Saddles and C.S.I., Oh My!

I was so excited. For the first time in a few months, I put the saddle on my horse today! However, I didn't ride. I wanted to longe him out, see how he's moving under saddle, see if there are any kinks.

There were none. Except that I forgot to bring the longe line up to the arena. I only had my twelve foot line. It is from Parelli and I would be lost without it. One of the best investments in horse equipment I've made. It's the perfect weight and length for most groundwork. I gave Paint Girl an imitation one last year, and although I know she'll love the length, it doesn't have the feel of mine. I guess in this case, you get what you pay for.

If I really want him to lope out and kick some heels up though, I have to use the 20 ft. nylon longe line. On my wish list, after the helmet, would be the Parelli 22 ft. line.

This saddle is calling for my hiney.

And this stirrup is calling for my boot.

So tomorrow, I will saddle up.

My Boy, will you pose pretty for the new camera? This is him shaking his head "no."

Now, on to the gory part of the post. Stick with me, if you dare.

The sarcoid is looking good. Still dry skin with some hair growing back in the original bump area, which looks smaller to me. The "fingers" that showed up before the vet came out to do shots still have a thick scab on them. Until those scabs are off, I can't assess if we are done with the Xxterra.

After I put My Boy away, I did the usual fluffing of his turnout shed shavings. I had also seen a few big rocks up near the tree he hangs out by, so I went up to collect them. As I was stacking them near the base of the trunk, I spotted something laying there in the mud.

Okay, I had to take another look. At first glance, what did you think it was? Did you think flesh? Okay, some of you thought a piece of hot dog, I know it! I seriously thought it might be a chunk of flesh. I had just given my horse a thorough spring grooming and knew he had no wounds. I reached down and tentatively picked it up and it was.......well, maybe I'll tell you tomorrow.

Just kidding. It was a rock. A pretty pink agate. Whew.

Then, as I was walking back to the gate, I spotted this! I reached down to pick this up too, thinking perhaps it was a wad of My Boy's hair. Not so much. I quickly dropped it.

It was not hair. In fact, I have no idea what it is. But of course, I took a picture. It was about 3 inches long, had soft downy hair (not feathers) on it, and a bone. It is like a little leg of something. My best guess is a hawk or eagle was eating something and dropped it as they were sitting in the tree or flying overheard.

Anyway, quite the adventure in My Boy's pasture, I tell ya. It's like a C.S.I. episode waiting to happen in there!

I'll end on a softer note. As I groomed my horse, these fluff collections of hair were a common sight. I remember somebody mentioning on a blog that birds collect stray horse hair and use it in their nests. I loved that idea and hope it is true.

I'd like to think that My Boy did his fair share of contributing to nests today. This one was found on the farm by Paint Girl's other half last year. He let me have it so I could take it to my classroom for science studies with the kiddos. I am amazed at how birds construct nests. They are quite the little engineers.

That is not an egg in the nest, just some sea shells I put in there for decoration, as the nest is now sitting in a big planter pot which really needs flowers planted in it.

Ah, well. See you tomorrow My Boy. Rest up kiddo, you're gettin' ridden!

Who, me?


P.S. Some of you have asked about how I feel about the new camera. Well... quite frankly, I'm in love! I will probably write more next week, after I have a few more hours under my belt! By the way, you can click on any of my pictures to see how they look blown up, which really shows the detail the camera is capturing. The rock, animal leg, and sarcoid pictures were all taken on my point-and-shoot.