Happy Birthday ornerie!

I hope you are having the fabulous day you deserve! Give your kitties and your cute chesnut mare a big birthday hug from me. :-) And maybe, just maybe, I'll get to see more of you this coming year. ;-)

Meanwhile, back at the barn...

Brandee's sores are *mostly* healed, and today I had my saddle re-stuffed. Yup, the problem was the saddle. The front was too tight and so that end was tipping the cantle back and increasing the pressure in the back. The guy fixed it on the spot, which took about 3 hours. I watched some of it (hey, it's sewing! Of course I'm interested. ;-) ). Funny thing: I may just be being vain, but I think the guy was flirting with me. Now, I think I was looking pretty good in a hot-middle-aged-woman sort of way with my breeches and boots and tank top; the guy kept stopping what he was doing to look at me and talk. If true it's tres amusing.
;-)

Since Brandee's sores are pretty healed up and pressure on them didn't effect her I rode. OMG it feels like a new saddle! It wasn't cheap but it was totally worth it. And thank the deity of your choice the guy didn't think I needed a new saddle. I'll take a several hundred dollar expense over a several thousand dollar one, thanks. :-0

So Brandee had been on vacation, as it were, for about a month now. Laura lent me a super-thick sheepskin pad, and, again, since the stupid bumps appeared to be better I used the pad to ride Brandee this Tuesday and Thursday. Once again, it appears that I can get better after a lay-off (this has happened to me several times before: broken rib, concussion, burst appendix :-P). I think its a case of mental rehershing combined with my body just loosening up. Tuesday's ride was pretty good, even though Brandee was predicatbly on the forehand. But by Thursday my not-used-for-a-month muscles were sore and things did not go so smoothly. Today was better, though. It's good to be back in the saddle. :-)

Oh, and Monday there was major drama. While I was picking Brandee's hooves (my tack box being in the indoor arena area) some young woman I didn't know came off and started screaming. I didn't see the fall, but she couldn't move and was obviously in major pain. Luckily it was about 6:00 PM and a bunch of people were there. Someone who knew what they were doing went to the girl, and I went to catch the horse, who was upset but being pretty good for having a western saddle stuck on sideways and being around a screaming person. I'm all "Hey baby, it's OK, just relax hon, it'll be OK" and then I realize I'm channeling Barry White to this mare. :-0
I don't know what the outcome was; I left after the paramedics and firetruck arrived. :-/ And, ya know, I don't honestly know if it would have made any difference in this case, but the girl was not wearing a helmet. People, please, if you ride please wear a helmet. Sh*t happens -- I've seen it happen at the barn to really good riders on normally really solid horses, and I've seen shattered helmets that could have been shattered heads. All of us english-types wear the dang things as a matter of course. It might not have made a difference Monday, but I suspect it couldn't have hurt. :-(