Met Another Nice Chap

This blog is turning more in to my experiences with other peoples horses than with my own.  With mine it is more a case of same old same old although the very windy weather has stopped work with Max and Rosey for a few days.  I am sure they both would have been fine but there is something about the energy of wind that puts me and N on edge.  Where we are is usually quite windy which is great for keeping flies away but when it's really really bad both me and N seem to get really wound up.  You know it is bad when you go in to the caravan to get something and breath a big sigh of relief.  It definitely seemed to have perked Charlie Too up yesterday, he came back to the yard with C with his head somewhere between his needs at a rate of knots.  C didn't seem to mind though, she was still smiling.

Got asked to look at the saddle of a horse at a friends yard, the rider has the horse on loan.  It was one of those unpaid 'while you are here' moments that I seem to get dragged in to at that particular yard, wouldn't mind but I usually end up spending hours there and not being allowed to go.  Don't even get a cup of coffee which is a bit rude.  Anyway horse was lovely, big Irish chap who sounds like he has been screaming that he is not comfortable, not wanting to be caught, not standing still to get on, boinging around with his ears up your nose and really being unhappy with rider adjusting stirrups or bending down to do up girth.

Sad thing is that another saddler only a few days before had announced the saddle an ok fit, but recommended a riser pad to lift the back.  I am always careful not to criticise another professional so all I could say was that the saddle perfectly fitted the atrophy on the horses back, however the atrophy shouldn't be there.  We played around with a few saddles the rider could either use or buy and ended up with a Heather Moffett Phoenix Suber on him.  I was a little worried as with these saddle you feel every movement of the horse, and they feel every movement from you, the horse was so reactive to the rider moving that I was worried that it wouldn't work.  Luckily the horse is actually a really charitable chap and even though he is still probably bruised and sore, the Phoenix was comfortable enough for him to feel the difference and he went really well.  Ended up giving a bit of a mini lesson as he really needs to be working more over his back to strengthen it up.  Rider and horse both did really well, he is not a very affectionate chap but afterwards he was all soft and gooey and enjoyed a bit of a scratch.

I hope I get to do a bit more with them both, plan is to re-template after a month of proper flatwork in the Phoeneix and see where we are.