Hot Fun in the Summertime~

Fireweed in full bloom

 A couple days into our Summer, but no change in the weather - just warmer, longer!  We're past the solstice, so to think that the days are now getting shorter seems strange when the real strangeness is waking to sunshine, day after day, after day!

Linda has been mowing trail!

I was More than ready for a ride!  Waiting a week for the new saddle to arrive was no fun.  Now - it's here & I had to try it out.  The first thing I found... was that the cinch I'd been using on Linda's saddle - made by the same saddle maker - & ordered to be an exact replica - (with very minor changes) - was too long?  Way too long!  Since I had nothing shorter - it was already a 26" - there were no holes left to buckle into.  I ended up with a big knot of latigo under my calf.  The second thing...  The breast collar that again, I had used on Linda's - sat cockeyed?  What the heck?  The front rings were not even.  When Butch tried to add the bucking rolls (again the same ones I'd ordered & used on Linda's saddle - they didn't fit!  On one side, he could get the screw in - on the other - no way - it was set too close to where the pommel attached.  He'd had to move the screw to get them on - that put an extra hole in the leather :-(

New views, long forgotten trails~

The seat was great, but I had lumps from the stirrup straps under my thighs?  Farah seemed to be moving well, leading us along at her 4 to 5 mph walk.  Count loved it, Leigh's beautiful mare had to jog to keep up.  Linda took us the most direct route by trail to areas far to the south, we even rode the trails Butch & I cleared!

Leigh & Linda - "This Way!"

The bug mask Leigh has for her mare is just amazing - a very thin mesh that is almost custom fit to the mares head & all the way down her neck.  Very nice & black goes well with black :-)

At the creek

Since there's now no water anywhere on the trails & we'd been out a couple hours already - we headed down to Pilchuck Creek.  I was shocked at how little water is left - just since my last visit!  Scary stuff after seeing southern, CA earlier this year - with No water in any of their rivers.

I started feeling a little puny - so decided to head back on my own & see how the saddle worked with some faster trotting & a gallop.  Seemed OK, but something was "off".  Once home I was giving Farah a bath when Butch pulled in.  He found blisters on both of Farah's sides, where the rigging had rubbed :-(  Really Not Good.  Tomorrow I plan to go visit Linda, take this saddle & compare it with hers - the one I'd borrowed for over a year now.

I wasn't thrilled with the craftsmanship - it had certainly slipped, but I was willing to bear that - if the saddle worked.  After only 14-miles - blisters are not something that I'd call working...