Meet Madison & The Extra Horse

I enjoy Facebook like many people do.  I saw an ad posted for a safe, quiet Arabian mare and instantly thought that she might be wonderful for my friend's therapeutic riding center.

The horses there primarily are Arabians, Morgans, and Morabs (Arabian/Morgan), so another Arabian would fit in perfectly.

So my friend & I set a date, met up, and went to the farm to see Madison.

She was a doll to ride.  Went everywhere I posted her quietly and was just easy going about standing around while the trainer and I chatted.

The farm where Madison was kept is also a busy facility, both training show horses as well as foaling out mares.  Who could resist a trip to go see the foals?

So we wandered up to see the mares & foals.  We also went through the paddock to see a Quarter Horse gelding for sale that might be of possibly interest to my friend's lesson student.

While I was walking through the paddock, this older grey mare kept walking up and putting her head on my shoulder.  I scratched her, petted her, gave her some attention and tried looking at the Quarter Horse. 

She was relentless.  

She tried sucking up to my friend as well.

So, an offer was made and somehow two sweet Arabian mares made their way to the farm.  There is still a bit of a joke about the "extra" horse, since it certainly wasn't in the plan to buy a 20 year old (!), but sometimes horses pick you.

Setting the Bar

Lots of things to catch up on, but as always, I'm trying to set the bar high.

Also known as trying to eat an elephant.

I am scheduled to go to a dressage schooling show this weekend.  I am glad it is just a schooling show, as who knows how things will work out.

I am just bringing Chili.  However, I am planning on showing two horses owned by a friend.

One is Alex, the amazing auction horse who is previously mentioned on this blog.  I will try and link back to him. 

The other is Madison, a horse that deserves her own blog post.  Suffice it to say, I had an adventure a couple weeks ago, which culminated in a new horse for my friend's program.  She is very sweet and I hope it will be a great show!

Madison, Alex, and Symphony.  I will be showing Madison & Alex

So far this is my plan:

Show Schedule

Intro A (Chili & Madison)

Training Level (Chili)
Dressage Equitation (Chili)

Western Dressage Trail (Alex)

Doesn't look too bad on paper.  Too bad there are three patterns to memorize! 

Wish me luck as I keep setting the bar high!

Happy Birthday Chili!

Can't believe the little spunk is four already!

 New saddle seems to be working out well so far.  I had some minor spooks and awkward moments with Chili when the horses were running around outside throwing sand against the indoor arena.  Nice thing is that the saddle certainly seems to put me in a better place to sit out the spooks.  ;)

This is seriously how she looks while grazing all the time.  Not angry ears, but she is kind of a dork.

Hopefully will give a couple more test rides with the Filly and the Mare tomorrow to draw my final conclusions, but so far seems like a winner to me!

And Happy Birthday to the little troublemaker who has brought me on so many journeys so far.  From a major horse show as a a yearling to a regional champion as a three year old, I am excited to see what our future holds.

Crazy Days aka The New Saddle

Time is precious and so very fleeting these days.  And such is that, I spent my day off Wednesday being a crazy person, as always.

I met up with a friend and went to a tack store a few hours away.  I have known the owner for more than ten years and she has always been very kind to me.

A Haflinger a friend used to own

Well, I may have gone a little bit crazy and splurged for a new dressage saddle that finally fits my conformation.  I have always worried about the horses so much, that I haven't focused on what works for me as well.

When I was at an equine expo the other week, I tried several saddles and it became apparent on what was more comfortable for me.  It was easy to go into an easy two point, rising and falling in the center of the saddle, and just general lack of back pain, which I thought was a constant fixture in my life.

I unfortunately arrived home way too late last night to try it on the semi ferals, but I did get the chance to sit on a friend's lovely mare with it.  And yep, it feels nice!

Tomorrow is the big day to try it on both of the girls.  It has an interesting adjustable gullet that is super simple to adjust, so I'm anxious to post how the test rides go!