The first part was spent playing in the field across the road, walking up to all the new fences and pretending each one was a lion before settling down and realizing it was not. The second was spent walking around the field. I didn't ask him for anything other than control of his body and mind, but I did focus on keeping my elbows forward and reins longer. By the end, I'd established a lovely forward walk with him reaching into the bridle with a long neck like he did in my lesson, and coincidentally, that was just when my instructor drove by. She rubbernecked like she'd just saw a traffic accident, and later told me that he looked 'absolutely great' when she saw us. Go home team!
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As you can see in the photo, we're back to his old green Schneider's blanket of questionable waterproofing. The TuffRider blankets just suck quality-wise, and this is with a pony that is as gentle as possible with his blankets. Schneider's blankets fit him so well and last so long, I don't think there's any question that I'll be re-waterproofing this heavy and buying another medium for him for next year.
I used to use the cooler the same way before I got a quarter sheet. Works great.
ReplyDeleteWe buy waterproofing in a spray can from an outdoor store and re-waterproof our blankets every couple of years. Not a good time to do it now, but after you clean it you could refresh the blanket. We have some old Schnider sheets we have done this with. Cheaper than a new blanket.
I can't believe you hacked out today! I had a dressage lesson and it was cold enough indoors! I love my SStack blankets and I also like the Horze one I bought. I was tempted to buy one of the Tuffrider blankets for cheap off of Ebay but I passed after reading your blog entries.
ReplyDeleteNicole, I am planning on doing that, glad to hear it works well. I'm planning on buying the Schneider's brand waterproofing stuff, we'll see how it works.
ReplyDeleteSTH, glad I steered you away from them. I love TuffRider's stuff for the rider, but for the horse, not impressed. Which Horze one do you have? I've been tempted to buy one of them during a 50% off sale but haven't been brave enough yet.
I actually have the fleece lined sheet. It's a great blanket that's between a plain sheet with no fill and a midweight. She wears it on in between days and I use it as a travel rug since it's lighter weight but has fleece in case she's sweaty. I saw their blanket in a tack store and thought it had more fill then I needed, it was more of a heavyweight.
ReplyDeleteLove my Schneider medium and heavy weight! Riva's heavy weight actually came with Hennessy when we bought him for Alexis - no idea how old it is, but still in great shape. That is why I am so disappointed in the no fill sheet that Riva sweats like a pig in.
ReplyDeleteYou are a brave lady for riding outside yesterday! Brrrrrr