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November 29, 2005
Another photo of Kai
Here is another photo of me and Kai that Cheryl took last weekend.
I've got to figure out how to delete the photos on my digital camera so that I can take more photos of Kai, and lots of Derek. Derek is extremely cute. He is beyond cute! He understands so much of what we say to him, and he started using the signs that I taught him many months ago. I had even stopped using the signs (for "drink," "eat," and "more") as I thought he would never start using them. Then, suddenly, he did!
One day we were visiting Grandma, and she told him she had a surprise for him. "No peeking," she told him, and he immediately covered his eyes with his tiny little hands!
Last Saturday, Derek was visiting his Grandma, so I went out to see Kai. It was a nice, sunny day with a light blanket of snow. A perfect day for a ride-not icy, just snowy. I didn't have enough time to both lunge Kai and ride him (my usual routine) so I just groomed him and saddled up.
Now, Kai has a roundness to him that does not lend itself to wearing a saddle. The saddle will stay put just fine as long as I am sitting in the saddle with my weight equally distributed. But, since I am no longer the lightweight that I was, putting weight in the stirrup to mount causes the saddle to list slightly to the near side.
Well, I swung aboard, and Kai decided to trot off without waiting for an invitation. I was atop a listing saddle, and unable to correct it as my foot couldn't find the off stirrup in order to put weight in it. I rode out his short-lived rebelliousness, and we had a nice ride. I made a mental note to fix the stirrup problem ( a piece of leather is in the way, preventing me from gaining the stirrup upon mounting.) This western saddle might be more trouble than it's worth!
I also made a mental note to lunge before riding!
Posted by Jessica at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2005
Kai's New Saddle
Here we are, modelling the western saddle I bought at the used tack sale last Saturday-I feel like a cowgirl!
Cheryl had brought her camera, as we were looking at a horse earlier in the day (the quarter horse that we ended up deciding was too advanced a mount for Shannon.)
Thanks to Cheryl and her husband, Dave, I now can share this photo with everyone!
We are going to look at an Arabian gelding this weekend, I have high hopes for this one. He sounds just perfect, but sometimes they sound perfect over the phone, and in person it becomes a different story.
Kai is spending his first night in a stall in over ten years. The weather turned cold, and it's been snowing all day. The horses were wet, and it was due to get much colder and windier tonight. I hope Kai does all right in his stall. I will go to visit him tomorrow and clean his stall before heading to my aunt and uncle's for Thanksgiving dinner.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Posted by Jessica at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2005
Kai Goes Western
I was lucky, and I found a western saddle for Kai at the used tack sale!
I should have a photo soon, as my friend, Cheryl, had her camera with her when we got back to the barn after checking out another horse for her daughter. Cheryl took a bunch of photos of the gorgeous Quarter Horse gelding, Magic, that we were trying out, and then took some of me riding Kai in his new saddle.
That Quarter Horse gelding was really a nice, show quality horse. He was too much horse for his owner, a timid, older woman who had just started riding this year! She had bought the horse in February and couldn't handle him. He seemed fine for Cheryl and I, but Shannon felt nervous with him. We decided he was too much for her, so we're still looking.
But the used tack sale was fun! I bought a heated water bucket and the western saddle. Now, I have never really ridden western. I had a western saddle that I bought to train my filly, but I never realized how difficult it is to find tack to fit an Arabian.
There are a lot of stock-type horses in the U.S. Quarter Horses, Paints, and Appaloosas. In fact, I would be willing to bet that the majority of horses in the U.S. are stock-type horses. A lot of people ride western, and most of them ride a Quarter Horse-type of horse. But a Quarter Horse saddle won't fit an Arabian. I had to have a round skirt, because Kai's back is so short. But the saddle couldn't be too narrow, because he doesn't have an extremely narrow shoulder or withers.
A friend of mine gave me her old round-skirt western saddle, but it didn't fit Kai, it was too narrow. She used it on a thoroughbred.
I went everywhere looking for a used, good quality Arabian saddle, but nobody had one. I called all around the state. They all had tons of western saddles, all to fit stock horses.
However, I had good luck at the used tack sale. There was one lone Arab saddle, and the quality was very good. It had obviously been well cared for, and was obviously from the 70's. It had been someone's show saddle for sure, and is trimmed with silver. Its show days are long over, being extremely out-of-date style-wise, but it has new life as a trail riding saddle for me and Kai!
Posted by Jessica at 12:28 AM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2005
Horse Stuff
I have been helping some friends find a horse for their 11-year-old daughter. It has been fun and interesting!
And sometimes a waste of time, as when we drove two hours one way to see a horse that Cheryl had been told needed just a bit of "fine tuning." Yep-it needed fine tuning, all right. By a professional trainer, for many months! The horse was so green I thought we'd gone to the Emerald City!
We looked at two more appropriate ones today (a Paint and something that might have been a grade Quarter Horse type.) The Paint horse was named Henry, and he was perfect, except he had that huge heavyweight body and teeny-tiny legs and feet. I was assured that there was no Impressive in the bloodline, but I was still worried about the feet. That is an unsoundness waiting to happen.
Still, he was very responsive and had one speed: slow! Just the type that Shannon (the 11-year-old)likes!
Tomorrow, we are checking out a used tack sale and one other horse. I am hoping I'll find a western saddle for Kai. Everyone wants to ride him, but nobody else has much experience, and they all take one look at my English saddle and say, "No, thanks!" So we are actively seeking to replace my Circle Y, which I sold along with Chizzam a few years ago.
Derek has been very patient and he seems to really like looking at horses. He is such a good little boy!
Posted by Jessica at 12:18 AM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2005
By Popular Demand!
Here is the patient and kind (as well as musically-inclined) wonder horse, Tank!
This photo was specially requested by my friend, Manda-hello, Manda!
I'm sure that my sister-in-law, Amy, will appreciate it, too. She was behind Tank on the trail ride, and he serenaded her often!
He's a very nice horse, and I was able to sit on his back briefly last year, right before it started raining and the guide called off the trail ride!
Kai is doing very well, and I've been able to ride him a few times each week. Yay!
Posted by Jessica at 11:38 PM | Comments (1)
November 07, 2005
Eye of newt and toe of frog!
Cackle, cackle, cackle!
Yours truly (on the right) and Cheryl (on the left) enjoy the mystical ambiance of the local witchie store (Wisdom of the Ages)at the Samhain Costume Party (hosted by Mona and Jason.)
I was thrilled to win the big door prize! A whole altar in a basket, including chalice, wand, athame, candles, and much more!
I was just kidding about the "eye of newt and toe of frog." I am sure that Cheryl would agree, chocolate-raspberry cake is much tastier!
p.s. isn't Cheryl's hat great???
Posted by Jessica at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)