Labor Day Weekend

So labor day weekend was last weekend. It was filled with horsey activities!!

Friday I was off work. I spent the day at the barn. I worked with Moon a bit. I wanted to ride him in the roundpen since our last adventure in the arena wasn't so good. Since his back is a bit different than the others, I thought I'd try Dusty's skito pad on him. That was a disaster. I couldn't get on!! Not even with the ladder. Every time I put my weight in the stirrup, the saddle would roll. It was plenty tight. I guess maybe the way the material gives makes it less stable? I don't know. So I took him back to the barn and switched to the 5-star pad. Still couldn't get on. This time it was more Moon. I don't blame him at all for not wanting to stand still after I'd hanged off of him twice before. So we just worked on getting him to stand to be mounted. When i was done, I was dripping sweat and totally pissed. I needed to trim Murray and see if I could get the size 1 easyboots on him since we were to ride at Wranglers on Saturday. I did get him trimmed and I did finally get the damned boots on. Only problem? I couldn't get the left one off. And in the process of getting the right one on, I busted out the screws. A helped trying to fix the stupid boots but we decided they were a lost cause. So I took up Moon's size 2WW Renegades for Murray. I just sold Murray's regular size 2 renegades because they were too big (I thought) thinking that he could wear the size 1 epics. WRONG.

So after the horrible Friday, I was a bit reluctant to go trail riding Saturday. This was to be my first real trail ride on Murray. A has taken him several times and I've ridden him at shows and around the farm but no real trail rides. I did finally get up and go to the barn though I was an hour and a half late. I really was hoping they'd leave without me. So we packed up the trailer and the horses and off we went. Murray was really good. I knew he would be but couldn't help stressing over it. I took extra meds :D. I'm terrified of hills but he was good and took them at my pace. C and Sammy had a harder time of it. This was Sammy's first time at Wranglers and she acted a fool. Sorta kept me from worrying over Murray any more than necessary. Since his boots were big, I was concerned about getting rocks in them. Sure enough, when we stopped the first time, he had a small rock in his boot. I cleaned it out and he was fine. We all cantered (!!) up a long hill. I'd never cantered Murray before and it was awesome! When we stopped for lunch at the blue hole, we met several people. They asked about Murray's curls. He was wet with sweat so they couldn't see his body waves and his mane is short but curly. I explained about the allergy thing. One lady has a friend who's allergic. Hopefully she'll make it out to the farm to meet the curlies. Also met another barefooter. She and her husband have Morgans!! They've promised to let me come ride with them. I love morgans but have never ridden one. Murray got a little quick coming back but really was good. He was tender on the gravel with his back feet. It never occured to me that he'd need boots on his back feet. Hopefully the 1's will fit!

Sunday C and I went to the craft fair and I laid around the house. Nothing exciting.

Monday A called early to ask if I wanted to go back to Wranglers. Of course, I said yes! I decided to take Dusty this time since Murray's rear feet were a bit sore. It's a good thing I did. The lady who rode with us was on a bugnuts crazy racking horse. He was horrible! T rode the same horse she rode on Saturday and had to go back because his feet were tender. Lesson learned, if we want to ride for more than a couple hours on gravel, rear boots are needed. Dusty did fine. Murray is soooo much smoother though!! Dusty really hurt my back. He's fun to ride but not as fun or as comfortable as Murray.

So that was the weekend!! I haven't been to the barn since Monday. I'm having withdrawels but I'm headed back there tonight.