Break ALL the Rules?

Really just one, but it's a beauty -- seems certain that I'll be violating the never-try-anything-new-at-the-ride rule this week.

First, the good news.  I have been feeling sick about this ride for days.  Have been Facebook-chatting with a friend who will also be riding on Saturday about, among other things, the likelihood that our respective ponies will be nutjobs, and this morning I wrote that, I hope the horses feel good! That will be a nice counterbalance to me feeling like I want to throw up.  This may or may not have anything to do with last weekend's back-soreness (and actually, is a totally distinct feeling from the sense of creeping dread I historically get when something is meaningfully NQR with the horse, and the creeping dread has thus far been absent, which I'm hoping is a good sign).

This is how I tend to feel in advance of trying Something Big And New.  I don't stay interested in stuff that doesn't make me feel this way now and again.  Still, not much fun while it's happening.

Then I got in the car and drove to the barn, and the sun had just made its appearance through the morning's cold mist and the foliage is really gorgeous right now and you know, I started feeling okay.  The 50 may still be a disaster!  But we're close enough to it now that it's going to be whatever it's going to be, and I'll just have to roll with that.

Cue violation of rule #1, the first.  When I got to the barn, a chiropractor was working on a friend's horses.  I hung out for a bit, watching and chatting, and then asked if there was any chance of adding Tucker in.  So he got bodywork (instead of a light ride that probably would have been more for me than for him, anyway) and we'll see if that turns out to have been a good decision or not.  I liked the chiropractor's way of working and I liked the change's in Tuck's posture and expression as she went.  This is not technically a new thing; he has had chiro in the past, but this was a new-to-us practitioner and ponyboy is sometimes so busy cataloging the changes in his body that our communication can get a bit clumsy for a day or two -- so I am keeping my fingers crossed that he will sort that out today in his field.

After much thought, I've decided to start the ride in my jump saddle and then potentially switch to the Wintec after the first loop.  I remain convinced that the jump saddle is not viable as an endurance-saddle long-term, but it worked for our previous rides and I know that I can ride effectively in it even if he's amped for the first few miles.  The Wintec sans blocks I think is very workable but I suspect I might get a little loose in it if he gets silly and I just don't see that helping our cause.  So I think splitting the difference gives us the best chance we're going to from the options available to us right now.


So there's violation the second: because I opted not to hop on him today, this will be my first ride in that saddle since the last flocking adjustment.  (First real ride, I should say.  I tooled around the indoor in it for a bit while the fitter watched, to see if we'd preserved the saddle's balance, but that hardly counts.)

And violation potentially the third. I have a HAF pad and also a pad with integrated sheepskin that for various reasons came into my possession too late to have been meaningfully test-ridden.  By which I mean, the former has barely touched his back and the latter, I've ridden him under once.  He went fine under the sheepskin, and both look fine in static fit, but obviously that's a far, far cry from going 50.  So I could ride him on Saturday using our regular pads.  Or I could rig him with one (or both, though not at the same time!) of these.  Potential back protection and maybe mitigation of slight saddle misfit versus the wildcard of new-at-the-ride tack.  Don't be stupid versus might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb?

I did buy ten pounds of carrots at the grocery store today.  So hopefully Tuck will forgive me for any and all mistakes that I am about to make.