Filed Under: Unexpected Happiness

 It's feeling like my favorite time of the year. I love the sunshine of summer, but I'm not a hot weather person. Our winters and springs are pretty dismal - mostly grey and rainy, which I actually do appreciate in their own way. But autumn, before the big Pacific storms start rolling through, is where it's at.

Ideally I would try to keep the horses out grazing until at least November (or whenever the ground is too saturated), but like last year, the grass in their summer field died an early death due to the heat. We're needing a two or three weeks of this cooler, damp weather to let it come back. So, the ponies are homebound, mowing the paddocks here, and I'm getting a test run of our winter routine.

Baby lawnmowers are not reliable mowers and easily distracted

Last year, the one thing I felt could have been better was more winter turnout space for the youngsters on the really nasty days. They're far more active than I had even expected. At 18 months (already!) I actually do feel like they're starting to be slightly less active, but of course they are also almost double the size they were when they got here, so space still feels a little tight when they really get going and the grass areas take a beating. I mean, of course it would, somehow I have 3 horses on one acre (with an additional 2 acres at the neighbours, seasonally). 

They are getting big. Tradey again having an awkward stage, he's so bum high!

Buck looks full grown.

Sophie, weight looking better than mid summer, but still maybe a little too 'fully grown' (and in need of a tidy up)

I like reading the online forums where some poor innocent person will ask how many equines are suited to a certain piece of land and the answers are anything from "I have 20 on 5 acres" to "any more than 1 horse on 20 acres is cruel and unsustainable". In our neck of the woods there are forested mountains, icy mountains, lakes, and oceans. A flat, level piece of land is rare, and probably serves as a riverbed or draining point for all that mountain run off. We don't have pasture land, per say. So I can always tell who's probably from the general area, because they're like "Oh, my barn has 50 horses on 10 acres and the turnout is really good for here". I'm not pretending that's ideal, but it is what it is and everyone seems to make it work. 

Buck with his pony cottage, living the west coast lifestyle 

I boarded in the general Vancouver/coastal area for many years and the horses always seemed happy with the different barn set ups, but mud was commonly an issue in winter, and the paddock size often wasn't what I would have liked for their main outdoor space. Again, it is what it is, and the horses seem to thrive...so this isn't a critique, more just the things that felt important to me to prioritize if the horses were to be at home again.

There is a dump truck worth of gravel installed in this paddock one year ago and it's taken an absolute beating and likely will need a top up next year. BUT the truck is ~$450 and that feels like good value compared to the days of paying to board in ankle deep mud all winter. Also in this picture - Sophie, who was feeling very proud to have 'snuck in' to the boy's paddock while I did chores.

I thought for years I needed a bigger property to make it happen, but the reality here is that no matter how many acres you own, the winters are exceedingly wet and the horses will need to be off the fields and in a sacrifice paddock or on a track system for at least 6 months of the year. Not saying places with big winter turnout aren't out there somewhere, but they're super rare.

G and I both don't view living in this specific town as our end all be all and after literal years of driving real estate agents nuts looking for agricultural suited acreage that simply doesn't exist here, our plans adapted and we figured we'd just make the best of what we had and push the bigger property dream out to the future, along with relocating to another area. 

Ponies in the backyard ARE pretty cool

Creepy Sophie in her barn. My little grooming area is here outside this window and she likes to keep a very close eye on things (and gets quite resentful it's not her getting the attention)

Very, very grateful for this little arena space. I feel like this is what makes things functional - I can ride and longe/ground drive in the winter and it doubles as baby pony winter turnout. I had planned for a 20x40/60x120, but was able to widen it by about 20 feet. So it's more like 80x120 and it made a huge difference, well worth it. I also get questions about the lack of a fence all the way around. Personal preference,  I like how having it open makes things feel bigger.

The really fun thing that's come out of the past couple of years is that our tiny horse property doesn't feel like much of a temporary compromise at all. The logistics of living geographically isolated really stink and I'm ready to say goodbye to those, but our little acre?  It was never supposed to be the dream, but I actually love it so much that I keep pushing ideas at G that involve us keeping it and coming back here seasonally. We'll see where the future takes us, but the present is pretty good.

 

Slow Coast Saddle Fitting

Slow Coast seems to be a semi popular name for local businesses and festivals, and I'm feeling the why of it this year. It's been an extremely laid back summer. Normally we get out for at least one or two adventures but even that was curbed by a local airport closure for a few months and the ferries being completely reserved for most of the spring/summer.

At least it's pretty here

 I'm sure you've all been here long enough to know, but just in case you're new-ish, a quick recap:  I live on the mainland north of Vancouver, but due to the coastal geography it's essentially an island and only accessible by boat or plane, so getting 'out' is normally a day of travel and an overnight adventure all in itself. Summer tourist season really complicates things - everything is normally booked months in advance and showing up without reservations is doable but can be painful. I have to travel to my work office regularly plus we've needed to go elsewhere for medical appts and appliance shopping this summer too. G and I just lacked the motivation to go beyond that this summer.  With two young horses and a Sophie I don't really have any goals with it's been easy to just push things off and embrace the west coast lifestyle a little more than I normally do. I know you're supposed to live in the now, but I feel like my horse/riding goals are on hold and tied up with welsh cobs being under saddle in a couple of years.

With feeding three horses this winter I'm happy to save my pennies anyway. These two ate a bale of hay overnight are looking for more. 1.5 years old, 14hh now and growing :)

I am, however, feeling like I'm ready to circle back to Sophie again. Just hitting the trails regularly would be nice. A fittingly Slow Coast activity, with a side of keeping myself and my questionable back in riding shape for the future.  

Needs a job too

I revisited the saddle we left off with last spring and it really isn't going to work (which is fine, you'll remember I had my suspicions about that). She's much wider than she used to be, and while she could certainly tone up and lose a little weight, even then she is probably a tree size bigger than she was a year ago when I bought the saddle. She is OK with her old, old cheap saddle adjusted extra wide, but it's too long on her back for me to ride in without worrying about it eventually making her uncomfortable, plus it's the kind of adjustable saddle where the xw setting starts to make the channel seem narrow at the back (basically saddles with changeable gullet plates just make the front wider or narrower, they can't make the panels stay equidistant all the way back when you start to get to the extremes of what that particular saddle was designed for). We currently have zero options for saddle fitters or even getting flocking adjusted without sending it away or getting a remote evaluation and I'm not feeling the love for continuing on that path.

No matter how badly I miss lessons and goals and all the riding, I'm not willing to jump back into the 'saddle-fitting-the-hard-to-fit-pony-and-adult-rider-in-a-remote-area' conundrum in general. I'm done with it, and to be honest I think Sophie's well past her limit and needs a time out from being the guinea pig for NQR fitting saddles and remote saddle fitters too. Longer term, I think she needs to go be a fancy pony for a smaller adult or teen - if I fit into a 16-16.5" saddle a lot of the fitting issues could be resolved.

For now, though, I've been exploring treeless and bareback pad options with the intent of some trail rides and just generally keeping my self somewhat in the saddle and the pony somewhat of a riding pony for the next year or two until the boys are ready to take over. I'm open to western, because why not and also I feel like they're easier to find for wide ponies, but the caveat with that is it has to be as light as possible, and the length will likely be problematic - so far no options there. 

This is the current pony situation, summed up in one photo

Throwback to 2020 with a baby Sophie and a Bridget, oh how the tables have turned, Sophie :)

Anyway. Treeless. We did try another one (an Edix Tudor, if anyone is interested) and while I appreciated the idea and the more traditional look of it, plus all the options for adjustability, I couldn't quite get it to sit right on her, the length of the panels didn't look ideal, and she gave it a no anyway. After reading many reviews (thank you again, Jen @ Cobjockey for documenting all the saddles and un-saddles you tried for Connor)  I'm not convinced treeless is a viable option for wide, round horses. I could be talked around, but it seems like a common complaint for most of them.

 I loved the idea of being able to use it for shows, etc without looking wildly different. From a rider perspective, it felt quite up above the horse and not as laterally stable as one might hope, but that could have been the fit/shims not being set up ideally. I would have gone with it if it worked for Sophie but I didn't love it for me.

The endurance folks have a lot of options that seem like they'd be well worth trying on Sophie - despite having no Arabian breeding her back identifies as one :) So, that's an option for the future should things go well and I start feeling a bit more motivated and spendy and willing to fill up the tack room again.

But hey, for now maybe I'm just trail riding for an hour or so a few times a week anyway? So, bareback pads. That's a whole new rabbit hole to travel down. You can get everything from a felsattel (felt saddle) that has a rudimentary felt 'tree' and costs what a more traditional saddle might, to your standard $50 fabric pad with a nylon girth attached. With any of them, I'm not sold on stirrups being something that should be used. Without a tree, you'd literally be focusing all your weight into stirrups that are attached to a surcingle like band at best, or a nylon strap across the horse's back at worst. Either way, concentrated weight directly on to the back in a very limited area. Rider weight in general without a tree to distribute it is a thing to pay attention to, although I did see some references to studies showing shock absorbing materials or good old felt or sheepskin negated the issue to a non worrying level, even in bareback pads.

Buck looking for treats for being a Good Boy. A saddle pad on his back is a first step to a saddle one day and he wasn't sure he felt safe enough to try until recently <3

I'm intrigued to try a set up with some 'panels' in the form of felt or foam shims and a sheepskin pad. Sort of like this Edix Senor. Or the Christ Lammfelle version. From my (admittedly time consuming, but likely incomplete) browsing, all the various brands have very similar designs with almost identical options.

But, those are spendy. NOT judging if you own one, they look gorgeous! It's just being the horse girl I am who has already thrown so much money at the problem and no hard and fast goals other than I'd like to ride sometimes, I have very little inclination to throw more money at something that isn't guaranteed to work. So I ended up with this. 

Filed under things I never expected to buy

It is basically a knock off version of the Engel or Mattes sheepskin bbp for $90. The 'sheepskin' is of course not, it is faux fur fleece :) but that works - I have so many sheepskin and corrective pads after this saddle fitting journey that I have what feels like a never ending selection of pads to put under or in it. I am currently using it with a back on track dressage pad under and a thinline pad in it where there is space for shims and an extra felt pad, etc. For me, the nice thing about this vs a standard bareback pad was that I can pad and shim it however I like. Also the billets attach across the pad in a 'y' shape. I not an expert in physics but I'm hopeful that might help distribute things a little more kindly and securely than one strap over the top.

this is from the Edix website, but the knockoff I have is the same girth attachment idea

Sophie, is of course, not currently a fan of wearing this. But I do feel like this is a good test case. It's soft and fluffy, it has a huge felt pad in it, I'm certainly not doing it up tight. Basically this can't possibly be hurting her, so I'm curious to see if a few weeks of me messing around with it might give us a reset as far as the aversive and anxious behavior she has regarding saddles and mounting blocks. It's not unmanageable or really awful and I think some might write it off as grumpy mare behavior but I think it's definitely come from a not ideally fitting saddle (s) last year and ulcers prior to that. 

Her default is that every feeling comes with a side of Mare, though. Why trot pretty across the sunset when you could also side eye and snake your head? So much bonus content included with this one

Anyway, there's no reason we can't try to go back and make it right again. Full disclosure, I have sat in it a few times and toodled around. It feels more like a couch than a saddle or a 'normal' bareback pad and I'm not sure how I feel about that, but also it's very nice to be able to just sit and let my leg be where it feels right - no fighting anything and with that and the padding my back is immediately so much happier than I had even hoped. Lets hope the same holds true for Sophie. I have no doubt the more expensive pads would have a nicer feel and finish to them, but for what this is and being uncertain of how useful it will be long term, I have no complaints. 

In true Slow Coast style I'm going to keep working on making everything happy and stress free before I actually go for a proper ride. The idea shows promise and I'm happy enough with that.

Even More Staycation

 Despite this being the absolute slowest summer this blog has ever seen, I'm still wondering how it's September already. Also, how is it possibly time for NFL games? And halloween candy?

 It's not even like I've been super fast paced in real life this summer. I've taken so many vacation hours and had a lot of very slow days. I'm at that sweet spot where I have worked in the same place long enough not to be completely sick of it, but also to have what feels like a never ending amount of paid vacation earned. 

The sun is setting again before I'm done evening feedings. I'm sad. But it's been summer temperatures and cooler nights so I can't be too sad!

 

After dinner swimming includes sunsets now

Good night

Good Morning! The turnout parade

The crew had their last week in their summer field. We mowed it last Tuesday. The grass is already coming back with the overnight dew so I’m hoping they will be able grab a few extra days here and there until rainy season comes and it gets too muddy.

They made the best of it because somehow their gate got opened and they escaped. Luckily the property owners and some of the neighbours are wonderful and returned them to their field before I even got there. My friend's farm where Sophie was boarded a couple of winters ago is across the street, so she gravitated towards there and took her little minions with her. This is why despite it seeming very unlikely the gate could be opened by an equine, I am not ruling it out - she has been wanting to visit her old friends and has motive for the crime.

My to do list for my most recent 'vacation' was extensive, as always. I'm finishing restaining the exterior of the house, and we are FINALLY picking up the kitchen cabinets. Our move in date is going to be about a year behind schedule at this point. Luckily no crazy contractor or house reno gone wrong tales to tell, the problem is just me, vastly overestimating how much free time I really have. I do enjoy all the house repairs and improvements, so there's additional reticence on my part to hand it over and hire help. Maybe I should make time by hiring someone to do the stuff I hate (anyone want to cook my dinner for me every night?lol Clean my house?) but then I think of all the hay bales that money would buy.

And two yearling colts eat A LOT of bales of hay. Like at least a 50lb bale a day. I seriously did not consider this when ordering my winter hay - I guess the cob mares I’ve had have been far less active because even full grown they’re more in the 15lb a day range. We’ve refilled the barn this week and I’m prepared, but still hoping they’ll slow down a little. They’re not overweight so I guess for now  they’re burning it all growing up (and running around like crazy ponies all day)

 

On the horse “training” side of things, it has evolved that husband G and I entertain ourselves with evening pony challenges, the results of which are often hilarious. The challenges can be anything, the only “rule” being G gets to pick which pony he wants to try to “win” with and I get the other. The boys actually love it. They’re so people oriented and curious about the world they’re pretty happy to participate in our dumb games.

We are currently in the middle of a 3 part 'pony show' challenge - night one was a super simple halter pattern that involved trotting in hand. Far, far too exciting for Mr Bakari and there were more airs above the ground than trot steps so we had to concede the win to G and Tradey :)  Bakari redeemed himself in the halterless fly spray application and show grooming challenge later in the week - Tradey needed bribery to stand still and had poop on his sock - the judges were horrified, lol. The tie breaker challenge has yet to be decided but I think will involve something Working Equitation obstacle inspired. The suspense is killing you, I'm sure.

Future challenge: Teach them to come reliably when called ? Tradey would probably win but Buck is a strong underdog contender, remember cheating is allowed so I could fill a pocket with treats and increase my odds.

On a more serious note, my wonderful endurance riding farrier friend has some creative non treed saddle ideas for Sophie (any riding is better than none and I'm done with spending money on futile saddle fitting for us) so I will let you know how that goes and what, if any, set up I end up using. She's a pretty spicy pony so a saddle would be more ideal than a glorified bareback pad, but also initial testing is promising as far as comfort and being secure enough to start thinking outside the ring. I'm also optimistic she's matured a lot in the last year and the shenanigans are fewer (or maybe the chaos twins are just setting the bar super low for everyone?)

I mean she’s barely sassy anymore

Actually it’s nothing but quiet horses here in general

Never fear, I’ve put aside Bridget’s saddles and a couple of others that seem suitably cobby, so let’s hope when the time comes we will have saddles for these two without too much pain and bank account stress.