Improvement!

Despite not actually having any time to go to the barn yesterday, I went. I had too--Izzy just got her teeth done for the first time ever and we had a new saddle to try on.

I was surprised when I saw her. She was very perky and she had eaten every single wisp of hay in her stall. All winter long, she's just kind of eaten sparingly except when it was really cold. I let her play in the indoor, then brought her back and groomed her thoroughly. I should have taken a picture--I'll try to do that today.

She was shiny.

She's always been soft and fuzzy, but part of the reason I have taken barely any pictures of her this winter is just that she didn't really have that healthy glow that I love about her. She looked ok and no worse than the other horses, but I knew/know that Izzy has amazing coat genetics and basically gleams in the summer time. I thought it was just winter gunk and junk, but I think the lack of gloss just came her her feeling like crap.

I didn't think that much could change about a horse in a day, but it definitely did. She looked (and I think felt) amazing.

After grooming, I pulled out the saddle. It's got a convertible gullet and has the regular plate installed, which I knew would be way too small for her. After all, her jumping saddle is a wide. I swung it up on her back and it sat there. Perfectly. Balanced. It follows the contours of her back nicely and had nice spine clearance all the way through. There was even pressure under the panels and she didn't make any icky faces, even when I girthed it up.

Oooooh... this could be good. I DID NOT have time to ride, but I couldn't just sit there and drool, so I grabbed my sidepull and took her for a quick walk around the parking lot. She was antsy about putting the sidepull on, but I think it's because the bridle had been hurting her and her mouth is still sore. Once she realized there wasn't a bit, she was fine. She also gave a tiny head flip while walking, but she didn't repeat it, so I think she's starting to figure out that things aren't going to hurt anymore.

Analysis from yesterday: Hm. It's a mighty good start. She was fine with the saddle, I LOVED it. It was shockingly high quality leather for being a cheapie saddle. Once I sat on it, it did sink down on her more than I would have liked. I'm thinking the flocking needs to be redone and I'm 90% sure there's no one in Idaho who flocks or reflocks english saddles. Any recommendations for the surrounding states? I can go to Seattle or Salt Lake pretty easily (since I have places to stay). Portland maybe... no where to stay, but it's easy to talk my mom into a road trip there and split costs. PNW peeps have any ideas?