It's a beautiful day

It was a high of 57° today - a fantastic day to be outside!

We repeated our short 5.8 mi loop today with a new saddle. Ruth loaned me her spare Wintec endurance saddle to try out. It took me a couple of months to track down a girth that was the right length. (It's a weird 38")

Sinwaan is starting to shed out (but not enough for the weather lately)

The saddle was interesting. As soon as I mounted up I felt like I was riding a much taller horse. It has a soft seat (and I have been drooling over all the d-rings) but something about the flaps are more slippery than I am used to. I felt my stirrups riding forward frequently. On the first hill I had to stop and tighten the girth - I had not added the breast-collar or bothered with the HRM today.

My rhythm was all off and it affected Sinwaan too. We just couldn't get into our groove today. I spent most of the ride concentrating on my form and felt like I was failing miserably. At the canter there was an odd 'whooshing' sound and Sinwaan let me know he was not happy about me bouncing around. I just couldn't sit deep and ride him out the way I normally do.

We finished the ride at 1 hr 10 min and I was happy with that given the elevation changes on that loop. We also had a slow start, a lot of stop and go as we tried to figure it all out.

After the ride I spent about an hour doing some dirty work - removing manure from his enclosure. Sinwaan was so cute, as soon as he saw me coming in with the bucket and the pitchfork he came walking briskly over to see what this was all about. He then proceeded to hang around and watch over my shoulder. He is quite a personable horse. It is nice to have the opportunity to just hang out with him and learn more about his personality.

I am feeling good about the upcoming ride. Only three weeks away now.