And So It Goes

Kitty Massage

Life of Ben continues.

Sunday's ride was okay. He was a bit more resistant to work on Sunday than he was on Saturday, and I could only partially get him out of it. We did poles and he tired quickly.

Ben grinds his teeth when he's tired, nervous, and possibly in pain or sore. He's been pretty quiet the past couple of weeks, but on Sunday the grinding returned a little bit into our ride. I think it was due to being tired, and also we've been having some saddle issues again- friction rubs near the shoulders, and when I got out of the saddle, it seemed to be sitting pommel-low. This seems to happen on and off with any saddle I use on him. And now I'm seeing some white hairs appearing - which is NOT good. But these white hairs are not concentrated on just those areas, but also scattered in clusters in other places - where the pad might touch but not the saddle.

I ended up changing out the gullet to a narrower one, and it looked like a better fit. Our saddle has not yet arrived - still waiting!

I also freaked out and also bought sheepskin pads from  barnworld.com - and holy moly, I ordered on Sunday and they arrived on Tuesday. Nice!

So we'll see if that alleviates the problem - as I have yet to try the narrower gullet and the sheepskin.

Trainer texted me last night to say she had a fantastic ride on him that morning, and that she's riding again this morning. No lessons this week- so I'll have some catching up to do over the weekend!