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| Stonewall Sport |
Last Friday, a big box came in the mail! Three months to the day since I'd ordered it! (The wait was mitigated - since Jackie let me buy a used saddle to ride until this one was completed. Now, that saddle will be returned for full credit.) With no time to ride over the weekend & the ground frozen hard - by today I was
champing at the bit to get it out on a ride!
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| Solid Ice~ |
I had errands in town this morning, by the time I got home & saddled - it was already after 2 p.m. & about 35 degrees. Once we were on the trail - it was obviously, by far the worst conditions I've ever gone out in... Farah was so full of herself - not a good combination at all...
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| Ice Flowers~ |
I dismounted to walk her on the side & was amazed to see these
flowers! So delicate & beautiful!
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| Another tree down~ |
I'd already had to saw off pointed branches on a tree that had done down on our first section of trail - Farah hopped over. We'd made it through the icy section, then found this tree down. I cut off the two branches & again Farah just jumped over on her own.
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| A "Oh No" moment... |
Another 1/2 mile further & we'd just turned the corner when we came up on this! It really doesn't look as bad as it was. The larger trees in the middle were about 3ft. high - with a 8" gap between the two largest. Again, not to be stopped - at least not
easily... I got out my little saw & went to work. I cut all the branches that were sticking up & made a clear jump path. I tied up Farah's reins, climbed over & told her to come. When she put a front foot between the two big ones - I got worried, but she made it through with two nice jumps. About another 1/2-mile to Cottonwood Cathedral...
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| Next... More Cottonwoods~ |
Here too, they don't look as high as they are, but we couldn't get around... About chest high, the road with a soft shoulder on both sides, with the creek flowing under, so both sides are wet & full of broken limbs, branches & debris.
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| Farah said she would eat the moss off at least! |
By now, I'd spent more time out of the saddle than IN it! We turned back, I was thinking that we'd ride the south trail & at least see what was happening with the construction.
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| Yep, still there... |
ATV's have made a way around the gate. I wised up & decided that we'd just go right on through, loop around & take the far way back home. That would eliminate the trees that Farah would have to jump again to get us back. I was a little more worried about the jump coming from the other direction - so it sounded like a reasonable plan.
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| Deer? |
There were huge new homes on the far side of the road, people already moving in & putting up decorations. Several were friendly & so surprised to see a horse going through.
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| Turning toward home~ |
As we made the turn at the far end, there were fires burning on both sides of the road. Farah really got excited at that & all the noise, but she knew what we were up to.
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| Heavy equipment |
I've got the "Native Growth Protection Area" signage figured out now. They put them up, then take them down, cut down the trees, bulldoze everything - put the signs against what trees are left, at the far back of the lot where the house is going. We thought we had it made - we'd gotten around the gate between the construction & our way home, when we came to this...
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| Well... this isn't going to work... |
Even Farah realized that we were stopped within a mile of getting back to our neighborhood... Nothing to do but turn back & it was getting later by the minute. I stopped for a few minutes to let Farah take a mental break :-)
Grazing always seems to help - when she's wired.
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| Farah gets a bite~ |
The saddle was working
great, but it wasn't like we could do any long trotting. I ordered the
"Pocket seat" which has more padding that what the Classic did that
I've been using. (I thought it was the twist, but no - I still had my stirrups a notch too long :-) Very comfortable - I like the pommel style much better, the pommel height of the Classic was a little tall for my short upper body. I'm Very happy that I ordered the footman's on the sides of the pommel too -
perfect place to clip my camera.
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| Our route~ |
After all that - we only covered over six-miles & it wasn't much of a trial for the saddle. I know it will take me time to get used to the different seat. When I lifted it off - there wasn't a hair out of place, Farah's back looked like she hadn't had a saddle on! Time will tell, but it's positive so far!
