This time...Shoes and Saddles!

I went out to take Jay for a ride yesterday, and he had once again lost a front shoe.  Groan.  Neither my farrier or I (or Jay) is happy about the frequency of his shoe pulling lately, and clips and bell boots don't seem to be helping. He is missing a chunk of hoof this time, too.  Up until this point I had been pretty lucky about that, especially for having clips, but not so much this time.  The farrier is coming tomorrow, so we will see how bad it is when it comes to nailing another shoe back on.

I asked John to jog Jay out to see if he was sound enough to ride, and my happy pony was quite full of himself!  He wasn't really bad, but he was snaking his head, wanting to GO, and was generally just a lot more "up" compared to what he has been.  So I took over and had a little "conversation" with him, and then John jogged him again and he looked sound.  I thought I could sneak an easy ride in, but felt a little nervous because Jay has in general had more energy and been more forward the last few rides, my last lesson was a little nerve wracking for me, and Jay has just had another 2 weeks off.  That meant I wasn't really crazy about getting on him in the pasture there, because he was just a lot more lively on the ground already!  The stable I was already planning to haul to has LOVELY footing, so I decided to load Jay up and take a chance.

I bet you all can already guess what happened next!  I got on Jay, and he was definitely not sound enough to do anything besides walk around!  Oh well.  He was REALLY good, as usual, and there were a LOT of people out riding, especially considering we have had the place to ourselves every other time we have been out there.  We walked around some, and just stood around a lot talking to other people and watching the others ride.  It was still fun, and was actually good for my confidence that Jay didn't do anything except make his "mare" faces at the other horses when he felt like they invaded his rather large need for personal space, LOL.

The Horsemasters Liason was one of the people out there yesterday, and I can't believe it but I am actually considering taking Jay to Pony Club camp next month!  I would do the "light" program, which means I would be riding four times rather than twice a day.  I don't think Jay or I am up to twice a day, and if the weather doesn't cooperate we wouldn't be by then either.  Am I the only one who is frustrated by the rain?  I mean, I am glad we are out of the drought and will have hay, but sheesh it is proving impossible to get on a regular riding schedule.  I don't think it is fair to Jay to ride for a few days every couple of weeks, but I am having a hard time doing anything about it.  The forecast isn't looking too promising either.

I am taking Jay back to Rocking B Saturday to continue the saddle saga.  In a way I am frustrated that I didn't just go ahead and try different saddles last time, but on the other hand unless Dennis had pointed out that the flap length maybe wasn't the greatest I wouldn't have realized it might be a problem.  I am torn because the saddle is comfortable, but I don't want to feel disappointed or like I just "settled" for this one later on down the road.  I am going to explore the possibility of getting a dressage saddle and a jumping saddle.  This Sr. Event will go back for one, and for the other I am going to see if Dennis will let me trade this new Wintec that Weatherbeeta replaced for me for the other.  If he won't do that (because it has CAIR), then I should still be able to sell it for enough to get the other saddle since it is new.  Ugh.

I caved and reluctantly posted some "before" and "after" pictures on NCHN in the Weight Loss thread.  If anyone wants them here, too, let me know.  I am very happy to have lost 40 pounds since the first of the year!  I am not where I want to be yet, but I am very happy that I am continuing to go in the right direction!  Hopefully I will have even better after pictures before too long.  We'll see if I regret posting the pictures on NCHN rather than here!