Phebes was kind of worked up this morning, feeding off of Cree's behavior and Doug being aggravated with Cree's behavior. After all that was out of the way, she did pretty well on trail. She pulled the balking stunt again, and I sure hope I can get her past that over the long term. The balking is always when she is leading, when she follows another horse, she doesn't balk. So I'm sure it is a confidence issue. I encouraged her to trot out on a straight stretch today, and yesterday we cantered some without bucking. Things are coming together but on a way..................slower......................schedule than I had anticipated. I'm not even sure I can have her ready for 2009. I could get her physically ready, but mentally? Not so sure. It is really hard not to start rocking and rolling down the trail at about 12 mph instead of the 3.5 rate we are currently keeping. Once you've grown accustomed to moving out down the trail, a trail walk pace is AGONIZING.
Arete' strirrups arrived on Friday. They are pretty nice, and have a curved out section to keep your foot from hanging up on the dismount, or if you take a fall off. Mine are black, steel, with a gripper tread, and rubber cage to keep the foot from sliding through. My EZ ride stirrups are still the favorite, but these were an affordable option for my second saddle.
I've got my eye on a reasonably priced treeless saddle that is Nubuck, but it is in England and shipping will be kind of high. Just not sure yet, and want Phebes to be more trustworthy prior to trying treeless.
Mom is still in the hospital. Today is her birthday, she's 74. She is having a heart cath, and carotid cath tomorrow, and a pacemaker installed on Tuesday. They still haven't come to a conclusion on the GI bleed as yet, but for the moment it has stopped. I'm hoping that I can arrange to be off work for a few days until I can get her back home. ~E.G.
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