New Feets, New Saddle

So... sometime last week (Maybe Wednesday, maybe Friday.. I can't even remember) Lyric lost both of her front shoes. Grrrr.. But Sarah was scheduled to come Tuesday so I just let her be. We lunged twice and then it was so hot I just gave up and let her enjoy life. Plus she got kicked on the right forearm and had a fat knee and forearm and then had a tiny puncture would on her medial left hock that made her hock hot and fat... Good grief girl! Luckily once I picked the scab and cold hosed it, the swelling went down and stayed down. And she was sound, so.. not too worried about it. 

So anyways... then Monday... her saddle came!!! However, I had to work all day at UGA and had done 12 horses and was hot and tired. And another friend came to get her horse fitted so by the time they finished it was later in the evening and I was still hot and sweaty. And all of my horses were hot and sweaty. And Lyric didn't have her shoes... and the saddle fitters other clients had all cancelled so instead of getting a hotel that night she was driving 5 hours back home. And, to be honest, I was a little cranky and tired. I ended up with a migraine and while the pill took it away, I was just tired. And cranky. So I opted to not ride in it with the fitter there. She did fit it for Dan and then checked it on Lyric. She did say it might be a hair too wide for her, but to try it and see. So we did Tuesday!

Of course Sarah came early Tuesday because we usually have lessons Tuesday afternoons. And as hot as it was, I would have much preffered to ride early but... no one had shoes anyways. :) Sarah and I talked and I decided to just put shoes back on all four feet for Lyric. She was doing okay barefoot behind (other than on rocky or hard ground) and had even done the horse show barefoot behind. BUT... she was acting more body sore in her hind end. And she just seemed a bit... not happy. So I decided that I would put all four shoes back on at least through RRP and then reassess. Especially since I can't seem to get her scoot boots to fit without rubbing her. Although I haven't tried them without the wedgies. We did discuss letting Funny break them in for her though. Maybe Funny can soften them up so after RRP we can go back to trying the boots. Anyways... we opted to try Lyric with the tabs instead of the cuffs as it was easier on her hoofwall and I felt like less bulky for her hind end as she was hitting herself with the cuffs. So we did that. 

So after Sarah finished I decided to ride. It was hot. So hot that Jacel had wanted to cancel our lesson and everyone else cancelled. But since I was aiming for the show this weekend she did say she would come for just me. But then realized she had the cabinet people coming to do her house cabinets, so...  no lesson. Which, is fine, because... I decided that not only was it going to be 99 degrees without the humidity on Saturday, it just wasn't realistic to expect her to move up to 2'7" in less than a week. So.. I decided not to show.  BUT... again, despite the heat, I really wanted to try out the new saddle. So I rode Dan first. Unfortunately he was foot sore from his trim and pretty lame so... I did a short walk/trot/canter go round to feel it out, but then we quit. So Lyric was up next. I figured we would keep it short because of the heat and she might be a little sore too after being barefoot. Or after her trim. She wss acting fine but... with Dan being tender... I was a little concerned.

 

But she was good. She felt a little funky but it wasn't lameness. I think it was more just trying to figure out having hind shoes again. And I do think the saddle is a hair wide for her. It wasn't smashing her withers, but it was sitting a tiny bit on them. But she was moving well and we had a good ride. I think next time I"ll put the half pad on and that will probably be enough. Or the half pad with front shims. 

 

We warmed up with a long stretchy walk and then did our trots and canters. The trot was quite nice and more straight and more relaxed. She was better in the contact although it's so hard to tell if she's still cheating a little. I didn't lunge also because it was just so hot. Our canters were good.. at the end. Ha! Our right lead was fine, but the left lead was pretty rough. She was hanging so hard on the inside rein and if I let go of it, she inverted and got fast. And then if I tried to half halt, she would race. So, I didn't really know what to do. I tried just "riding to the light and dropping the heavy" and... she basically counterbent so hard she almost ran into the rail. So then I tried just holding and dropping and "pulsing" the inside rein, which eventually worked but it got ugly first. Sigh. But then, we went back to the right again and then back to the left, and it was fine. Well, better. She actually maybe sort of went into the outside rein and softened on the inside, so I praised her with pats and love and quit. I do think I'm twisted and I can't quite figure it out but when I almost hula hoop my hips to the inside it seems to help.  Feels ridiculous but... So yeah.. good ride. And she looks so pretty in her saddle!! And, I could ride in it!!! Even with the longer stirrups.