I used to dream about this…

I had a great two hour ride at Mt. Pisgah, alone with Paisano tonight. We rode LOTS of hills, mostly trotting. We didn’t go to the summit, as he is not really conditioned yet. He was all sweaty, poor boy! Then he still had the energy to spook at a deer and end up half off the trail down a steep hill. Goof! He was looking at everything and had a couple of milder spooks earlier in the ride. He never totally relaxed, but we he did end up with some nice, long strided walk at the end. The weather couldn’t have been nicer with temps about 65-70 and breathtaking views.

When I moved to Eugene, during my long period of no horse activities, we used to go out to Pisgah and hike to the top. Every time, I would wistfully think about how much nicer it would be to ride, rather than walk. I had no plan to get horses. It actually seemed like rather an impossible idea at the time.

Then when I did get horses, I didn’t board close to Pisgah and didn’t have a trailer for a few years. Then I did have a trailer, but not a horse to ride. They were either too green or bred. Now, incredibly, I have the trained horses, the trailer and I board as close to Pisgah as you can get. You would think that I would be ecstatic. I have to remind myself how lucky I am, as it already feels so familiar as to be ordinary. And that itself feels wonderful! It’s interesting how something that I wanted for so long, has taken a very short time to get entirely used to.

Back to the pragmatic side, today was our first long ride trying out my FreeForm saddle on Paisano. It left a very nice even sweat pattern and he seemed comfortable and moved out pretty well. It stayed in place both up and down hills. I had a breastcollor on and checked regularly to see if it was really needed. It never got snug, so the saddle really did stay where it was supposed to. We went down some pretty steep hills, so it was a good test. To the point that I would have appreciated some larger thigh blocks!

It is not my first choice though to ride Paisano in, as I feel like I am sitting on a table. On him, It is very flat side to side, without much twist. The result is that it is harder to get my leg on him. I’ll continue to use it on trails, as long as he stays comfortable. It rides better for me on Lily. With her it is my favorite saddle so far.

Tomorrow Paisano will get something short and easy since he worked hard today. The two days after that involve other riders trying him out. Sunday, Amy Jo comes down to ride him and Monday, a trainer at my barn will try him out.