Snow's Secret Gift - or - Santa Makes One Last Visit

While we didn't get totally buried in snow like the weathermen said we would, we did get several inches of fluffy, light white stuff.

Do you know what that means?

I CAN RIDE MY PONY.

I'm still not quite back to our regular schedule of dressage rides and jump schools, but a good few inches of snow makes the concrete-hard ground rideable again, and provides good resistance for fitting-up pony muscles.

For a little change of pace (and so I could wear my super-warm snow boots while riding) I rode in western tack on Tuesday night. It took me a couple minutes to re-adjust to having super-long stirrups, but I settled back in to the old rust-bucket of a saddle pretty quickly. Dino and I then marched around in the snow, cruising around the one uninhabited turnout paddock and to and fro all over the property.

The wind was brutal, as it always is at the farm in winter, but I was surprisingly warm after trotting around a bit. Dino is also the only horse in the universe that will not jump around and spook when it's 27 degrees out with 20mph winds. Oh no. I have to KICK HIM into a trot. One of a kind, that one.

We had a pretty good ride, and I thought about weighting my seatbones properly (inspired by Austen's recent post) while we walked, trotted, and cantered around in the snow. Dino was a super good boy, and even started putting himself in a nice, round little package without any direction from me after he warmed up.

And to my surprise and delight, my very last Christmas present from my awesome sister-in-law arrived in the mail! A fabulous saddle cover from Padded Ponies:




I LOVE IT. It's so sturdy and well-made, with a cotton fabric on the outside and soft fleece inside, with that beautiful contrasting binding on top to help keep its shape. The navy pattern is beautiful, and matches the rest of our navy gear. LOVE! I highly recommend Padded Ponies for your custom cover and saddle pad needs... this stuff is WELL worth the wait!

Comments

  1. gorgeous saddle cover!

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  2. Yay for riding! Love that saddle cover, so classy!

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  3. That saddle cover is so pretty!

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  4. Whoa! Gorgeous saddle cover! I have the jealousy, especially because I'm also jealous of your snow ride! We haven't had enough snow for riding in yet!! :)

    So glad the post on seatbones made sense!!

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    1. It MOSTLY made sense - I think I still need to read it a few more times! But seatbones are something I don't usually concentrate on, so it was a good exercise for me! They make dressage saddle covers too in about a MILLION different patterns. You need one ;)

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  5. sounds like an awesome ride!!!! and i LOVE that saddle cover - definitely nicer than my ratty old black one :)

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    1. You need one in a sweet purple pattern!! For just under $50 you can have one custom-made, which is a pretty good price I thought!

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