Not too bright!

[Patti_Carey@IIMAK.CCMAIL.compuserve.com]

     Okay--

     Here's my second attempt to post on Ridecamp . . .   Sometimes I'm a
     bit cyber-slow.

     In my previous post, I noted what an easy going crew it was posting
     messages here (having experienced some of the flames on the dressage
     board), but after that whole Paso Fino/Peruvian tirade, I'll just say
     hmmmm.  Just IMO, we horsepeople, as a general group, have pretty
     strong opinions, and are pretty knowledgeable, and are quite willing
     to share.  Sometimes it makes for lively discussions, and sometimes
     misunderstandings and ouched feelings.  Its probably safe to say that
     the whole discussion was heartfelt, but misinterpreted a bit on all
     ends.  That happens.  (Off my soapbox now, and the music is
     fading....)

     My husband has a 6 y.o. Arab gelding with whom he started CTRs this
     past year (made it to about 4, I believe)-- they're doing great!  He
     purchased a custom John DiPietra saddle about two years ago, and while
     he loves it, Shantih has come back a bit back sore, and with an ouchy
     girth area a couple of times.  He's tried a double elastic end Cottage
     Craft girth without much improvement.  He's continued to use the
     sheepskin pad which came with the saddle, as well as a breast collar.
     Any ideas, or suggestions on that one?  A crupper?  A different (or
     additional) pad?  The problem got a bit worse as the season went on
     although Rich's two point position and balance was getting better.
     We're stymied, and would love to hear your thoughts.

     My dilemma is this.  I have a 5 y.o. Belgian/TB mare who I intended to
     do dressage with, but I tagged along with my husband and got hooked on
     the long distance riding.  (Way better than white breeches -- Holy
     Thighs, Batman! -- braids and two minute nerve-wracking dressage
     tests.)  I confess we still do that 'dressage thing', too.  Since my
     mare is definitely drafty, she takes a lot of work to keep fit.  We
     worked LSD, then lots of hill work interspersed, and by the end of the
     season were doing trot-canter intervals.  Even then, she wasn't as
     "buff" as I'd hoped.  (Had it in the back of my mind to sell her, but
     she won our novice division at the NATRC ride in September at Chagrin
     River!)  Tess does great on hydration, soundness (you would too if you
     had 10+ inches of bone), and coming back without so much as a bump,
     but her P and Rs could be better.  Now I know the drafts generate a
     lot of heat, and we plan to feed corn oil (theory that dietary fat
     helps them contain that heat) and condition hard this year.  She's an
     extremely easy keeper.  Any suggestions on the best way to get my
     silly mare fit as a fiddle?

     Offering our opinions on some of the postings here:

     *No half chaps on us, but we see a lot of them (Western New York).

     *I like big horses, but only the ones you don't fall off of much, and
     will stand anywhere to be mounted (mine's 16.3+hh, and the vet at the
     NATRC ride was in stitches watching the crazy places she'd let me
     mount from after P and Rs) -- I'm 5'4".  With my 5'10" husband on his
     14.3hh Arab, we look like Mutt and Jeff!

     *My husband wears spandex blend riding tights (from Back in the
     Saddle) but only in black (no hot pink for my manly man!) and only in
     the right size.  (I just HAVE to know if the person who advised that
     men buy them one size too small was a woman?!?!?)

     *We like controlled starts.  My husband has a hard enough time pacing
     the Arab, and my mare is like a steam train when she's convinced she's
     being left behind.  1600# of whoa Bessie!  Perhaps we'll feel less
     this way when we're veterans.

     *We like a mix of single-track and road trails.  Roads are great for
     setting an easy-to-gauge pace, and for conversing.  We don't even
     bother trying to chat on the single width trails, since we can never
     catch what the other says (perhaps this is why our marriage works so
     well!)

     Take care and Happy Trails!  --Patti and Serendipity (AKA "Tank Girl"
     and "Bertha Butt" -- the horse, not me!)