100 Hours!!!

I reached it, 100 hours in the saddle this year!! :)

I started off the year on Edgar with Derek on Smalls, then Oakley came back, Smalls went back to his owner, Edgar went lame for the entire summer, I ride my friends horse Bandit, Derek came off Oakley, I stop riding Bandit and start riding Oakley, Edgar gets better so Shana starts riding him, Derek rode Edgar and stole him from me and now Oakley is my horse.. What a year! And along those same lines..

I owned 2 saddles, #1 fit Edgar but not really me, #2 fits me very well, but not Edgar. Derek rides Smalls in saddle #2 and it does not fit, rides Smalls in saddle #1 fits okay, we buy saddle #3 which fits Smalls, we buy saddle #4 that fits Edgar and me, Oakley comes back, saddle #3 does not fit Oakley at all Derek is bummed, saddle #3 is sold, saddle #5 is purchased, in meantime saddle #2 fits Oakley well and since Derek stole Edgar from me and I love saddle #2, then I get to ride him in my favorite saddle, saddle #5 does not fit Oakley either.. so we have 1 saddle out of 4 that fits Oakley and 3 of 4 that fit Edgar, one of which is Derek's new saddle so another reason again that he has stolen my horse!

I do believe I may just start riding Oakley in a helmet when we are out on the trails though. The horse spooks every time I ride him! Something dumb and not always visible to me, and he'll go straight up in the air, all 4 feet off the ground with no warning. I have yet to come off, I must say my seat is still pretty good, but one of these times I will not be so lucky and i'm gonna hit the ground eventually if this continues, so I figured maybe it is time to put to use the helmets we purchased earlier this year. I honestly never thought I would wear one and I know accidents happen, thats usually when I hit the ground is when it is least expected, but since I know Oakley is not 100% solid, I'm thinking I should play it safe. Just dont tease me or laugh at me, this is new territory for me and it feels weird to think about it. Sounds dumb I'm sure...

As far as Oakley, its a little weird being stuck with the greenhorse! :( I hadnt planned for things to work out this way, but of the 2 horses we have, it definately is the way it should be. He is a bit too much horse for Derek, but I sure miss my big guy. :) I enjoy riding Oakley, he is athletic and fun to play with, I am excited about how far he has come along and how far he will go, I just hope this spookiness fades sooner than later. I thought I worked real hard to create a solid spook free horse and funny thing is, when I'm not riding him, he is pretty spook free, the horse will walk over anything! But when I'm on him, he forgets the fundamentals I taught him.