Tuesday, May 26, 2009

5/25/09 Ransom Hunter

5/23 Saturday - hanging around town, getting into mischeif, fun, and chaos. No rides...
5/24 Sunday - church, see above, repeat repeat

5/25 I stumbled outside early morning, hoping my lawn mower would start up (after a night on the charger). Click-Click. No such luck.

So I took advantage of the scheduled time alone, and saddled up Ransom. I stuck him in my HDR Event saddle for the first canter ride in the arena. He seems to fit it very well, and it also fit me well.

Best way I can describe it - different. In Barbara's dressage saddle, I felt my "middle" was behind my pelvis, in my dressage saddle, the "middle" is just about on my pelvis bones - it's a little hard to lean back behind them. In the event seat, it was all forward. To feel in the middle of Ransom's gait, and in the saddle securely, I felt pitched just a bit forward. In front of my pelvis, upper torso leaning ever so lightly forward, just barely in the saddle.

We worked for about an hour, losing track of time, walk, trot, and canter. Canter both directions was solid, and a bit collected, but it was really hard to stay in the saddle. Much easier to let the saddle come up to me, heels way down. I didn't drop a stirrup this time, either direction. I also found the sitting trot a bit easier in that saddle - sunk low into my heels, hips tipping forward & back. Ransom had some good collection in all three gaits, with pretty good transitions, so I must assume the saddle suited him well.

So the event saddle has been "conquered" in a way. I'm not in a nice solid sitting canter, but it's been accomplished without incident.

Jen and I attacked a few clothing stores head-on around lunch time, preparing for my upcoming vacation at the end of June. I found two swimsuits that both look pretty good, a pretty black silk sundress, and two silk wrap skirts. Pretty neat little design pattern, and, if I get that proficient that I can create a number of dresses & skirts, it'll make an even neater package. In her anticipation (!), Jen gave me a very early birthday present at lunch. Very nice padded dressage bridle with flash & flat reins. Very very nice! Funny, it was completely disassembled. Sitting in the restaurant, I insisted on putting it together. Each time our waiter came over to the table, he'd get an even more curious look on his face. :) All that leather strapping on the lunch table, probably did intimidate the fellow a bit. LOL

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