On a Roll

A used tack buying roll. Once you get going … details to come!

Eli’s first ride back after a week off was not too bad. He worked well enough at the trot, but at the canter he was interested only in playing, so it was like canter, leap, canter, head toss, canter, prance, canter, leap leap leap, canter … Eh, can’t blame him!

Last night he was much more focused and a rather large circle of death (why is it called that? It’s more like circle of focus) was set up in the jumping arena so we did that at the trot and canter. He maybe muffed a pole twice, but other than that I was quite happy with it. At the canter to the right, he regressed a little about what to do when presented with a half halt, so he got a little too opinionated for me and I did some transition work until he got back to being adjustable. And his hock looks great (phew).

After I dismounted and was running up my stirrups, some thing behind Eli spooked him and he got a few steps away from me before turning around and staring at the culprit (no idea what it was) and then staring at me. I collected the pony and no one got hurt. There was a half-second where I was all, omgomgomg my horse is going to gallop away in the dark and jump out of the ring and fall down the slope and break his neck and die. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. Sometimes my anxiety takes over.

I have been using the Back on Track saddle pad this week, so I should be able to give a pretty thorough review of it soon. My trainer is pretty interested to see about it, too.

Now, about that used tack shopping — I think I may have found the right saddle. I also found a pair of Equifit hind boots, NWT for half retail and a HS KK Ultra D-ring that looks to be not at all oxidized, so it will replace the Korsteel double link copper lozenge Dee that I’ve had on Eli’s hunter bridle. There is seriously something special about the angled KK Ultra lozenge that makes all the difference in the world for Eli working with contact.

I already have a shipping confirmation for the bit, and hopefully the Equifits and saddle will ship by this weekend (gotta give my fellow ammies a minute to get to the post office/UPS Store/FedEx place).

I also want to give an update here on my Ghodho breeches relating to how stain-resistant they are. I got dirt and crud and drool all over me last night, and the dirt and crud (you know what I mean when I say crud–the damp crap (literally crap) that we pick out of our horses’ feet regularly, for those of you who have horses that like to stand in their poop) essentially bounced off the breeches material–no scuffs, no nothing. I could have worn them out to dinner after all of that, they still looked so clean.

It’s been a full week of long days at work, but having barn time after makes it all worth it! Do you know what else I found extremely motivating yesterday? Kent Farrington’s WALL OF BITS (tack room at 3:30  in the video). ONE DAY, all you bits, one day.