Top and I arrived at Carries with time to spare. Top needs his chill time after hauling. He is invariably wet and sweaty. No white foam on Sunday. Hey, it's progress. I gave Top a couple Berrygood Treats while I groomed him. He loves those. I tacked him up, and took him to the roundpen and let him walk around on the line. Did a little trot and some canter. He was pretty quiet.
As the lesson before mine is coming to a close I lead Top over to Carrie. I ask her about the saddles. She looks around for Kathy, and or Haylie. Nope they are gone. They know where everything is. lol She says, "Hang on for just a second. I'll find them." We head over to one of the tack areas. She heads into a tackroom. Can't find the saddle. Looks at the tack lockers...locked. She doesn't have a key. Then another of the girls that works there magically appears and says, "I have the keys." Yeah! Nope, the saddles aren't there. Carrie heads back into the tackroom. Success! "I've found it, it was under a cover. Oh, it's got mold...oh well your butt will clean most of that off." We both laugh. We pull the saddle Top has on, and set the new saddle on. It fits, and it's a 17.5" with a narrow twist. How perfect is that?
I ask what kind of saddle it is. She says, "Uhm Passier?" I ask what model. Nobody seems to know. I talk to Nettie...it is a custom saddle that was modified for her. Narrow twist, longer flap for a longer thigh, and a nice wide seat. So, it is either a Passier modified by Schleese, or a Schleese modified by Passier. It has Passier buttons, and a Schleese plate under the flap.
I get on Top with the help of the girl with the keys. (Her name will come to me later). I step on her hand. OMG. I felt terrible. She laughs and says, "See if I ever help you again." Oh, this saddle fits me good. It fits close to the horse, my legs just drape off his sides. The only thing is, it has larger rolls than I am used to. Carrie must have taken pity on me, when I asked how much she said, "$500?" Wooohooo....that I can do. She let me give her $250 on Sunday, and I'll give her the balance in August when she comes back.
We start our warm-up. Top feels really good. He seemed like he picked up where he left off the day before. We are doing walk halt on the diamond. Go to trot on the diamond. If he starts to get out of whack or leans on me...10 meter circle at each point of the diamond to regroup. If that doesn't get is..halt, wait for the release, and immediately forward.
So, we're going along pretty good. Top starts to build....I start a circle. He gets stronger, I take a stronger contact on the inside to push him through. Carrie half yells..."No...no outside rein, outside leg." Too late...got a little leapy hop out of Top. My bad. I left him no place to go in his mind. So the rule with Top is...if he starts to go up, or run through...maintain your bend...apply the outside aids. I am so used to horses that buck...I went immediately to the inside aids to shut him down. Wrong answer. If he's thinking up or out and gone...outside aids. Hey, make me a roadmap...I can follow it. lol
We ended our lesson with a nice soft forward horse...that was traveling on the outside aids. Very cool. It's the magic saddle. lol
8 comments:
Quick order me one of those magic saddles! Sounds like things are going well. Congrats!
I wanna magikal saddle too!!!!
Okay, he can have two scritches.
Okay, three.
Oh, okay...
scritch,scritch,scritch,scritch,scritch,
yay for magic saddles!
I loved Passier saddles, back in the day. The jumper ones I rode in had next to no rolls.
Yeah, they have to stay "out" on a circle. Otherwise they fall in and, looky looky, balance poof!
They have to be straight on a circle.
No, that's not it..
Well, sorta.
duh.
11 months since I had a coffee.
Not that I'm counting..
I was going to ride him yesterday, but it was too insane at RA. The trainer with the ponies and kids was out in force. Omg...talk about a liability issue in the making.
So, I will try again today. She uses all four washracks. Has kids all over. Little to no supervision. No one can hose off a horse when she's there. She seems to think it is her private tacking area. It's not a tacking area...it's washracks.
But HP, she's got special privileges because, you know, she's working with children. Didn't you get the memo?
lol.
So glad you have a saddle that works for you, and that is infused with Carrie magic. That'll help when the trolls start critiquing your riding, right? If that doesn't work, get a prescription from her next time to hang on your tack room. lol.
Yeah, I'm probably going to end up nutting up on somebody. Saying something along the lines of, "Leave me the f... alone, or get on and show me. Since you're such a freaken expert on a horse you've never led, let alone sat on."
Here's an idea, which you are free to ignore...
Start handing out "ride tickets." Every time someone gives you a unsolicited tip on Top, give 'em one of those raffle tickets. Don't say a word, just give them a ticket and move on. LOL> Put a sign up on your tack room: "Ten Tickets = A Ride! Show me how it's done!" See how long it takes people to figure it out.
bh - HAHAHA GREAT idea!
I'm jumping on teh band wagon here but want my own majikal saddle too!
Glad it went well!
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