Saturday, August 27, 2011

It is what it is

For starters its District Finals for barrel racing this weekend.  I had, note HAD, both the boys entered.  Today when I went to warm up Applejack I ended up scratching him. Which backtracks me to another "it is what it its".  The saddle I'd been running him in didn't fit.  Played around with some options and ordered a new saddle.  A gorgeous saddle.  Oh my I love that saddle.  That it turns out also doesn't fit.
We went from too narrow to too wide.
*sigh*
As it happens I can't return the new saddle.  I can trade it (have to find out the details to that) or try to sell it privately.
So between the saddle not fitting and a nasty crack he's got on his front left hoof Appy's feeling a bit ouchy.  The kind of ouchy you can feel at a walk, if you know your horse and pay attention, and that you can see at a trot.  I would have loved to see what he could do but its not worth risking hurting him more so I scratched him.
Voodoo... he still ran.  And run he did!  Now don't go getting the wrong idea, he's still not a 1D or even 2D horse.  But holy smokes did he have wheels on!  He ran SO hard to first that I literally said out loud "Oh shit, turn!" when it was time to rate. lol
His usual style is to roll in at a good clip, wrap 1st and pick up speed throughout the pattern.  Not today.  Today he started off hard right from the gate.  Then instead of just running he picked up speed every. single. stride. to the barrel.  And the arena we're running in this weekend is pretty darn big, with the pattern set deep into the arena so it was a looong way to the timers and to 1st.  I had no idea if he was going to blow by it or turn, thankfully when I said "Oh shit, turn!" I followed it with an "easy" and he turned. 
OMG I was so thankful lol.
Fast time up to that point was a 19 so I was hoping for a 21, which we got.  Unfortunately the fast time moved up to an 18 something.  Not sure where I'll end up in the payout for today, I didn't hear many 20's so there is still a (small) chance for day money.  And if we can be consistent and have a nice run again tomorrow who knows, maybe just maybe we'll sneak into the prizes.
(and there are some nice prizes this year!)

6 comments:

  1. Yee hawww! Sounds like fun! Good luck tomorrow, if you don't get cash I hope you get a neat prize or two. Good luck with the saddle crap, what a pain in the *ss.

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  2. Too bad about Applejack, I hate it when they are sore right when you wanna use them, but good luck on Voodoo, hope you win somethin cool!

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  3. Bad luck on the saddle, hopefully you can get a good trade on it. Nice that Voodoo is trying his heart out for you- hope you're in the money.

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  4. Sounds like an awesome run!!! Regardless if you win anything or not it must just feel amazing to know that you ran your best run! Cant ask for much more.

    As for saddles... I'm really hoping to try out the new Martin with their Axis tree (not all martins have them)... it sounds like they have the right idea going on. The saddle I bought early this year doesnt fit Princess at all:( I have something else to ride in so it is just sitting for now but I will have to sell and move on at some point... it sucks!

    Congrats on the run!

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