Things We Do When We Can't Ride

Winter, I hate you.

I was all excited that it was going to get above freezing on Sunday, but by the time I got on my pony the footing was already totally frozen again. Apparently I had missed the "semi-ok footing" window. I attempted to do some decent walk work and a little trot down the one long side that wasn't concrete, but it just turned out to be the Most Unproductive Ride of 2015.

Dino was not pleased with the footing and didn't even want to give me a forward walk in most of the arena, though he obligingly trotted lightly off down the one half-frozen long side. No forward meant no roundness, and it was an overall crappy ride. Time to call up Miss Trainer and see if I can ship over to use her indoor while she's living it up down south. This is getting ridiculous.

So what better time to test out new tack and hairdos? Here is Dino's freshly banged tail:

Please excuse his awkward leg

Not too short?! 

What does everyone think? A good look for him, or should I let it grow back to fetlock length and never cut it again? I had a full-body shot as well, but it made him look like a mule so I didn't post it.

Next, I slapped a new bit on the beastie. My dear friend/personal shopper Katie, who lives conveniently close to the SmartPak retail store, snagged me a Myler bit I'd been wanting to try for $45. The mouthpiece is very similar in shape and construction to the low-port curb I use for riding western, and Dino really likes that bit, so I wanted to give the Myler a whirl.

Blurry Pony is Blurry

Now... do we think these D's are too big for the Pony's face? I'm not totally sold on this bit as of yet. If I do end up keeping it, I think I'm going to have to get pony-size cheek pieces for his bridle instead of the cob-size. The size of the rings forces me to adjust them one hole from the top, and a bridle just looks poorly-fitted when you have to do that. Another option, if he likes the mouth, is to trade for an eggbutt. And since I wasn't able to have a "real" ride in this bit, I'm also not 100% sure how Dino feels about the mouthpiece. The jury's out on this one for now.

Lastly, a purchase I recently made with some Christmas bonus money, is a Total Saddle Fit girth!

SO. PRETTY. So matchy. 

Now this, I LOVE.

This is perhaps the softest leather girth I have ever laid my hands on. I was honestly a bit worried when I saw the tiny box it came in - I thought I was going to have to spend a lot of time oiling and rolling to get it to flatten out. But those fears were totally unfounded since the girth unrolled beautifully and flopped delightfully open. It's so soft and flexible it may as well be made of neoprene. Beautiful. The leather is absolutely delicious - soft, smooth, and perfect - and the decorative stitching gives the girth a classy, just-a-little-different look. The elastic is very thick and very strong - pretty sure you couldn't kill it with explosives.

And it works PERFECTLY to allow Dino's conformation to work with the location of the saddle billets. He has a more forward girth groove than most, and the billets on our new saddle are positioned a little further back than ideal, which caused my straight fleece girth to want to pull the saddle forward with it to the girth groove. Not the end of the world, and not something that caused the saddle to shift forward significantly, but something that could definitely be better.

The deep offset of the TSF girth fixes the issue completely. The curved center of the girth sits right where Dino's body wants it to, and the ends come back to meet the billets of the saddle right where they lay. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing. AND they sent me a cool hat. I am one happy customer!

Until spring, I'll be daydreaming about how awesome we'll look at events in our new tack.