More Arctic chills

Our weather has been so strange this year.  We'll have days of bitter cold, often with high winds, then there will be 1 or 2 days where it suddenly jumps up 25 degrees into the mid-20s to low 30's.  This weekend was pretty horendous with very nasty blowing snow and highs in the single digits, though you wouldn't think it given how bright and sunny this picture is.  The horses choose to stand on the lee side of the hills in their pasture and soak up the sun on those cold days.  Catlow of course notices that I came out on the deck to take their picture...is it time for hay yet?

Thankfully, many of those 1 nice day here and there's have happened on the weekend when I have actually been home.  And I've taken full advantage.  If the weather is at all bearable (minimum 15 degrees, and not too windy), I've gone for a ride.  Usually I ride bareback in the winter, but I have ridden in a saddle a couple of times.

I've been alternating between Stormy, Cody, and Catlow.  I'm not even going to try to ride Chico until next summer and I know he should be fully healed from last Fall's injury.  Then I'll be able to more adequately assess his long-term soundness potential.  Chico's wound is looking pretty good, by the way.

 

 

 

His hair on that leg is all crimpy, I think because the winter hair was growing in while he was wearing a bandage.  It tends to collect snow and ice-balls more than his other legs. 

It also makes it hard to tell just how big that fetlock really is.  It is bigger than the other, but I think it looks even larger with the crimpy hair.

Since it was so windy and cold today, I didn't ride, and I pulled the horses' hay over to the lee side of a hill to feed.  Usually they are fed on top of the hill next to our house.  Out of the wind, the sun made this weather totally wonderful.

And my dogs like the cozy little leeside as well, digging up frozen horse turds and doing their best to chew them up.

 

 

So, I like horse butts.  I'm sure everyone does, right?  All my horses have very different, but equally nice butts!

 

 Stormy

 

Catlow

Cody

Chico

 

My dark horses' coats are getting that faded late winter look.  I can't wait till they shed out this spring.  I'm ready for winter to be finished.  Usually I really like winter, but I've been so busy, away from home, and last winter was so long.  I feel like the majority of the last year has been winter for me!

 

Chico and Cody

Stormy again

 

So, have I mentioned that I love Stormy?  I do.  When I bought her, I thought I was going to keep her till next year and then look into selling her.  I may still do that...but the longer I have her, the less likely that is looking.   I just love her.  And she loves me too.  I love my other horses too of course, but she is just a sweet little peppy mare.  She's the bottom of the pecking order in my herd, but she still has her own "personality".  My horses have taught her some really nice manners.  She is not nearly so pushy about food as she used to be.  And she is so fun to ride.  She hesitates occasionally about going out alone, and we might have a very brief second of discussion about it, but really, she does whatever I ask of her.  I want to try to get her a little more fine-tuned at this point.  She still doesn't know a whole lot about leg cues (other than squeeze to go faster), but she is slowly catching on.  I am getting to the point where I can feel her slightly responding when I ask her to step over one direction when riding.  The reason we haven't gotten far yet is mostly my fault.  I just haven't been working with her.  I jump on and we go out for a ride.  I try a little bit on the trail, but I think some of this sensitizing of her body needs to happen on the ground, because she just doesn't realize she is suppoesd to respond any other way than she currently knows.

 

 

 

Last weekend I rode her with my 1964 Simco saddle.  It is a really nice old saddle that I restored and it doesn't fit any of my other horses.  I've been having trouble finding a saddle to fit Stormy.  She is narrow, but short - backed, so Catlow's saddle fits her back well, but the rigging is not in the right place for Stormy.  As is, Catlow's saddle rides up over Stormy's withers, all because the rigging pulls it up there.  It's really annoying and makes me not want to ride down hills in it at all.  I actually was thinking (daydreaming) about trading Catlow's saddle in for the same brand and style but a more typical rigging.  But that is going to cost a lot.  Then it dawned on me that I need to try my super old almost antique saddle on her.  And it fits!  So I dont' have to look into anything new for her.  The only downside of this old saddle is that it is heavy.  And with Stormy being my smallest horse, it makes me feel bad for her!  But, I have to give the little mare some big credit. 

 

Two weeks ago, I rode Cody bareback and we cantered up the snowmobile trail, which starts out at a gentle incline, but then gets really steep to get up to the top of the ridge.  We cantered along, and when we got to the steep part, Cody was already tired, but I urged her a little and she dug right in to get us to the top.  Then we had to stand at the top for a good 5 minutes without moving while Cody huffed and puffed and caught her breath.  Now, this weekend, I did the same thing with Stormy.  But I was in my 40 lb saddle on a tiny little mare.  Stormy started out cantering much faster than Cody, and when we got to the steep part, just chugged right up to the stop.  She wanted to stop and rest for a second too, but she was not huffing and puffing like Cody was.  Both of them have had the same amount of activity these last several months.  Stormy just has some really nice drive that is fun to play with.  She can be really fast!

 

 

 

And I think Stormy's delicate face markings are so cute.

 

So, two more pictures and these are not of horses.  This is one of our cows. 

 

 

A few weeks ago, my husband noticed that she had some pretty nasty eye discharge.  We got her in the chute to look at her and saw that she had a big tumor of her third eyelid (likely a squamous cell carcinoma).  It was so large that we couldn't cut it out in its entirety and to leave any in was just asking for it to grow right back.  These tumors can be really invasive into the surrounding bone and are one of the more common reasons that carcasses are condemned and not allowed to be used for human consumption.  It's commonly called "cancer eye" and is usually seen in white-faced cows because of the carcinogenic affects of UV radiation on unpigmented skin.  This cow is a middle aged brood cow and is a valuable member of our herd.  With her "cancer eye", she is worthless and will be condemned if sold.  But by removing her whole eye along with the tumor, we can be pretty sure to get the whole cancerous growth and prevent it from recurring.  Now she will have a long comfortable life having more babies.  I'm proud to say that my first enucleation/eventeration went pretty well, and she is healing as expected!  She is a little more wary after all is said and done though.

 



Cantering

I had a great ride with my neighbor on Thursday. He wanted to work on faster gaits, especially cantering, with Belle. I rode Cody with her curb bit. We took a nice trail that a variety of terrains. The first part is a wide grassy trail through the shady woods lined with blackberries. Other parts are open freshy mowed hay fields. And still other parts are rougher trails up and down a big hill on the property where we rode. It is a pleasant area. It was also the perfect temperature. It has cooled off a bit here and I think the high was only around 80 and the humidity was not too bad. And on top of it all, we did a lot of trotting (his horse gaited, of course), and cantering. And it was just a great, fluid riding relationship...we just rode and whenever one wanted to go faster or slow down, we did...no asking and making sure it was okay...we just did it. Both of us like to train and make sure our horses respond to their rider, not the other horse's actions, so it was great practice for them. And both of our horses were well behaved on our ride. It really was so much fun. I wish I had taken pictures. I never take my camera along when I ride, but I should...I only have this one picture of her in the pasture from that day I rode her.


Another great thing was that I discovered that the new saddle I was trialing fits Cody pretty well. It is a Circle Y Omaha. I love how comfortable it is to ride in, so I was really hoping it would fit Cody and/or Chico. My husband and my dad both sat in it and it fits them well too, which was my main goal in getting another saddle.

I rode Chico in it last week, and he seemed reluctant to canter, even half-heartedly putting on the brakes and giving a little buck at one point. I'm not sure if it was the saddle or if it was just the day. Or maybe he was stiff from a previous ride. I do think that he is a little stiff from old injuries he's had and I think he needs some conditioning to evenly build muscle.

He sure does look nice in it though! It looks black here, but it is actually dark oil.


After that ride, I checked the saddle's sweat pattern and it has left a dry spot on the left side of his wither, but not the right side.



I also used a different saddle pad than usual, so I'm not ruling out that the saddle won't work for him yet. I think he needs a little conditioning, and a different saddle pad, then we'll see. But it does fit Cody! So now I have a saddle that will fit each fat horse, so I can have others ride my horses with me!

Saddles

My trail ride last week, where I rode bareback and my dad rode in my only saddle that fits my fat horses, set me to wanting a new saddle. So I've been doing some looking, and HOLY COW! New saddles are expensive! I was hoping I could find something really nice used in order to not spend as much, but so far I have not been having much luck. So, I started wondering how many people out there actually buy brand new saddles of the good brands...you know, the really pricey ones!

I actually bought a new pricey saddle several years back. And I love it. It was my very first saddle purchase ever. My previous saddle was one that we'd had since I was a kid and it didn't fit Cody correctly so I decided to get a new one that would. However, now it doesn't fit my fat horses. It fit them the summer I bought it, when Cody was only 4 and Chico was 3, but the next year, it was giving Cody dry spots on her withers. I can't remember when it started not working for Chico...that might have not been until after I moved to WI and he really filled out (got fat). It does fit Catlow, and when I get to that point, it should fit Griffin and Kachina.

It is a Circle Y Flagstaff. It is so comfortable. I love the deep seat and the soft fenders that don't pull at your knees. It felt like it was made for me the day I bought it. I just wish it was made for my horses!


When I discovered that my Circle Y didn't fit my fat horses anymore, but I couldn't afford to buy another new saddle, I really spent a lot of time on ebay searching the used saddles. I finally found one I liked and I am so glad I bought it.

It is an old Simco (made in 1964!) and when I bought it, it needed some work, but I gotta say it was worth every penny! I paid about $175 for it, and then spent about the same amount getting the underside refleeced and getting a few rings added to it. It is a quality saddle. The leather is thick and sturdy and all I did was give it a good saddle soaping and oiled it up really well to get it to look this gorgeous. I love old saddles, especially when you can make them look new.


The only real damage that it had that I'm still working on (beside the patchy fleece) is that it looks like the rear of the saddle had been pushed up against the rack or a wall for a long time. The rear skirt is a little buckled and bent up, but it is not broken and oiling it and storing it properly has really done a lot for it. I don't think anyone would notice it unless I pointed it out. In this picture you can also see that I had the saddlemaker add a D-ring in the rear to attach a breeching to for riding in the mountains.


I also had him add a D-ring here for my breastcollar to attach to (the other spot it is supposed to attach is kinda weak).


It really does look brand new with the new fleece underneath.


And I wanted to mention that all my cinches are Weaver SmartCinches. I love the roly buckles. It makes it so easy to tighten up the girth without using much strength. And all my cinches have the padding around the buckle too. I don't like any of the metal parts against their skin, especially in the girth area.