Today I traveled about an hour away to take in the girl's saddles for repair. S needs her Blevins reversed and N's Blevins needed to be adjusted. I had thought N's strap holes were stretching too much and the saddle repair dude said it was easier to adjust the Blevins.
A couple of years ago I got the girls aluminum stirrups for Christmas. I've thought about the quick release type but have never investigated it further. Does anyone use them? If so do you like them?
I also picked his brain about N's fleece lining and what he recommends to clean saddles. He thought her lining was in good shape and said unless it comes loose, it should last the length of the saddle.
I told him we use Neats Foot Oil and he said he doesn't like it. He uses Murphy's Oil soap of all things to get dust and grime off. He says once the water evaporates the soap stays in the leather and that's what you want.
Deworming
Finally the frost has hit a few times and the flies are gone. At least the majority of outside flies are gone. I am amazed by the occasional indoor fly I am still seeing. Tough little buggers. I have my Zimectrin Gold all ready to go. Tomorrow after school will be deworming day. At least once a year I use the gold to get rid of tape worms in the horses, as they are prevalent in Wisconsin in Minnesota.
The cats and dog got their doses of fall de-worming today. Timmy hardly knew what hit him for he was mesmerized by the new chandelier in the dining room as S held him upside down. (like a baby not by the feet!) Osa on the other hand fought it tooth and nail. Silly cat that he is, it took all of 5 seconds after the fight to get him purring again. Mick the dog was confused but took it in stride.
Just one more step in our getting ready for winter regime. Tomorrow I hope to scrounge up the tank heaters. I'm anxious to get the shed finished so I can finish hanging gates and re-attach the fencing.
Darn carpenter still hasn't shown up. Phlt!!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Saddle Repairs and Deworming
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4 comments:
Martin just switched his stirrups this year but I am not sure what he went to. I am thinking it was the aluminum. He kept snapping his. I feel ashamed that last year I spent all that money on a new saddle and I have only used it twice.
I guess I could at least dress Spirit and just sit on him letting Martin walk me around like a toddler.
The de-worming thing....that is on our list and we are going to have to get to it.
I use Murphy's Oil Soap too. Have for quite a while. Wish I had been from the beginning. It's the best in my book. I like to put a glob in the water, then I also put a glob directly onto the clean wet sponge. Each time I rinse out my sponge I add another glob directly to the sponge. That way I make sure I get plenty of it into the leather.
Just saw a commercial on RFD-TV about the quick release stirrup. They had a clip of a woman barrel racing then getting dragged and then slammed into the metal fence...ouch! Can you say, "effective commercial!" I was wondering myself if they are a good product because they seemed to release too easily and that seemed like it could be a problem.
My opinion on the quick release stirrup is that it can't hurt BUT more importantly is to be wearing a SMOOTH sole boot - that lets your foot slide out of the stirrup. Hard to do when I know alot of kids wear the fat baby types, plus have "tread pads" on their stirrups. That foot isn't GOING anywhere. SO - I would consider more of the footwear than quick release stirrups....cuz you'll never know if they are going to work until you ABSOLUTELY need them....and with the right boot at least you have the chance of your foot sliding out.. Course that also means more difficulty in keeping ones stirrups during the pattern....but rubber bands are the best option as they WILL break during stress.
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