First Unassisted ride in the Aussie Saddle

I got Daisy a new saddle cuz I didn't think her paso saddle fit her very well. So I got her a synthetic endurance aussie from Down Under Saddle Supply. It's light weight, I love it!! I had to make some mods so that it could fit her. This saddle has a single flap, rather than a double flap so, I had to pull the billets out and put more holes in them so I could cinch her up tight. Thankfully everything worked out & it seems to fit her well.

So here's some pics of us riding around the pasture - the nice & dead pasture LOL. She did really well for not having someone else on the ground to follow.

This saddle doesn't have a crupper bar, so i had to use an old dog collar I braided to make a strap to attatch the crupper

what I love about this saddle:
-fits better than any other saddle I've tried
-can be adjusted by down under saddle supply!!
-easy care synthetic! yay!
-fits me great
-comfortable!!!!!
-doesn't looks to gigantic on daisy, looks nice & clean
-lots of rings/dees to attach things too!
-it was the perfect price to someone like me.
-company had great customer service!!

http://www.downunderweb.com/index.htm

Jumping for Dinner

The girls come running in for dinner & jump over their ground pole!

Daisy and Martha LIVE!!

I was testing out using the netbook and an external webcam to broadcast the girls live.
 It was this morning, so obviously it's not live anymore, but you can watch the off air clip of them hanging out this morning!

Daisy smiles right around 52min and Martha brays shortly after that!

This is in their small pen, where they get fed, they don't hang out there all day, or I would've rigged it to run all day.  The things hanging in the stall are a laundry detergent bottle ( cleaned out obviously!) that has a some rocks in it - Daisy LOVES to shake this around!! and a hanging stall snack - no snack though, Daisy ate a WHOLE one in one afternoon!! Sometimes she'll go out and shake that around too.
There is also a jolly ball on the ground that they killed.

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Saddle Day for the donks

I went and hung out with the girls since it was much cooler than it had been. I wanted to take advantage of it.

I brushed, cleaned feet & saddled Martha up with NO problems, she didn't even move a muscle!! I didn't even have a lead rope on her! I even got a crupper on her!! she didn't clamp down her tail like Daisy does!!

 then it was Daisy's turned to get saddled up, I wasn't quite sure what my goal was today other than wearing saddles lol. I didn't know if it was possible for me to get them both saddled!!  Daisy made it interesting to say the least, she was kinda moving around, I almost had her cinched up and then she went after Martha. Of course the saddle bounced around a bit and and then flopped off, which scared the crap outta Martha & she took off running & bucking out to the pasture ( geez I need a training pen!).

So I was hoping the saddle stayed on!! LOL she came back around and the saddle was right where I left it. She got it all outta her system and was fine. LOL. then I took Daisy into the small pen, tied her and finished saddling her.

Then I just let both of them wander around the pasture wearing their gear. and of course Daisy was stuck to me like glue, she knew i had pellets!!
had to readjust Daisy, her saddle was sitting too far forward.  went over and messed with Martha's saddle, slapping the seat, fiddling with stirrup leathers etc. she did really well, she just held steady and got rewarded .

I found out the weirdest thing, the stirrups on the black saddle are teeny, I always thought they looked small, but I tried to slip my boot into one, and it wouldn't fit! sheesh!!  put a little weight into each of their stirrups, on Daisy's saddle I could tell if I actually mounted up, it would slide.  I have been looking at some of those super grippy saddle pads ( the kind with the waffle weave on each side) so if anyone has tried those, let me know what you think.

I was actually testing out a $10 pad I got for Daisy, you're supposed to use another pad or blanket with it, but I didn't cuz I wanted to see how it fit. Its a nice thick cushy foam. I found it used at the local snooty tack shop. lol

After that I unsaddled Daisy, I have been working on laying across her, in hopes to eventually hop on her bareback. She's done really well so far. and tonight I did it a few times ( I also bridled her at this point), she was being really good so I swung a leg over. sat there for a second and then slid off. The whole time I've been clicking her for standing STILL. Did that a few more times then sat up there longer, then asked her to move out. I actually rode her around just a teeny bit! and direct reined her!! yay for full cheek snaffles, I don't think there's anything confusing to them with those things!!

I'm pretty proud of my girls!!

walking off into the sunset LOL

Martha is always close by me these days.