Back and grumpy...

We made it back safely from our trip to NYC. We had a great time and I'll post a few pictures later this week when I have a chance to download and review them. We had two cameras and took hundreds of photos. I won't subject you guys to endless days of photos, don't worry! :-)

It was our tenth anniversary last Friday, so a week in NYC seemed like a pretty good anniversary gift. We had a lot of fun walking the city, along with taking the subway and cabs. You couldn't pay me to drive in that city - it is crazy!

We had the day yesterday to unpack and recover, but it wasn't enough. I'm all groggy and grumpy this morning. I've realized that my co-worker didn't complete a project I left for her that was sort of urgent and I will have to spend the whole day fixing the problems. This whole work thing is a pain in the butt...

I made it out to the barn yesterday for a short ride. Rusty had been moved to a different paddock, so it took me a minute to find him! He came right over to the fence when he saw me, so that was kind of cute. I almost fried myself on electric fence - the setup is different in this new paddock - but luckily the barn owner saw me out there and ran out to tell me the best way to get the gate open!

I like vacations, but I'm looking forward to getting back into a bit of a routine with my riding and exercising and such.

Guess I'd better tackle that screwed up project...

Almost outta here...

Phew! What a week!

I have 22 minutes on the work clock and then I'm free for a week! It's good, but kinda sad that we work so hard for one measley week of vacation(I get three a year...). I guess it is the price I pay for my salary and my cushy government job. :-)

We leave for NYC on Sunday morning. We are driving to a small town in NY state, about 7 hours from here, parking our car and taking the train into the city. I still have to pack and get the dog to the boarding kennel! Yikes! Remind me not to procrastinate so much next time... I have all day tomorrow to do laundry, get organzied and go see Rusty, of course!

We are bringing a laptop and have wireless in the hotel, so I'm sure I will be around online next week. I can't seem to stay away...

Wordy Wednesday

Well, I have a lot going on here in littlekeebler land. I'm super busy with work and we are also getting ready to go on our trip to NYC next week. I tend to procrastinate a weeee bit and now find myself running around like a fool trying to get everything done... Good thing I like to make lists - that is keeping me sane right now.

I had a good ride last night - the weather has been fabulous here - I looove spring! We have been riding outside since mid-March and I really feel like I'm making a lot of progress, finally. I've been cantering alot more and things are really good on the left lead, the right still needs work on both of our parts. I know Rusty is capable of a decent lope, we had one awesome transition from the jog to lope last night, so I'm hoping for more of those as the summer progresses.

He is really thriving at this new barn and I'm really glad I moved him there. The turnout situation is much better and the care is very good. The only thing I miss here is the lack of place to hack on. The other place had lots of hayfields to ride around and a couple of trails in the forest to ride on, as well as groups would go out for long hacks on nearby roads. The new place has hay fields, but the owner is super picky about them. I would never ride all through the hay, only around the edges, but she is adamant about it. Oh well. There is good hacking down a super quiet gravel road, but you have to ride about a mile (give or take) down a busier paved road without much of a shoulder. I'm sure Rusty is fine with traffic, but it makes me a bit nervous not having a shoulder or a field to go off into if things get a bit hairy. Some spots on this mile stretch are fine, but there are a couple of sections with ditches that make me worried. Of course, I'm a total worrywart, so that isn't a big suprise. ;-)

There is only one other boarder and she isn't ready to go out on hacks yet, so I'm on my own most of the time. The barn owner said she would ride on the road with me, but we haven't been able to sync our schedules to make this happen yet. Here's hoping we can do that sometime soon, as I'm starting to get a bit squirrely just riding around in the ring.

The show season is gearing up here now that the nice weather is with us. A few students from the barn are doing shows in June and July and I'm planning on going along to groom and take pictures. Part of me would like to start showing again, but I'm just not ready for that at this point. I want it to be worth the time and money that goes into all of it. Maybe next year! I enjoy being at shows and looking at all of the nice horses and riders in their best gear.

June is coming up fast and I need to start planning out things on a calendar so I don't forget! I've been so preoccupied with work and our upcoming trip that I didn't realize summer was coming. I've started doing a bit of yard work and I have my first pot garden (heh!) up and running. The "herb" on the left is parsley, honest!

Max likes to lay on the patio and bake in the sun. He is keeping an eye on the neighbourhood in this picture.
And, my favourite spring flower - the lilac. My lilac tree in the back yard is about to burst with flowers. I hope they flower a bit before we leave on Saturday, so I don't miss it!

My little break is over, better get back to my long lists of things to do before I get behind again!

Tired Thursday?

I don't have much to report on the horse front these days. Rusty is doing well and we have been riding a fair bit. I haven't had time for a lesson for awhile, but I still feel that we have been making some progress. Rusty has a vet appt. tomorrow for his vaccinations and a teeth float, so riding will be out for us.

I meant to post these pictures yesterday for Wordless Wednesday, but once again, I'm a day late and a dollar short. :-)

I was able to watch the annual inspection of the musical ride yesterday. Guess I shouldn't complain about work too much, when I get to see things like that. I know I've posted pictures of the ride before, but I wanted to share a few photos from this year. It was a cloudy day, so the pictures aren't quite as clear as I had hoped. Oh well - you guys get the idea! (edited to add: blogger never lets me make the pictures bigger when you click on them. I'll try and fix it tonight...)

Making Some Progress

I contacted the saddle fitter/maker that I had been told about. He was very polite and helpful on the phone and offered to come out and fit Rusty this weekend! (He also knows my barn owner somehow, so that helped!). I just got home from my session with him and I have a saddle on order!

Turns out that Rusty needs semi-QH bars. The guy put a few bare trees on Rusty and very patiently explained to me how they fit/didn't fit and why. It was very informative. So, I bit the bullet and order a semi-custom saddle from a company he deals with in Alabama called Rocking R Saddles. The saddle was only a couple of hundred more than the Billy Cook (which has been sent back), so that damage wasn't too bad. I have been so frustrated with saddle searching and testing, so this visit came at a good time. The only kicker is that I have to wait about 3 months to get the saddle. Oh well - my guy guarantees the fit, so it will be worth the wait.

I've ordered the trail saddle in the chestnut colour shown in the slightly crappy picture on the left. It will have a black suede seat instead of the reddish one pictured. I was even able to order short fenders for my stubby little legs. That makes me very happy, for some strange reason. lol

There is some floral tooling on the saddle, but not all over the whole saddle. There are 3 silver conchos and a silver brand badge, so I have a tiny bit of bling. I was tempted to order one with more silver, but that just seemed very silly for someone that will probably never show! I just need (hahaha - I don't really need, more like want!!) to order a nice chestnut bridle to match. My justification for ordering another bridle is that I'm riding Rusty with two different bits, depending on what we are working on and I'm getting tired of taking my bridle apart each time. So, I'll have one bridle for the loose ring snaffle and another for his western bit.

I managed to sneak in a short ride after the saddle fitter left. It was super windy outside, but Rusty didn't bat an eye. We did a fair bit of cantering, which is really great for me. My confidence is back up to about 85% and my balance is catching up fast. I really feel like I am doing a better job at being consisten with my cues as well. We are getting the left lead canter from a jog most of the time and the right one is coming along. My balance is all wonky to the right, so I really have to focus on that alot. It is nice to feel like I'm making a bit of progress, regardless of how small.