Trail Ride Number Two
Mom and I took out Dakota, Ruby, and Cinnamon Strudel again.
I must say I'm glad that Cinnamon is doing as well as she is because next time I'm taking Kash. Dakota and Ruby really don't like riding next to each other. Monday Ruby gave Dakota a couple of good marks and today Dakota managed to bite Ruby on the neck, the stink. Makes me suspicious that Dakota started it Monday too. Anyway, because Cinnamon's doing so well I'm going to use Kash next time. While Ruby has the power and weight, Kash is many times more responsive to my cues and neck reins much better. Not to say that Ruby isn't a solid, wonderful, good lady, but I do prefer Kash's light feel and Ruby doesn't quite have that just yet (Kash does have three or four years on the mare and I've done a lot more work with him...).
They did quite well. Cinnamon ended up having her first cactus encounter. Mom hopped down to try and pull it out, but Cinnamon kept lifting her foot and, well, Mom's not always the best horseperson isn't the most confident when it comes to doing stuff on the ground. So I got off of Ruby and used the pliers to pull out the cactus and then asked Mom to give me a leg up because, well, 16.3hh is a bit large for one of my stature, plus we were on a hill and I was in the hole. The leg-up didn't work too terribly well, we weren't in-sync, and I ended up telling Mom to stop helping so I could actually get the rest of the way in the saddle. Leg-ups should be rather effortless, granted, I've given more than I've received.
The drive home was a bit more eventful. Ruby and Dakota got into it again and were shaking the trailer quite violently. I ordered Mom to stop the truck and jumped out before it stopped rolling. Because she hesitated a bit the two had settled by the time I got back there. I couldn't see anything wrong, but, as I mentioned earlier, Ruby ended up with a nice bite mark to match the one she gave Dakota Monday (granted, Dakota has two marks, not one).
After getting home, cleaning up the horses, and doing the stalls Mom and I headed off. We dropped by Tye and Bea's house and I got to see my nephew for the first time. A cute little guy who was both hungry and sleepy and couldn't figure out which one he wanted to really commit to. I'm sure I'll be seeing more of him in the future.
From there we went to Desert Saddlery and picked up the new saddle for Opa. It's a Tucker (read: nice saddle!) specifically for gaited horses. I don't know what makes it so snazzy, but sure, I'll go for that. Tucker does make really nice saddles, though. I did find it slightly uncomfortable as I think it's made more for a man than a woman. Men have a narrower pelvic arch and, well, when you put a woman's wider pelvis on a man's saddle it gets a bit high-centered and puts excessive pressure on sensitive tissues. So after twenty years Opa will have a new saddle and will no longer be lugging his 50lbs monster. We picked up a couple other things as well as Mom ordered herself a new saddle online and ordered a couple others for use up at the ranch. Granted, what I failed to realize and what Tom caught onto was that she ordered the cheap ones. The ones that Tom says he doesn't carry because, well, they're crap. I mean, sure, they'd probably be okay for some people, but they probably wouldn't last the 20 years that Opa's old group of saddles have.
So after Tom's we ate at the BBQ place next door, which was pretty good, the smell from the place has been temping me for months.
Dropped Mom off at her place, hit the feed store for Psyllium because we just ran out today, and will need to go back tomorrow because apparently we're almost out of oats as well. Came home, changed, worked on page 24 (on the last panel!!!) and now Chris is making pumpkin pies with our home-grown pumpkins!
Yesterday was pretty busy. I worked Kash in the morning and Kevin came and finished up with Dave and Marty's horses before I headed off to help Dave pick up his new truck. I got to drive it partway home and I was really surprised at how giddy I was about the opportunity. I've said it several times over already, but is is quite a nice truck! I like it a whole lot more than driving my parent's truck even though it is technically larger. My dislike of my parents truck (big dodge) stems from the feeling that I am going to run into everything that gets within five feet of the vehicle. It's just a horrible exposed, vulnerable-type feeling like with their old Expedition that they used to have. Dave's new GMC truck is also a crew cab, but has an extended bed and is the 1-ton instead of a 3/4. However, it feels a lot more like driving the old '68 El Camino that I learned to drive on, which is really nice.
Anyway, I should be off, things to do (like feeding horses).
I must say I'm glad that Cinnamon is doing as well as she is because next time I'm taking Kash. Dakota and Ruby really don't like riding next to each other. Monday Ruby gave Dakota a couple of good marks and today Dakota managed to bite Ruby on the neck, the stink. Makes me suspicious that Dakota started it Monday too. Anyway, because Cinnamon's doing so well I'm going to use Kash next time. While Ruby has the power and weight, Kash is many times more responsive to my cues and neck reins much better. Not to say that Ruby isn't a solid, wonderful, good lady, but I do prefer Kash's light feel and Ruby doesn't quite have that just yet (Kash does have three or four years on the mare and I've done a lot more work with him...).
They did quite well. Cinnamon ended up having her first cactus encounter. Mom hopped down to try and pull it out, but Cinnamon kept lifting her foot and, well, Mom's not always the best horseperson isn't the most confident when it comes to doing stuff on the ground. So I got off of Ruby and used the pliers to pull out the cactus and then asked Mom to give me a leg up because, well, 16.3hh is a bit large for one of my stature, plus we were on a hill and I was in the hole. The leg-up didn't work too terribly well, we weren't in-sync, and I ended up telling Mom to stop helping so I could actually get the rest of the way in the saddle. Leg-ups should be rather effortless, granted, I've given more than I've received.
The drive home was a bit more eventful. Ruby and Dakota got into it again and were shaking the trailer quite violently. I ordered Mom to stop the truck and jumped out before it stopped rolling. Because she hesitated a bit the two had settled by the time I got back there. I couldn't see anything wrong, but, as I mentioned earlier, Ruby ended up with a nice bite mark to match the one she gave Dakota Monday (granted, Dakota has two marks, not one).
After getting home, cleaning up the horses, and doing the stalls Mom and I headed off. We dropped by Tye and Bea's house and I got to see my nephew for the first time. A cute little guy who was both hungry and sleepy and couldn't figure out which one he wanted to really commit to. I'm sure I'll be seeing more of him in the future.
From there we went to Desert Saddlery and picked up the new saddle for Opa. It's a Tucker (read: nice saddle!) specifically for gaited horses. I don't know what makes it so snazzy, but sure, I'll go for that. Tucker does make really nice saddles, though. I did find it slightly uncomfortable as I think it's made more for a man than a woman. Men have a narrower pelvic arch and, well, when you put a woman's wider pelvis on a man's saddle it gets a bit high-centered and puts excessive pressure on sensitive tissues. So after twenty years Opa will have a new saddle and will no longer be lugging his 50lbs monster. We picked up a couple other things as well as Mom ordered herself a new saddle online and ordered a couple others for use up at the ranch. Granted, what I failed to realize and what Tom caught onto was that she ordered the cheap ones. The ones that Tom says he doesn't carry because, well, they're crap. I mean, sure, they'd probably be okay for some people, but they probably wouldn't last the 20 years that Opa's old group of saddles have.
So after Tom's we ate at the BBQ place next door, which was pretty good, the smell from the place has been temping me for months.
Dropped Mom off at her place, hit the feed store for Psyllium because we just ran out today, and will need to go back tomorrow because apparently we're almost out of oats as well. Came home, changed, worked on page 24 (on the last panel!!!) and now Chris is making pumpkin pies with our home-grown pumpkins!
Yesterday was pretty busy. I worked Kash in the morning and Kevin came and finished up with Dave and Marty's horses before I headed off to help Dave pick up his new truck. I got to drive it partway home and I was really surprised at how giddy I was about the opportunity. I've said it several times over already, but is is quite a nice truck! I like it a whole lot more than driving my parent's truck even though it is technically larger. My dislike of my parents truck (big dodge) stems from the feeling that I am going to run into everything that gets within five feet of the vehicle. It's just a horrible exposed, vulnerable-type feeling like with their old Expedition that they used to have. Dave's new GMC truck is also a crew cab, but has an extended bed and is the 1-ton instead of a 3/4. However, it feels a lot more like driving the old '68 El Camino that I learned to drive on, which is really nice.
Anyway, I should be off, things to do (like feeding horses).