I guess 9 months is a long time to never have cleaned my saddle, so I ordered a leather care kit, not having any idea which brands are good. I ordered the soap, some oil, and the balsam. Funny how blogland controls my Amazon purchases and my life.
I just completed step one, the soap, and the saddle looks brand new again. I was shocked to see how much black dye came off onto the sponge and on my fingers. Good thing I'm doing this on a black Ikea chair.
I don't have any idea how to clean the suede seat so I just brushed it off and then used a damp cloth on it.
I'm excited to move on to the oil/polish steps but probably should let it dry so I'll tell you about my ride today.
I lunged Mara with the rump rug and she got that look on her face like, "This might be a crupper I have to try to buck off" and humped her back once, but then realized nothing tightened when she did, so she accepted it. Whew, I was worried about that. She really needs to be lunged with ropes hanging all over her, she is very bothered by the feel of things sliding down her sides. I sometimes purposefully hang a rope off of her but she needs much more of it.
I got on her and she was fine in the arena, as usual. I'm working on transitions with her, contact and stretching down, especially.
The weather promised rain so I had all 4 easyboots on and left for a little trail ride. I'd trimmed her feet this morning, a bit shorter than usual.
She was a freaking idiot on the trail, she really hates riding alongside fields. For some reason fields represent danger to her, so I did a lot of bending and lateral work whenever she got tense. It worked, but I cannot say I enjoyed myself today. Trotting up that switchback trail was fun, but at the top there is another field and she just stopped trotting, she couldn't do it, and I couldn't force her, so we walked by it, and then I made her trot again.
It was raining, making pleasant sounds hitting the rump rug, and I was glad to put it to good use today.
This morning as I was spraying the mud off her hooves behind our house in a place she rarely goes, she was very upset about being back there, and snorting nervously and jumping whenever anything made a noise. I can't believe she can be this stressed out on our property, after all this time.
She's a freak, I told her, and I did yell at one point, "What is your childhood trauma!"but I gave her carrots and told her she did well. Sort of, well, sort of.
My saddle soaped hand is all dried out and crispy feeling, ew. Hopefully the leather oil will help that.
OK I'm gonna proceed with the saddle. J told me to take photos but Aarene already did the entire documentary of this process with this saddle, so please visit Aarene's blog if you wanna see pictures.
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3 comments:
And yet, she's making progress, and so are you.
Used to be, she'd have a meltdown and you couldn't do anything except fetch marshmallows to toast alongside.
NOW you have tools. It may not seem like much, but it is!
I've been wondering about my suede seat as well lol. Did the damp rag work well? Chrome tried to roll with my saddle so he got dirt all over one of the polys but I'm afraid to turn it to mud trying to clean it off lol.
Sorry the ride wasn't much fun. She has improved a lot and will keep improving. They say the difficult horses are so worth it in the end because of all of the work you put into them. :D
Sounds like some noise desensitization might be useful. Buut she must stand tied and calm while you do the approach and retreat with different noise makers.
Also go around the house where she can't see you and make odd noises, then get closer and reveal yourself, giving her a treat. Keep doing this until she barely reacts to the noises.
Lisa
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