Updating My Tack

My darling family blessed me with this set at Christmas...

It's going to look good on the Black Horse...
It's big and loud...just like Spooks...LOL.

When we were in Vegas, I picked these up...
They were on sale for only $20 a pair...so why pass them up?

What I really plan on getting for competition is a full set of these...
These are the Iconoclast double slings that Sue Smith turned me onto. Luckily for me, they are sold right here in town, so I can pick a set up when I am ready for them.

The biggest update I plan on doing with my tack is switching to Tod Sloan 100% wool pads...
These babies are not cheap. Heck, even cheap pads are not cheap these days. But, Megan used my brother's Tod Sloan pad for the last couple of years and I just really like the way that pad sits down on a horse's back. And it has really held up. The other day, I told my brother I would probably have to replace his pad cause I felt bad we had used his new pad so much. He surprised me by telling me that he had had that pad for a couple of years and used it a lot himself. Now I am really impressed.

For the last few years I have been using ESP pads with the navajo tops and something that Sue Smith noted when we were discussing the difficulty I have been having finding a barrel saddle that fit Moon really made me start looking at other options. I was joking about having to run barrels in my roping saddle until I could afford to buy Moon a custom saddle and Sue mentioned that part of the problem may be that my ESP pad may be too thick and it was definitely too long.

Don't get me wrong. I still love my ESP pads and won't be dumping them, but I will definitely be getting a Tod Sloan pad for Moon to start with. I want the 3/4 inch pad. Because the wool felt is of such high quality on these pads, I won't need one that is as thick as most. It just may be that the Sharon Camarillo barrel saddle that I picked up last summer might fit Moon after all. It was just a little bit off when I tried it on him with his ESP pad. A lighter, more contoured pad might just be the ticket.

I better not say that too loudly around this house though...I was promised a new barrel saddle as my anniversary present and I am hoping to find the perfect one at the Denver Stock Show this month.

(I can blab about the saddle pad to you guys though because My Honey is going to be away from his computer this weekend and won't be reading the blog-LMAO-;-)

Lost And Found

My Big Fuzz flew the coop. He's the one on the right...
Apparently he made his way back to our old house and has moved back into the garage. That was rather terrifying to hear. Since he had to cross over 80 acres of open desert and cross a very busy highway. Luckily for us (and the Big Fuzz) the people who are living in the old house are friends and are perfectly willing to let him stay. He has food and water in the garage and hopefully he stays put there until we can figure something out that will make him want to stay here at the new house.

Since BF's departure last week, his brother Duece (the white/black cat on the left in the above photo) has been dashing into the house every single time the door is opened. He has never been alone and doesn't like it AT ALL. I have been letting him stay in and so far no big cat fights and no spraying. Duece has been spending most of his time in Megan's bedroom and having him back snuggling with her at night has made Megan very happy.

This might work. If Duece gets settled in the house with the other two cats, maybe I can bring the Big Fuzz back and do the same thing with him. It might work one at a time.

And then there is this poor thing (he's really not this ugly, just wouldn't give me an decent photo ops-LOL)...
"Charlie Cat" (I had to call him something and he looks like the last cat my dad had who's name was Charlie as well) made it known this morning that he was in dire need of some groceries and maybe a new home. He is nothing but a rack of bones under that fluff...
This morning I met My Honey at the corner and stopped to visit for a second. I was returning from taking my nephew to the airport and MH was headed into town. As I was leaning out the window to talk to MH, I see this cat coming out of the ditch and heading for the vehicles. It came right between the vehicles and started meowing and rubbing on MH's car. I told MH to be careful when he pulled away so he didn't run over the cat. The poor cat was meowing very loudly and rubbing frantically on the car body. About the time, MH leans his head out the window to look down at the cat, I can tell this cat is sizing up whether he can make the jump into the open pickup window, when that cat saw MH lean his head out of the car door, he didn't even hesitate...He jumped right in the car. Obviously this poor guy was desperate and wasn't about to let a good opportunity pass him by. The second MH had his hands on him, he realized how starved the cat was and we decided to at least take him to the house and let him eat something.

Poor kitty attacked the food so we left him alone for a while to eat, drink and then get some rest. MH headed into town and strangely enough noticed a flyer with a picture of a cat that looked like the one we had just picked up. We called the number and the lady was just out to look at him. It's not her cat, so I guess we have a guest for awhile or a new cat. We'll see what Charlie Cat decides to do when he gets his belly filled up. He's neutered and extremely friendly. He was obviously someone's pet, but has been wayward for long enough to starve down. If he hadn't been starved, we never would have brought him home. I'll have Meg make some fliers to hang up just in case Charlie wasn't dumped out here, but I'm guessing from the shape he is in, he's been on his own for at least a couple of weeks and doesn't appear to be a cat comfortable with an outdoor lifestyle....as in...apparently didn't know how to hunt well enough to feed himself.

Figured Out The Barn

I think I have finally settled on a barn design (taking my cue from Bill and hand-drawing it for you-LOL)...
I have waffled back and forth all of this time trying to decide if I wanted 'just' a barn or 'just' run-in shelters attached to corrals for the horses. I think with this design, I managed to incorporate the best of both options.

For the most part, I really prefer my horses to have as much room to move around as possible. Stalling them day after day is just not my thing. However, I really appreciated having nice stalls like we did when we boarded last winter.

This way, I'll have 6 stalls, a feed room and a tack room. The overhangs will be open to as large of corrals as space will allow on each side...
If by some chance I need more individual pens, I can always section off the overhang with panels. Of course, there is still the little 2-stall barn that came with the property as well. It still needs to be repaired, but will be a handy extra space when that is done.

The new barn will go to the east of the house where I did have my riding area. I decided it was easier to put it there and take enough space out of the pasture for a full-sized arena than try to keep my little riding area and fit buildings and pens around that. It's really surprising how little room there is to build on the 5 acres that makes up 'the yard'. The shop and house are set nicely in it, but thanks to the driveway, trees and the power lines, it has made deciding what to do a little bit difficult.