Sunday

Some things happened this week . . . I got a settlement from Apple for price fixing electronic books and like any sane person, immediately spent it on a Total Saddle Fit girth, a new Osprey bag, The Hunger Games trilogy to donate to a school in California that is requesting help rebuilding their library and a HPA canister for T. I ordered the TSF girth in a 48" jumping girth (my Alta has short billets) and was surprised when I got it on Saturday (about a week early). I talked J into going to the barn with me to try it out.

 This was after the ride, because I forgot to take a pic of it on him.

I wanted to try the TSF girth for a couple of reasons, first and foremost being that the saddle gets pulled forward during the girthing process, especially if Ashke moves around a bit while the girth is a bit loose, and it rubs the hair on his back forward (ruffles it). The second, being that when it gets slid forward like that, it comes up over his shoulders and I wanted to make sure he had as much shoulder movement as possible.

I didn't ride for long, since he still felt a touch sore. We did w/t/c to try and loosen him up. It felt like the muscles in his chest were a bit sore and he was a touch off on the right front. He seemed to work out of it, but there was no sense in pushing him, so we rode for about twenty minutes and then he got a shampoo and condition spa moment.

Overall, he felt pretty good and J thought he was reaching out further with his front legs, so maybe the girth is helping. His canter was smooth and he picked it right up, although I can see a bit of anticipation from him right before I ask. The walk pirouette to the right was pretty good, but not as good to the left (I didn't set him up as well on either ask). We didn't do a whole lot, gave him a good shampoo after and a dose of bute to combat the soreness in his chest. I will see how he is tonight when I ride.