Weekend Adventures

I will most likely not post on the weekends because when I'm not busy I just want to sit on my couch with the pup and SO and not think.  This means that Mondays (or in this case Tuesday) I will post and talk about what I did.

My ideal weekend

     Mort finally got a new halter this weekend.  He didn't fit my old nylon one that I already had, so when I first got him I bought him a smaller one from some local farm supply store.  It was just shy of being too small.  The regular horse sized was slightly too big and the small horse was almost too small (ugh).  I was making myself be ok with the small one until it started having to fit over his fly mask--it had now become a real problem.  So I broke down and decided on leather.  This is the first time that I will be using a leather halter for day-to-day wearing.  I'm not sure how well I'll like it.  I am worried that I will be a little OCD about cleaning it for a while but then end up neglecting it and it won't last as long as it should.  We'll see I guess.  

Check out that adorable face in his new halter

     Friday was the first time that I was able to ride Mr. Mort since Monday (bad mom alert) so he took the opportunity to remind me that moving off of my leg isn't easy stuff that I can take for granted.  I also realized that it is really time for me to start seriously looking for a dressage saddle.  I keep pulling my feet out of my stirrups because I want a better use of my lower leg than my cross country saddle can really give.  Now I just need to find a good one that fits us both for hopefully around $1,000 (used of course).  I have heard really good things about County saddles fitting TBs well.  I really like the look of the County Fusions, but I would take another style as long as it is comfortable for both of us.  I hate saddle shopping--mainly because I have a hard-to-fit horse and a small budget.  Someday maybe we'll be able to swing a custom (a girl can dream). 

The County Fusion

The County Connection 

     Saturday my dad was coming out with a load of furniture for the new place that SO and I have gotten together.  This meant that the trip out to the barn in the morning was just a grooming (with some overdue mane pulling) and light lunge.  I even convinced the SO to come with me since I had a schedule that I needed to stick to (aka I couldn't get sucked into the time warp that is the barn).  We've decided to start Mort on some beet pulp and extra hay in his stall.  He's just a tad too thin.  I think it's a combination of him being in more steady work (yay nicer weather and a short drive) and him wanting to nibble on the tiniest spring grass instead of eating all of his turnout hay.  Hopefully the beet pulp and extra hay fatten him up.  

     Unfortunately the moving furniture plan wasn't as easy as originally thought.  My dad called about 45 miles away saying that his truck broke down and that he was having a problem finding the part.  Thankfully my SO is very helpful.  So we jumped in the car to head out to help my dad (good news is that I have plenty of help in my life if my car does something stupid).  Fast forward a few hours and several part stores later and we're back on the road.  The day was pretty draining and when we were finally finished with everything around 6:30 the rest of the day was for sitting on the couch and watching a movie.  

This was the picture for about 1.5 hours

     Sunday had some wedding planning final details on the to-do list.  And we cleaned the house (how does it get so messy so quickly?).  When I went out to the barn Mort was disgusting.  He really, really thinks that Missouri mud has some sort of magical qualities that he needs to fully grind into his everything.  So he got a bath.  I decided that fully taking apart my bridle and cleaning/conditioning it was long overdue so I did that while Mort enjoyed sunshine and grass.  

A picture from this past winter showing some of his mud-love (luckily he had a sheet on this day)

     Unfortunately this meant that when I got around to actually riding it was almost dinner time.  Mort was forward and distracted (read: giraffe neck).  Usually putting his nose on the ground in stretchy trot is one of his favorite things but Sunday he said NO.  I took the opportunity of his forward attitude and decided to really try to get a good feel on both sides of his bridle.  Until now we've been very one-sided.  I have had to make it glaringly obvious to him which way I want him to bend and/or turn.  However, we've been working a lot on counter bend lately so when I experimented with finding both sides of his mouth and having him maintain a steady contact he did it really well!  Small wins on otherwise not wonderful rides.  By the end of the ride I got a little bit of stretch over his topline so I called it quits.  Some days you just take what you can get.  

     It's supposed to be cold and rainy this week so I get to look forward to an extremely muddy pony and indoor-only riding.  We'll see how it goes!