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12/20/2002: "Progress"
As the year winds down, we seem to be making progress on several fronts. I’m not feeling quite as emotionally fragile as I was a few weeks ago. Not to say things are back to normal - whatever THAT is - but I am feeling better.
Probably part of the reason I’m feeling better is that I’m getting closer and closer to actually getting on Indy. It’s incredible to me when I think about how long I’ve had Indy and we still haven’t had that first little ride - heck, I haven’t even mounted him at all. So many things seemed to happen…
Of course, Indy’s problem with post castration infections was the biggie, delaying us for over a month. Then there were my own emotional problems about riding another horse. It took weeks before I could seriously consider such a thing. Sounds silly perhaps, but DJ was my partner for 20 years, and that’s too long to just shrug off - at least for me. I was telling Matt the other day that, when I DO get on Indy’s back for the first time, I’ll probably sit and cry for a while just because he’s not DJ. It WILL be a major emotional hurdle for me, no doubt about that.
Then there is the problem about DJ’s girth being too long for Indy. One would think that would be an easy fix - just buy a shorter girth, right? Wrong. The way my saddle is rigged, it needs a relatively shorter girth - sorta like a dressage saddle. It has turned out to be almost impossible to find a neoprene girth shorter than 24”, which is the length I already have.
After searching the Web for days, I finally found a Pony place that had ONE, and it was 22” - just barely short enough. After ordering it however, the owner sent me an email to the effect that this girth was no longer available in 22”. She did have another in a 20” length, and she asked if that would be acceptable. Would it ever!
While I was replacing the girth, I decided to replace the billets as well. The old ones were beginning to show their age (1984) and usage. Not only that, the ONE problem I’ve always had with this saddle was getting the girth tight enough with the short billets that came with it. So, I’m replacing them with traditional western ones - with the long tie strap on the near side. This will enable me to tighten the girth without all that struggling, tugging and jerking. Even DJ didn’t really like all that, and he was a seasoned horse with no girthing “issues.”
Indy doesn’t have any girthing issues either - now - and I certainly don’t want to cause him to develop any. Besides, struggling to get enough leverage to tighten the girth with that short billet was always extremely hard on my hands and arms. The new one will make life easier for both of us LOL!
Meanwhile, Indy has made it quite clear that he would NOT consider a new girth and billets for the saddle an acceptable Christmas present. Hmmmmm… Now, why am I not surprised?
