I've wanted a horse since I was a little girl. So after a few years not riding regularly I've decided to get back into my life-long love, full swing! After only a few months of horse shopping I found my cute mare Dani in 2012. Then in 2015 we moved from CO to NC and bought horse property. We now also have Chance a sweet Arabian gelding. This is the story of my continuing adventure in the world of horses in my backyard.
April 23, 2023
April 16, 2023
April 15, 2023
Saddle Fitting, Riding Lesson and Ground Work Beginnings
Seamus and I's first trip together was to Hillsborough, NC to the Rockin B Saddle Shop, this would have been the first weekend in March!!! Wow I'm a bad blogger!
The saddle shop is about 30 minutes from our house. I've gone there before when I needed them to adjust Dani's saddle....the fenders actually. I have short legs and arms compared to my height, others of the same height tend to have longer appendages, I just have a longer torso....fun. Normal stirrup fenders tend to be too long for me. I also add stirrup turners which puts the stirrups perpendicular to the fenders which easier on the knee but this adds a few inches of length to the fenders.
Seamus was a good loader and unloader; a little quick at unloading but we'll work on that as some point. I tied him to the trailer with a hay net and then went into the shop to view the saddles I'd discussed with the owner. He had hybrid saddles, part leather part synthetic that I was interested in seeing. The brand is High Horse which is made by Circle Y. Dani's saddle is Circle Y and I've loved it so I felt comfortable looking at these saddles.
We went out to look at Seamus first and the saddle fitter brought a couple trees out and some cardboard to get measurements. Seamus was a good boy through this whole thing. I went back into the shop and then sat on a couple saddles. I chose one and then we went out to Seamus to fit it. I already had a nice felt rounded pad to us for him so we put that on and then adjusted the saddle. The saddle had very different rigging than I'm used to. You don't need a back cinch since the ring is angled so you loop the latigo through it in a Y shape. We also used the rear part of the front ring to bring the pressure off the shoulder due to his conformation and gaited way of going.
I then got him ready to ride and we went into the arena to ride. Seamus started with a nice gait and I was thrilled. I had him in a snaffle though and as he sped up and became bumpy I had trouble getting him back into the gait. We'll work on that though. I was satisfied with the purchase and thanked the saddle fitter The Rockin B Saddle Shop is awesome, family owned by a nice older couple. The man is retiring but his son is taking over so it's great to know that this place will be a place to go to for years to come I hope!
The following day I worked with Seamus in the pasture. We worked on softening his contact with the bit and lowering his head at the walk for relaxation. I've been following Ivy Starnes the gaited horse trainer on You Tube and have some of her DVD's in addition to being a member of the training group she has on Facebook. I've learned a lot but in application it can be a bit hard to do when you are just learning with a new horse. The concept is similar to stuff I have learned in the past but Seamus is a younger horse that is going from a harsh gag bit to a soft sample. I went to her clinic in Tennessee end of March so I'll have a couple posts about that and probably share some of the videos too!
The following weekend I had a lesson at Mountain View Farms in Bahama with Erin who has worked with my other horses, before the pandemic. She's very busy getting ready for show season so I was happy to meet up with her. It was a short haul to her farm but Seamus did well. A little hesitation on the load...we are still getting used to each other and I'm still new to trailering horses. The parking was tight at her barn but we got in and I got Seamus tacked up. We started with some groundwork, and honestly...this boy needs it. Erin said he was difficult to turn clockwise. I'd noted that myself when lunging him. She showed me some tricks to better communicate with him. He probably had not had much ground work done with him. It was a good lesson and I have some things to work on with him.
Seems I don't have the time to blog like I used to when I didn't own horse property! Spring is starting up so the mowing is beginning and we have a lot of rewiring happening in the barn and the workshop of my husbands. Basically we are without power in both and have been for the past 5 months. I've tried to fit in riding with my new young horse and even went to a gaited horse clinic. I have a lot of posts in the queue!!
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