Except not for the reason we'd hope! My saddle still hasn't arrived!! Sharon's did.. and her photos of it are beautiful! Mine didn't get to Mark today but I'm hoping that's because it's in Ringold getting the stamp put on the fender! So.. maybe soon! But, I did call in a favor and borrowed Kaitlyn's DP saddle to get me through the show at Ashland. I picked it up this morning and since we had a short day today, I took it for a test ride.
I liked it! It was pretty comfortable and Dan seemed quite happy in it. It actually seemed to fit him quite nicely to start but I ended up making it a hair narrower because at the end of our ride, my pad had slid a tiny bit. I also wore Sharon's boot cut pants to try them out. Plus I didn't want to mark up Kaitlyns saddle with jeans and it's getting hot!
So we headed to the arena. Well, not true. We headed to the XC field and then up and back to the arena for a little warm up walk first and for me to get used to the saddle. The stirrups felt about right at first, but then they felt a little long. But I figured they were supposed to feel long.
So we hit the arena and did some warming up. He felt good. I struggled to sit the trot but posting was fine, though I did feel like my stirrups were too long and I was standing on my toes a bit. We played a little bit and then went and did our Western Dressage Test 1-1 test. And oh gosh, so much easier when you have the arena actually set up and aren't just guessing. And, it isn't a trapezoid. ;) And he was so good! We got our canters and even did 15 meters. We didn't get the best stretchy work, but... that makes sense given that he's not really "on the bit" like he would be in a snaffle. Towards the end he did stretch more. And I do think I need to throw him away a little quicker than Funny for best results. Our free walk was about the same. He wasn't really stretching down like he can. But we'll work on it. And our leg yields were good and our serpentines are much better. I just have to remember to ask for the bend with my legs too. I felt like I didn't lose too much ridability in the saddle. But, once I got a few miniutes in.. the stirrups are definitely way too long. I was standing on my toes and my heels were halfway up my boot! And then because the fenders aren't quite turned properly yet... I felt like I was going to break my ankles! Ugh... I tried to shorten them, but they were on the tightest hole. Hmm... That's gonna be tricky. I tried sitting the trot but that didn't really work. My thighs got tight and my leg slid up. And the trot lengthen after the canter is so hard because I've lost my stirrups by that point! Doh! And, because they aren't fully turned, trying to catch them is almost impossible! So... I don't know if I put a half pad on, if that will help... if I need to try to roll them somehow (although I tried and can't figure it out), or if I should just put my english stirrups on and hope no one notices. ;) Or what! But anyways... we played a bit longer and got some nice work regardless. I do need to figure out how to sit better. I'm not sure if it's because he's moving bigger or if I just haven't found my balance yet, like in the dressage saddle. Or if i'm just out of shape because I haven't sat the trot in a saddle in probably almost a year! But I'm definitely more excited about the show. This test is fun and now that I've run through it a time or two and have gotten the hang of it, we won't embarass ourselves too much I hope!
We then headed to the field because Sharon wasn't there yet and I thought.. maybe i'll just canter him in the field and see if I can find my seat any better. So we trotted down the hill, which was a bad idea. He got all weak behind and wobbly and I lost my balance too. So we regrouped and trotted again and it was better. The we cantered and it was good. I kept my stirrups better but.. yeah, still gonna be tricky.
And then we headed back and Sharon had just got there. I decided that I would hop on bareback instead so he could splash in the lake. It's hot and he worked hard and I felt like he deserved some splashing and I didn't want to get her saddle wet. So that's what we did. Plus, we were waiting on Sharon to tack up anyways. I let him graze while we were waiting and he stepped on his little horse hair hangy thing off his bosal and ripped half the hair out. Then a second time and ripped the majority of it out, so I just took all the hair off. Doh! Oh well. Not sure we needed it anyways. I joked I should keep it for forelock extensions! Ha ha.
So then we headed to the lake. The boys were good and the woods felt lovely in the shade. It really was a beautiful day. Not too terribly hot and definitely not humid. A good breeze, and in the woods, it was quite pleasant! YAY! We splashed a good bit in the lake and then headed for a nice walk. Sharon had had a rough day so we just kept it simple and easy and had a nice long walk chatting. It was lovely.
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