Spook and Spin

Owie is healing, eye draining a bit.

Flyboy went back to work today, and boy, does he need some work! He needs a big mountain to climb. This guy was quite full of himself today despite his recent injuries. (His head traumas are actually healing quickly and don't seem to be bothering him much, thank goodness.)

We headed out to Dog Valley this afternoon--solo, since it's not like I could invite a friend to come along until my trailer slant panel gets fixed, but Flyboy loaded into the trailer and traveled loose, since the panel is tied open for now. Fly has not been out on a trail ride for a couple of weeks and he hasn't been solo for even longer, so I pretty much knew what to expect and wore my crash vest as a precaution. I also carried my SPOT Tracker as always, in addition to my cell phone.

I saddled up with the new treeless saddle and Equipedic

pad with the extra foam inserts. I attached the breast collar, too. In order to bridle him with the least amount of disturbance to his sutures, I unbuckled the headstall before asking him to take the bit. It worked like a charm. No bumping any sore spots at all! We headed out on what in my mind should now be a familiar trail to Flyboy.

Well, familiar or not, he was on the lookout for the bogey man again. Thought he found him once, too, when he decided to do a quick spook and spin (with the intention of skedaddling back the way we came!) But I interrupted his plans quickly enough and stuck to the new saddle pretty well, and we carried on. But you know, where there is one bogey man, there are usually more, so he was looking behind every cedar tree and sagebrush. We headed up the Sugarloaf Hill to give him something else to think about. Something like millions of rocks and some steeper terrain. That did the trick. He settled a little by the time we made it to the top.

Coming down the trail was very interesting. Fly has never been comfortable going downhill with me before--always stiff legged and jolting and hesitant--obviously uncomfortable. I assumed it was because of the saddle not fitting well, and my assumption was absolutely correct, because today he went just as powerfully down the hill as he did on the way up! He flowed down the hill! Yay! Nothing was blocking his shoulders so he could move freely. And he definitely did.

Fairly even sweat marks

We climbed a couple of other hills, stepped over a few logs, bushwhacked through the sagebrush, and had a couple of good trot stretches. He felt great, even though he was still looking for that illusive bogey man. He powered over all kinds of terrain--no boots today, and he was very forward. He only got a little sticky a few times when he thought he saw something, but with a little encouragement he carried on. An hour and a half total, and he worked up a medium sweat with his winter coat.

I am very comfortable in the new saddle. I would like to see a bit more wither clearance without having to have so much padding in the saddle pad. I may have to invest in a new pad--something like the Grandeur Vario or equivalent, but I have a couple of other things I can try first. I would have to say Flyboy seemed comfortable in it today based on his forwardness. He did duck his head and root on the reins quite a bit, but that is not new behavior. (We are working on solving that issue, too.)

Some rubbing over the loin from the pad