First, some non-horse stuff:
Since my father's funeral, I've lost 10 lbs. This was even with the free lunches from Season's Pizza while the LA team were here. Luckily, being veg meant that I couldn't eat much, but I did mainly stick to the salads. I'm not dieting, per se, just no longer eating crap and eating out.
I'll just have to be careful while I'm there. As I said to them, I guessed that there must be plenty of healthy food around, considering the California culture. They just laughed and shook their heads. :(
I have an appointment for a Lasik consultation on Thursday. The prospect of going from 20/400 to 20/20 is scary but at the same time thrilling beyond belief. I can't imagine being able to see again.
I've hooked up my tablet, reloaded the one bit of software I can find (where did Painter go?! Argh), and I've started drawing again. Ooooh.
OK, horse stuff.
The woman at the tack shop was not surprised at my saddle, although she did ask me if I intentionally went looking for the oddest saddles in existence. I told her that if my current one doesn't work out, she'd see a treeless dressage come through the door. She seemed more surprised at that than anything.
I then told her that my other saddle broke her in, so the saddle I just brought wasn't too much of a shock in comparison. She laughed and agreed.
The nice thing was that she liked a lot of the special features that went into the 4-Beat, although she took her time staring at the rigging instructions that I printed out. She thought that the spine channel would be a definite selling point that would put that above traditional western saddles for those worried about their horse's back.
After that, Anne and Rick went off to lessons at Legacy and I spent time with my Nutter. We took a walk in Fair Hill that lasted for 3 incredibly hot and muggy hours. By the end I was so tired that I just tossed the lead over Peanut's back and hoped that he'd follow me out. I now know that, as long as we aren't in a grassy area, he will follow me beautifully. It wasn't just a fluke before or due to having someone walking behind him. Good boy. :)
At one point, two riders passed us who looked like mother and daughter. As the mother passed Peanut (I yield to everyone when I'm taking him for a walk), she looked over and asked if he's a Walker. She's the first person in the almost 5 years that I've had him who guessed his breed right off. I told her so, and said that most people think he's a Quarter Horse. She said that he looks nothing like a Quarter Horse, he looks like a Walker. Damn. I was impressed.
I also came across a group of two adults, 4 kids, and a dog out walking while I was letting Peanut graze. Of course, the two little girls made bee-lines to me and asked if they could pet him, and I said of course and gave them cookies to feed them. It was cute... even if I don't like kids. Anne would have been in heaven.
That walk was a killer. It knocked me out for the rest of the day.
On Sunday, we had an appointment with Dawn for a trim.
After half an hour we started to worry. She didn't answer her phone, we didn't have any emails about a cancellation, and I even checked her website to see if there was anything posted. After an hour, we really started to wonder as she always called if she was really running behind. Anne and I took Peanut and Cheyenne out for a walk, much shorter than the day before, and came back over 2 hours past the appointment time. Again, I spent a lot of it with Peanut off lead, and he did well considering he used to think that Chey was a succubus there to suck his soul. He really didn't mind her this time, when before he did everything but stick a stake through her heart. Anyway, by the time we got back to the barn and heard that there were no updates, we were all independently thinking the worst.
As we put the horses back so that we could head out to the farmers' market she called. Rick said that she apologized profusely, saying that she had so few clients these days that she didn't check her calendar and completely forgot about us. We're trying to have her come out on Friday night and are just glad that she's ok.
Rick will be getting new boots for Gene when we do see Dawn. He shrank out of his old boots (yay for pulling toes back!), plus these boots should be much easier to work than the Epics. Joan thinks we should shoe him, but she doesn't know what a rabid barefoot advocate I am. *evil grin*
4 comments:
Hi, I just started to read your blog recently.
May I ask why you decided to sell your 4 beat saddle. I have walkers also. I'm riding one in a western Ortho Flex, and the other a Goodwin Paragon. I've been thinking about trying a 4 beat. Just curious.
Hi there!
I'm selling the 4-Beat for a couple of reasons.
First, my horse has an incredibly short back. Even though the 4-Beat sits more forward on the horse and is shorter than my old saddle (National Bridle Lite Rider), it was still technically too long for his back and was putting my weight where it shouldn't be.
Second, I was fighting the leg positioning. The 4-Beat is all about a chair seat, and I was striving for a classical dressage seat. The two do not go together. I could feel the rigging with my legs, which let me know that my legs were behind the flap. I have the kind with stirrup leathers, so it had the extra flap underneath in place of fenders.
Those were really the main reasons: the length and the chair seat. The chair seat would also put most of my weight to the back, only increasing the problems with the length of the saddle.
I'm now in a Fhoenix treeless dressage saddle, and my riding improved incredibly in the first ride. Don't get me wrong, my horse loved the 4-Beat a lot more than he did the Lite Rider, evident in the fact that in my first ride with him he didn't balk at a gait change. Usually, I would fight a tantrum before I could get him to a gait, or at least have difficulty with the change, especially when I asked in a certain spot in the ring. In my first ride with the 4-Beat, I asked in that spot and he gave me the change smoothly and without a fuss.
Sara,
Thanks so much for the review. I don't like the chair seat thing either. I'm glad I was able to talk to you before I bid on one.
My buckskin is built the same way, very short back.
Thanks you saved me some trouble.
No problem! :)
If you don't want a chair seat, then the 4-Beat is definitely not for you. They like to say that they put you in a bareback position, with your legs well in front, and say that it is superior to the classical seat. So, the saddle is designed to make the classical seat as hard as possible.
Also, be sure to look at the seat itself on a saddle. In the 4-Beat, it tilts back quite a bit so that the lowest part is at the rear. In a dressage saddle, the lowest part should be in the middle of the seat. Sitting in a tilted seat will by its nature work against you trying to get out of a chair seat.
I wish I had thought of that before I got the 4-Beat....
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