do. :)

Other updates:

I sent the beautiful trial saddle back. It was just too big. Hoping to find something smaller. I took tracings of Scout's back to send to Trumbull Saddlery (will post the photos of doing this as soon as I can). They have a wide range of saddles and may have something that works for us. I'm eyeing a 16 in. Crosby, Lexington right now... In the meantime, I am keeping my fingers corssed and have posted a saddle plea to all of my horse friends on FB.

I've ridden almost every day for the last 3 weeks. The day before yesterday and yesterday, I actually rode both ponies - Scout in the early morning and Tonto in the late afternoon. Taking time between rides gives my old, tight muscles a chance to relax before climbing on a second time. Amazing, huh? It sure has been fun!

Trial Saddle

It arrived!

It definitely has some age on it and I was kind of disappointed in how dry, dirty and scuffed it was. There was oxidation on the silver and it was rather dusty/dirty, but all of that can be taken care of.  (I know if I was selling my saddle, I would want it to be clean and supple, but I'm a bit anal like that...in Pony Club, you learn that tack care is essential.) I think that is why I am still able to ride in my saddles and bridles that are 30+ years old.

The scuff marks are there to stay, but with some oiling, they shouldn't be as noticeable.

See the scuff marks along the pommel and cantle? The seat has staining on it like it was maybe rained on a bit, but all that is cosmetic. It seems to be structurally sound and the stitching seems good. It is foam flocked rather than wool. I've never had a saddle with foam flocking, so I don't really know the pros/cons. I've always heard that wool is better, but with no experience with the foam, I don't have my own opinion on it yet.

Photos of new saddle sitting on Scout's back without a saddle pad:

And with a saddle pad:

Me sitting in the saddle

(my hubby snapped these photos with his iPhone and Scout was standing a little downhill):

(and I dwarf my 12.3 hh pony!)

 With the dark breeches against the dark saddle, it is hard to see my leg position. I can say that this saddle is very, very comfortable though. I have been riding in saddles that were too big for me all of my life. They have all been 17 to 17.5 inches, so I end up sitting on the twist rather than in the seat. My seat bones have always hurt while riding and I have never been able to sit back and deep in the saddle because of this. Who knew what a difference 1/2 to 1 inch makes! (HUGE!!)

With this saddle, I can actually sit up and back comfortably without my seat bones screaming in agony. Wow, what a difference!!

I do think the saddle flap is too long for my leg. The flap measures 15.5 inches, and you can see my foot is hardly below the flap, so if I shortened the stirrups to jumping position, they would hardly hang below the flaps! (Hey, I am a very tall 4'11 and 1/2 inches!, but the flaps are still a little too long.)

Scout rode very well in it and part of that is because it puts me in a better position than my old Stubben Siegfried, (which, BTW is missing from the tack store I consigned it. Story for another day. :( ):

 So, that's the update on the new saddle. My hubby videoed me riding in it, but the file is too big to load and I don't have a YouTube account, so I'll have to get him to make some shorter clips this weekend. I have 7 days to try the saddle.

Let me know your thoughts and opinions on it. Keep in mind that it is very unlikely I will ever ride outside of our pasture and I don't have any grandiose plans to event, compete in dressage or jump again. If I ever did anything major, it would be a local schooling hunter show or trailride with friends. :)

Keep Your Fingers Crossed...

Waiting impatiently for this to arrive for a one week trial period. The last time I bought a saddle was in 1994. Actually, I bought 2 saddles that year for my wide pony, Hamlet. I bought a used Stubben Siegfried and a used Passier PS Baum. (Yes, I had more money when I was in college than I do now. Go figure. :))  I still have both of those saddles. Hoping the Stubben has found a good home with a therapeutic riding program; I will find out this week.

So, I was shopping online and found this one. It is within my non-existent-budget (so, thanks to my MOM, it is on its way here for trial). It is a Lucinda Green Thoroughbred All Purpose, 16 1/2 in. medium tree. Not sure of its age, but according to the saddler, it is in good condition. I just hope it is and fits Scout and me.

Been riding as much as possible lately. Waking up early and trying to ride before it gets too hot and humid. Scout has been a really good boy. We're taking it slow and steady because we are both so out of shape. I think I need to get a treadmill for Tonto....not enough time to work 2 each morning!

I'll let you know how the saddle works!

Played with the Ponies Today

 For the first time in forever, we didn't have to be up and on our way to anything this Saturday morning. It was the first time in MONTHS! So I took advantage of it and messed with the ponies.

Tonto is eating from our new hay feeder. Not sure if this is the best or safest idea, but it keeps their hay out of the sand for the most part. I wish I had gotten photos of the ponies the first time they saw their hay in the baby pool. It was hysterical! They didn't know whether or not it was safe to approach, so they were blowing and spooking until they decided it wasn't going to eat them. They finally settled down and realized it was safe to eat from. So far no one has put a hoof through it. I'm sure it is a matter of time.

Here's Scout impatiently waiting for me to saddle him:

He does not like to stand, so he moves back and forth and side to side, then paws. He needs lots more time to stand in the cross ties or stand tied to a trailer to work on building his patience. On my to-do list...

I know I said I was going to wait until the farrier trimmed his hooves before working him, but I thought a little while on the longe line at the walk and a little trot wouldn't hurt too much. His hooves just need trimming, they aren't in dire shape or anything like that. Our farrier is due out on July 6.

 He was really good and even acted like he'd been doing this daily, not like it had been a year since he had a saddle on him last...

We reversed direction

and he was a perfect gentleman, so I decided to climb on.

Scout was really, really good. We walked in circles, changing direction and worked on halting. No trotting today.

Then Ash appeared and said she wanted to ride! I was elated! We got Tonto out and she rode for about 30 minutes. She rode independently and had a mini-lesson on the longe line. They both did great!

 She practiced halting and shortening her reins:

(and notice the audience in the background! Her Daddy even came out to watch. :)

 I think her smile says it all!

Very proud of Ash and the ponies! Hopefully we can ride again next week!

Alive and Kickin'!

Goodness, it's been a while! Sorry about that...we are all still alive and kickin'! Things stay busy with work, 3 kids in school and involved in sports....baseball, baseball, baeball, soccer, soccer, soccer. It leaves litte time for anything else, like riding - especially when the time changes and it gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoons! Thank goodness for summer daylight saving time! Now I can stay at the barn until dark - around 8 PM!  :)

Well, summer is here, school is out and sports are over for now, so I FINALLY climbed on Tonto 3 times this week! My daughter even rode him yesterday, which made me very happy. Tonto has been perfect, even with the crupper that I have only used on him that one time (from the post I made about it). Don't worry, I longed him in it for a while before I got on him to make sure he accepted it. It does not seem to bother him a bit, even going up and down fairly steep slopes and it has made a huge difference - the saddle no longer rides up his neck (at least at the walk and trot). We can't do too much at this point to really test it, since Tonto and I are both so out of shape, but maybe if we can continue working out together, we will be able to test it at more than a trot, eventually.

I haven't been on Scout in a year now, either. Once he gets his toes trimmed (farrier due out next Friday), I will put him back to work slowly. I toyed with selling him and even had a hunter trainer interested in him, but then couldn't bear the thought of letting him go. I guess I'm selfish in the fact that I'd rather have the ponies as pasture pets than not have them at all...surely one day I'll have more time to spend with them. (As fast my my kids are growing up, I guess that time will be sooner rather than later....which is very bittersweet.) My oldest just turned 16!!!!!!!!!

The time spent with the ponies this week has been wonderful. It is even better when the kids want to spend time with the ponies, too. I knew I missed riding, but didn't realize how much. I had also fogotten how much better it made me feel just being around them...there is something very relaxing and theraputic about just grooming them. I've been keeping the riding sessions short - like 30 minutes at a time, mostly walking, to keep from making either of us too sore. With that said, so far, so good and let's hope I can continue riding as time allows. I really look forward to getting back on Scout and will post an update when that happens.

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully it won't be too long before I post again! I'll try to get some recent photos of the ponies to share...Tonto is too fat again....anyway, until next time, Happy Riding!

Just Cause

Yup, me and Ralph from way back in 1980. I was eatin' my popcorn and she was eatin' her 9-Lives. Just chillin'. Just cause. :)

Thanks Dad for digging this golden oldie up to share with my kids. They got a great laugh out of it and especially liked the fact I had a "girl" cat named Ralph. That's just not right. She was a great cat.

Tonto's New Tack

After mulling it over for several years, and finally getting tired of all of the different saddles slipping forward, I finally gave in and bought Tonto a crupper.

Tonto said, "I don't like the sound of that."

"It's gonna go where?"

Yup!

So we fitted it...

Then tried it out on the lunge...

"You said go?"

sigh... "Okay...."

"It isn't too bad."

There was no rodeo, and Tonto seemed to accept it just fine.

I don't think Casey Cat liked the idea of it though:

And Scout was VERY thankful he didn't need a crupper...

So, after I lunged Tonto with the crupper in both directions for a good bit, like a good Mom, I put my daughter on him (and led them around). Tonto was fine with it, so after dragging them around the pasture a few times, up and down the hills, I climbed on. It seemed to do the trick, at least at the walk...I was too chicken to try anything faster until we have a few more goes with it. Hopefully, it will solve our saddle slipping problems and we won't ride up Tonto's neck any longer.