Saddle, Shots, Blankets

 The crew

I spent all morning yesterday playing with the Specialized trial saddle, trying to get it to fit nicely on Blaze's problematic little back. He has a high wither and then a significant hollow in behind the shoulder, as well as a very short back..oh yeah and his left and right side are totally differently shaped, as the Specialized dvd predicted. At 15 yrs old his top line, which was never fantastic, is certainly starting to sink a little, though I do a good amount of low level dressage at home in the arena to work on his collection etc. Anyhoo, the saddle sat quite nicely on his right side but on his left there were gaps everywhere, and I ended up using about every darn piece of wedge and velcro they included to get it to sit nicely. It would have been easier if I was able to cut the strips into the shapes I needed but since the paper that came with it said mail everything back in 8 days I'm guessing I'm not supposed to be getting crazy cutting things and making it all truly fit to my horse. I'm confident that its doable though. I haven't stripped it back apart and tried it on Desire yet, I'm planning to ride her in it at Lake Oroville on Sunday with a couple of friends so I will put it together on her on Saturday. I did manage to get a brief test ride in the saddle on Blaze yesterday before the vet showed up to give Sheza her vaccinations. The saddle is really comfortable and I love how light and minimalistic it is while still having a nice deep seat and feeling like a secure, comfortable ride. At this point I'm really leaning towards mailing it back with the "Yes, apply my deposit to buying a saddle" option checked on the sheet, but I won't decide for sure until I test ride Desire in it this weekend.

As for Sheza's shots, it all went really well! I walked down into her paddock to catch her when the vet pulled in and wasn't sure whether she would be her gracious "yes, catch me!" self or her bratty touch-me-not self, especially since she was hanging out at the bottom of the paddock next to mom on the other side of the fence. Happily she stuck her nose right in the halter and away we went. The vet and I agreed we should do the shots inside her paddock since it was her first shots ever and in case she got away from us she would be safe and contained. I had the full set of shots done so she had to endure two syringe loads of goodies. My vet is a tiny blonde woman, shorter than me, so Sheza took quite an interest in her and wasn't worried about her rubbing and pinching her neck. Well then the needle got stuck in there and things weren't too kosher for a minute but it wasn't uncontrollable, just some squirting around on her lead rope until I quieted her again. After that first shot she didn't think the vet should be anywhere near her so we took a few minutes to hang out with her and ease the vet back into Sheza's comfort zone. The second shot went perfectly until the end, in fact I didn't even realize the needle was in and it was happening because Sheza was standing so quietly--until the very end when she suddenly erupted away from us but the shot was already delivered which was good. The vet and I hung out with her some more until she was relaxed and sniffing us both again and then it was done! Verdict was it was quite a manageable set of first shots for a foal and Sheza also got lots of compliments on how pretty she was and what good bone she had. Huzzah!

 Today its cold and windy and rain is forecast so I just pulled Desire and Sheza and stuck their new winter turnouts on. Sheza's second blanket attempt fits her but only just, I doubt it will fit by the end of winter..sigh. Desire looks so snazzy in her deep purple blanket, I really wish my camera would accurately capture the color!

Actually after adjusting contrast that's just about the color the blanket is!

We did some roof work and clean up yesterday after the 40 mph gusts we had on Monday and I cleaned out Desire's paddock this morning which I had been meaning to do before the rain came today. So we are pretty well caught up today and should just be a quiet day at the homestead. Supposed to be cold tonight, looking forward to our first fire in the wood stove!