We decided to ride Sugar and Morgunn out today. The last time we rode out with them was before Christmas. Since then, we've either done ground work with them or ridden in the back. We rode them over to the open sage area that's South of us. Our neighbor across the street has said it's fine for us to ride down his driveway to get to the open area.
There are dirt roads through the area so we have a choice of where we go. We decided to take the shortest route since it was the first time they were out and it was cold. Plus we had someone coming to the house today to give us an estimate on some landscaping work and he was due at noon.
Both horses did fine, but you could tell between the cold weather and being out for the first time in a while they both were full of energy. I did several serpentines with Sugar to help her keep her mind focused on me. So we were happy with this first ride out.
We cleaned and oiled our saddles this past weekend. I gave my new, squeaky Tucker saddle a good oiling with pure neatsfoot oil and then went back over it again with Bicks Leather Conditioner. Bicks is my favorite conditioner. We first encountered it in Ohio when we went to an Amish saddlery and that's what they used for all of their tack. I figured if it was good enough for the Amish it would work for us. That's what we've used ever since and we haven't been disappointed.
The saddle had very little squeak when I rode in it this morning and the more I rode the better it got. It had hardly any squeak by the time we got home.
We hope to get out again on Wednesday because we're supposed to have rain and snow showers tomorrow.
A good day.
4 comments:
Awesome ride!
I think something was in the atmosphere as all our horses at the barn were highly over reactive today as well.
Perfect way to get the squeaks out of a saddle...conditioning and riding. :)
~Lisa
Good riding! Sounds like you guys had fun.
I need to get the squeak out of my saddle. It is 29 years old and still squeaking! I clean and oil it (Neatsfoot) often but the only thing that happens from all that oiling is that my stirrups won't stay up when I am carrying the saddle. For our whole vacation I was hitting myself and various parts of the car and barn with slipping, flying stirrups! I need to get some of that Amish oil. I live in PA so it should be available nearby.
So happy you and Betty got to ride. I bet Sugar and Morgunn liked it too.
I don't understand why it is so important to get the "squeaks" out? Does it spook the horses? Or just annoy the rider?
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