On the Banana Pony side of the field, someone is feeling VERY VERY good about herself. I was sadly mistaken when I thought I'd just buy a baby pony, kick them out in the field and check in again later. This pony demands your attention, and is very naughty when she doesn't have a job.
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| Shhh...don't wake the dragon! |
Sunday's farrier visit went as such:
(Sidenote: we found a most excellent farrier who travels to our area monthly, and she was (politely) horrified at the state of Sophie's feet. I didn't want to get into farrier drama, so didn't mention previous farrier visited twice in the last month and I had to fight with him to trim anything off. I let her think Sophie was just way overdue. She fixed them up in no time, though, and said she's got excellent feet. Pheww.)
Anyway, on with the pony farrier drama:
Sophie: Oh hey, you, what's happening? Are we going to go have fun?
Me: Come on, you're visiting the farrier...again.
Sophie: Actually, I don't have time for that right now
Me: Yes you do.
Sophie: Seriously. I am way too important and busy and I don't know this lady from anywhere. She is not worth my time.
Me: Suck it up. Look at your feet. You need a farrier. You have manners, please use them.
Sophie: My manners do not extend to this new farrier person. I cannot stand still for this amount of time. I told you I am too busy for this right now.
Me/Farrier: Ughh, stand still already.
Sophie *Kicks at farrier*
Me/Farrier:You're going to die now, Sophie.
Sophie: Ahhhhh, NO ONE LOVES ME I KNEW THIS WAS A BAD IDEA. I TOLD YOU I COULD NOT DO THIS TODAY.
Me (to farrier): I am so sorry, she knows better than this. I feel terrible.
Farrier: She's quite dramatic, isn't she?
Farrier: Your little bay mare sure is a nice horse :)
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| She looks so innocent |
So, yeah. I have work to do with my little palomino monster pony. I was pretty horrified she kicked at the farrier entirely because she was having a temper tantrum. I could forgive bad choices made in fear, but this was entirely an "I don't like you and I don't wanna" thing. On the plus side, the farrier didn't fire us, and Sophie learned again that kicking people is a VERY VERY BAD thing. I learned that at this point in time, it's maybe not fair to just drag her out of her field and expect her to be calm and on her best behavior. So, there's that. The joys of owning baby ponies!
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I may put Bridget in her field this coming weekend, so Bridget can have a friendly chat about personal space and manners too. It won't hurt Sophie, although Bridget's going to be very grumpy :)
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| Bridget is a very tough customer. This is me taking a picture of her while holding Sophie. B is not impressed. |
I have always liked the idea of the flexible gullet saddles but haven't used one myself. I have one friend who loves the adjustable bates saddles and is constantly raving about those.
ReplyDeleteGotta love baby pony tantrums! XD
At one point I tried Bates and Wintec on B and she was seriously not impressed (maybe the air rather than flocking they use?) I liked the Bates for myself a lot though and that's what got me thinking about trying to find either a wool flocked one or a trying pessoa xch one. Good to know that your friend likes it and finds the concept useful!
DeleteI like my Custom saddlery saddle because the tree can be adjusted by a saddle fitter. My saddle has fit both Rico (wide) and TC (medium to medium wide) and it cost me $350 to get the tree changed when I switched horses. They're expensive (unless you can find them used, mine cost $600 + tax) but with the tree being adjustable, you'd theoretically never have to buy another saddle.
ReplyDeleteThat might be worth looking into again. I tried a wolfgang solo one on Bridget a few months ago and hated it for myself, but it was otherwise a really nice saddle! I love the idea of buying quality that lasts.
Deletei think sometimes adjustable saddles get a bad rap - but i've been very happy with my Bates with interchangeable gullet plates. they're not the right shape for every horse, but they've worked out pretty well for me so far. esp with an adjustable gullet and shimmable half pad i've been able to get a pretty reasonable fit on a variety of horses. so... long story short, i think they're definitely worth considering! also worth noting - my bates jump saddle has been converted from the CAIR panels to wool flocking, which only improves its adjustability.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you chimed in. I thought you were a Bates fan, and for some reason thought yours was wool too. Super cool, I'll give them a closer look because the shape was close for B and I liked it for myself too.
DeleteI'm a big fan of adjustable saddles - especially for a growing/changing horse! I've had only adjustable or treeless saddles until last fall for my horses. While they're usually similar with tree, it's so nice to have a very affordable one-saddle-fits-all option with the gullet plates. With first two, now three horses, not having to worry about saddle fit has been wonderful. I've got a wintec with two gullets to rotate between for the horses and my dressage saddle is an older Ansur. Definitely makes me work more for my position, but I honestly don't mind that because I'm a better rider for it. Admittedly, I dream of a treed dressage saddle one day though!
ReplyDeleteI dream of a beautiful custom saddle! I was reminded last night, though, that even that's not foolproof. The saddle I am used to riding my coach's horse in was being used for another horse and I was told to use a third horse's saddle, due to the fitter being due and everyone changing shapes. I guess in reality, it's a very expensive adjustable gullet system, lol, because all her horses go in the the same make and model saddles..just different widths and flocking.
DeleteI had an adjustable saddle- I think it was from Dover. I got it when P was 4 and growing, and you used a key to make it narrower/wider. It worked well at first, but then stopped locking into place. So I would have to make sure it was adjusted before every ride. I would think the ones where you manually put in the different size gullets would be better, though.
ReplyDeleteI tried one of those keyed ones on Bridget and the part was stripped even though the rest of the saddle looked almost new. It made me a little nervous of those. Great that it worked for you though while he was growing!
DeleteI am a huge fan of my changeable Kent and Masters. I bought it when Steele was three knowing that he would change shape. It fit me perfectly too. It transferred to Carmen and just needed to get a smaller size gullet for her. She's now 8 and I have used three sizes of gullets on her - I went down one when she came and was thin, then up to the original and then she kept growing and I have the third one. I figure I saved buying three saddles right there. :)
ReplyDeletePerfect! Exactly the situation I'm pondering - potentially using for two different horses, one of whom is growing! (And yes, please, I dream of no more saddle shopping! If it saved me buying another saddle even once I'd be thrilled)
DeleteI suspect that the K&M would fit your ponies with their cob line.
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