Carol Dee
Garden Master
Your journey with her has been amazing to watch. She is beautiful and the two of you are an awesome pair. Can't wait to see the new saddle too.
Sweet Wild Syringa
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flowerbug
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I understand.
Sunday Syringa and I went to the park for a little outing.
She actually whinnied when she saw my husband hitching the trailer while I gathered a fresh flake of hay for the feed box. She just jumps right in now.
I took my trail saddle to put on her while we were there. I've only ever saddled her at home and she's still not 100% at ease with the process.
The parking area was busy with trailers and riders and we were parked on the end closest to the trail.
As I was saddling 3 riders came out of the woods and headed directly for me. Kind of a weird thing to do and not good horsemanship in my opinion. Syringa was ok with it but definitely watching them and moving around so I couldn't buckle the girth. I was using Luke's thick wool pad and in addition to her umm... roundness, getting the billet straps started through the buckles is a fiddly business. So I stood and held her and kept a hand on my saddle so it wouldn't slide off if she got a little agitated. They actually got so close that they parted around me, (rude). One of the riders was a little boy about 4 who said something about my horse. I responded to him with a compliment on his horse and the man who was riding and ponying the kids horse thought I was talking to him and came back with a conceited reply regarding his vast experience.I was impressed naturally.
Anyway, once saddled everything was hunky dory and we wandered off to have a little adventure.
Syringa is a great little jumper. She just tucks her forelegs up and pops right over anything I send her over.
I wanted a picture, but trying to manage my phone and send her was awkward and she kind of muddled it, stepping on the logs instead of jumping them, haha.
View attachment 33147
She rewarded herself with a mullein stalk after she landed.
View attachment 33148
I think she regards our trailer excursions as a sort of strolling buffet, which may be why she's so eager to go.
...
the white markings?
she looks very well fed and cared for.
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thistlebloom
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the white markings?
she looks very well fed and cared for.
Do you mean on her neck? That's her BLM freeze brand. here's a site with some information on freeze branding https://wildhorseeducation.org/blm-freezemark/
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thistlebloom
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Today I put my deposit down on my saddle. While I was at the shop I took a picture of my tree. They said I could visit it as it gets built, haha.
They may have thought I was kidding, but I plan on doing just that. I've never had a custom saddle before. I will take photos as it develops.
They may have thought I was kidding, but I plan on doing just that. I've never had a custom saddle before.
I will take photos as it develops.
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flowerbug
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interesting! i thought it might be a tattoo to help her feel like part of the human herd...
Rhodie Ranch
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I thought you had a typo: tree. Didn't know! I love learning about all this! keep it going!
baymule
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She is so slick, shiny and healthy. She is beautiful. I can't wait to see the new saddle, it will be fun to watch it as it is made.
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thistlebloom
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I finally got the nerve up to lead Syringa across this bridge. It was built too narrow to be safe for a horse and I had to quell all the mental images of what could happen if she startled and jumped or fell off.
She followed calmly and stopped half on half off to swipe a bite of her favorite weed. I probably won't repeat crossing it now that I know she will do it.
I heard after the fact that somebody I know had a horse fall off and that horse is now leery of all bridge crossings.
flowerbug
Garden Master
strange it is so narrow, but perhaps it is so the horse could be lead across easily?
your horse is used to much more than that living on the range as it was so i'm guessing it just had to be ok with the feel of the weight underneath it, that it didn't shift or move. i'm also guessing that had she felt like jumping off she'd have probably been in much better chances of not even thinking it was strange because of being more used to uneven ground as she was growing up.
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thistlebloom
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Yes, she is handy with her feet and intelligent about where she puts them. I lead her cross country through woods and a lot of downfalls. She has to work out hoof placement in some of the more complicated tangles. Sometimes there are places where a tree trunk rotted away and where the trunk was is filled with duff, nearly unrecognizable as a hazard until you step in it and it collapses. I try to avoid those if I can, but she has shown me how she is observant and careful.
That bridge was built as part of an equine obstacle course, but apparently by someone who wasn't "horsey". I have avoided it for a long time, but thought I'd attempt it to see if she had enough trust
in me to follow. I pictured a raging inferno behind me as a motivator to just do it, haha.
I would never trust "Crazy Legs" Luke to go across it.
