I should have prefaced this by saying I am posting daily, but it’s a few days behind. I didn’t want to overwhelm you with having to read tons of journal entries all at one time. And because I have been doing this since the first of January, I am a few days ahead on paper. Or I should say digital paper. So, without further delay, here is day 3!
January 3, 2024
The weather is doing what it typically does in January. It remains bitterly cold outside. And with the shorter days, by the time I arrive home, it’s dark. This is not very conducive to being able to work with my horse. And it’s cold. I am not a cold-weather person. The warm weather is what I prefer. Hot is much better than cold, in my opinion.
I am still not allowed to lift anything with my right arm for the time being. So my grooming time is mostly with my left hand. The good thing about this is my left hand and arm have gotten stronger, and I am getting fairly competent with one-handed grooming and mucking out the stalls. Neither of which was completed today.
I was able to get both horses’ blankets on without assistance from my husband, which was a win. And the horses blankets will probably remain in place for the next week or so because of the weather.
And, of course, for the first time in a week, the overnight temperature was forecasted to be above 20 degrees instead of being in the teens. Figures.
So no playing with my ponies this evening, but my saddle arrived in the mail today which is very exciting.
Unboxing a New Saddle
When I opened the box, the first thing I saw was a saddle pad. This is so awesome because I didn’t know I was getting a saddle pad with the saddle. Bonus!
Then the saddle itself – which is perfect! It has a fuzzy or flocked type material which is exactly what I wanted. That type of material helps to keep the rider in the seat of the saddle. It’s like the entire saddle is covered with saddle stick. Talk about a confidence boost while you are riding.
With this type of material, you aren’t sliding all around. This makes it easier for you to concentrate on your riding and doing things right for your horse.
In the pictures of the auction of the saddle (I bought it on eBay), the stirrups and leathers were on the saddle, so I thought they were included, but they weren’t. So I will need to buy new stirrup leathers. I already have an extra set of stirrups but will need leathers.
And I think my girth is a bit large for Jesse, so I will be searching for an extra girth as well.
I feel more accomplished when I have everything I’ll need before I can begin my training. So these are things I need to get before getting into the saddle:
- Stirrup leathers
- Girth
Continuing to Learn
And I think that’s it. I did buy a couple of books off of Amazon, too, to help guide me and keep my brain occupied while I can’t be riding. The first one had a really good review and came right before Christmas. And it’s a lovely coffee table book. But it was a quick read. It’s called World Class Grooming, and it isn’t quite what I thought it would be. In fact, it left me feeling a little inadequate when it comes to my horse care.
For example, it gives a daily schedule of what these grooms do on a daily basis with the horses they work with. And I understand they are grooms, and this is their job. But how much time they spend grooming the horses they are in charge of left me feeling as if I’m not doing enough for my own horses. I guess I ended up spending more time grooming on a daily basis. It is a nice book to add to my collection, even if it left me feeling inadequate.
I also used up some Christmas gift cards and purchased Dressage Training and Competition Exercises for Beginners: Flatwork & Collection Schooling for Horses and another book called Dressage in Harmony: 25 Principles to Live by When Caring for and Working with Horses. Reading is fun. I will have to read through them and see how much information I can absorb. I am excited for them to arrive so I can deep dive into someone else’s words, other than the ones dancing through my head!
