Old and New

Today, as promised, was cooler.  What a difference just ten degrees cooler makes and both Bruce and I were able to work outside for most of the day.  We both decided to clean things -- he chose to wash his bike and then got really ambitious and cleaned both cars, inside and out.

I went after my tack  room, which hadn't been thoroughly cleaned in over two years.  It was, to put it mildly long overdue.  The mice had been having parties in there for quite awhile and droppings were everywhere.  I'd known about this sorry state for a long time but just couldn't bring myself to devote a day to hauling everything out and dealing with the mess.  Today was the day -- I cleaned saddles, washed saddle pads, sorted through cans, jars and packages of grooming products and medications; keeping some, but throwing most away.  When everything was out and organized, I dragged in the hose and blasted away the spider webs and mouse poop and then swept out the filthy water with a broom.  I was not looking at my radiant best by the end of this.

The earthshaking event that got me to finally commit to rolling up my shirt sleeves and getting to work was bringing home a new saddle to try out.  It spent the night in my office with the dogs because there was no way I was putting it, in all its showroom shininess, into that filthy tack room.

The old reining saddle

My old saddle is a reining saddle, designed to allow a horse to move fluidly in arena competition.  Unfortunately, it's not very comfortable for the rider.  I do like it's darkened leather and worn silver conches, though.  It has character (it also looked right at home in my filthy tack room, but we won't go there).

The new trail saddle

The new saddle is still a blank slate and I'm not sure if I can learn to love it.  The thing is, the new saddle is a little too glossy and new for the likes of me.  It's lighter by six pounds, so I'll be able to more easily hoist up onto my tall boy.  It's also got a very comfortable seat and is specifically designed for trail riding.  Still...

Tomorrow morning Mary is coming over to take a look at the saddle and give her opinion.  She's also bringing her horse, Jaime, along so that we can ride out and I can test how the saddle feels.  To be honest, I'm almost hoping that she doesn't like it.

Tonight I had to close the windows because a chilly wind has kicked up and is moaning around the house.  Strange weather.