Central California or saddle fitting? I choose saddle fitting.

The coffee consumption is low and the lack of sleep is high. Watch out! LOL! Despite the odds against being able to write anything coherent, I thought I'd give it a try for the sake of...uh...entertainment I suppose.

Yesterday was a busy day. I spent the day in the glorious town of Turlock for an all-day meeting on a work project. Aromatic place, that Turlock. ;) Much was discussed, learned, and coordinated, so you could call it a successful day. One thing I heard was that there are MASSIVE protests scheduled in Fresno for today at the Federal Building. Protestors are speaking out on a few subjects, mostly revolving around water usage in this state. I even heard that there will even be some celebrities, one of which is supposedly Gene Simmons. What??? LOL! Why would the dude from KISS be protesting? Some things in life come so unexpectedly! Hee hee! In all seriousness, I hope that protestors will be open to listening what the facts are on what they are protesting. There is a lot of heated mis-information out there. And I hope, despite the recent threats of violence against people with jobs similar to my own, that my colleagues will be safe and mean people kept at bay. [Check out that people--I wrote a whole paragraph about finned creatures and you didn't even know it!]

Once the work day was completed, the drive made back to the Sacramento office, and then the commute home, my husband and I went to the barn on a mission. The mission being SADDLE FITTING! You'd never think that something so seemingly simple (e.g. Don't you just throw a pad on the horse, throw the saddle on the pad, girth it up, & get on?) would be one of the most potentially frustrating, time consuming, and expensive pieces of equipment you'd every buy. Don't lose heart though. We had success...I think. :)

My husband had picked up a used roping saddle and a new reining saddle to try on our big, white, moose-of-an-Appy, named Lakota. Lakota is mostly Thoroughbred & with that lovely heritage came a lovely set of withers (that big "bump" between the intersection of the neck and back) and big shoulders. Oh goodie. Understand that modern western saddles are made for wide-load quarterhorses with "no" withers. The last thing you want is a saddle that rests on the withers/spine. One word: OUCH! The roping saddle fit his shoulders and back angle well, but the front hit those big ol' withers. Doh! We'll still try it on our 4yr old who's coming home from training this weekend. He doesn't have the issues Lakota does. The reining saddle seemed to fit Lakota very well too. I longed him with it on, and he did the BEST longing of his life. He had the BIGGEST, free, rhythmic, suspended, long trot going to the right that my mouth was agape. He wouldn't be able to do that if his back hurt. He loped, (yes, loped!) to the left and had a relaxed canter to the right. Wow! Worry boy is coming around! Like I told a good friend at the barn, "I should have put a western saddle on him sooner!" To make sure there were no pressure points, I took the saddle off, and Lakota showed a great sweat pattern. Now I just need to ride in the thing to verify that it's going to work.

So, this dressage rider is now going to have her cowboy husband to trail ride with soon. Life is good, and I'm continually blessed with more than I deserve. Now if I could only find a way to ride more and work less, then that would sweeten the deal even more. Fat chance, I know. One can wish though.