I think we have a winner

After work yesterday I ran up north 40 miles to pick up the saddle. 40 miles in traffic. Ugh! It only took an hour and a half, so not that horrible. I hate picking things up on the side of the road, but the woman seemed nice enough. She was very petite so I was worried about how the saddle would fit me. I had her draw up a bill of sale, along with a 48 hour return policy.

I rushed to the barn for my lesson. I'm glad my trainer is so understanding. I was an hour late! I told her what I was doing and that I thought I'd be half an hour late. I hate people like me! This was my first lesson in A LONG TIME!! Maybe before Christmas...I'm thinking October (first lesson at my barn.) I rode her show horse. He's an appendix and is awesome! He'll do anything if you ask him right, which is what I appreciate about him.

When I walked down to get him Denali saw me and kept nickering, and nickering at me. I felt so bad. I went and gave her some grass and some love and told her that I'd be back for her. She continued nickering at me until I got the other horse, then I got the butt.

Our lesson was great! I actually caught on to some things I wasn't sure I was doing right before. My half halts have always sucked, but I fell like I finally understand now. I over think EVERYTHING I ever do, so it was nice to feel successful.

I rode in my new saddle for our lesson. I really liked it. It doesn't have as deep a seat as my other one, but I feel really secure in it. We'll see. I'll need to ride in it a few more times to figure out the differences. I never really liked the way my Harry Dabbs pitched me forward. I do that myself, so to have a saddle emphasis that didn't help. I must say thought, I do love my HD saddle. I'm going to have a hard time parting with it.

After putting away the horse I went out to get Denail. I don't know how else to explain this, but she was terrified. She was just beside herself. I'm not sure what it was. The horses around her were brought in right before I got her. I could tell what kind of a mood she was in from the moment I haltered her up. Once we were inside the barn I decided to let her burn off some energy in the arena. I had to have Ophie's mom hold her because she was so "up" she spooked at me taking her blanket off, she was just really upset about something.

I knew leading her into the arena that we were going to have a hard time. She was doing her arab imitation. I didn't even get the halter the whole way off when she took off like a bat out of hell. It was crazy. I've never seen her run like that. At on point she fell down (took a turn way too sharp) and she just jumped back up and took off again. It was crazy.

At this point it was almost 9 o'clock and I couldn't just leave her. I got her halter on her and got her to stand while I sat the saddle on her back. It seems to be a much better fit than her last one. While the saddle was sitting on her two cats got into a fight, at the same time one of the horses was freaking out in her stall, while the BO was in his trailer in front of the arena going into and out of his trailer, and the trainers son was taking down hay. So, all 4 sides of the arena had something going on that was freaking her out. She started to prance a little bit with all this going on, but didn't move from her spot. As soon as I grabbed the saddle (which I had envisioned it hitting the dirt) she started to try to run away. I got her back under control and walked her around. She never calmed completely down, but she also didn't try to run me over. It was a good exercise for her. I wish I could get all those noises going again sometime (when I'm NOT ON HER) to work with her some more.

I called her lessee and told her about Denai's "Moments" and about the new saddle. She's going to ride in it tonight to see what Denali thinks of it. If it doesn't work I'll sell it. The woman who I bought it from has two other people who wanted it if I didn't take it.

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