One Month!

Yay! I managed to blog for one whole month!

I have no idea how many people actually read this blog on a regular basis. I haven't yet quite figured out how to read the stats provided by Blogger. Reality is that I am writing it for myself, and if anyone else tunes in, bonus!

For the one or two people out there reading this - is there something you would like to see more of? Besides pony pictures of course! There can never be enough pony pictures!


I hoped to ride last night. But just after I got to the barn a big storm blew in (literally). Strong winds, pouring rain, thunder and lightning. Phantom was going to be my first ride, so she was lucky to be inside and miss the worst of it, and get stuffed with treats since we did some clicker training activities to kill some time until I was brave enough to step out of the barn.

I seem to have discovered the one bad thing about Cisco. He is a blanket destroyer.

Cisco is my 4th horse. I've had two mares - no one tugs on their blankets. My previous gelding was generally the dominant horse in his turnout, so no one messed with him.

Cisco is a bit immature, and definitely not at the top of the herd. He is also very social with other horse and humans. I don't know that I have seen him make a grumpy face at another horse yet.

My guess is that he has a buddy to play with. Geldings love the bitey-face game. Most of the holes in his blankets have been in the shoulder area, so I am thinking that someone is grabbing the blanket. I'm super happy that he has a friend. Not so happy that his clothing is getting destroyed!

The current blanket is a Weatherbeeta Dura-Mesh fly sheet. He didn't start wearing it until the 2nd week of June, and it was brand new at that time. There are probably about 2 weeks that he hasn't worn it while I was repairing it, so he has worn it for no more than 7 weeks.

The right side has three patches. And these are the worst of the holes - there are still small holes that I can't be bothered to patch.

The patch on the neck on the left is new as of yesterday. You can see a bunch of smaller holes to the right of that patch that I haven't bothered to repair yet.

Well, today when I went out to the field, I saw a leg strap hanging down. Great. He pulled it out from the stitched end at the stifle. Not major, relatively easy fix. I looked for the other leg strap to clip it to the opposite side. Wait - where is it? It's half broken off. As in, the strap has been torn in half. Grrrr. Fine. I'll take it off and see if we can do immediate repairs. Hang on - the dart on the left shoulder? The material has been torn away from the binding. And those small holes above the dart? Bigger.

So he's currently naked. I was hoping to use this fly sheet over a winter blanket to protect it come this fall. I don't know if it will survive that long! I thought these textilene blankets were supposed to be strong and relatively indestructible!

I had actually ordered a Kensington fly sheet on Tuesday that I surprisingly found on Amazon.ca for a pretty good price. I wasn't planning on using it this summer, and was thinking it might have to be a backup for the winter blanket protection. I do think that I will avoid blankets with shoulder darts for him in the future. His rain sheet, which is also a Weatherbeeta with darts, also has the fabric pulled away from the binding in the dart. I might stay away from Weatherbeeta's for my next few purchases too. So far they haven't been a good match for Cisco.