Bridles and Saddles and Rio – Oh My!
23 September 2009
Today at Horsemanship the kids (10 of them!) learned about saddles and bridles: the parts, the fit (bridles), and played with the myriad of bits in the tack room. It was fun – I watched from my paddock. Molly pony and I wondered who (which horse) would be haltered and led down to the grooming shed for the kids to play with. Rio was the man of the day. Lucky guy; he was a bit hesitant passing all the gorgeous green grass (thank you, rain!), but then he perked right up and walked along, enjoying the fuss of ten girls and Emily. Extra lucky guy: he got his new bridle today! It’s lovely! Black, raised, plain cavesson Bobby’s English Tack, shiny new stainless full cheek snaffle bit, laced reins. Wow, it looks good with his bright bay coloring. We horses love new tack! Some of you humans like to shop for your clothes and shoes, right? So why would it surprise you that we like new tack?! Emily got Rio’s new bridle at Olson’s big Fall sale, but she forgot to put the full cheek keepers on. (At least she remembered to get them!) The bridle still needs conditioning, so when she does that the keepers will go on. The kids were pretty rowdy in the gorgeous weather, but fun and happy. They set up jumps in the arena and “jumped” (no horses) while they waited for their parents to pick them up. Stephanie made Emily a necklace and bracelet out of grass. I would have eaten it! We missed you, Josie and Gabrielle!