Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Party on, Wayne.



Whoa, can you say sensory overload? I did find out that Jasper does not have a future career as a petting zoo horse. To his credit, there were probably 200 people at the Arena Warming party and kids everywhere jumping off hay bales, riding the "bull", going for pony rides... He had to walk on a blue TARP to get to his pen. The horses next to him were NOT running away when he made his very meanest ears-pinned-back-I-will-kill-you face. They pretty much ignored him. He did some nice bucking in place...

Nom nom nom. I don't even want to know how many pounds of oats he was fed. And carrots. The horses were so saturated they quit eating them and the kids just threw them in the pens. At the end of the party it looked like a giant carrot graveyard.

The kids riding the "bull" were not as scary as when the music had people clapping in it.


Oats? Carrots? Small children? Don't mind if I do.


Serena and Roxie are borrowing my Konklusion treeless jumping saddle. Serena gave me her HDR to try even though it's a wide tree and she had it stretched even wider for Roxie. Uh, this is what it looked like when I set it on his back:
Really??? This is an X-wide tree???


Granted, after it was cinched up it did a little bit of a nose dive. But still. Either Jasper has some wacky conformation or HDRs are seriously narrow.

I really liked it. I felt like my leg was solidly in place and not moving around. I love the big knee blocks, and they saved my a** a couple of times when we did some sudden sideways airs-above-ground. I haven't had a chance to jump in it but am looking forward to giving it a try.

5 comments:

SprinklerBandit said...

I don't like that saddle on him at all. Look how high the cantle is above his back--it's definitely way too wide up front. If it fits you, I'd look into either a shimmable pad (if you think he'll grow into it) or a narrower tree size.

Good luck! Saddle fitting is not the most fun thing ever when you have to distance shop on a limited budget.

Albigears said...

No, saddle fitting is definitely not fun. Especially when you're looking for a xc forward flap type saddle, you just don't find any around here to try out.

I tried the saddle with shims today which put it in a much better position, but I don't want a saddle you have to shim.

EvenSong said...

Thought of you yesterday, as I drove up 195 from lunch in Colfax with my son, to Christmas with the grandkids in Spokane.
Merry Christmas!

Albigears said...

Merry Christmas!

Serena said...

The Balance Saddles website talks a lot about why corrective padding is better than a well-fit (read: restrictive) tree. But to each his own, definitely. :)